text:
(Click title to go directly to the review)
Advance Review: AVENGERS ARENA #1
Indie Jones presents KOZMIK #2
Advance Review: BATMAN #15
Advance Review: BATMAN & ROBIN #15
Indie Jones presents AFTERLIFE INC. V1: DYING TO TELL & V2: NEAR LIFE
Advance Review: CABLE & X-FORCE #1
Advance Review: In stores today!
AVENGERS ARENA #1Writer: Dennis Hopeless
Art: Kev Walker
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewer: Ambush Bug
Up until recently, I thought AVENGERS ACADEMY was a pretty decent read. Christos Gage seemed determined to get me to care about these troubled youngsters and, after an extended stint of the book, he actually did. With AVENGERS ACADEMY ending, it looks as if this book is taking its place by using a couple of its main stars as the central characters of this series called AVENGERS ARENA. It's pretty obvious from the BATTLE ROYALE motif on the cover what the premise is of this book, but I'll delve into it anyway; A group of young super powered individuals are gathered together to face off in a death match where only one will survive.
Who is behind all of this?
Who lives?
And more importantly, who dies?
Well, I'm going to leave that to you guys to find out, but I will say that, though it might have been projected as to who this first issue is focused on, the story of the one who dies in this cast is a well written one. With comfortable dialog that doesn't pander and try to be hip, but feels natural, Dennis Hopeless has crafted a predictable, but well done first issue. Someone had to die to make a point and someone does. I'm not too happy about who it turned out to be, but hey, this is Marvel, if the fans bitch long enough he/she will be back.
One thing is for certain, Kev Walker is quickly becoming my favorite artist at Marvel. His art is pretty straight forward here, but so solid in both his redesign of a classic villain who takes center stage here and in panel construction as he keeps things angular, interesting, and violent throughout. When he was on THUNDERBOLTS, Walker seemed to need a break between issues to catch up. Here's hoping he continues to be on schedule because his art makes this book.
I'm a sucker for CONTEST OF CHAMPIONS style stories. Hell, that miniseries of old is what made me a Marvel Zombie. That and the fact that this series seems to be promising to rub out some of the more annoying younger generation heroes in Marvel will have me checking out the second issue of this series for sure.
Ambush Bug is Mark L. Miller, original @$$Hole/wordslinger/reviewer/co-editor of AICN Comics for over ten years. He has written comics such as MUSCLES & FIGHTS, MUSCLES & FRIGHTS, VINCENT PRICE PRESENTS TINGLERS & WITCHFINDER GENERAL, THE DEATHSPORT GAMES, WONDERLAND ANNUAL 2010 & NANNY & HANK (soon to be made into a feature film from Uptown 6 Films). He is also a regular writer for FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND & has co-written their first ever comic book LUNA: ORDER OF THE WEREWOLF (to be released in late 2012 as an 100-pg original graphic novel). Mark has just announced his new comic book miniseries GRIMM FAIRY TALES PRESENTS THE JUNGLE BOOK from Zenescope Entertainment to be released March-August 2012. Also look for Mark's exciting arc on GRIMM FAIRY TALES #76-80 which begins in August 2012.
HELLBOY: IN HELL #1Story and Art by Mike Mignola
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Reviewer: Mighty Mouth
You know the old adage: absence makes the heart grow fonder. Well, for a while now Hellboy has been AWOL, and dammit I missed that big red monkey. So you can imagine my delight as I perused my local comic shop to find a new issue of HELLBOY with this week's new comics.
Hellboy last appeared in a three issue story called "The Fury" which ran June - August of 2011. The long and the short of it entailed Hellboy battling some giants, falling in love and learning that he's a descendent of King Arthur. Then he fought with a dragon and died. The back cover of the final issue teased a caption: coming in 2012 – Hellboy - in Hell. Now after close to a year and half, the wait is over. Hellboy has returned in the pages of HELLBOY: IN HELL #1.
HELLBOY: IN HELL #1 also marks H.B.'s creator Mike Mignola's return to artistic duties. Although he kept up on the writing, Mignola hasn't produced the art for a Hellboy comic since the now classic "Conqueror Worm" story. Like a good PB and J sandwich, Mignola's art and Hellboy are a combination that makes for a tasty treat.
