Streets of Rage series: Part 3

Now I’m going to review the last game in the Streets of Rage series. Personally, I think this game is the worst of all 3. Sega didn’t add anything new in this game. Also, the graphics are the same as the 2nd game and the sound hasn’t improved, but even got worse. Sometimes I hear a scratching sound that certainly doesn’t belong in the game. This occurs mostly when going up on an elevator. The game was released in 1994 so I really did expect some improvements, but there weren’t any. It was later released for the Japanese version of Sonic Gems Collection for the GameCube and PlayStation 2, and for the Wii Virtual Console in 2007. The game also appeared in Sonic's Ultimate Mega Drive/Genesis Collection for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

This time they did put in a sort of a story line, by showing a short comic book-style cut-scene. They better left it out, because everyone will skip the cut-scene and start fighting again. The game also has an intro, and if there is one thing you can say about video game bad guys, it’s that they’re persistent: Even after two defeats at the fists of a few vigilantes, the crime lord, Mr. X, has returned with his most diabolical plan yet to take over the city. Having started a robotic corporation, the enigmatic Mr. X has recruited the brilliant Dr. Dahm to create robot doubles of the city’s officials. In addition to controlling the government with his mechanized doppelgängers, Mr. X’s syndicate has placed bombs throughout the city. It isn’t long before our heroes learn about these new developments and once again take to the streets to stop X’s plan. Returning fighters Axel, Blaze and Eddie are joined by elderly cyborg Dr Zan.

Besides the 4 characters you can also unlock 2 bonus characters to fight as: Shiva, a boss character from SoR 2 and also in this game and Roo, a boxing kangaroo. (I’m serious) In the Japanese version, Bare Knuckle 3, there is also a bonus character, Ash, that isn’t added in the western versions of the game. Reason for this is that Ash is a gay character and I think this wasn’t allowed by the conservative Christian community at the time.

There are more differences between the original Japanese version of SoR 3 and the U.S and European versions, like recoloured character sprites. This means that you’ll encounter some enemies with pink, green or even orange hair... Also, the Japanese version featured a different plot that didn’t include robotic doubles of government workers. (I think the original game was a lot better than the version I played)

Oh, sure, the developers did add some new things, like a dodging roll and you can also perform running attacks now, so that is nice, but the stupidest thing the developers have added is a lifebar for your weapons. This means you can only hit an enemy a couple of times and then the weapon will be discarded. Of course this doesn’t work when an enemy hits you so they will smack you to death with a weapon that doesn’t get damaged, which is bullshit.

I think the most annoying part of the game is when you’re in stage 3, when you’re attacked by a guy in a bulldozer. In order to defeat him you have to smash through some brick walls. The bulldozer will splatter you between him and the wall every time when you’re too late, and that means you lose a lot of your health. In this part of the game you will lose many of your lives + your interest in the game.

These are the rounds:

--Round 1: Harbor - the coastal harbour where the search begins.Mini-Boss: Ash (Japan version only), a stereotypically effeminate man.Boss: Shiva.
--Round 2: Night Club - the task force fights their way through Syndicate-controlled streets and invades a crime-filled nightclub.Mini-Bosses: Bruce and Roo ("Danch" and "Victy" in Japan), if Bruce is defeated first Roo escapes and becomes a playable character.Boss: Twin acrobats Mona and Lisa ("Onihime" and "Yasha" in Japan).
--Round 3: Construction Site - the task force follows the Syndicate's trail through the construction site of the new city hall.Mini-Boss: a Donovan enemy operating a bulldozer.Boss: Robot Axel ("Break" in Japan).
--Round 4: Subway - a hidden subway tunnel which is being used for illegal cargo hauling and training site for an army of dangerous ninjas.Mini-Boss: none.Boss: Ninja Lord Yamato.
--Round 5: Syndicate Hideout - the task force battles their way to the top level; however, Mr. X is no longer there.Mini-Boss: none.Boss: Robot X.
--Round 6: Save the Chief of Police - the task force races against time to save the Chief of Police, who is being held hostage and will be killed by toxic gas.Mini-Boss: none.Boss: Super Jet.
--Round 7A: Syndicate Robot Factory - if the Chief of Police is rescued in time, the task force then arrives at the Syndicate's true stronghold. Here, the team enters the laboratory and fends off Mr. X's robots before taking on the evil mastermind himself.Mini-Boss: Dr. Dahm ("Dr. Zero" in Japan), a stereotypical mad scientist operating a mechanic claw.Boss: Robot Y ("Neo X" in Japan), a robotic exo-suit operated by Mr. X himself.
--Round 7B: City Hall - if the task force fails saving the Chief of Police, this leaves the way for an imposter to take his place at a press conference in the City Hall.Mini-Boss: none.Boss: Shiva.(Stronger than the Shiva fought in stage 1.)

Good Ending -- The true ending of the game is the hardest to achieve. The player(s) must rescue the Chief of Police (General Petrov in Japanese version) in Round 6. Then during the boss encounter in round 7A, they must defeat Robot Y within 3 minutes.

Bad Ending -- This is the alternate scenario to the situation above. The player(s) must rescue the Chief of Police/General Petrov in Round 6. Then at the end of Round 7A, the timer must expire before Robot Y is defeated.

Alternate Ending -- If the players fail to rescue the Chief of Police in Round 6, the game will continue with Round 7B. Shiva, who is now an imposter posing as the Chief of Police, is about to hold a press conference that will bring the city to the mercy of Mr. X (in the Japan version he is trying to create a war in a country). The task force must defeat him.

Incomplete Ending -- if the game is played on the easy difficulty, it will finish after Round 5.

My overall opinion: this game shouldn’t have existed, the series should've stopped at the second game, because this game doesn’t add anything special. The sound is bad, the graphics are the same as the second game, while they should've been improved in 2 years time. And the gameplay is bad, some bosses from the first and second game have been reused. Conclusion: Don’t try this game, you'll have much more fun with the second game.

"Little People, Big World" is back!!!!!!

I am so excited!!!!! One of my favorite shows is coming back. The new season of "Little People, Big World" premieres Monday, October 12th @ 8pm on TLC. If you haven't seen this show...WATCH IT!

The show follows the daily lives of the Roloff family — parents Matt and Amy, and their four children: Zach, Jeremy, Molly and Jacob. Matt, Amy and Zach are little people, while Jeremy, Molly and Jacob are of average height. Teenagers Zach and Jeremy are fraternal twins; although Zach is not of average height, his brother Jeremy is.

The family lives on the 36-acre Roloff Farms, located north of Hillsboro in Helvetia, Oregon. Although crops of pumpkins are grown and sold by the family, much of the farm has been converted into a series of playground set pieces for the Roloff children. They were designed by Matt, who spent most of his childhood in the hospital. He has tried to make his children's lives the best possible.

Here are a few pics from their farm...





I want to move in...Seriously! I'll take the bedroom that's in the loft of the barn. Roloff's, if you read this...CALL ME! I'm a hard worker. Pumpkin Patch here I come!

"Green Acres is the place for me, Farm living is the life for me"

Bob Out

Dead Space

Dead Space is a game developed by Visceral Games and published by EA games, released in 2008. Visceral Games is known for the Godfather series and is a relatively new company. EA games is probably the most well-known publisher, both hated and loved by many gamers. Even though this game’s really great, it never got the attention/sales it deserves. Dead Space could be best described as a horror third person shooter with RPG elements.

