text:
The other day, I managed to pull some downright miracles out of thin air.
One of the problems with the Tufts campus is that it is built upon a hill. Legend has it that
Tufts' founder Hosea Ballou II had the campus built upon Walnut Hill (one of the highest hills in the Boston area) so that Tufts folk could (literally) look down upon Harvard. The first building on campus was completed in 1854, entitled at the time "College Hall" (since renamed "Ballou Hall"). Today, this building is the central nexus of all things Tufts. The university has grown around the building and, as a result, around the hill.
But not just on one side of the hill, oh no, that would be far too easy. It has spread and spawned on both hillsides, creating a situation such that to get anywhere on campus you literally do have to walk uphill both ways. At one foot of the hill is the largest nexus of student parking. At the hill's peak various administration buildings. On the opposite hillside is the library (amongst other things). At the extreme opposite foot of the hill is Aidekman arts center, where my department is housed, and where all of my classes (and our personal Drama Graduate Lounge) are located.
Due to a series of applications, administrative red tape, and various things that I had to drop off/pick up in various places, I had to be in several locations in a short span of time.
Now. There is a parking lot directly next to Aidekman. This is extremely convenient on days when I just have to go to class and make no other stops. However, when I have to do any amount of printing (in the general graduate lounge), go to the library (to drop off/pick up books), or really do anything else on campus, I opt to park in the WAYFARAWAY lot to ensure that my chores actually get done in the process of going to/coming from my car.
The other day I had to: stop at the administrative building to drop off a funding application, stop at the library to drop off some books, stop at the experimental college to drop off an application for a class that I'm proposing to teach next semester, go to class, stop at the library on the way back up the hill on the way to my car to pick up some books, then head to my car in time to head home.
To make matters worse, I was in a bit of a time crunch because my dance partner was due to show up at 6 PM. My classes usually get out around 4:30, leaving me plenty of time to run a few tawdry errands and skid home just before 5. It takes me about an hour to go from academic chic to ballroom dancer (including a dinner break).
Timing was going to be tight.
To complicate things further, I had to swing by the grocery store on my way home to pick up some bits and bobs for dinner. And then my class let out twenty minutes late. And then my dance partner texted that he'd be at my house about a half hour early because the combined forces of traffic and his job had treated him particularly well that day.
Keep calm and carry on?
Someone with a cosmic time-turner must have realized that this simply wasn't going to work, because as I was trying to sprint up the hill with an armful of books, figure out what I was going to wear that night, and compile my grocery list simultaneously, apparently the streets of Arlington became a veritable parking lot. I skidded to a halt at home with enough time to spare that I was able to chew my food, and my partner ran late enough that I was actually ready to go when he arrived.
We were on time to the dance (which was a trip in itself, by the by; a ballroomful of sixty and seventy year old couples who could quickstep and tango like pros all dressed in their cocktail best… I felt like I had stepped into some weird Gatsbeian time warp). I got all my chores done. Nobody collapsed due to blood sugar issues from not being fed vis a vis time crunch. And my gluts are none-the-sadder.
Now to figure out how to fit in everything I have on my plate before I leave for the National Gothic Fiction Conference next Thursday…


text:
Reds Sign Sean Casey; Pete Rose Jr.
Published 7:00 pm, Monday, January 7, 2002
All-Star first baseman Sean Casey and the Cincinnati Reds agreed Tuesday to a $4 million, one-year contract.
Casey, 27, hit .310 with 13 home runs and 89 RBI's last season and led the Reds in games played (145) and seven offensive categories.
The Reds still have four players eligible for salary arbitration: third baseman Aaron Boone, pitchers Danny Graves and Scott Williamson and outfielder Juan Encarnacion.
The Reds also signed Pete Rose Jr. to a minor league contract. Rose has spent 13 years in the minors with six different organizations, earning just one major league promotion.
He played 11 games with the Reds in September 1997.

subset: commoncrawl


text: Carsten Haitzler (The Rasterman) wrote: >> gry* doesnt use dropshadow, it was one of the forst thigs i kicked out, >> gry* uses a white outline on black text. >> but thats something thats bugging me. i have to make some tests... >> > > even that can be slow. in this case, the text will be drawn 5 times to produce > that effect. > rater, would you mind to elaborate? (is outline the fastest effect if you want to enable the user to set a custom background while maintaining the labels readable?)


text:
First Rejection
So, now that I've got my first rejection letter (a really, really short form rejection letter from Tor), I should be depressed, right?
Well, I'm not. I mean, it hurts, but I mean, duh. I didn't have illusions about it. It would have been nice to have been accepted, but let's come on people, crap like this gets published, so obviously previous publication is about a thousand times more important than writing ability. (I'm not recommending that book by the way. By fourth book, when I knew that every conversation had to be repeated by every major male and female character before the plot could progress, so every time something was said I groaned.)
So, obviously the next place I turn is Eos, who published Convergence by Sharon Green.
The real problem is, the book that I'm submitting is part of my baby, and usually the book, movie, song that is the artist's baby sucks. Now, granted, I don't think that "Endless Light" (which is the working title of the series, and is better sounding than the throw away title I made up for the book submission) sucks, but how would I know. No one ever thinks that their own writing sucks.
Granted, Mike and Jeff liked it. But they liked the ideas. How well I'm translating that onto the page is debatable.
And, you know. I'm kinda okay with the idea that I got a rejection letter. It would have been cool to be accepted on my first try submitting, but that's not realistic. Maybe within twenty?
Also, I should really work on a couple of short stories and shop them around. Now, all I have to do is find a magazine that publishes gay-themed science fiction, and I'm set.
Labels: problems, publishing


text:
Liam tweeted: "If you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all tbh I don't have time for people being out right nasty for no reason..." He added, "Just because u have a twitter doesn't give u a free ticket to write horrible stuff about people..."
We're so with you, Liam. He continued: "I see it on here everyday people writing vicious things about each other wish we could all just b nice to each other and get along night x." And if you think his rant ended there, he carried it into the next day, writing: "Morning everyone please don't be sending hate to people that's never what I want to sit here and watch arguments all day so let's calm down."
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Gallery | Liam and Niall at Knicks Game


text:
If you want to add some more bling to your motors then touch space with the renowned brand Asanti. With peerless expertise in the realm of producing rims for blazing cars, the brand enjoys the reputation of maintaining the highest database of rappers experiencing its services.
Asanti has exposed the world's most expensive rims. Featured at SEMA auto show, these four tire rims are packed with 110,000 carats of unadulterated jewels and is retailed at pricey $1,000,000. A complementary Bentley Continental GT is what makes the deal worth signing.
Via Lussorian