Although Mignola's artistic style can appear overly simplified, when it comes to constructing panels containing bizarre mythic creatures and gothic environments, he can be pretty tough to beat. Add to that colorist Dave Stewart's wise choice of a low-key color palette that compliments the line art and you get some very stylized eye-candy.
If you have followed Hellboy's previous exploits, the story unfolds exactly the way you would expect from a Hellboy comic. It's very unusual and abstract in its approach, yet at once so very intriguing. Evidently Hellboy's got himself a Guardian warlock who wishes to help usher Hellboy back to the land of the living, but be warned there will be a cost. Add a familiar face from the past that relentlessly pursues Hellboy about the abyss. Now throw in a metaphor adapted straight out of Dickens, and there you have it. Yep, that's a Hellboy comic and that's the sort of untraditional storytelling that I've missed so much.
So, after all this time, was it worth the wait? Oh hell yes. HELLBOY: IN HELL #1 is a wonderful book crowded with symbolism, mythology and in unconventional humor. I'm anxiously anticipating another helping. Or, to put it in the spirit of another Dickens classic: please sir, I want some more.
KOZMIK #2Writer: Scott Kinney
Art: Christian Colbert
Publisher: Arcana Studios
Reviewer: Masked Man
Now dear readers, don't run to your local comic shop; instead, surf on over to Comicology to download my latest Indie Jones adventure.
First off, there are all ages stories and there are kids' stories. One isn't better than the other, but they are different. Bugs Bunny, "Mary Poppins" (movie), "Avatar the Last Air Bender"--those are all ages stories. "Spy Kids" and "Marvel Superhero Squad" are kids' stories. This doesn't mean adults can enjoy a kids' story; goodness knows I do all the time, but they're NOT the same thing (despite what a marketing department wants you to believe).
That said, here is KOZMIK, another in a long line of successors to ASTROBOY, a small boy superhero (ok, Astroboy (Might Atom) was a robot--you know what I mean!). Like PRINCE PLANET or EON KID, young Zak Tyler gets superpowers and becomes involved in protecting life, limb, and property. In this issue Zak is discovering more about the alien battle suit he has received, as we learn more about him. The battle suit, with its bio brain is very akin to (DC's) Jaime Reyes' Blue Beetle suit. It has the ability to create different types of weapons at the drop of a dime. The gag about making things bigger is pretty funny. Writer Kinney does a good job of blending the plot with the introduction scenes of his parents and friends. The plot involves your typical space tyrant – something out of BUZZ LIGHTYEAR OF SPACE COMMAND or PIGS IN SPACE--crushing a planet cute little Jim Henson-like creatures. These alien creatures have created the battle suit to protect themselves, but in the usual fashion the suit falls into the hands of typical Earth boy Zak Tyler. Of course, Zak has now become the target of the bad guy. The United States military notices the alien battle fleet parked outside the planet and they get involved, too.
As I mentioned, writer Scott Kinney does a good job of balancing this all and tells a solid story. The target audience is definitely kids, as the action is fast and comedy is over the top. Zak is a fairly typical sassy hero kid, but he's nowhere near as annoying as the current ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN cartoon. His little fashion show as he looks for a superhero outfit is really nice.
So while I have no idea why the comic is called KOZMIK, it's a really good kids' book of action and humor. I score it a 3 out of 4.
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #699Writer: Dan Slott
Artists: Humberto Ramos (pencils)/Victor Olazaba (inks)
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewer: Professor Challenger
OCTOPUS'S JOHNSON by Frank "Gringo" Saxxon
(To the tune of OCTOPUS'S GARDEN by Ringo Starr)
I'd like to play
inside Aunt May.
Put my Octopus's Johnson into her.
She'd let me in,
That wrinkly skin.
Put my Octopus's Johnson into her.
She's skinny, small & built to ple-ease!
Got tits that sag down to her knees!
I'd like to play
inside Aunt May.
Put my Octopus's Johnson into her.
Before the internet broke in half over whether STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS features Khan or Gary Mitchell and...
Before the internet broke in half over whether Gail Simone quit or got fired from BATGIRL and...