In Dead Space you play as an engineer who’s sent to a ship that’s having certain technical problems, you’re accompanied by a crew consisting of a total of 5 people, Isaac Clarke(which is you), Kendra Daniels(a technologist), Zach Hammond(a senior security officer, who starts out as the leader of the group) and 2 other crewmembers who die at the beginning and weren’t given any names. When you first arrive at the ship, you’re expecting to repair the malfunctions, but as soon as you enter you realize that something bad has happened. With every mission, a piece of the background story unravels. Throughout the entire game you’ll feel claustrophobic and continuously being cautious. The constant awareness of the situation is required, since the alien life forms can strike at any time in any place. I’ve chosen to remain about vague about the storyline, since I didn’t want to spoil it for people that are considering buying it. But throughout the 12 missions(which are like stages, not just a series of objectives you have to complete), you’ll have to fight off bosses, make many discoveries and be sucked into the story almost immediately. It’s one of the few games that have managed that in a LONG time. Another fun thing I can mention, is the fact that the game creators have created a code for the scribbles that you see scattered around the map, which are quite a lot, and in the first few missions you’ll find a few alphabets translating the code to normal English, so there are a lot of hidden messages in this game, some that’ll lead you to certain cheats and others that’ll point you in the direction of Easter eggs.

The graphics in this game are just amazing, the unsettling surroundings really suck you right into the game and that feeling gets stronger by the sounds you hear, you’ll continuously feel that there are enemies waiting to pop out when you least expect it. I just love what they did with the HUD, or well what they didn’t do with it, since in this game the HUD has been left out, everything you need to know is incorporated in the suit or the guns, in case you need to browse through your inventory and such, your character projects the screen in front of him, making the experience even better, since you’ll feel more and more part of that world. And of course, the gore makes this game so much more fun, because it’s always fun to mutilate an alien with a chainsaw or in this game shooting operating saw blades or hovering them in front of you, the sound that comes along with killing enemies or dismembering just feels so nice, and gives that brutal touch to finishing of an enemy. The constant background sounds make you jumpy as well, there are places on the ship(usually toilets for some reason) where you hear constant whispering, which gives a daunting feeling about the place. And besides the whispering you can hear things move around, some of those things you’ll never encounter, but there are some you will.

The controls in this game are smooth, never have I experienced any trouble playing this game, but the fact that you don’t have a HUD, so the fact that you have no pause when you’re selecting a different gun, because your ammo for example has run out, could take a little while to get used to, since in most games your game pauses itself when you go to your inventory meaning that you can go to the menu even whilst you’re in the middle of a firefight. The game also has quick-time events when an enemy does a grab-attack where they try to eat you or at least harm you without you being able to shoot them. Another thing I liked is the fact that they didn’t use the PS3’s Sixaxis or at least not in a way that it bothered me, because usually it seems that those parts in which you have to use Sixaxis are rushed or aren’t working properly making it a nuisance.

Throughout the game, you’ll collect credits, ammunition, power nodes and various other objects except for guns. Power nodes are items that you use for upgrading your equipment and abilities. Weapons are bought in the store using credits, that you obtain throughout your missions or by selling items that you no longer need. As mentioned before, your character has certain abilities such as telekinesis and statis (a “spell” that puts your enemies in slowmotion). Throughout the game you’ll have to solve various puzzles which are by no means hard, but it keeps the game from getting repetitive and boring by mixing action with some other elements. You’ll also encounter a few minigames along the way such as a shooting range, a basketball minigame and there’s a point in the game where you have to take control of a gun turret to shoot incoming asteroirds(it is required for you to complete this minigame in order to make progress, so technically it’s not a minigame). But of course the game’s core element remains to be shooting alien life forms, preferably by dismembering them since that does the most damage. But there will be some times in the game where simple firepower isn’t enough to stop certain aliens and require a more intelligent approach.

So is this game worth your money? Yes, it’s totally worth every penny. There’s not a single reason you shouldn’t buy this game if you’re judging by the quality of it. But if you don’t enjoy violent games you might get offended by Dead Space. I’d even recommend this game if you’re not very fond of shooters, since this game is so much more than a simple shooter, it offers a big variety of elements from different genres.

No stranger to these sounds. Review: Organist, Scott Dettra at the Washington National Cathedral.

The afternoon was stunningly beautiful, with clouds rolling across the skies in front of us as we made the trek from Richmond up I95 to DC.  It is a long, unpredictable road but our plans to hear Scott play had been interrupted so many times in the past few years... today was the day.  We loaded up all 4 children in the van and headed out right after church to try and make it to the National Cathedral for evensong at 4 and the organ recital of celebrated, principal organist Scott Dettra at 5:15.  

As you might expect, things didn't go as planned and the occasional storms wreaked havoc with traffic patterns.  Arriving at 4:40 we were able to walk into the cathedral just in time to hear the end of the Evensong service with the glorious "Like as a Hart" by Howells soaring into the highest reaches of the cathedral.  The sounds immediately transported me back in time and for just a minute, I could feel myself as a member of the Westminster Choir recording this same piece with Dr. Flummerfelt in command for our CD of the same title.

The Prillaman clan, made our way to the front of the massive cathedral and were surprised to realize that Scott had played the evensong. As a singer, I can't imagine the stamina it takes to perform back to back as Mr Dettra was demonstrating.  I was reminded that organists are indeed some of the hardest working musicians in the world. Kudos were already flying in my mind and the recital had yet to even begin.  

We took our seats in the front row of the choir, only a few feet from the organ console, but we could see it perfectly through the massive mirrors on the opposite wall.  The incense was was strong, the chandeliers lit the space elegantly, and the afternoon sun beamed through the rose window reminding us that this place did not belong only to man.  And so, the scene was set for the sounds of reverence and majesty to begin. 

Mr Dettra began his concert with the Sonata III in A Op.65 No.3 by Mendelssohn.  The flowing lines and overlapping sonorities became the prelude to an exploration of aural, and acoustic polarity.  Thierry Escaich's Evocation II presented the audience with a stunning battlefield of sonic scenery. Wave after wave, regiment after regiment, skirmishs and retreats,  pounded and immersed us in what seemed an epic battle appropriate for the most expansive screen or field.  

The Chant de Paix, contrasted this experience with a sublime exploration of the air and the echoes within the cathedral itself.  The melodies soared like an eagle, rising on unseen currents, seemingly outside of even time and space.  The experience left this listener wishing that I could physically hear more frequencies, wondering what the overtones and echoes must sound like to a God who can see and hear all. 

The first half of the program was closed with the popular and well known Prelude and Fugue sur le nom d'Alain Op. 7 by Maurice Duruflé.  I was entranced by the prelude with its cascading streams, reminiscent of Smetana and the Moldau.  The sounds, as water,  rose and fell as though beginning a treacherous journey through a canyon of life. The end of the prelude evoked images of climbing, perhaps a barren hillside or even a rock wall with streams of sunlight breaking over the top, beckoning the listening to continue upward.  When the fugue began, I felt a sense of order restored to the experience.  It was as if the form and elegance of its structure transcended the reality and limitations of the physical world.  Time and time again, uncertainty returned to the scenes, only to be trumped by the song itself, manifest in form and counterpoint.

During the brief intermission, the plate was literally passed and Mr Dettra again expertly provided  commentary and context on his works.  His speaking style was clear, confident, and present and genuinely reached out to embrace the audience encouraging them to more knowledge and interest in organ repertoire.  He provided a foundation of information which even my middle school daughters appreciated.