text:
TERRENCE McNALLY: First of all, this is an opera, not a documentary. There's a sequence where the prisoner and Sister Helen talk about Elvis Presley. That's not in the book. I don't know if Sister Helen has any feeling for Elvis Presley. But it seemed right for me. So this is an opera suggested by, inspired by Dead Man Walking. It is not a documentary, which is a very important point. The other challenge is that there are living people. I think opera just raises the stakes, in the sense they become, not mythological, but archetypal when we see them in an opera. And the book, which is an extraordinary book, which I read before I ever saw the film, is really about two cases. Two men that Sister Helen counseled. The screenplay and our version make up a composite in a way. It also makes up a character of a fictitious prisoner. So, what you hope when you adapt or translate anyone's work to the theater, is that you keep the spirit of it. One of the last things I did in New York was the book for the musical Ragtime and I very much cared about preserving the tone of Doctorow's novel. There's no way you could put every chapter and every incident in that novel - even though it's a slender novel - it's very dense in what happens - into a three-hour show. So you just try to choose the right incidents. The same with the opera.
Music makes everything very, very long. Of the libretto I gave Jake Heggie, the composer, I would be surprised if more than 60 percent was actually set, because the music makes it longer and longer. So Jake then is choosing what he thinks is the essence of each scene. So most opera librettos if you printed it out would seem rather short, though our opera is probably going to be about two and a half hours long when it's done. So it's a question of compression and just hoping you chose. Is this the scene that advances a story, heightens the emotion? Is it the right one and not a waste of time... but always doing the right thing? And you just have to go on an instinct that you've chosen well and that you and the composer have the same or are reading off the same chart.
How did you decide to write the libretto in contemporary English? That breaks wildly with operatic tradition.
When I was asked to write an opera, the first thing I said was, "I'm not a poet." The 19th-century opera librettos that most of us are very familiar with and hear time and time again, when we go to the opera and love, those were poetic. I write very much contemporary vernacular American English. And I said to Jake, "This is how I write. Is that all right with you? If you're looking for someone to write a poetic libretto, I'm the wrong guy." I don't think people talk poetically in this situation they find themselves in. It's the music that's going to add the dimension of the poetry. But I'm very curious also to see how music is going to sit with contemporary American language. It's also going to be projected up above the proscenium on the titles, and I'm very aware from the workshop we've been doing, being sung, the language seems more important than it does if you just read it on the page.
So I'm going over every word as carefully as I can but still not changing it into a , quote, poetic drama. So in a libretto I think the job is to provide good architecture for the poet, for the composer. The words in a funny way are less important than the situation or what the character is saying, that's my belief. I'm making it sound like a rule. No. For Terrence McNally the important thing is that the words be honest and of the moment and, not get arty and, keep it moving and - I think this is a contemporary American opera. We're not writing in the style of Mozart or Verdi or Wagner. We're writing for today.
And Jake has said he's found my words very easy to set. Occasionally he'll say, "Can we change a word because I want to have a high note here and singers find this sound very difficult while they're trying to hit a B." And we work that way. During the workshop I've said to the singers, if you have problems with the word or the way something is phrased let me know. But there have been very, very few complaints in that department, and I think that's a tribute to Jake - that he sets the words so the emphasis is always right and it doesn't seem arbitrary. It seems a logical way to have set the sentence. So maybe Jake and I just are a good team. Or this subject has made us a good team.
You're an acclaimed playwright. Was it difficult to have to collaborate with a composer?
It was very simple. I gave Jake a two-act play called Dead Man Walking. It was unlike a play I would have written, in that I knew it would be sung, so I gave him situations that I would not write for a dramatic piece where all the words are spoken. A perfect example would be Sister Helen's first aria, when she's in a car on a very hot day, in a little black Datsun, making the three-hour drive to Angola penitentiary to meet Joseph de Rocher. In the theater, I would not have a character talking out loud that way. I have yet to write that kind of play. But I knew this would be sung, and I thought it would provide him with enough fuel for an aria. Then of those words, he probably set anywhere from 50 to 70 percent of them. But he couldn't set all of them. It would just make it too long. Mainly, though, I said to him, "Here are the words, if you want to change 'but' to 'maybe' or invert the order of a sentence" - I live in New York and Jake lives in San Francisco- "You don't have to call me about all that. If there's something I don't like that you've done, I will tell you." But I gave him the libretto and said go from there, with the architecture to provide him with the inspiration to write his music. We had very little collaborating in the sense of should she say this, should he do that. No. He was very pleased with what I gave him.
Was it frightening, writing your first opera?
Dead Man Walking is Jake's first opera, and Joe Mantello's. Not Michael Yeargan's or Patrick Summers' or any of the singers, so only the three of us. But I think when people are wonderfully gifted how much fun it is to be in on their first opera not their 20th. I've worked with so many young people. Someone gave me a chance when I was 23 or 24 years old, when my first play was done so it's what I think my generation does for the next generation. You say, "Come on. Talent is talent. It's ageless." But I really like to know what's happening, and I listened to a lot of Jake's music, his vocal music, before we did this, so I had no doubt that he was going to be able to write an opera. And I guess he'd seen enough of my plays to know that maybe I could write a libretto. But people, because I've written Master Class and Lisbon Traviata, seem to think I'm some sort of opera expert. I'm not. I'm just an opera fan who has lots of opinions, which are based on nothing but my own taste. I am not an authority on the human voice. I can't read music. I just started taking piano lessons a year ago and I'm really struggling with my little Bach. I can play "La Pensiere" from Nabuco. That's pretty exciting. Sometimes I can play it. Sometimes I forget it. But this is an adventure - and it's so great at 60 to be asked to write your first opera. I turned 60 this year - so it's very exciting.
As an opera fan, you must have been thrilled when you were asked to write this libretto.
My love of opera makes me very excited about doing a project like this. It also makes me very humble. It's very difficult, I think, to write a good opera libretto. I think all of the great operas have very strong librettos. And I think some operas have faltered because the storytelling isn't very clear to an audience, where the characters are hard to care about no matter how beautiful the music is. I do think and I've always believed that opera is a form of theater, some would say the highest form. That's a pointless argument, but it's theater. You've got to keep the attention of those 1,800 people, whatever the size of the theater is. You've got to keep them in their seats, not twitching. Caring about what's going to happen next. Same thing when you're writing a play. You've got to tell a story that keeps the people around the campfire interested in what you're telling them. It's sort of like back in the Boy Scouts when the Scout leader would tell us stories and sometimes we'd get very restless but other times we'd want to know what's going to happen.


text:
Sapporo, Hokkaido is the northernmost island of Japan. Because of the cold weather, hot and rich ramen is more popular here than in Honshu. A bowl of Ramen in Hokkaido satisfies your appetite as it contains plenty of noodles and other ingredients. This is a characteristic of ramen in Hokkaido.
About Ramen Sora:
Ramen Sora is one of the most popular Ramen Noodle Shops in Sapporo, Japan. Sora's miso Ramen features a broth that combines miso and is blended with oily pork broth to create a thick, nutty, slightly sweet and very hearty soup.
Also visit our sister restaurant – Sushi Twister
Grand Opening – Our newest restaurant – Hachi Japanese Yakitori Izakaya
located in Chinatown on Jones and open late till 2:30am


text:
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text: Zero aids infection poster-06 Nov 8, 2012 « World AIDS day poster Leave a Reply Cancel Your Name * Your Email * Your Website Security Question: What is 3 + 15 ? Please leave these two fields as-is: IMPORTANT! To be able to proceed, you need to solve the following simple math (so we know that you are a human) :-)


text:
With Margaret's passing, her students from all over the world have written tributes about how Margaret had changed and touched their lives.
I am an energy from the world beyond yours. I have walked the Earth plane just as you are doing in this incarnation. I, like you, had to overcome my fears, doubts and insecurities to learn my lessons on my pathway to ascension from the Earth plane.
Margaret has been featured in over 500 media publications, been a radio show host and done numerous radio and TV segments. She also has authored five books. Her travels with Maitreya have taken her around the world, from a channeled talk at the United Nations in New York, to Europe, North America, Asia and now India. Read more about Margaret
Maitreya.co is a forum for Maitreya to bring his teachings of Wisdom for Today, Answers for Tomorrow to the world. Through Maitreya's teachings and messages, it is the purpose of this website to educate, inform, uplift and inspire. Maitreya is often referred to as the World Teacher. He has stated numerous times, "I am just a teacher and through the Internet I can touch the world". Read more about Maitreya.co
Maitreya's teachings boiled down to 13 major points. Each one of the essences is connected to Maitreya's writings on related subjects. Read more about Essences
Contact us to sign up for an event, with a question or to find out more about Maitreya. Visit the contact form


text:
Modern Theology: Confession and Controversy
10 Units
Understanding any attempt to speak of 'God' is crucial in a world where religion continues to play an important part in Western societies. As Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor observes, in the contemporary West it is no longer the case that belief in 'God' is the default setting, and no longer do the majority opt to embrace one of the more 'traditional' religious forms of life. In fact, the present climate is characterised by the availability of a variety of religious options, movements, or ways of life. In this context, what does it mean to speak of 'God' when 'god' is a word that is used to describe all manner of things? This course will examine the development of the understandings of 'God' in the modern period. Students will gain a clear understanding of the key writers on the subject, and will be expected to identify the evolution of theological thinking and factors which have contributed to major changes in theology today.
|Faculty of Education and Arts
|School of Humanities and Social Science
Not currently offered
Previously offered in 2014
|Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this course students will be able to: 1. Understand the main developments that have occurred in the modern understanding of 'God'; 2. Critically analyse key movements in modern theology today; 3. Reflect upon and synthesise the practical meaning of modern theological claims; 4. Demonstrate advanced writing, research and information technology skills appropriate to studies in religion and theology.
This course will examine the development of the understandings of 'God' in theology today.
|Replacing Course(s)
|Students who have previously completed THEO3002 will not be permitted to enrol in RELT3010. Other third-year options are available for these students.
|Assumed Knowledge
|RELT1010 Introducing Theology OR HUMA1010 The World's Great Thinkers OR RELT2010 The Many Faces of Jesus
|Assessment Items
|Contact Hours
|2018 Course Timetables for RELT3010
Contact us for advice on how to apply, enrol, or for more information.