Before John Byrne attempted a Soviet-style stealth retro-edit of his official forum to remove his back-and-forth with SPIDER-MAN writer Dan Slott....
The internet broke in half for about half-a-day over a single notorious panel in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #699. I plead guilty as charged for joining in the fun for awhile, although I have a strong desire to pass the buck a little and put a little bit of blame on Rich Johnston and a lot of blame on Dan Slott for creating the entire InterWebz hoo-haw themselves. I blame Rich for clouding my perception of the panel with his sensationalist headline causing me to thumb through the issue and wrongly pre-judge the panel out of context. I blame Dan Slott for being patently immature as a professional writer and deliberately choosing to create a between-the-panel moment that he admits "could" be interpreted rather luridly by dirty-minded little fanboys even though his actual intent as a writer was nothing more lurid than Peter experiencing the sensation of a shared romantic kiss between Doc Ock and Peter's elderly Aunt May, the kiss being "improper" because it was occurring before the ceremony. An editor actually, y'know, editing the book would have told the writer to clarify it or remove the joke. But that would require actual...editing...I know, I know, that's silly talk in these modern enlighten comic book days. I know.
So, yeah, I apologize to Dan Slott for jumping on the bandwagon of those callinghim seriously disturbed for insinuating Peter Parker incestuously experiencing thememory of a pre-wedding sex romp between Ock and May. But I still cry foul on Dan Slott for allowing that interpretation to take place at all. The fact that he has gone onto public forums and "winked" and "smilied" it all away is the height of immaturity and unprofessional behavior this side of the Tony Harris and Rob Liefeld types who will just go on a public rant incoherently and take a "to Hell with you" attitude when called on it.
I appreciate that Slott wanted to go for a humorous moment in an otherwise serious story, but the fact that he tittered to himself about how some people might misinterpret it just really is not the behavior I would expect of a grown man, and he should be ashamed of himself for having the mindset of a lame Andy Samberg character on SNL.
So, now you're probably thinking "How about the comic itself as a whole, Prof – what did you think of that?"
Well, I will tell you, once again I really enjoyed the comic itself – once I actually read it rather than thumb through it. I'm not a fan of the artwork, particularly. We didn't really get to see much in the way of Spider-Man himself because, whereas last issue was all about Spidey with Ock's mind, this one was all about Ock with Spidey's mind. Ock looks like hell and Ramos' interpretation of his wrinkled body looks more like some diseased alien than an old guy dying. I'm not sure why he is supposed to look like that. But then again, all the characters were ugly like that, even when they showed Peter Parker's actual face in his memory looking up from the iron lung at what should be his own body.
There are some nice developments that are leading towards a new variation on the Sinister Six (somehow including this desiccated walking barely alive Ock-corpse). I dunno what happened to The Scorpion in the intervening years since I used to read SPIDER-MAN comics, but I do not like the visual heaviness and complication to the armor. I much prefer the simplicity of the original design. I hugely enjoyed Parker's internal monologue throughout the comic, especially his thoughts on The Trapster/Paste-Pot Pete. There is an appearance by The Lizard that played out an intriguing development that I suspect is a plot development to pick up on in the next year. The inclusion of a Morbius throw-away moment also makes me think he is a candidate for an upcoming storyline as well.
Slott, proving that he can do it when he wants to, provides a very solid and clear explanation of the mechanism by which Ock pulled off this brain switcheroo and justifiable self-anger by Parker for letting it happen. I would say that the events of the last few years would justify his being a bit distracted, so hopefully he won't be too hard on himself about it.
The shared experience with Ock of swapping spit and tongue with the old lady who raised him is surely punishment enough for him.
Now, on to #700 and I'm sure the internet will break in half once again for a few hours.
Viva la Geekstrati!
Prof. Challenger is Texas artist and writer, Keith Howell. You can read his stuff here and over at profchallenger.com. You can also get in on the ground floor of his new endeavor, "Everything I Ever Needed to Know I Learned from Comic Books" here.
Advance Review: In stores today!