The main attraction for the evening, occupying the second half and finale of the program,  was the Organ Sonata on the 94th Psalm by Julius Reubke.  This was my first hearing of this monumental work and I hope that it will not be my last.  My senses were overwhelmed at times by the expansive nature of the themes, bridging emotions and passions so expertly. Mr. Dettra utilized the instrument masterfully, moving the themes through the room with an almost infinite display of colors.  The very nature of this piece is operatic, even symphonic.  It seemed to explore the depths and breadth of aural texture at the same time, in much the same way as a Liszt sonata, or a Wagner's overture to Tristan. Interestingly,  this expansive style seemed to be tempered frequently with reserve which reminded me of Brahms' symphonic works and even some of his choral and chamber works.   The power of the organ was brought to full use in the virtuostic playing of Mr. Dettra, and left no doubt as to the omnipotence of God, evoked here in immense walls of sound.  In particular, one phrase of the Psalm stood out to me "But the Lord has become my stronghold, and my God, the rock of my trust."  In the Piu mosso, the trumpets exploded from one section of the cathedral, seemingly shouting to the world.  This call emanated from within the walls of sound. It provided the foundation for this listeners view of the stronghold of Christ, the foundation of the rock of trust, physically manifested in the tremors traveling through my body only to be stilled and secured within my heart and soul. 

I was blessed to be in the room for this concert on Sunday.  My family was provided an experience, which was special and unique.  Perhaps it was the day, perhaps it was the consumate artistry of Mr. Dettra, perhaps it was the elegance of the instrument and the room, perhaps... just maybe, God was with us, among us, flowing through us as the waves of sound traveled through the room in perfect order.  I pray that each of you reading, would have a similar experience someday.

Learning all about fables...

Year 3C have been busy learning all about fables and even got the chance to act out a popular fable, The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Through acting out the story, they were able to understand how the different characters felt and wrote sentences to show these feelings. They did a great job.

The Boy Who Cried Wolf

View more presentations or Upload your own.

Mr. Cusack.

Here's a quarter...

What's up?!?!?! It's my 25th post...woo hoo!

What better way to celebrate than a cute baby dancing along to Beyonce's "Single Ladies" video. Check this out...hilarious! This kids got moves :)


To all of you reading my blog...THANKS!

Bob Out

The blah blog

BLAH!
That's all I've got today...
blah
blah
blah
It's just been one of those days. I didn't even take a shower until 6pm and that was just because I wanted something to eat and didn't want to go pick it up with bed head.

On a brighter note...
The new season of "Desperate Housewives" premieres tonight. I'm so exited. Who did Mike marry? I love this show. I am super excited because Drea De Matteo joins the cast. I love her too...She was on one of my favorite shows, "The Sopranos" and then "Joey". Ok, so I am probably the only person who ever watched "Joey" but I had too...I always support my F*R*I*E*N*D*S!

I gotta go...it's coming on...and OH...I just saw it...Mike married Susan...YAY!

Bob Out

Supreme Commander

Supreme Commander is a product made by THQ and Gas Powered Games. THQ is known for the games Saints Row and the Dawn of War series and Gas Powered Games (GPG) for Dungeon Siege and demigod.

The game has been the idea of Chris Taylor, who was also the developer of the first RTS game that used 3D environments and units, Total Annihilation. He also is the founder of GPG.

The game came out on PC and Xbox 360. This is the PC review

The history of the game goes back to the 21st century, when man discovered a new technology, The Quantum Gate. Using this Gate, great amounts of people and goods could be moved over huge distances in a short amount of time. Eventually man, build its first Quantum Gate in space and a time of exploration and colonization started. Man descended into a Golden Age of prosperity and wealth and the Earth Empire was born.

During that Golden Age a doctor named Brackman, successfully connected an AI to a human brain. Seeing great opportunity, the Earth Empire began using the symbions, as they are called, to process large amounts of data. And behind the back of Brackman, they developed a secret loyalty program, so they wont betray them or join forces with other groups. Eventually Dr. brackman found out and fled with his most loyal symbions to far away systems and founded the Cybran Nation.

Next to the discovery of Dr. Brackman, an alien race was discovered on an alien planet called the Seraphim. They wanted to introduce the humans to The Way, a spiritual movement the alien race followed. But the humans destroyed the alien race on the planet and only a handful of human followers remained. After the destruction the Earth Empire sent multiple exploration teams to the surface of the planet. But because the teams never reported back and were gone missing the EE made a quarantine zone.
After a good amount of time, the EE started to lose contact with a number of systems around in and around the quarantine zone. Every day the EE lost more and more systems. It became clear to the EE that a new faction was attacking them, the Aeon Illuminate. At the same time the EE was attacked by the Cybran Nation too. Eventually the EE collapsed. But out of the ashes rised a new faction, the United Earth Federation or UEF.
The Infinite War had begun.

The factions in SC are the UEF, the Cybrans and the Aeon, and have they’re own agenda. The UEF’s goal is to restore the Earth Empire to it’s former glory, the Cybrans want to liberate all symbions that are ’imprisoned’ by the UEF and the Aeon want to spread The Way through the entire universe.

They each have there own campaign, but with the end on Earth.
The UEF campaign is nothing else but to hold the enemy back until their super weapon, Project Black Sun, is completed.
The Cybrans want to liberate their brothers, with the use of the UEF super weapon.
The Aeon want to defeat the UEF and spread The Way through out the universe, again with the UEF super weapon.
Quick tech info why they all want to use Black Sun. Black Sun can not only fire of charged particles, but can also fire particles that contain data and someone’s conscience ( don’t ask me how, but it can).

The missions in SC are BIG. It’s not a game that you can complete in a few minutes, it can take you up to an hour to only complete 1 mission ( there are 7 missions per factions) so expect long hours of playing.

You have 2 resources that you will have to gather, mass and energy. Mass is gathered by building mass extractors on top of mass deposits. Another way of getting mass is the use of mass fabricators, which turn energy into mass. Energy is obtained by building energy generators/power plants.

In the start if a match the only unit you have is your APU, the Armoured Personal Unit. This is a big mech, which can build, repair, capture, salvage and attack buildings and units. The APU can be upgraded by upgrading the mech’s hard points. This can vary from a rocket/nuclear missle launcher to a tech upgrade.
It’s always advised to keep your APU alive as it’s a good builder and can be very powerful in the offensive. But most disturbingly is when your APU dies, as it causes a big meltdown. Not good when its right in the middle of your base.

You have 3 kinds of factories to pump out units, land, air and naval factories. These buildings are upgradable too a max of lvl 3, each lvl granting you units that are more expensive but also more powerful.
The different techs are lvl 1 to 4. The only difference between lvl 3 and 4 is the fact that only your APU, engineers (buildable in the factories that can build, repair, capture and salvage) and support commanders can build lvl 4 units, the experimental units.
Next to factories, you can build defences, that’s seems pretty obvious. As with the units, defences have different tech lvl’s (1 to 3).

The units in SC are pretty standard and most unit types can be found in all the factions. So you have anti-air, tanks artillery, fighter-bombers, bombers, fighters, frigates, subs, cruisers, battleships, carriers and destroyers . Now the most awesome units are, of course, the experimental units. These units are massive and not all of them are units, the UEF has an experimental cannon, that can fire rounds from a huge distance.
These experimental’s can tear a whole army apart if used correctly.
However these units are extremely expensive and you will have to make sure that you have a good economy.

The gameplay of the game is very good. The AI of the game is pretty good. depending on how you set the AI, it will keep on rushing, getting his tech lvl up before attacking or it will use a mix of those two. Also on easy and normal the AI doesn’t use air units, what’s kinda lame. One thing that’s special in SC, is that every shot that’s fired from let’s say artillery is all calculated, so every shot is different, and will never land in the same place. That also counts for planes. If you shoot down a fighter, there may be one a crash you’ll never see again.
The maps in SC are absolutely huge. You have the ability to zoom out so you can see the entire map. Of course you can’t see your units from that distance so icons are used so you can identify your units and types and the enemies. However sometimes when you try to zoom in to a major battle the game, you get some lag or huge lag. But overall the zooming works well.