text:
Update 12:20 p.m. Discussion of the Golden Gate Bridge bike speed limits proposal has been tabled for now. Bay City News reports.
Golden Gate Bridge officials agreed today to put off deciding on a proposal to set a 10 mph speed limit for bicyclists on the bridge until more input can be gathered from the Bay Area cycling community.
Several people who spoke at the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District board's Building and Operating Committee meeting today expressed surprise and resentment that they hadn't been consulted earlier, even though the concept has been considered for about a year.
The goal of the proposal is to reduce accidents on the bridge.
Earlier post
The Golden Gate Bridge's Building and Operating Committee is discussing a proposal to impose a speed limit for bicycles on the bridge, along with accompanying fines. The committee will decide whether to forward the proposal to the full board for consideration at its May 13 meeting.
You can read the full proposal here. The three components that are attracting the most attention:
1. Adopt a 10 mile per hour speed limit for bicyclists on the east and west sidewalks, with a 5 mile per hour speed limit around the Bridge towers and in construction and maintenance zones on the sidewalks
2. Adopt a 10 mile per hour bicycle speed limit on all pathways used by bicyclists to access the Bridge sidewalks
3. Implement a fine schedule for the California Highway Patrol's (CHP) use that
provides that a violation of the bicycle speed limits results in a $100 fine per offense for the infraction, and continue to work with CHP regarding the mechanism of enforcement through the Superior Courts in both Marin and San Francisco counties.
KQED News intern Becky Palmstrom yesterday spoke to Hunter Ziesing, executive director of the cycling group Z teaM, and Mary Currie, a spokesman for the Golden Gate Bridge about the proposal.
Ziesling said he supports the plan, as "cyclists go way too fast across the bridge." But he thinks the proposed speed limits are too slow and is opposed to the imposition of fines.
Listen to ZteaM's Hunter Ziesing on the bike speed limit proposal[audio:http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2011/04/GGBikesBiker.mp3|titles=GGBikesBiker]
Bridge spokeswoman Mary Currie said that the proposal grew out of a study that showed speed as a factor in 39% of biking accidents on the span. She said any fine money would go to San Francisco or Marin, not the bridge.
Listen to GG Bridge's Mary Currie on the proposal


text: Eclipse Community Forums - RDF feed https://www.eclipse.org/forums/ Eclipse Community Forums Where Is The Documentation and Examples For Eclipselink Exceptions especially Persistence Exception https://www.eclipse.org/forums/index.php/mv/msg/350867/868400/#msg_868400 Caused by: Exception [EclipseLink-4002]" which is close to useless (especially as this universal 4002 seems to be just a general sql exception that can encompass a number of issues). If I could find good documentation on how to handle these exceptions it would be great. There are a ton of web sites telling how to use eclipselink and JPA and they are all happy path scenarios. Not one I've found says how to trap and derive meaningful information from eclipselink exceptions. It is quite common for database interactions to bump into unique constraints etc. In fact I have found a number of issues on forums with this same problem and people trying to hack something from the native error message that usually also show up. But the PersistenceException is supposed to remove the need to do this, and it is not a good idea to do regardless. So please, let me know what you know in terms of exception handling. Regards, b]]> Bill R 2012-05-01T22:22:01-00:00 Re: Where Is The Documentation and Examples For Eclipselink Exceptions especially Persistence Except https://www.eclipse.org/forums/index.php/mv/msg/350867/869520/#msg_869520 The SQLException will have the databases error code in it. You can access the cause for any exception using getCause(). ]]> James Sutherland 2012-05-03T14:25:19-00:00


text: I'm annoyed that we cannot figure out a set of newt and slang libs (including the -pic stuff) which can be used to reliably build this stuff. As such I'm turning off i18n for now. Here's what I had installed on the breaking builds: libnewt-dev 0.50.17-7.3 libnewt-utf8-0 0.50.17-7.3 slang1 1.4.4-6 slang1-utf8 1.4.4-6 slang1-utf8-dev 1.4.4-6 slang1-utf8-pic 1.4.4-6 This seems like a reasonable set of stuff for i18n builds, but it causes the segmentation faults. I got a static strace on the rootdisks and this is the strace ending: open("/release_notes.en", O_RDONLY) = 4 read(4, "Software in "..., 1094) = 1094 close(4) = 0 select(4, [3], NULL, NULL, {0, 0}) = 0 (Timeout) brk(0x8077000) = 0x8077000 getpid() = 795 ioctl(0, SNDCTL_TMR_TIMEBASE, {B38400 -opost isig -icanon -echo ...}) = 0 --- SIGSEGV (Segmentation fault) --- If someone could track this down it would be very good. -- ...Adam Di Carlo..<email@example.com>...<URL:http://www.onshored.com/>


text:
China car sales mai increase by up to 10 percent in 2013, despite fears of new government policies to limit car ownership, according to a report from the South China Morning Post cited by Just-auto.com.
China sales rose last year by 4.3 percent to 19.3 million, half the forecast of 8-10 percent by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). The trade association sees average growth of 7 percent this year due to the improving mainland economy and stabilising fuel prices.
The Chinese government is trying to limit growth in car ownership because of worsening pollution and traffic jams. LMC Automotive told the South China Morning Post that if commercial trucks were excluded, the growth could reach 10 percent in 2013. Commercial trucks made up less than 2 percent of the market last year.
Only 10 Chinese carmarkers reached their 2012 sales target in the country, according to sales figures released by the top 25 domestic carmakers. On the other hand, foreign carmakers continued their expansion.
Hyundai targets sales of 1.47 million cars this year, which would put it ahead of General Motors and SAIC, which are expected to raise 2013's sales target to 1.45 million.