BATMAN #15Writer: Scott Snyder
Artist: Greg Capullo/Jock
Publisher: DC Comics
Reviewer: Optimous Douche
The nature of Batman and the Joker's relationship has changed with the sensibilities of the time. As we readers get deeper in touch with our feelings and have more free time to lament the human existence, so to have our heroes and their foils sought deeper introspection.
The Golden Age, when men were men and our enemies were eminently clear, showed few emotional tethers between Bats and Joker. During the days of WWII, good was good and evil was evil — period. And, of course, good always triumphed. Flash forward to the Silver Age and you see the sanitized =Fifties bleed copious campiness into the title and little insight into either man--simply a goofy game of cat and mouse rife with ludicrous gadgetry and even more ridiculous crimes of grandeur. Go Bronze and we start to see a few chinks in each characters' emotional armor, albeit the zaniness carryover of the Silver Age still forbade either from too deep an introspection. The 70s was the Me Generation and we began to see that essence in the pages of Batman. We began to know who the men were behind the masks and mayhem. The Dark Age propelled us into the ID of both characters as opposite sides of the same coin. Who made who was the question that plagued my mind leaving Tim Burton's BATMAN, and can one really exist without the other was my walkaway from Frank Miller's THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS.
Now we have Scott Snyder, the modern man in an age where self-discovery isn't a luxury, it's a requirement for societal success. In a time when the term "bromance" can easily cross the lips of guys who are straight as an arrow, is it any wonder that the transformation of Batman and Joker's relationship is one of an obsessive affection? Love, ladies and gentlemen, is the new emotional bedrock between Batman and the Joker, and the penance for that love being unrequited is DEATH OF THE FAMILY.
BATMAN #15 bleeds motivation for the Strap-On Jokers' need to squelch all things Bat. In essence, Joker wants to be part of the Bat family: he wants to be that crazy cousin at Thanksgiving who someone has to go bail out of jail for drunk driving when they go to get more stuffing from the store. Joker needs to be chased by the Bat like the earth needs the sun and Lindsay Lohan needs to smell the inside of jail cells.
Now, even though I've said words like bromance and strap-on, let's please not get puerile with the often associated act of love. This is an obsessive love based on an unhinged desire, not the higher state of intimacy and becoming one in flesh. Spirit perhaps, but that's it.
This issue also successfully divided the family, and we are left wondering whether it was of the Joker's device or merely a side effect to the Joker's grand plan. It's a cool little mind-fuck later reveal that more serial books should remember to use. I won't ruin the details on how the Bat Family splits, but I will say it involves Bruce being odd man out for living in a state of delusional deniability regarding the Joker's prowess and wiles.
The back-up story continues to delight, mainly because of Jock's eerie-ass way of seeing the world of The Joker. Even the point of view in the panels gives pause for creepiness. The backstories have been trips down memory lane to moments before the crossover started and how The Joker set all the main story's plans in motion. I have to admit this one didn't give me the same ick factor as the Harley episodes, but seeing the first signs of The Riddler in the Bat-Verse as more arrogant than maniacal gave me great hope for future Bat tales.
Everyone who keeps saying "Robin's going to die. Robin's going to die.", please kindly shut the fuck up. That's a hack move neither Snyder nor DC can afford right now. If after reading BATMAN 15 you still believe this inane theory, I suggest you take a class in understanding subtlety. It's not Robin that's going to die, or Barbara, Dick, or Jason. BATMAN 15 clearly shows that death does not have to be a physical state of being, emotional death or untethering can sometimes be the most painful end of all because you must continue living afterwards.
P.S. When is that freaking face going to rot? I'm not a sciencey guy, but I always thought faces needed more nourishment than leather and dental floss to avoid becoming necrotic.
Optimous has successfully blackmailed fellow @$$Hole BottleImp into being his artist on Average Joe. Look for Imp's forced labor on Optimous brain child in mid-2012 from COM.X. Friend Optimous on FaceBook to get Average Joe updates and because ceiling cat says it's the right thing to do.
HAWKEYE #4 - #5Writer: Matt Fraction
Art: Javier Pulido
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewer: Henry Higgins is My Homeboy
The Tape.