The multiplayer in SC is almost the same in the campaign and skirmish. You can play with up to 7 other people that you can battle in free for all or in teams ( I suggest the last option). All in all it comes to this, build a base, construct lots and lots of units, and rush your enemy with experimental and normal units. But like the singleplayer be sure to reserve some hours of your day.

The overall graphics of SC are good, but it needs a big, strong CPU to run smoothly. The biggest thing in SC that sucks the performance out of your PC is the ground. Really, if you put your fidelity high, be sure to prepare yourself for optimal lag in a big ground-battle. But even if you put the graphics down at its lowest, the game still looks good.
So overall score, pretty good. Way lot better than Stormrise. Good gameplay, huge maps and massive battles. However not everything in the game is good, all factories and structures may look different but at the end they all do the same, with little variations in unit types and abilities. Still a very solid game.

Being Right When Nobody Will Listen

Modern history is strewn with the carcasses of women who died for their cause.

This is not their story.

This is the story of a man whose life was also laid down to advance the lot of women. His name was Ignaz Semmelweis, and his name should be better known than it is, because women out there, everywhere, owe him big time.

Incidentally, "strewn with carcasses" is a good way to start this story, because Semmelweis was a doctor in a time when medicine wasn't too advanced. In the 1830s, a time before antisepsis, anaesthetics, germ-theory, or any of today's medical trimmings and trappings, Ignaz made his way from his native Hungary to study medicine in Vienna. By 1846, he was the head of Vienna's General Obstetric Hospital, where, incidentally, maternal deaths averaged at about 10% of admissions. They all seemed to display the same symptoms; a high fever, abdominal swelling, and skin pustules. Semmelweis wrote that he was perplexed by the death rate - even women delivering in the streets were dying less often than women in the clinic. But by 1847, he had discovered something brilliant - and unprecedented.

A colleague of old Ignaz had cut his hand whilst conducting an autopsy, and within a few days died with the same presenting symptoms as the mothers in the clinic. So Ignaz Semmelweis concluded that "cadaverous particles" carried on the hands might actually be causing the deaths. He instituted a policy which was to see him hounded out of the medical profession: compulsory hand-washing in a chlorine solution.

Within a few months of his policy's implementation, two things had occurred in a noticeable fashion. Firstly, women were dying at radically lower rates - the death rate had dropped from 10% to less than 2%. Secondly, Ignaz's popularity and credibility had plummeted. Many doctors considered the idea that they carried disease-causing particles on their hands to be both nonsensical and the highest form of insult. Semmelweis was dismissed from his post at the hospital in 1848 on the spurious accusation of political activism, and openly ridiculed by the medical profession to the point where he returned to Budapest.

As his credibility wore through, so did his sanity. Semmelweis began writing angry letters to anyone who would read them, and eventually published in 1961 a book of "Open Letters" lambasting the entire medical profession as well as many famous individuals. In the last decades of his life, he became a man obsessed. All conversations were turned to childbed fever. He began stopping unknown couples in the street and tearfully begging them to ensure, should they ever have children, that the doctor washed his hands. He began drinking heavily and visiting prostitutes. Some believed that his brain may have been succumbing to syphilis.

Eventually, in 1865, he was sold out. A colleague persuaded his wife to allow Semmelweis to be committed to a mental institution, where he was subjected to beatings, placed in a straitjacket, and administered laxatives and enemas in the customary style of the day. A slight wound sustained in a beating from the guards turned gangrenous, and in an ironic twist which would be glorious were it not so terrible, Semmelweis died from precisely the disease he had spent his lifetime attempting to beat; septicaemia.

Had he only lived a little longer, Semmelweis would have seem himself vindicated by history. With the work of Pasteur and Lister, germ-theory became accepted and the sensible policy of handwashing made compulsory practice. Semmelweis' name now graces a university, a museum, and several medical facilities, whilst his visage has graced European coins and postage stamps. In Hungary he is known as "the saviour of mothers". Oddly enough, the psychological catchphrase "the Semmelweis Reflex" is sometimes used to denote the kind of knee-jerk reaction people take to things that fall outside their accepted frame of reference.

I guess the take home lesson here is that it's hard to be right when nobody will listen. Ignaz Semmelweis was by no means the first person to find that out (just ask Socrates), but his story is particularly ironic and painful because he wasn't actually asking that much. The man lost his life and his sanity because people didn't want to wash their hands.

So, like I said, we owe him big time.

Second round

Last night I watched Twilight for the second time. I simply had to because to be honest, I was a bit disappointed after the first time. After finishing the book I somehow expected the movie to outstand the book, on the basis of what everyone around me has told me. Nevertheless, it didn’t. At first I didn’t even think that Edward (or Robert Pattinson) was hot, and I seriously couldn’t get my head around how every girl fell head over heels after their first glance at him…

There was so much more I wanted to see in the movie. The scenes they “deleted”, the jump in between them, and the words that (mostly Edward‘s) were unsaid made me rather disappointed. It would have been even more romantic if some scenes would have been there that weren’t, but that would have made the movie too long I guess…

I don’t want to say that the book ruined my perception of the movie, but it somehow did. That was why I had to watch it again so I could make up my mind (and this is not the same as being obsessed, okay, haha…). Anyhow, with my mind focused on the positive things, like that there for instance is a Twilight movie at all, I found myself drooling for Edward before I went to bed - and that made everything much better. Haha, geez…

I still don’t know whether or not I should read New Moon before I watch the movie, though. What if it will disappoint me like the first time I watched Twilight? Or maybe…maybe I just have to watch it twice! Haha…

Civilization: Revolution

Civilization Revolution is a game produced by Firaxis, known for games like Pirates, Civilization series and Railroads. The game was published by 2K Games in July 2008. It’s released for the iPhone OS, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

The Civilization-series can best be described as an enhanced chess game, you play on a board and make moves with your units, select what researches you want to do and which buildings you want to build.

In Civilization: Revolution the player can win by 4 methods:

• --By conquering the enemy
• --By researching and developing a spacecraft and sending it off to Alpha-Centauri to colonize that planet
• --By creating 20 Great People, Monuments and converted cities and building the United Nations
• --By accumulating 20.000 gold and building the World Bank

The graphics in this game are nice, the creators have chosen a cartoony style. And of course, just like in previous games, the scale is way off, making it easier to spot your units. One of the new features in this game is that you now have advisors, which talk in a style similar to the Sims-series, which means that they just talk gibberish, in for example Civilization 4, when you selected a unit it would greet you in its native language, in Civilization: Revolution, they don’t speak at all, aside from the screaming in battles.

One of my complaints with this game is that it has been oversimplified when comparing it to Civilization 4, in order to make matches less time-consuming and the game less overwhelming. I personally was disappointed by it, since quite a lot of features had been stripped or had been made easier. For example, now there are treasures/bandit camps scattered around, which your computer opponents often don’t even touch, automatically giving you an advantage. Also, the bandit camps no longer hold a thread to you, whilst in Civ 4 they could really mess up your plans and those of your enemies, they also were very opportunistic since they would attack you when you were waging a war and your troops had left home, in Civilization Revolution, they simple remain in their cities, they haven’t even got a territory, unlike in Civilization 4. Another complaint about Civ 5, is that the amount of leaders you can pick from has been reduced to 16, whilst Civ 4 had 26, not even counting the ones that came in expansion packs. Although they did put a few new ones in, like a Zulu king(don’t ask me why, since I don’t really think that they’ve contributed anything to world history), they left some of the better ones out, like for example the Dutch or any European nation for that matter, except for England, Germany, France, Spain, Greece and the Roman Empire. Even though, there are many other European countries that have taken their role in world history as well, and have had their great leaders as well.