text:
Maldives Pleasure Island
Author: leo schofield
Photography: anson smart
The white speedboat cleaves through the dark sea under a star-spangled sky, illuminated from time to time by flashes of sheet lighting. It's travelling so fast its prow is at a good 35-degree angle to the sea. After half an hour it slows, its path through the darkness marked by a sequence of small red and green lights. It slides to the pier. You took off your shoes when you boarded and the sight of the welcoming party, each member barefoot, indicates that you will not have to put them on again until you leave. Gingerly you step out on to the decking and then on to silvery sand. Chilled towel and an icy welcome drink await. The air is warm and lightly scented. Frangipani? Or just the smell of fresh air and salt? You are at Huvafen Fushi, labelled the most beautiful resort in the world - although the world as you know it seems thousands of kilometres away from this Maldivian paradise.
The brainchild of Australians Tom McLoughlin (a former hotel GM) and his wife Jane Quinn, Huvafen Fushi's groundbreaking underwater spa put this luxury resort on the map. And its constant evolution - since its July 2004 opening the resort has seen additions such as a quirky underwater cellar and improvements to the aforementioned spa - ensure it will hold its position as one of the world's most exclusive destinations.
In the evening you stand quietly by Huvafen Fushi's infinity pool - one that for once justifies that appellation - the panorama of ocean extending so far towards the horizon that it seems to dematerialise and merge imperceptibly with the sky above. A thousand tiny fibre-optic pinpoints of twinkling and shimmering light set in the tessellated tiles of the pool floor mimic the stars above. If this be paradise…
Can there really be almost 100 people staying here? One sees few of them, at least during the day. A Japanese couple snorkelling on the house reef that encloses the lagoon, a curly-headed two year old inspecting the baby turtles in a hatchery, some of the adorable, eternally smiling staff gliding from bungalow to bungalow to sweep smooth the Frette sheets or replenish the supply of bottled water.
At night it's different. From bungalow and beach cabin emerge the guests who've been private all day, swaying in a hammock, reading between intermittent plunges into a private pool, napping. Now assembled, shoeless, shampooed, conditioned and comprehensively pampered, they sit around the pool, looking as shiny as its still surface. A lobster buffet is set out in the sand. A band plays a cool, easy island sound. There is wine. Wonderful wine. Food and beverage manager Sunny Chuang is a serious oenophile, travelling to France annually to scoop up first-growth Bordeaux and sumptuous Burgundies. And being Australian, he makes sure our best wines are showcased there. Chuang has put together a selection that would shame many a restaurant in Melbourne or Sydney, where he worked as sommelier at Bel Mondo.
You dine. You drink. You chat. You take a barefoot walk along the boardwalk to your bungalow and you sleep the sleep of the blessed. And thus life proceeds. There is not a lot to do at Huvafen Fushi apart from kicking back and that's why it's so damned popular. Kate Moss and Elizabeth Hurley swap catwalk and collection chaos for the caressing calm of this place. John Galliano retreats here to shuck off the stress of conjuring up yet another couture collection. So does Stefano Gabbana. So do other interesting folk from a dozen countries who have heard that this is the place that epitomises unwinding.
You may snorkel until you drop, engage in other strenuous physical pursuits (jet skis are available but directed to a stretch of water that's well out of earshot) but better you should lay back and stay calm. Which brings us to the spa and what are rather clinically described as 'treatments'. This may summon to the mind images of fat Europeans taking the 'cure' (another word with medicinal connotations) at a fashionable 19th-century spa, but taking the waters and taking to the water are two entirely different concepts. Imagine this. You traverse a long boardwalk that snakes out into the ocean. At the end is a symmetrical building with a large central mass and smaller wings to the side. This is the spa. Huvafen Fushi style. Your therapist shows you where to shed your quotidian shorts and T-shirt, instructs you to shower and slip into a cotton robe and then, like a handmaiden at the Temple of Calm, guides you to a personal cabin. You lie on a massage table, face down. Through the hole in the headrest you see that there is a large panel of glass in the floor through which you can watch fish flutter about in the aquamarine water below.
The air fills with the heady scent of lemon verbena and the ritual begins. For the next two hours you are the recipient of a barrage of sensory experiences; warm oil, a gritty salt scrub, anointing with silken creams, a body wrap. Stripped to basics, what the spa delivers is a sybaritic physical experience that makes the recipient feel nothing short of fabulous. And after it's over, you descend to an underwater lounge - a recent addition to the ever-evolving haven of calm - where you can watch more fish, a wall full of them in colours so eye-popping they could have been ordered up from the aquatic division of Central Casting as extras forFinding Nemo II.
If these remarkable and often unique techniques for rejuvenating a body provide one strong and persuasive reason for visiting, the other equally powerful pull of the place is the food and wine.
Sometimes it can be hard to differentiate resort food from airline food, but in establishing this resort, McLoughlin and Quinn sought out like-minded colleagues. Enter Mark Hehir. Although now veering toward management, Melbourne-born Hehir trained as a chef. London's Dorchester and Hilton operations in Kuala Lumpur, Colombo and Tokyo were his training grounds, followed by a stint at a resort in the Maldives where McLoughlin was also working. Bingo. Since then the world has become their oyster. McLoughlin is constantly chasing new opportunities in his corner of the world, dreaming up new ideas to help his flagship resort and its siblings stay ahead of the pack. He's hired celebrity DJ Ravin of Paris's acclaimed Buddha Bar. He's also commissioned a luxury yacht to cruise between his three Indian Ocean resorts.
Taking the plunge into hotel development - and leaving a well-paid and successful career as a hotel GM to do so - was a risk, but one that McLoughlin and Quinn were prepared to take. "After Tom left his job, we travelled like gypsies for 12 months with our son Billy, looking at what people did right and what they did wrong in resorts in tropical locations around the world," Quinn says. "We worked on a concept that combined everything that we personally as a couple would want from a resort experience. That concept is now Huvafen Fushi."
But Quinn and McLoughlin are not prepared to rest on their laurels, despite the worldwide accolades their Maldivian paradise has received. "We are all about evolution and staying ahead of our competitors. We weren't 100 per cent happy with the spa's finish, so we refurbed it," says Quinn. "It's now a lot more cutting edge, curvaceous, cavernous. We created a relaxation area for people to sit pre- and post-treatment and embrace their surrounds. We are completely happy with where it is now. The feedback has been phenomenal."
People are talking, too, about Huvafen Fushi's dining scene. There's no central feeding station. There's one for breakfast and occasional grazing, of course, but the satellite restaurants and eating spaces are a major point of dining depature. You can eat Indian at Cardamom Lounge, an outdoor dining room with the trees overhead lit up as if for a permanent Diwali, the centrepiece a tandoor oven sunk into the sand.
Then there's Raw, with light food such as chicken breast poached in oolong tea with a cocktail of coconut milk, mango and pineapple. And there's fine dining, too, the aforementioned underground cellar being the ultimate on offer. In the 18th century, grandees built follies in the form of ruined castles or Greek temples or shell-encrusted grottoes. McLoughlin's folly is his underground cellar with a round table of Arthurian proportions. Floor-to-ceiling backlit racks are stacked with wines from four corners of the world. On the floor are cases branded with names of the great houses of France, Mouton Rothschild, d'Yquem, Latour and Cheval Blanc, alongside magnums, double magnums, imperials, jeroboams. It's bizarre to be sitting in a cellar below sea level in the middle of the Indian Ocean drinking the same wines as are being simultaneously poured at l'Ambroisie in Paris, Gordon Ramsay in London and Jean-Georges in Manhattan, as your tootsies are warmed by hot stones on the floor, an island version of the hot-water bottle.
Meanwhile, there's an even more extravagant way to enjoy Huvafen Fushi. Check in at the small sister resort, Dhoni Mighili, board your own personal dhoni (McLoughlin built six of these traditional Maldivian fishing boats and equipped them with air conditioning, smart Smeg fridges stuffed with bubbly and raft-sized beds) and sail to HF, sunning en route on the vast lounge on deck. A double whammy of luxe if ever there was one.
And there's much more to come. McLoughlin and Quinn, under the Per Aquum banner, will open Zil Pasyon, a Seychelles resort that's "a level above Huvafen Fushi", in 2008. Two new Maldivian escapes - a wellness retreat and a family-friendly luxury tented camp - are in the pipeline and a luxe Marrakesh property is under way. A Dubai hotel is weeks away from opening. The boutique 24-room Desert Palm - an oasis in an Arabian desert full of mega-room monoliths - is a world away from their previous island-based ventures.
"Initially we focused on desired locations surrounded by water," says Quinn. "But then we found a desert and thought, 'why restrict ourselves?'." Indeed.
Huvafen Fushi is at North Malé Atoll, Maldives,
visit www.huvafenfushi.com. Prices range from about
$1000 per person for a night in a Beach Bungalow to about $5000 for
a night in an Ocean Pavilion.
Getting there
Singapore Airlines flies from Sydney to Singapore three times daily and daily from Singapore to Malé. Australians will be among the first to experience the A380 superjumbo when Singapore Airlines begins the world's first A380 scheduled service between Singapore and Sydney later this year. Contact 13 10 11 or visit www.singaporeair.com.au.
The resort is a 30-minute speedboat ride or a 15-minute chartered seaplane transfer from Malé International Airport.