Right before the Marvel NOW! imprint began, two new solo series starring two of the biggest team books' resident "badass" members started: Matt Fraction's HAWKEYE and GAMBIT by James Asmus. Unlike GAMBIT, a relatively solid title that doesn't do much new with the character, Fraction's HAWKEYE is one of the best new titles of the year. Deftly mixing great character writing, thrilling action, and wonderful humour, HAWKEYE has become one of the best Marvel titles being released now. The first multipart story, spanning all of two issues (a welcome change of pace from the more recent tradition of 5-6 issues), manages to twist and turn a hundred interesting places.
Writing: (5/5)
Fraction, who has more than proven his skill writing in the Marvel universe, is taking on a slightly smaller character than before. With his tenure on IRON MAN having so recently wrapped, it must be a relief to work on a slightly less A-list character. Other writers might see this as an opportunity to relax somewhat, but Fraction instead efficiently gets across who Clint Barton is and what he does and why he does it. He's not an Avenger because he's a god of thunder or irradiated with gamma radiation, just that he's a good guy with a great set of skills. Even if this is your first issue reading this title, you know everything you need to know about Hawkeye within pages. The same applies to Kate Bishop, newly instated sidekick to Clint. If you saw Kate in YOUNG AVENGERS, you probably already like her. If you've never read her before, she's still an enjoyable character, a realistic sidekick who's still more than competent enough to warrant her role in the book. The back and forth between the two is engrossing, and you can see a level of love/hate in their relationship. Kate looks up to Clint, but is skeptical of many of his attributes. It all comes to a head when news of a tape leaks from S.H.I.E.L.D.: a very specific tape, one that shows Clint assassinating a high threat terrorist under orders from S.H.I.E.L.D. and the President. Soon enough, Clint is on a plane to Madripoor with the (wonderfully thought of) S.H.I.E.L.D. limitless black credit card, to purchase the tape back from a high stakes criminal auction. Without revealing too much, Hawkeye and Kate end up having to deal with crooks, airport security, ninjas, Madame Masque, and all sorts of other undesirable villains. Suffice to say, Fraction is stellar on this title, consistently funny and exciting.
Art: (5/5) Holy FUCK Pulido is a great artist. The small moments stand out with understated emotion, conveying sheer pages' dialogue worth of emotion in a single panel. The big moments look remarkable, full of believable movement and swift action. His characters all stand out extremely well, each being clearly them. There's never an odd looking character or movement. His control over tiny character moments are juxtaposed against wide art shots. It's simply beautiful comic art. Complimented with Hollingsworth's terrific colour work, HAWKEYE consistently looks beautiful.
Best Moment: Hawkeye's escape from the ninjas in the opening pages of the fifth issue is remarkable.
Worst Moment: Nothing wrong really.
Overall: One of the, to be frank, coolest comics being released right now.
Advance Review: In stores today!
BATMAN & ROBIN #15Writer: Pete Tomasi
Artist: Patrick Gleason
Publisher: DC Comics
Reviewer: Optimous Douche
So good and gory I almost threw up in my mouth. Gleason gets the creep award in this week's "DEATH OF THE FAMILY" offering through the unraveling of a young boy and the most grotesque puppetry since the recent news about Elmo.
This is Damian's story all the way, and takes place a very close heartbeat away from the moments of BATMAN #15 when the family turns against one another. You can read one book without the other, but some of Damian's motivation and inner dialog will be lost.
In three distinct acts, Tomasi gives us one of the best portrayals of Damian to date.
Confined to monitor duty, in usual fashion Damian gives a resounding "F this noise" and begins the hunt for Pennyworth. Great moments abound as Damian and Titus, the Batdog, begin their sleuthing for clues. A boy and his dog story are Americana at its finest. Titus is Damian's Robin and the interchange between them is exactly what you would expect from a ten year old. Damian truly believes Titus understands him, and it as endearing as it is sad when set against the atrocities in the rest of the issue.
In Act II Damian's clues lead to Alfred's whereabouts at the hyena cage in the Gotham Zoo. "I hate the zoo" are the only words Damian mutters throughout his battle with the Joker's venom-carrying hounds, and with that Tomasi unpeels another layer of the Damian mystique: the boy who hates being a boy.