Another thing that has been changed when comparing to previous games in the series, is the scenarios, in previous games you played various great and well-known battles whilst in this game, you just play following a set of extra rules in order to win and those battles are all fictional. This takes away a bit of the learning concept which was present in the past games, I actually find this a bit disappointing , since I always loved playing great historical battles and changing the outcome of them. Not everything holding historical information has been ripped out, though, the Civilopedia is still present if you want to read up on certain great leaders or monuments.

Another thing that bothered me is that the game shifted to a more combat oriented gameplay, whereas in the previous games you’d only use war as one of the last means to expand, in this game you can’t go 5 rounds without either starting a war, getting one declared on you, getting threatened or making peace after obliterating a good amount of units of the enemy. The communication between you and the computer opponents have been simplified as well, a lot of options have been removed, in past games you were able to build a very positive relation with a nation and make it your ally, which was very fruitful. You can still buy and sell technologies but whereas you used to be able to use a very deep trading system, now you only use currency to buy certain technologies. In previous games you could also trade cities, sign contracts and pacts, and many other things. All that has been ripped out.

As far as sound and music go, the game scores average, the sounds you hear from tiles, like the sound of the sea when you’re hovering above a beach and so on. The music sadly doesn’t have any background music, so the only music you’ll hear is the one in the menu and when somebody declares war on you.

Now it seems that I’ve drilled this title into the ground, but this isn’t the case. Whilst there have been things left out and some complaints, the gameplay remains to be classic and addictive. It certainly isn’t a waste of money buying this game, if you like strategy games. But if you’re a fan of the series and liked the depth of the game, you might get disappointed, but it’ll still keep you occupied for quite some time.

On this date in history...61 years ago

The year was 1948 and the world was blessed with the birth of a future superstar...OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN!

Y'all I can't express how much I LOVE her. I love her so much I can remember getting into the car to go see "Grease" when it was released. I remember sitting in the movie theatre so excited when the opening credits came on. I had all of her albums...still do. Every time she released an album I bought it the day it came out. Her music just takes me to another time and place and always makes me feel good inside. SHUT UP! Don't make fun of me! :)
That was then...

This is now...

Still Beautiful! Still Fabulous! Still a Superstar!
Happy Birthday, Olivia!
Love You,

Bob Out

Hunk of the day

Thought I would give you all a little "pick me up". This is Kellan Lutz from the "Twilight" movie series...YUMMY! He could pick me up anytime!



Have a great weekend!

Bob Out

Streets of Rage series: Part 2

The next game I'm going to review is the second game in the Streets of Rage series. The second game was released in 1992, a year after the first game. The game was also released on the Sega Game Gear and Master System, but those graphics are worse than the Genesis/Mega Drive version.The Game Gear and Master System versions also have different stages and lack the character Max Thunder, so I don’t recommend playing those versions of the game.

The genre is the same as the first game: A sidescrolling beat-em-up. Sega has put in an intro which states the following: One year has passed since Adam, Axel and Blaze took back the streets on the anniversary of their previous victory, the three heroes got together to celebrate, but their happiness was short lived. Adam's younger brother Eddie 'Skate' Hunter contacted Axel shortly afterwards with news that Adam had been kidnapped by a gang of thugs. A photo left in Adam's ransacked house showed a chained Adam at the compound of the crime lord Mr. X. With Mr. X back in town, crime quickly escalated and citizens once again began to fear for their lives. Axel and Blaze must team up once more to defeat Mr. X and rescue Adam. Joining them in the fight is Eddie and Axel's friend, the muscle-bound Max Thunder.

Streets of Rage 2 features much longer levels than the first one, each with multiple settings. It also has weather effects, like rain and mist.
These are the 8 rounds in the game:
--Round 1: Downtown: You start your search in the streets. Trailing them into Barbon's bar, you'll eventually meet Barbon in a back alley, behind the bar.
--Round 2: Bridge Under Construction: Moving across a bridge full of thugs and bikers, you continue your search. The boss Jet, is equipped with a jet-pack and has a few nasty moves up his sleeve.
--Round 3: Amusement Park: Strolling through the park grounds, arcades and the Alien House, where the props explode, and real danger lurks in the fake fog.
--Round 4: Baseball Stadium: You make your way into the baseball stadium, where you find a secret elevator hidden on the baseball pitch which then takes you to an underground fighting ring.
--Round 5: The Ship: Mr X seems to have got himself a private island this time, so you have to take a ship out to it. You fight your way through some cargo decks before emerging on deck to deal with the bikers.
--Round 6: Mr. X's Island: You've landed on Mr. X's island, so you now have to make your way across a beach and then through a jungle with nasty surprises waiting for you that's lurking through the darkness along the way.
--Round 7: Munitions Plant: You make your way across the factory floor, contending with conveyor belts. You then arrive at an elevator, where you make your way up to the roof.
--Round 8: Syndicate Stronghold: As in Streets of Rage, you face all the bosses in the game here. You begin downstairs, then grab an elevator up to Mr. X and then begin the final battle against him.

Just like in the first game, you can play on Easy, Normal and Hard + Hardest. You can also change the amount of lives you have from 1 to 5, so you can make it even harder for yourself.

This time there are 4 characters you can choose from: Alex, Blaze, Max and Eddie, and they all have different specialities except Blaze, because she’s an all-rounder and has 2 of 3 stars on every skill , so she’s average on every skill. There are 5 skills: Power, Speed, Technique, Jump and Stamina. Stamina means how much punishment your character can take.

There are a couple of things that have been changed in this game. First example of this are the graphics, which have been greatly improved compared with the first game. As stated before, rain and mist is added in some stages. Besides that, there are more and better sound effects than in the first game. The soundtracks are edited, though. When you listen carefully you recognise the soundtracks from the first game. But this isn't bad, because they improved the sound so it all sounds nicer than the first game. In this sequel, you even have more weapons at your disposal than in the first game, like a katana or bomb. If you've played the first game, you'll also recognise your enemies. There are some new enemies too, like bikers, kickboxers and robots. Your enemies have names now and there is a health bar added, so you know when they're almost dead. Some enemies got funny names, for example a fat guy who's called Hamburger. What parents would call their son Hamburger? Only when they're pure evil they would do such a thing.

Just like in the first game, you have a special ability. But Sega changed it from the police car to a stronger attack. You can use this ability as much as you like, until the point where your health is almost depleted. Yes, this is the goofiest part of the game. When you use your ability, you lose a little bit of health. I prefer the police car, it's cooler too.

This game just plays like the first one, so if you liked that game, you'll definitely like this one too. Besides the last complaint, I like this game more than the first one. It would've been almost perfect if the police car was still in the game.

"Oh my God, it's Sarah Palin"

Have I told you guys how much I love Sarah Jessica Parker? If not, let me tell you...I LOVE HER! She is in a new movie with Hugh Grant(YUMMY). It opens December 18, 2009. It's called "Did you hear about the Morgans?" Check out this preview for the film and watch for the "Oh my God, it's Sarah Palin" line...TOO FUNNY! I HAVE TO SEE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Atlas doesn't shrug in my mind even after weeks.

These quotes continue to come back to me over and over in these past weeks as I reflect on my recent journey through Atlas Shrugged.  Many of these ideas present contradictions to my subconcious ideals about the world as I know it(as I learned it in school and church),  yet they are so blatantly obvious and simple.  When I couple these concepts of accountability with my deep seated desire to love and encourage others to succeed I think I begin to make just a little sense of my world.  I don't know all of the answers, but I know for sure that I indeed want to live.  What an awesome book, for anyone who wants to seriously reflect on himself, and our world today.

"Who is John Galt?"