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I've recently been hearing a lot about this new company called Pays 2X5, and I've decided to take a detailed look at who they are and what they have to offer.
I am sure like myself, many of you would also like to know more about this new company. Even more so if you are looking to invest in them.
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What Is Pays 2X5?
This is another one of those MLM companies that doesn't give any information about those running the company. They also do not have any "about us" page, this is a very bad sign.
On close inspections, I saw that they had a few banner ads from Pays4Ever. When I went to their site, the site contents looked very similar. It's either they have copied the contents from Pays4Ever or both are run by the same people.
Looking at the domain registration I can see that this was registered in January 2017 using an Australian address. However, I cannot confirm whether or not the address is actually real.
They receive half of their web traffic from the UK. Other countries with noticeable traffic contributions are the USA, India, Nigeria and Indonesia.
That is all I could find about the company. Let's check their products!
Products Offered By Pays 2X5
They do not have any physical or digital products. When you join as an affiliate member, you can advertise your membership with provided ad credits.
The Pays 2X5 Compensation Plan
You can join their compensation plan by investing just $2. You will then be put onto their 2×5 matrix. This has 3 tiers, though. Every tier requires you to invest more money upfront and the payout opportunity is also increases exponentially.
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For moving forward to each level you will also receive ad credits to promote your downline membership.
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Phase 1
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- Level 1 – Invest $200 then receive $400 from 2 members
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- Level 3 – Invest $ 800 then receive $6400 from 8 members
- Level 4 – Invest $3000 then receive $48,000 from 16 members
- Level 5 – Invest $10,000 then receive $320,000 from 32 members
This way for a total investment of $15,873 you can potentially earn $417,360
Final Verdict On Pays 2X5
Pays 2X5 offers classic MLM structure in a 2×5 matrix. They mixed the MLM schemes with cash gifting and ad promotion.
The lack of background information is a red flag for me, no matter how solid the scheme is. Pays 2X5 is no different.
They do not have any visible earning source to keep their site and business running.
The only way for them to earn is through selling ad credits. However, this also decreases with the decline of popularity. I have seen companies disappear with the affiliates money before their designated withdrawal date arrives.
Overall it does not seem to be a dependable company to invest your money in. However, the choice is ultimately yours to make.
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Joan E. O'Donnell, age 75, beloved wife of the late Edward F. Jr. for 55 years; loving mother of Joan "Beth" (Tom) Thompson, Eileen (Jim) Ross, Mark (Teri) and Kellie (Frank) Cismoski; proud grandma of Courtney (Matt) Schindler, Katie (Colin) Garvey, Meghan, Shannon, Tony, Ryan, Nicole, Lauren, Jaclyn, Luke, Tommy, Charlie and Julia; cherished great- grandma of Declan, Gavin and Aiden; devoted sister of Richard (Judy) Schryver and Donna (Don) Sneddon; also loved by many nieces and nephews.
Funeral Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. from theBrady-Gill FuneralHome, 2929 W. 87th St., Evergreen Park, to St. Bernadette Church.
Mass 10 a.m. Entombment Holy Sepulchre Mausoleum of the Archangels.