Of course, The Joker finally gets some alone time with Damian after an inventive knock-out and here is where I truly almost lost my lunch. You know that face The Joker has strapped on and probably should have rotted off by now? Well, it's finally starting to show some of the gummy elasticity of necrotic wear. The Joker molds, stretches and contorts the face in a macabre puppet show as he unhinges Damian in a game of verbal cat and mouse. Especially creepy was the complete inversion of the face where the Joker's beady pupils are in the mouth. This is also the part where Damian shines as the true son of Bruce Wayne. When he makes a solemn vow to kill The Joker, you can see and hear honest-to-God fear from The Joker towards this new Robin. He is more than a sidekick; he is a true successor to the throne of the Bat. Given the newfound revelation of the Joker's adoration for Batman, you can imagine how far off the edge this sends the putty-faced price of crime.
Steely calm, petulant annoyance, and snippets of an innocence not completely lost are the essence of Damian. Tomasi hit every chord in this issue with pitch perfect execution. This is more than worthy of the DEATH OF THE FAMILY die-cut cover; it is an essential entry.
IRON MAN #3Writer: Kieron Gillen
Art: Greg Land
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewer: Masked Man
Was it just me, or did it seem like Marvel pumped out three issues of IRON MAN in a month? Probably just me, but Marvel does enjoy increasing their print run--I wonder how that affects subscriptions. I see Marvel states a subscription is 12 issues--not one year. Interesting.
Ok, back to the comic book itself: we've reached the halfway point of Kieron Gillen's first story arc, "Believe". The Extremis techno-virus has gotten into bad guys' hands, and it's up to Iron Man to seek and destroy them all. Again, is it just me, or is that an oh so common Iron Man plot? Seems like once a year or so Iron Man has to go seek and destroy some technology that has gotten into the wrong hands. Last issue a utopian building nut job got Extremis and this time, a Colombian drug lord has it. In both cases, since Iron Man does make a habit of seeking and destroying people who get their hands on technology he doesn't want them to have, they have hired Iron Man villains to protect themselves. And in both cases, Tony Stark showcases a different Iron Man suit, or rather the same suit with modular capabilities. Tony Stark can now instantly build a specific suit based on what he wants it to do. The old fashioned way was to just have a few specifically designed suits sitting in the garage waiting for the right moment.
Kieron Gillen is becoming a curious writer to me. I wasn't very fond of his run on THOR. Lots of good ideas, but it all came across as rather boring to me. His work on JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY, on the other hand, was brilliant. Always clever, always entertaining. So I wasn't sure how Iron Man was going to turn out. Now three issues in and I'm starting to get a little bored. As I mentioned, the plot has a real "been there done that" feel to it, and this issue is nearly one big cliché. You see the drug lord has a daughter who he loves, and if I say one more word about it you can all but write the story yourself. Gillen does seem to know this, so he held off the reveal as long as he could. But even with the angle of how it ties into the original purpose of Extremis, and Tony getting to be preachy about it, I still felt like hitting the snooze bar. Then there are the supervillains for this issue. Gillen reveals them in a nice dramatic way, as they state they are ready for action and that they have a history with Ironman. Now, I'm no huge Iron Man fan. I've read him through the years, and watched all the cartoon shows and movies, so I had no idea who any of these people were. You see, Gillen doesn't name them until the fight starts. Turns out I do know them, I just didn't recognize them. So any sense of, "Oh wow, so and so got an upgrade, I can't wait to see 'em in action." was gone. And for Iron Man vets, they strike out pretty easily--heck, I think the police could have handled them, since Iron Man pretty much used a police tactic to defeat them. Oh, and there's a grilled cheese sandwich bit, but I'll just skip that.
Greg Land is knocking out his usual art: very pretty, cool looking, stiff and lifeless. In a lot of ways his work reminds me of the old Boris Vallejo vs. Frank Frazetta debate--as in whom do you like more. Land is very much Vallejo: yeah his stuff looks great, but it looks like a bunch of cardboard cut outs. The coloring by Guru eFX unfortunately really helps re-enforce this. It's frick'n beautiful, spot on, but it makes everything so perfect it's like a Stepford wife: a little creepy and wrong. If Land could find a way to loosen up, and breath more life into his characters, his work would become more universally loved.