“For if there is more tragic a fool than the businessman who doesn’t know that he is an exponent of man’s highest creative spirit, it is the artist who thinks that the businessman is his enemy.“ Composer Richard Halley

"Who is the public? What does it hold as its good? There was a time when men believed that 'the good' was a concept to be defined by a code of moral values and that no man had the right to seek his good through the violation of the rights of another. If it is now believed that men may sacrifice me in any manner they please for the sake of whatever they deem to be their own good, if they believe that they may seize my property simply because they need it - well, so does any burglar." Hank Reardon


"I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine." THE OATH

"Existence is Identity,  Consciousness is Identification" John Galt

"My morality, the morality of reason, is contained in a single axiom: existence exists----and in a single  choice: to live. The rest proceeds from these.  To live, man must hold three things as the supreme and ruling values of his life:  Reason----Purpose----Self-Esteem." John Galt

"The only man who desires to be moral is the man who desires to live.  No, you do not have to live; it is your basic act of choice; but if you choose to live, you must live as a man---by the work and the judgement of your mind." John Galt

Talk about a baby BOOM ^^

Geez, I just read an article about a giant baby boy that was born in Indonesia, weighing 8.7 kg! They assumed that the cause of this was that the mother had diabetes. For a long time I’ve been trying to avoid sugar as much as possible for health reasons, but now I think I am going to cut it out completely because hell no I want to end up giving birth to a giant baby!

Tenor to get a Händel on Bruton Parish

You are invited!  Organist Charles Lindsey and Tenor Jeff Prillaman of Da Capo Va will be presenting a concert of historic music in a beautiful historic space on Saturday Evening 8pm,  Sept 26, 2009.

The Candlelight concert series is a favorite of tourists and locals alike.
 Don't miss your opportunity to Kick off Fall in VA in fine fashion.

Bruton Parish, Candlelight Concerts

Parking is permitted on Duke of Gloucester in front of the church on Sundays and for weddings, funerals, concerts, the Wednesday Eucharist and Healing Service, and other special occasions. We ask that the parking spaces close to the front or side of the Church be saved for those who are handicapped or those who have difficulty with walking a distance.

================== 

CAN YOU HANDEL IT?

Jeffrey Prillaman, Tenor

Charles Lindsey, Jr., Organ

 All Music is by George Frederick Handel (1685–1759) except Pietà Signore, which is by Alessandro Stradella (1639–82).  The Trumpet Tune on Siröe is an arrangement by Charles Lindsey of a melody of Handel’s.  The Aria in F is arranged from Handel and played in the style of Virgil Fox.

 

Recitative and Air from the Oratorio Judas Maccabaeus

Thanks to My Brethren!

How Vain Is Man

Pietà Signore                                           

ORGAN SOLO:

Trumpet Tune on Siröe                       

Aria in F                                                         

Where’er You Walk (from the Opera Semele)

Recitative and Air from the Opera Serse

Frondi tenere 

Ombra mai fù 

All Selections from the Oratorio Messiah

Recitative:  Comfort Ye My People

Air:  Every Valley Shall Be Exalted

ORGAN SOLO:  Pastoral Symphony

Recitative:  Thy Rebuke Hath Broken His Heart

Air:  Behold, and See if There Be Any Sorrow

Recitative:  He Was Cut Off from the Land of the Living

Air:  But Thou Didst Not Leave His Soul in Hell

Recitative:  He That Dwelleth in Heaven

Air:  Thou Shalt Break Them

Walking with Dinosaurs

Last night I went to see "Walking with Dinosaurs". I won the tickets through a radio station contest and thought my nephews would enjoy it. I have to say it was pretty cool and I enjoyed it as much as they did. If you haven't heard of it, here is what the advertisement says about it...

Internationally renowned designers have worked with scientists to create 15 life-size dinosaurs, including the terror of the ancient terrain, Tyrannosaurus-rex! Be amazed and thrilled as the greatest creatures ever to walk the earth return before your eyes.

It’s a dazzling 10 million pound arena spectacle of unprecedented size and quality set to captivate young and old alike. Marvel at the story of their 200 million year domination of life on earth. Watch them walk. Hear the roar. Be there as they fight for survival and supremacy. From the ripple of their skin to the glint in their eye, you will know the dinosaurs really have returned! So make sure you have your seat to see the return of the dinosaurs!

So this is our "Archelogist" for the night. He is probably why I enjoyed the show as much as my nephews :) Not bad to look at huh? I say YUMMY even

The mighty T-Rex and her offspring

Torosaurus

Brachiosaurus



They look real, don't they?! They even had Dinosaurs that burped, farted and pooped on stage. Yep, that's right...we saw dino poop. You can imagine how much my nephews liked that. Boys, are all about the farting and pooping!!!!

If the show is ever in your town, you should go. That's my offical review :)

Bob Out

A girl can dream

I thought I was in love with sushi, ice-cream and chocolate, but after today I’m madly in love with a pair of shoes…They only cost SEK 795, not above SEK 1795 like some other shoes (that aren’t even as divine as these), and also I will get 20% off if I buy them before Sunday! I know I shouldn’t use the word only when I am still considered a poor student, and I’m also aware of the fact that mami would never pay for them - so it’s up to me. Should I buy them or should I let the heavenly beautiful creations go?

I want them so badly, but I really don’t think I afford buying these right now. My debt from summer still reminds me of the fact that I am not bringing in any cash…but as Bella said in Twilight:

A girl can dream.

Look. At. Them. - More I can't really say...

Mulher Bunda Mole

Belinha acordou as seis, arrumou as crianças, levou-as para o colégio e voltou para casa a tempo de dar um beijo burocrático em Artur, o marido, e de trocarem cheques, afazeres e reclamações.
Fez um supermercado rápido, brigou com a empregada que manchou seu vestido de seda, saiu como sempre apressada, levou uma multa por estar dirigindo com o celular no ouvido e uma advertência por estacionar em lugar proibido, enquanto ia, por um minuto, ao caixa automático tirar dinheiro.
No caminho do trabalho batucava ansiedade no volante, num congestionamento monstro, e pensava quando teria tempo de fazer a unha e pintar o cabelo antes que se transformasse numa mulher grisalha.
Chegando ao escritório, foi quase atropelada por uma gata escultural que, segundo soube, era a nova contratada da empresa para o cargo que ela, Belinha, fez de tudo para pegar, mas que, apesar do currículo excelente e de seus anos de experiência e dedicação, não conseguiu.
Pensou se abdômem definido contaria ponto, mas logo esqueceu a gata, porque no meio de uma reunião ligaram do colégio de Clarinha, sua filha mais nova, dizendo que ela estava com dor de ouvido e febre.
Tentou em vão achar o marido e, como não conseguiu, resolveu ela mesma ir até o colégio, depois do encontro com o novo cliente, que se revelou um chato, neurótico, desconfiado e com quem teria que lidar nos próximos meses.
Saiu esbaforida e encontrou seu carro com pneu furado.
Pensou em tudo que ainda ia ter que fazer antes de fechar os olhos e sonhar com um mundo melhor.
Abandonou a droga do carro avariado, pegou um táxi e as crianças.
Quando chegou em casa, descobriu que tinha deixado a porra da pasta com o relatório que precisava ler para o dia seguinte no escritório! Telefonou para o celular do marido com a esperança que ele pudesse pegar os malditos papéis na empresa, mas a bosta continuava fora de área. Conseguiu, depois de vários telefonemas, que um motoboy lhe trouxesse a porra dos documentos.
Tomou uma merda de banho, deu a droga do jantar para as crianças, fez a porcaria dos deveres com os dispersos e botou os monstros para dormir.
Artur chegou puto de uma reunião em São Paulo, reclamando de tudo.
Jantaram em silêncio.
Na cama ela leu metade do relatório e começou a cabecear de sono. Artur a acordou com tesão, a fim de jogo. Como aqueles momentos estavam cada vez mais raros no casamento deles, ela resolveu fazer um último esforço de reportagem e transar. Deram uma meio rápida, meio mais ou menos, e, quando estava quase pegando no sono de novo, sentiu uma apalpadinha no seu traseiro com o seguinte comentário:
- Tá ficando com a bundinha mole, Belinha... deixa de preguiça e começa a se cuidar..
Belinha olhou para o abajur de metal e se imaginou martelando a cabeça de Artur até ver seus miolos espalhados pelo travesseiro! Depois se viu pulando sobre o tórax dele até quebrar todas as costelas! Com um alicate de unha arrancou um a um todos os seus dentes depois lhe deu um chute tão brutal no saco, que voou espermatozóide para todos os lados!
Em seguida usou a técnica que aprendeu num livro de auto-ajuda: como controlar as emoções negativas. Respirou três vezes profundamente, mentalizando a cor azul, e ponderou.
Não ia valer a pena, não estamos nos EUA, não conseguiria uma advogada feminista caríssima que fizesse sua defesa alegando que assassinou o marido cega de tensão pré-menstrual...
Resolveu agir com sabedoria.
No dia seguinte, não levou as crianças ao colégio, não fez um supermercado rápido, nem brigou com a empregada.
Foi para uma academia e malhou duas horas.
De lá foi para o cabeleireiro pintar os cabelos de acaju e as unhas de vermelho.
Ligou para o cliente novo insuportável e disse tudo que achava dele, da mulher dele e do projeto dele. E aguardou os resultados da sua péssima conduta, fazendo uma massagem estética que jura eliminar, em dez sessões, a gordura localizada.
Enquanto se hospedava num spa, ouviu o marido desesperado tentar localiza-la pelo celular e descobrir por que ela havia sumido. Pacientemente não atendeu.
E, como vingança é um prato que se come frio, mandou um recado lacônico para a caixa postal dele. - A bunda ainda está mole. Só volto quando estiver dura. Um beijo da preguiçosa...