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By Ishaan . November 4, 2010 . 6:31pm
Do you ever think about how videogame music is some of the most catchy out there? There are times when you can loop a game's soundtrack over and over or constantly hear, say, an RPG battle theme and not tire of it.
Famed Nintendo composer, Koji Kondo, talks about he, personally, achieves this in a new Iwata Asks interview with three of Nintendo's composers in celebration of the Super Mario All-Stars Collector's Edition:
Iwata: Wow… I suppose lots of people all around the world are listening to the music in Mario games all the time. When you play a video game, you listen to the music the whole time, because it repeats. Usually, no matter how much you like a song, if you just keep listening to it over and over again, you get sick of it.
Yokota: Yeah.
Iwata: Why is it okay with video game music?
Kondo: It's hard to put into words, but I try to make music that people can listen to over and over again without getting sick of. Then when I think I'm finished, I do this… (closing his eyes and leaning back in his chair) …and listen to it for hours on end. Sometimes I even dance to the rhythm.
Iwata: So when you can listen to it for hours, it's done as far as you're concerned.
Kondo: Right. And when I can't do that, I know there must be something wrong with it.
Following this bit of talk is a very interesting segment on the idea of positive reinforcement, using music in a game to make the player keep wanting to move forward and make progress.
Kondo then goes on to comment on a bunch of different Mario tunes from over the years that are included on the soundtrack CD that comes with Super Mario All-Stars Collector's Edition.
Image sourced from Nintendo's Iwata Asks segment.
Unfortunately as the years progressed, music in Mario games has not done so well or changed with the times. Truly there is something to be said when people only remember the original songs of the first Mario game and not something in like Super Mario Galaxy .He needs to incorporate vocals in his songs and add some pop~ish type beats to it. Or do like the remixers have done and incorporate some good ole modern orchestrated jazz into the songs. The songs need to be fast paced and catchy and that would make you want to get up and dance (hm reminds me of TK…) I would also like to see, for future boss battles, if he incorporated some truly heavy metal rock type influence was present with vocals. Im of the believe that in games, across the board that battle should have that type of music (I mean, imagine pokemon with heavy metal music for the battles, now that would be awesome, or Zelda with it too, that would have been a great touch to Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks)I think most of the songs in Wind Waker though, were his most awesome work.
"…imagine pokemon with heavy metal music for the battles, now that would be awesome…"I don't wish to imagine a more ill-matched pair. Heavy metal? With -Pokemon-? Might as well have Vivaldi playing in Gears of War! (…Actually, I would personally enjoy a brief bit of that sort of dissonance) "Im of the believe that in games, across the board that battle should have that type of music."What, that's terrible. Take, say, Ico or Shadow of the Colossus. Replacing the music with heavy metal during battles would kill the atmosphere. Take Paper Mario, it would be completely ill-fitting. Different styles of games need to have different music. You can't tell me that Nethack, Paper Mario, Eternal Sonata, Tomba, and Planescape: Torment should all have the same style of music."Truly there is something to be said when people only remember the original songs of the first Mario game and not something in like Super Mario Galaxy ."Wait, so the first incarnation of a franchise is the most enduring and iconic part? Shocking!
I've heard a heavy metal version of the Pokemon battle theme and it sounds quite good actually.
Here it is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSKxTqDvsas
You're right. That was awesome. A lot better than beeps
Oh, I'm sure that a heavy metal version of a Pokemon song could be quite good.
But I also don't think it would fit in the game itself.
Eternal Sonata is an exception because it used music from Chopin's life, and that had Motoi Sakuraba music, if I recall, which is simply stunning.
I do not see how the type of music would be ill-fitting for RPGs' battles. Why play some somber happy go lucky music in battles, when in most instances we are vanquishing enemies, killing them, are simply making them "faint." In all instances that is not something I imagine to be a cheery moment. The music should be pumped up, powerful, and make one in a mood to actually take care of enemies. The music should sound dark and gritty, tough and brutal.
It is shocking that for a series with over what is it 20 or something games, that people still just remember the original song. Whats that say about the other games? It shows that their music either, just doesnt compare, or has failed to evolve and keep track of modern times. It isnt like it is new people who are new to videogames or have ever encountered whatever the original mario game was on, to be singing the song, it is just the first few people who play games in those times. The music just doesnt capture the hearts of today's mainstream videogamers.
Way to miss the point. It's appropriate for -some- RPG's battles. Not all of them.In Paper Mario, for example, battles are not a "dark and gritty" or "tough and brutal" experience. They are fun and whimsical, with cheerful cartoon characters beating each other into puffs of smoke and coins. Likewise, in Pokemon, most battles are primarily for sport or simple wildlife encounters. The music intensifies for important battles, such as against gym leaders, villains, and the Elite 4, but never would I describe the experience of Pokemon to be "brutal" or "gritty," and the music shouldn't describe it that way, either.Nor should the Evil Pig battles in Tomba use heavy metal. It would be completely out of place in such a whimsical, adventurous game.Meanwhile, Planescape: Torment is an extremely somber game. While it's dark, your heavy metal music would kill its sober atmosphere.Nethack, why. Nethack doesn't even need music!The idea that you can take one genre of music and apply it to every iteration of a situation across an entire spectrum of video games is just absurd. Different games have different styles and they should use different music. Braid and Super Mario Bros are both platformers, but it would be absurd to use the same style of music in Braid as was in Mario Bros. The Ocarina of Time and Shadow of the Colossus are both action-adventure games featuring a sword-wielding hero who is also good with both bows and horses, but you don't see Zelda's heroic themes or catchy overworld song in SotC. Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and Seven Days a Skeptic are both point and click adventure games, but you don't see them using similar musical stylings (it would be really, really awkward hearing a heroic jingle like Indy's theme in the latter game).Back to the metal example:Guilty Gear is a game that uses metal in its soundtrack to great effect. Megaman Legends is a game that does not use metal in its soundtrack and which would not be enhanced by the addition.Some games just don't need to do it. If you really believe they should so strongly, then simply substitute your own music for the game's.
Perhaps saying it is appropriate for some RPGs, depending on what their entire story entails, if it is a game, say about a musical world, is the best way to put it.
However in all other cases, it is just odd to make these games appear to be on the overly cheery safe description that you are listing them for. Mario games would be perfect for it, the enemies, although their turn to smoke or pop are still being vanquished (ie, eliminated). Heavy Metal cant be fun and powerful? I find its used in Fighting Games and those games still seem to have fun sounding powerful tracks.
Unfortunately most of the other games you've mentioned Ive never played so I cant really say. Anyway, I know it was a revolutionary and progressive thing for me to say, and no one has ever agreed, so… :(
It's not "progressive" or "revolutionary." It's just enforcing your own tastes onto an entire stratum of games.
"Anyway, I know it was a revolutionary and progressive thing for me to say"
Egotistical much?
I really just can't see Mario courses like Jolly Roger Bay or Cool, Cool Mountain doing well with heavy metal songs. Just doesn't fit.
I'm so glad you taught me the error of my ways
I didn't realize this was a terrible battle theme until you corrected me :(
Much like how I once thought this song was a decent battle theme.
How foolish I was, back in those days.
Video games don't make nearly enough use of musical dissonance. Or, for that matter, music that attempts to evoke any mood other than the one most obvious to the situation at hand. I've said before that I'll be interested in a mobster game when it has music like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2YPsfwSPGg
Heavy metal would be completely inappropriate for a game like Pokemon. You typically don't put noisy, screechy, hectic music to a lighthearted game that's oriented towards children.
I'd love some metal in pokemon
Just because it is not the norm doesnt mean that it wouldnt fit. If people are playing the games for over 20+ hours then they need something to keep them in the mood. If we want to get into Pokemon, then I will say that the music is downright horrible. I rarely ever even listen to the music in the game. It is just boring and doesnt ever fit with the atmosphere at all. If Im vanquishing enemies, why do I want to hear some battle theme that makes me want to prance in a field of flowers or something. It just doesnt fit with high paced action of making enemies "faint."
What do you mean "doesn't fit with the atmosphere"? Have you not even played pokemon? You -are- prancing in a field! You're strolling through forests! You're a kid on a whimsical adventure, not some bloodthirsty slaver out to subjugate the forces of nature. Are you insane? You're not even "vanquishing" enemies. You're knocking them out so they stop nipping at your ankles, or entering your pokemon in competitive sport for fun. The most vanquishing you do is when you beat up the villains. Pokemon is almost never tense or dangerous. They're games about adventure and fun, not conquest.
"High-paced action"? In my pokemon? But they're so slow and plodding in battle, even compared to more complex RPGs like Etrian Odyssey. Black and White are a much needed speed boost, but even still they're not really high-paced or tense at all.
Did you miss the plot of the games?
-1st Generation: Stop Team Rocket from conquering Kanto
-2nd Generation: Music to enrage and force PKMN to evolve, take over cities
-3rd Generation: Team Magma/Aqua to flood or burn the whole world
-4th Generation: To rebuild the world or something
-5th Generation: Unknown
The game isnt fully just prancing in fields or strolling forest but embraces the living embodiment of danger and suspense. Battles in the gyms are not without danger, did you not see that there are electric currents, magma, even a gym takes place within lava and ice caves, places of danger…and the Pokemon are dangerous, the legendaries, the dark caves.
The games are far from being solely about fun or adventure but saving the world. Surely people do not just take Pokemon for face value, one would fail to get immersed in the games world.
Are you kidding me, the villain plots are always resolved before you fight the elite 4 (with, perhaps, some minor content post-Elite 4, like the islands in Fire Red/Leaf Green). GameFreak themselves stated that the meat of the game is in the post game when discussing Black/White. Which means the villain plots are a minor part of the game according to the makers of the game. Saving the world? Not as important as exploring and making friends with Pokemon. Wow!
Even besides that, saving the world is never really the goal of the games. It's something that happens in the course of your adventure. You don't set out in order to stop Team X, you just happen to foil their plans by being a meddling kid. The "goal" of the game is to master the Pokemon League, hence why the game "ends" and you get a credit roll once you beat the Elite 4.
The "traps" in the gyms can never hurt you, even when there's lava or electricity. Your trainer does not suffer any consequences from falling through floors, slipping on ice, or diving underwater without a mask. You are never in any danger, and there is never any suspense (partly because it's very obvious how the world will be saved). The pokemon are dangerous? Sure, they could be, but they never hurt you! You're never in threat of being hurt by them. You're not even in danger of having your pokemon die in battle, because they explicitly state that it doesn't happen. There's even free, perfect, instant health care! The dark caves are somewhat suspenseful, but most of them are also not very dark anymore. It's all very leisurely, relatively speaking. The world of Pokemon is a safe and inviting place.