(Extraído do livro: Este sexo é feminino /Patrícia Travassos).

Mulher Bunda Mole

Belinha acordou as seis, arrumou as crianças, levou-as para o colégio e voltou para casa a tempo de dar um beijo burocrático em Artur, o marido, e de trocarem cheques, afazeres e reclamações.
Fez um supermercado rápido, brigou com a empregada que manchou seu vestido de seda, saiu como sempre apressada, levou uma multa por estar dirigindo com o celular no ouvido e uma advertência por estacionar em lugar proibido, enquanto ia, por um minuto, ao caixa automático tirar dinheiro.
No caminho do trabalho batucava ansiedade no volante, num congestionamento monstro, e pensava quando teria tempo de fazer a unha e pintar o cabelo antes que se transformasse numa mulher grisalha.
Chegando ao escritório, foi quase atropelada por uma gata escultural que, segundo soube, era a nova contratada da empresa para o cargo que ela, Belinha, fez de tudo para pegar, mas que, apesar do currículo excelente e de seus anos de experiência e dedicação, não conseguiu.
Pensou se abdômem definido contaria ponto, mas logo esqueceu a gata, porque no meio de uma reunião ligaram do colégio de Clarinha, sua filha mais nova, dizendo que ela estava com dor de ouvido e febre.
Tentou em vão achar o marido e, como não conseguiu, resolveu ela mesma ir até o colégio, depois do encontro com o novo cliente, que se revelou um chato, neurótico, desconfiado e com quem teria que lidar nos próximos meses.
Saiu esbaforida e encontrou seu carro com pneu furado.
Pensou em tudo que ainda ia ter que fazer antes de fechar os olhos e sonhar com um mundo melhor.
Abandonou a droga do carro avariado, pegou um táxi e as crianças.
Quando chegou em casa, descobriu que tinha deixado a porra da pasta com o relatório que precisava ler para o dia seguinte no escritório! Telefonou para o celular do marido com a esperança que ele pudesse pegar os malditos papéis na empresa, mas a bosta continuava fora de área. Conseguiu, depois de vários telefonemas, que um motoboy lhe trouxesse a porra dos documentos.
Tomou uma merda de banho, deu a droga do jantar para as crianças, fez a porcaria dos deveres com os dispersos e botou os monstros para dormir.
Artur chegou puto de uma reunião em São Paulo, reclamando de tudo.
Jantaram em silêncio.
Na cama ela leu metade do relatório e começou a cabecear de sono. Artur a acordou com tesão, a fim de jogo. Como aqueles momentos estavam cada vez mais raros no casamento deles, ela resolveu fazer um último esforço de reportagem e transar. Deram uma meio rápida, meio mais ou menos, e, quando estava quase pegando no sono de novo, sentiu uma apalpadinha no seu traseiro com o seguinte comentário:
- Tá ficando com a bundinha mole, Belinha... deixa de preguiça e começa a se cuidar..
Belinha olhou para o abajur de metal e se imaginou martelando a cabeça de Artur até ver seus miolos espalhados pelo travesseiro! Depois se viu pulando sobre o tórax dele até quebrar todas as costelas! Com um alicate de unha arrancou um a um todos os seus dentes depois lhe deu um chute tão brutal no saco, que voou espermatozóide para todos os lados!
Em seguida usou a técnica que aprendeu num livro de auto-ajuda: como controlar as emoções negativas. Respirou três vezes profundamente, mentalizando a cor azul, e ponderou.
Não ia valer a pena, não estamos nos EUA, não conseguiria uma advogada feminista caríssima que fizesse sua defesa alegando que assassinou o marido cega de tensão pré-menstrual...
Resolveu agir com sabedoria.
No dia seguinte, não levou as crianças ao colégio, não fez um supermercado rápido, nem brigou com a empregada.
Foi para uma academia e malhou duas horas.
De lá foi para o cabeleireiro pintar os cabelos de acaju e as unhas de vermelho.
Ligou para o cliente novo insuportável e disse tudo que achava dele, da mulher dele e do projeto dele. E aguardou os resultados da sua péssima conduta, fazendo uma massagem estética que jura eliminar, em dez sessões, a gordura localizada.
Enquanto se hospedava num spa, ouviu o marido desesperado tentar localiza-la pelo celular e descobrir por que ela havia sumido. Pacientemente não atendeu.
E, como vingança é um prato que se come frio, mandou um recado lacônico para a caixa postal dele. - A bunda ainda está mole. Só volto quando estiver dura. Um beijo da preguiçosa...

(Extraído do livro: Este sexo é feminino /Patrícia Travassos).

Finito with Twilight!

Yeay, now I'm finished with Twilight! It only took me seven days (compared to the maximum of two days that my friends find it possible), but now I'm finished after all. It was a good book I must admit, or maybe a bit better than good...Anyhow, I will hopefully watch the movie tonight and get a crush on Edward for real ;D

Now I have to rush, lunch with my lovely family is up next.

Plans for Thursday

I have a lot to do these four days but I’ve decided to start off light. So instead of bury myself with my loved, yet hated To Do-list, the plans of having lunch at East City with the family tomorrow, appealed me more than the first option. It’s going to be great I believe. We haven’t went out together for lunch together in several weeks, and in addition, we haven’t been to East City in like three months. So, it’s definitely time for some sushi and some general over-eating (like I haven’t had “enough of” in M’sia this summer, but regrets will come later…).

Okay, I should really get back to finishing Twilight now and try to eliminate the fact that I embarrassingly enough haven’t finished it in the six days I’ve read it so far…hehe.

Have a great evening!

Just before summer break...wish I could go back =)

Just smile

A poor little blog is the result you get when there is a lack of time and motivation for posting something. Nevertheless, now I’m back! And hopefully I will be more caring these upcoming days since I have an (well-earned) extended weekend, starting from tomorrow.

School has started getting down to business for real now and the perfectionist in me is, of course, kind of affected. However, I have learnt that the best thing to get through a tough day is to start the day off with a positive attitude and a big smile on your face, because it does help!

Parabéns Matheus!

Meu sobrinho e afilhado Matheusinho está fazendo 1 aninho!

Beijinhos da dindinha coruja!

Parabéns Matheus!

Meu sobrinho e afilhado Matheusinho está fazendo 1 aninho!

Beijinhos da dindinha coruja!

Mascara Alert

Mascara alert...get your tissues!

When closing out her Friday tour stop at the Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia, Beyoncé dedicated her song "Halo" to a young girl battling leukemia...check it out


Just look at that sweet little girl singing along with her...OMG!
I've love Beyonce! She showed real class with the Taylor Swift/Kayne incident and now this...way to go!

Bob Out

Agradecimentos

Muito obrigada à Sandra, Ida e Janice pelas dicas de compras em BH. Consegui quase tudo o que eu queria, só não consegui tudo porque cheguei tarde, quase na hora de fechar... Mas com o que eu comprei já conseguirei fazer muita coisa!

Beijos!

Agradecimentos

Muito obrigada à Sandra, Ida e Janice pelas dicas de compras em BH. Consegui quase tudo o que eu queria, só não consegui tudo porque cheguei tarde, quase na hora de fechar... Mas com o que eu comprei já conseguirei fazer muita coisa!

Beijos!

Streets of Rage series: Part 1

I’m going to review the Streets of Rage series. Three games have appeared in this series, so I’ll make 3 reviews. So naturally I’ll start with the first one. This game is very special to me, because I’ve played it a lot in my childhood. I always used to play it with friends. The other 2 games in the series I got with the Ultimate Sega Mega Drive Collection.

The game was released by Sega in 1991 on the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. Later on the game got released on the Sega Game Gear and Sega Master System as well.

Streets of Rage is a sidescroller beat-em-up and can be best compared to Double Dragon on the NES and Golden Axe on the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. You’re fighting on the streets in an unknown city against various enemies, such as criminals, punks and ninjas. These enemies have their own skills. The normal criminal attacks you with his fists or a melee-weapon, whilst the punks will try to throw you and the ninjas will try to kick you.

There are 3 difficulty levels in this game: Easy, Normal and Hard. When you play on Normal or Hard, you’ll encounter more enemies and they’ll do more damage.

The game doesn’t really have a storyline. You’re fighting on various spots. Luckily the creators did put in an intro: The mean streets of the big city are about to get even meaner. A huge crime syndicate led by the mysterious Mr. X has moved into town and has quickly infiltrated all levels of the local government. With chaos controlling the streets, it seems like life will never return to normal. All hope seems lost until three police officers decide that they’ve had enough. Adam Hunter, Alex Stone and Blaze Fielding turn in their badges and hit the streets to dish out some vigilante justice on the hoodlums that are terrorising the populace.

The game exists of 8 rounds which have a boss at the end of them (or 2 bosses, if you’re playing with a friend), except for round 7, where you’re going up in a big elevator. The fun part of this is that you can throw your enemies off the elevator. This means imminent death for enemies, of course. The surroundings vary between the centre of the city and a bridge. You also fight on a ship and in a factory. There are some bosses that you’ll encounter multiple times in this game. The bosses are inhumanly big, as a matter of fact, they’re about 1 and a half times bigger than you are. In the last level, you have to defeat every boss again before you can take on Mr. X. At the end, you can choose whether you work along with Mr. X or fight him, the first option is of course the easiest.

During the game you’ll find various melee-weapons as well, you can find the weapons in barrels, telephone cabins, bonfires and so on. Your enemies have weapons as well, sometimes. Some examples of these weapons are knives, beer bottles, baseball bats and iron pipes. These weapons make you dish out more damage, of course. The players receive points when they defeat an enemy and when reaching a certain amount of points you’ll be granted an extra life.

There are 3 characters you can use, Alex, Adam and Blaze, they each have their skills. Adam is strong and very good at jumpkicks, but he’s slower than the other 2 characters. Alex is faster than Adam but is worse at jumpkicks. Blaze is good at jumpkicks and she’s fast, but she isn’t as strong as Alex and Adam. Another thing these characters have, besides their standard moves, are special powers. If you activate it, a cop car will appear and will shoot at your enemies with a rocket launcher. Every normal enemy will get killed by this, but a boss can take a few of those attacks. You’ll only get one per life, if you’ve used them and you die, you’ll receive a new one.

One thing I find odd in this game, is that the criminals have taken over the streets without using a single firearm. If this would’ve happened in reality, this event would quickly come to a screeching halt. But, on the other hand, this isn’t a game where you should overthink the story, and besides that it’s a great game.

The graphics are okay. The graphics are by any means better than those of Alex Kidd, so that’s something positive. The soundtrack is very cool as well, the songs really fit with the game. Especially the song that plays on the background in bossfights, is one that I really love.

You just have to get your hands on this game. You could download a Sega emulator and play this game on your pc. But the graphics will really suffer from this, so I really discourage it. Streets of Rage is called differently in Japan, it’s called Bare Knuckle there, so if you’re interested in buying/importing the Japanese game, you’ll have to look for that title.

And the winners are...(Emmy recap)

Did you watch The Emmy Awards last night? I was disappointed Christina Applegate didn't win but other than that it was a pretty good show.

Here are my pics for best dressed...

Christina Applegate in Basil Soda. I don't care what anyone else thinks...I think she looks fabulous!

Jamie-Lynn Siegler in Donna Karen...HOT!..and she wore bling which seemed to missing from a lot of women this year...WTF?!

January Jones in Versace...Loved this dress :)

Debra Messing in Michael Kors...FLAWLESS


And the winners are...

Outstanding Drama Series: Mad Men

Outstanding Comedy Series: 30 Rock

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series: Bryan Cranston - Breaking Bad

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series: Alec Baldwin - 30 Rock

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series: Glenn Close - Damages

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series: Toni Collette - United States of Tara

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: Michael Emerson - Lost

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series: Jon Cryer - Two and a Half Men

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: Cherry Jones - 24

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series: Kristin Chenoweth - Pushing Daisies

Outstanding Reality Competition Program: The Amazing Race

Outstanding Reality Program: Intervention

Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality Competition Program: Jeff Probst - Survivor

Outstanding Miniseries: Little Dorrit

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie: Brendan Gleeson - Into the Storm

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie: Jessica Lange - Grey Gardens

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie: Ken Howard - Grey Gardens

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie: Shohreh Aghdashloo - House of Saddam

Outstanding Made for Television Movie: Grey Gardens

Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special: The Kennedy Center Honors

Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series: Rod Holcomb, "And in the End" - ER

Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series: "Meditations in an Emergency" - Mad Men

Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series: Jeff Blitz, "Stress Relief" - The Office

Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series: "Reunion" - 30 Rock

Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special: Dearbhla Walsh - Little Dorrit (Part 1)

Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special: Little Dorrit

Outstanding Directing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Series: Bruce Gowers, "Show 833" (The Final Three) - American Idol

Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Series: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Outstanding Directing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Special: Bucky Gunts - Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony

Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Special: Chris Rock - Kill The Messenger

Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series: Michael J. Fox - Rescue Me

Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series: Justin Timberlake - Saturday Night Live

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series: Ellen Burstyn - Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series: Tina Fey - Saturday Night Live

Outstanding Special Class Program: Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony


I gots to go...the 2 hour season premiere of "Heroes" is coming on

Bob Out!