Exhaiser? Are you deluded? Its a game tailored for an E rating, so of course the trainer never faces danger or the fact that the plot is never going to flat out state that your main purpose is to defeat a nefarious organization bent on using pokemon as weapons of mass destruction.
The plot of finding all the pokemon in the world to fulfill some old mans dream and to rise on the top as master of pokemon is just a cover to provide the insight to allow the main character to get strong enough to take down the nefarious organization. Its just a ruse to convince players the need to persever and show that they arent strong enough to overtake the organization without going through dangerous gyms and locales to toughen up and prove their worth.
And have you not seen what happens when you lose a battle? You are robbed and black out, that is a clear sign of danger. Its dangerous to travel through those places and you even slip and fall through floors in dark caves, thats dangerous.
The world of pokemon is not a safe and inviting place. If it was, why is there always nefarious evil organizations bent on those weapons of mass destruction, or a place with ghost pokemon, the spirits of pokemon who passed away?
Honestly, you're making Pokemon games sound like they've got plots that could do well in GTA or something. Arguing that Pokemon is violent and suspenseful is kind of like arguing that Scooby-Doo is violent and suspenseful because they try to solve crimes and get chased by monsters, never mind the fact that you know they will always solve the crime, the monsters are never actually monsters, the gang will never get hurt, and life is good. In Pokemon, you can't die or even lose, everyone aside from the evil organizations are super nice, somehow ten-year-old kids can and always do take down entire evil organizations single-handedly, said evil organizations are made up of incompetent grunts with level 18 Zubats, guns and blood don't exist, children can leave home without an adult, travel the world, and become Pokemon Masters without fear of being raped or kidnapped… and you say Pokemon's suspenseful and dangerous?
Also, since when was defeating evil organizations is the staple of the game? Defeating Team Rocket or Magma or Plasma or whatever isn't the point; those teams only exist to prevent the games from becoming tedious. The point of the game is as stated in the instruction booklets: catch 'em all and become the greatest Pokemon master. It's that simple.
I love Pokemon to death, but please don't make it sound like a series it's not.
By the way, if you "get robbed and blacked out" when you lose battles, are you thereby arguing that every time you beat someone on the game, you are mugging them and robbing them of money? After all, you get rewarded with money every time you beat someone. It's a battle agreement for the loser to give money to the winner, not robbery.
"You are robbed and black out." No, you give up half your money as an agreement with your opponent. They do the same for you. The blacking out is to have the player return to a pokemon center quickly. By your line of logic, you, the player, are also a bandit who robs the trainers you defeat.
"and you even slip and fall through floors in dark caves, thats dangerous." Except, as I said, slipping and falling through floors in caves doesn't injure the player at all and in fact usually rewards them with items or progress to the next town. That's dangerous? It's fun. It makes exploring spooky old caves a lot more fun than they are, with hidden passages and treasure (however minor, like ultra balls).
"The plot of finding all the pokemon in the world to fulfill some old mans dream and to rise on the top as master of pokemon is just a cover to provide the insight to allow the main character to get strong enough to take down the nefarious organization." No. You are completely wrong on this point. The intention of every pokemon game, with the exception of the spinoffs like Coliseum (where the point actually is to take down an evil organization), is to explore the world, catch and befriend pokemon, and ultimately beat the Pokemon League and get entered into the Hall of Fame as a Pokemon Master. The evil organizations are a subplot, a stepping-stone on the journey. People (maybe you do, but perhaps you're not a person) do not pick up Pokemon games because they want to be a hero who saves the world from criminals. They pick them up to have a fun and lighthearted adventure with some simple but well-oiled RPG mechanics.
"Its just a ruse to convince players the need to persever and show that they arent strong enough to overtake the organization without going through dangerous gyms and locales to toughen up and prove their worth." Except that, if the Pokemon League was "just a ruse," there would be no reason to continue pursuing it after you beat the evil organization because that would be the ultimate goal of the game. But wait, that's not how the games work. You tend to beat the villains at around the 75-80% on the path to the Elite 4, and then after you beat the Elite 4 you get an ending with you being entered into the Hall of Fame as the Champion.
"or a place with ghost pokemon" You kiddin' me? Pokemon's Ghost pokemon, even if they are -spirits of the dead-, are -cute-. They're adorable. The original trio all have silly little grins on their faces, and they play mischievous, but harmless, pranks on people, they're not scary at all. Sure, Lavender Town itself was off-putting and spooky, but it was in sharp contrast to the rest of Kanto.
You are the one who is deluded. Your "main purpose" is not to defeat a nefarious organization. That is simply something you achieve on your adventure. Your "main purpose," as clearly stated by the game (And don't give me that "hurp durp an E-rated game wouldn't tell you that you have to defeat an evil organization." I played Super Mario Bros., which has an E rating, and they make pretty damn clear that you have to beat up Bowser and his gang of ne'er-do-wells. Plenty of other games say it flat out, don't be stupid. And plenty of E-rated games have protagonists who face danger like, I dunno, Mario games) is to catch and train and befriend pokemon and beat the Pokemon League, becoming the Champion.
And how can you spell my name wrong? It's right at the top of my posts.
@Caligula your statement fails to address the pokemon tower incident with the ghost of marowak or the cutting of the slowpoke tails, or the rains across the entire pokemon world. I can not even think of anyway in which the player blacked out and happened to land in a Pokemon center other than, when he lost he was so robbed by the other trainer that the trainer was knocked out and somehow ended up at a pokemon center. The Pokemon world is not as safe and delightful as you make it seem.
What about the Ghost of Marowak? That didn't affect me at all when I was a kid. What about the slowpoke tails? You stopped Team Rocket, the tails grew back and the slowpokes were just fine. What about the rains across the entire Pokemon world?
"I can not even think of anyway in which the player blacked out and happened to land in a Pokemon center other than, when he lost he was so robbed by the other trainer that the trainer was knocked out and somehow ended up at a pokemon center" Did you somehow miss the part where "blacking out" has been changed to "whiting out," to lose the implication of passing out, and instead of magically appearing in a Pokemon Center, they explicitly state that your trainer "quickly scurries to the nearest Pokemon center"? You can't very well scurry while you're being mugged. And, if we follow your logic, then you are playing a petty bandit instead of a good-natured kid who gets along well with their pokemon, because, guess what, -you also take money from opponents when you beat them-. It's a battle agreement between two sporting trainers. They wager real pokedollars.
How can you be so dense?
Okay, wait, nevermind, you won't listen to me. Let's see what GameFreak has to say in the manual. Flipping open to the "Object of the Game" section in the Pokemon Diamond manual, the headlines are: "Set out for adventure in the Sinnoh Region!," "Catch many different types of Pokemon!," and "Become the Best Trainer Ever!"
Let's skip to the section on battles and see what it has to say about trainer battles. "If you make eye contact with a trainer, or walk in front of one, they will challenge you to a battle." Sounds pretty sporting. "If you are victorious, you will be rewarded with prize money." Oh, hey, they're giving you money because they lost. Meanwhile, it makes no mention of being mugged, robbed, or anything else as a consequence of losing.
The fact of the matter is that you are just clinging to your fanciful and dangerous interpretation of the game world, ignoring what the game, the game's creators, and the game's manual all say. You are the deluded one, son.
…No. I don't think watching Pikachu use a thunderbolt would fit well with heavy metal music in the background.
What are you talking about? It seems to be a move suited to the idea of even having the music playing. The move is powerful, and that music captures the very idea of power.
A pikachu using thunderbolt is not something that exudes power to me.
Wimpy pokemon using a mid-tier electric attack.
Dont tell me you are one of the ones that evolve your Pikachu or other first level pokemon?!
…I… really don't see what the problem with that would be, considering evolution is one of the key mechanics of the series.
But no, if only because I don't use Pikachu and I don't want a Raichu. I roll Scizor from the beginning to the end of the game, because he's totally rad.
The only pokemon deserving of evolution are dragon type Pokemon. First level pokemon look too cool to evolve (especially since some evolutions look ugly, and they learn attacks so much faster. Who would evolve the utterly adorable and cool Teddiursa or Pikachu, into their respective evolved forms?
I don't think either Teddiursa or Pikachu are cool.
I'm more of a Scyther and Absol kind of person.
In during opinions.
I take it by a Pokemon/Pokemon bases as to if I evolve them or not, for example I rarely ever evolve Cubone, I like to keep it as my flagship Pokemon >ww<'
Well, if you're trying to have Pokemon that don't suck, you kind of have to evolve them.
Kills me a little that you do, though. I totally would've gone for the fire starter in B/W if the evolutions hadn't been so horrifically hideous. (I'm still raging pretty hard about the final evo. Ken Sugimori is a troll.)
No clue what you're talking about. Gusty Garden Galaxy (for one) is among the catchiest and most wonderful tunes I've heard in years.
People remember the original music in Super Mario Bros. because it is 25 f*cking years old, was many people's first video game, and statistically speaking, has been played by more people than any other Mario game.
Also, heavy metal in Zelda?? WTF? Different genres for different styles, man. Or would you like some Nine Inch Nails in your Lord of the Rings?
100% agree with this Gusty Gardens is a DAMN good song, definitely one of the highlights of Super Mario Galaxy as a whole in my opinion.
I think you missed what I said. There is only one age group of people who are even interested in the 25 year old Super Mario Bros theme, that is, the people who played it back then. Like I said, no one remember naught an ounc of music from Super Mario 64 to todays present time. Nothing is used as their ringtones, or even remember. Even the most recent release, people dont scream in excitement with music from New Super Mario Bros Wii or from Galaxy 2.
Zelda would work with Heavy Metal, it fits the type of person Ganon and those boss fights would require.
There's lots of music from Super Mario 64 that was extremely memorable though if anything it's featured some music which has been the bases for remixed Mario music in later games like Sunshine and Galaxy.
Um, the Super Mario Bros theme is extremely popular and well-known. College students and high schoolers under the age of 25 all know it, even my kid brother who is 10 knows it. 10! He's never played SMB on the NES and he knows the theme! (Oh snap is that your entire premise being debunked)
Mario is the Mickey Mouse of gaming. His theme song is iconic.
Also, a good friend of mine uses a song from Galaxy as her ringtone. Just sayin'.
The fact that people across age groups further supplies evidence that gamers grasp the original song more than songs from the previous games. The only reason I imagine that it is know is that the mario series also continually uses remixes and rearrangements of songs as the games go across and isnt it even played in that new videogames live concert too? Isnt the theme present in some form in Mario Kart as well as other Mario spinoffs?
Um, what? I never even owned an NES, and I know all the music from Super Mario Bros. by heart. The game is ageless, and so is the music.
Super Mario 64 had some great tunes also; again, no clue what you're talking about. Everyone who's played it knows the Peach's Castle theme.
And again: Metal, in my Zelda? No. Nuh-uh. Not happening.
You seem oblivious to the fact that musical styles don't age; what was good music once never stops being good music. Being made in the 21st century doesn't obligate a game, or a movie, to have heavy guitar riffs and synth-pop vocals.
Which is not, I should add, to suggest that screaming guitar riffs could NEVER be appropriate in a fantasy/RPG context. Motoi Sakuraba, among others, routinely proves otherwise. Just check out this smashing boss theme from Baten Kaitos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lB0b0fHbAY
And, by contrast, another boss theme from the same game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEfcGcSll_U
Variety is the spice of life. But when it comes to soundtracks, sometimes certain musical styles just don't suit the mood of the piece. That first track, for example, would be completely unthinkable in, say, Zelda or Chrono Cross.
Ah I just love all of Motoi Sakuraba music. Violent Storm…just replace that song for the Gerudo valley…a fitting match! or a metal version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sq7ap_be-NU
That's a cute fan tribute, but it would be excruciatingly out of place in an actual Zelda game.
You can't seriously like -all- of Sakuraba's music. How can you like Port Capua Torim? That song was so awful it sounds like Sakuraba trying to get fired.
Man, I love Sakuraba, but I can't help but feel the dude hates Tales.
I think some of Motoi Sakuraba's stuff is really good, but… have you heard his work for Tales? It's like he hates the series. His Tales stuff is complete garbage. The only time Tales music was ever good was when they booted him out for Legendia and replaced him with Go Shiina.
I was under the impression that he only did like the battle themes for the Tales games. The battle themes are all pretty awesome and most of the songs too, there were a few questionable things in the games (reliance on flutes alot for the towns that it is good to hear once or twice but in going back and forth to tons, gets a bit annoying…)
Yeah srsly listen to this trash Mario is ruined
Music in games creates a very strong atmosphere and feeling, and it has to be handled responsibly, I'm not even that knowledgeable about music but I mean it should be easy to understand the fact that heavy metal might be nice but it also might not be appropriate . It's like Shadow of the Colossus, you COULD put heavy metal to the Colossi battles and it'd work, but by handling the music in the way they did maintains the values and tone of the game. And vocals in Mario music, BIG ick.
Vocals, could work in mario music. It fit in Super Smash Bros Melee quite well, with the people singing in Latin or something, and even the Pokemon Battle Music had some hints of vocals in it. I cant see why it wouldnt work for Mario…if not Heavy Metal, maybe just some lady humming or something. I think it would work for the game and make it more memorable. Vocals even if they are just hints of it, or just used in monumental moments can provide undying satisfaction. I think it would do well to fit the Bowser themes, they are already choke full of awesome guitar parts (like in SM64 DS)
Oh I remember, the song from Mario Hoops 3 on 3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgFts4Wd9qE
Now that is what Im talkin about!!!!
This is all the vocals Mario needs :P
Yes those do admittedly work, especially the the secret-level music from Sunshine which was stellar >w<' But I think they work because it's uncharacteristic of the series, if they tried putting vocals in all Mario music it'd take away from it as a whole. But of course when you said vocals my interpretation would have been how they put "vocals" in Sonic xpx;
Vocal Traxx in sonic are always excellent, it fits in with the series and works well to keep people in the "Groove Rush." Crush 40, the people with the songs in Sonic & The Secret Rings, and the group that does Endless Possibilities for Sonic Unleashed, were all excellent vocal tracks. Its time for Mario to get Vocal traxx!
Sonic vocal tracks?? LAWL. I didn't even know it was possible for music to be so bad it's good until I heard a Sonic vocal track for the first time.
@gatotsu911 I do not know anyone that doesnt like the song Super Sonic Racing!!!! Now that is a great Sonic vocal track.
Disagree totally, The music is as good as ever, the problem is simply people are more nostalgic towards the older music. Tsunayoshi Sawada's idea is to basically throw in generic pieces of pop crap.
The fact is music is a mood setter, the fact is they may not be as memorable, but I haven't heard anyone complain about music in a Mario game, because it's so good that it doesn't distract payers, it just enhances the mood.
Well, I've heard a few complaints that maybe Galaxy's music is perhaps -too- epic, but that's about it.
Generic pieces of pop? Far from it, if the music is popular in todays day and age then anyone would or should be able to enjoy that type of music having an influence on the music in Mario games. People should remove their nostalgia sunglasses and realize that times have changed and that its time to move on.
Bullshit, just because something is popular doesn't mean *ANYONE* "would or should like it." You're nothing but a worthless sheep if you honestly believe that crap.
If something is popular than it is hard to believe that people dont like it. That is like, just backwards. Are you saying that people should not like it because it is popular? That just doesnt make sense. The inherent nature of it should be the reason why people would like it.
No kid, you're the one who has it backwards. You claim that if something is popular at a given time, anyone should be able to like it, which is completely bogus. I like the things that I like because of their inherent good qualities, not because they are popular. Furthermore, there are plenty of things that are or have been popular which are not good at all. For example, smoking used to be really popular, but it gives you cancer.
Well the statement only universally would apply in the contect of videogames. We cant apply it to things that are social like that because games/music/movies are different, there isnt any oppression of peoples are social morals or penalties associated with games in the realm of capitalism…
We see it all the time, people dislike something that overrated for the sake of it being overrated…Things that are bad, do not become popular. When was the last time some bad music became popular, some bad game, becoming popular? Goodness begets popularity.
Um statistics shows that Smoking may be correlated with cancer…however there is insufficient statistical evidence to conclude currently that smoking causes cancer.
"Um statistics shows that Smoking may be correlated with cancer…however there is insufficient statistical evidence to conclude currently that smoking causes cancer. "
You really are a troll, aren't you?
My offline life involves number crunching and statistical research…so…
Yeah you're technically right about smoking. Smoke contains known carcinogens and is a risk factor for cancer, but to say that anything "causes" cancer is misleading, since any number of factors can make a cell mutate and go rogue. The reason I got pissed off is because smoking was just an example and not the point of my previous post.
"Goodness begets popularity." Ah, alright. A classic appeal to the people. Clear out, this farce has gone on long enough.
"When was the last time some bad music became popular, some bad game, becoming popular?"
Ever heard of rap?
Hey hey hey, not ALL rap, just that crap that gets onto the radio.
"Well the statement only universally would apply in the contect of videogames. We cant apply it to things that are social like that because games/music/movies are different, there isnt any oppression of peoples are social morals or penalties associated with games in the realm of capitalism…"
I'd say it's kind of oppressive to expect everyone on the planet to like the same things in music or videogames. What are you, the freaking Borg? Ever heard of individuality? Something's wrong with you, kid.
I just dont know how to respond anymore, you make me sound like Im crazy or losing my mind. lol. Popularity demands, no, commands liking it. Why is this composer of Mario music so liked, well his music is apparently good enough that people were commanded to like it, it is in the games. Now do they like the recent music of the games of today? Well it doesnt seem to be. But would they like it if it had influences of popular musical genres that exist outside of videogames? Of course they would, if the music that is good, that is popular, on the radio or online, then people would surely enjoy it influencing music in their games. This can not be a difficult concept to grasp or accept.
Damn I feel like Socrates talking to frickin Euthyphro, lol.
Are you commanded to like something that is popular BECAUSE IT IS POPULAR, or because of some inherent quality in it? Now, because something is popular, does that mean that everyone in the world should be expected to like it as well, just because other people do?
Let me put it another way. Suppose you are the last person alive, and you come across an old MP3 player laying in the ruins. By some miracle there is some juice left in the battery, and the headphones work. You commence listening to music.
Now, in this situation, there is no way to gauge whether or not the music is popular or not. You are the only one in the world listening. So, is it good or not? Do you have any way to assess quality aside from what others think of it?
Considering that the person who had initially put the music onto their MP3 player, we can only assume that:
A) they liked the music
B) others liked it, so they in term put it on their MP3 player
C) it was good since others liked it
Therefore, I would be led to conclude that the music was popular because it was good. And in this context and in the context of music and games, goodness begets popularity. When was the last time something was popular but was not good, or vice versa, something was good but not popular?
"something was good but not popular?"
Uh, like always? I had the pleasure of going to see my all-time favorite musician in concert last week. His music is absolutely STUNNING, but he could barely sell out a show at a venue that only holds 50 people.
ohhh snap, I think you just got smack down by Prinny Solidus Snake, which is the most destructible of all Snakes.
You'd think that, but through years of training and octopus arms, he's learned the "No Lifting" secret ability.
Truly, a deadly art.
I still cant get the damned mario theme out of my head. I can never get sick of it. When I call people and they have a "ringback" where you listen to the mario theme I'm always disappointed when they actually answer the phone.
Dont even get me started about super mario world or the tetris theme
How are any of those memorable or at least more memorable than songs in the Zelda series?
I don't think he even mentioned Zelda, kid.
The thing about music, though, is that repetition is key. That's why so much music in the history of mankind usually have a certain theme repeated throughout a piece of music, and on a more basic level, rhythm in music is this exact same phenomenon. To put it bluntly, people are dumb when it comes to this.
So, whenever you hear the Mario theme played on a stranger's cellular, you basically go in your head "Hur hur, I recognize that theme!" and subconsciously give a small smile. Then you notice a cute girl across the way smiling too, and thus you have a good memory of that experience. It's not whether or not the song is actually good.
Oh wow, didn't figure this'd be the kind of topic to make people write friggin essays as comments. Super Mario music has always been great and often memorable in my mind, but I won't compare it to other games or genres of music, it's just great in its own right and so are other games' tunes.
I never thought about it, but he's right. There are many RPG battle themes that get on my nerves after listening to them for the hundredth time, but I never once felt that the music in any Mario game that I played was repetitive. I agree with everyone saying music is key when developing atmosphere in games, while visuals may create the basic atmosphere, music brings it to life, in my humble opinion, of course.


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