To wrap up, Iron Man has a lot of good things in it, but the overall package is just lacking. It's like the best paint by numbers painting you've ever seen.
AFTERLIFE INC. V1: DYING TO TELL & V2: NEAR LIFEWriter: Jon Lock
Art: Ash Jackson, Jack Tempest, Del Borovic, Will Tempest, Roy Huteson Stewart, Jerry Gaylord (V1), Ash Jackson, Jack Tempest, Sean McSorley, Grant Perkins, Jack Davies, Jade Sarson, Mark Pearce, Warwick Fraser-Coombe, Will Tempest, Nadine Ashworth (V2)
Publisher: JonLock.com
Reviewer: Ambush Bug
Jon Lock, not the LOST character, but the guy who writes the extremely creative series AFTERLIFE INC. recently achieved his Kickstarter goal to make a third Graphic Novel in this series. And I'm glad he did achieve that goal, because these two graphic novels were a hell of a lot of fun to read and filled not only with fun ideas, but extremely creative ways of telling stories. In these two novels, Lock proves himself to be very talented in telling a myriad of tales in different styles such as noir, action, fairy tale image & text, existential tangentialism, historical revisionism, and just straight up fun storytelling.
AFTERLIFE INC focuses on Jack Fortune a hustler with a good eye for business and opportunity just happens to die at the right time—that is when the afterlife loses its management. Fortune leaps at the opportunity to take over, turning the afterlife into a business. Now Fortune and his hand picked staff of angels, archangels, and deities from all sorts of realms work hard to make dreams of the afterlife come true. It's an expansive premise, but one that holds a sort of FANTASY ISLAND like promise that leaves the stories open for tons of tales.
And these two volumes do just that as everything from an ALICE IN WONDERLAND style trip through the rabbit hole to conversations with both Sherlock Holmes and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle happen as if it were an every day occurrence. Lock bends and twists his storytelling technique to match the tone of each of the central figures of his stories, be they new arrivals to the afterlife or eternally working members of Fortune's board. All of them fun and exciting stories.
To top it all off, Lock is able to wrangle a ton of talented artists to help differentiate the tales from one another and set the right tonal mood for the story. Be it Roy Huteson Stewart's noir tale or Ash Jackson's child-like tale of whimsy, Lock shows that he knows how to match art and tone for the best dramatic effect.
I look forward to see where Lock and his talented cadre of artists go next. These two volumes are massive tomes, clocking in at 110 pages a volume, but the stories read quick and it's well worth checking out for someone looking more something from the more indie side of comics.
ASSASSIN'S CREED V.1-3Writer: Eric Corbeyran
Illustrator: Djilalli Defali
Publisher: Titan Books
Reviewer: Mr. Pasty
I have sort of a love/hate relationship with Titan Books. They love to send me advance previews, and I usually hate them. The mere thought of that WWE HEROES experiment makes me want to light my longbox on fire rather than dig them out and dispose of them properly--and by properly I mean take a dump on them and send them to a cave in Afghanistan as part of the war on terror. But I digress. Its latest offering is ASSASSIN'S CREED, a three-volume set based on the wildly popular video game of the same name. It is with great embarrassment that I admit to have never played it and even more regrettable to confess I don't even own a PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360. Somewhere in a crowded mall in North Wales, Pennsylvania, employees at GameStop weep. My kid asked me "Hey, what's that ASSASSIN'S CREED thing all about?" To which I replied, like a sixth grader trying to fake his way through a book report, "It's about this uh, assassin, and he has this uh, creed…"
When all was said and done, I was kind of glad I went in blind, because it allowed to me to critique it as a graphic novel and nothing else. Part of the difficulty in reviewing a property that has already established its success in another medium is trying to rate it based on its own merits and not how it compares to the existing material. I had the opportunity with ASSASSIN'S CREED and I'm happy to report that as a graphic novel, it's terrific. Fans of the franchise will recognize the trials and tribulations of Desmond Miles, an assassin who is captured by an evil corporation and forced to travel through time to embark on dangerous missions that, quite frankly, give writer Eric Corbeyran the keys to daddy's Cadillac because time travel gives you an infinite timeline to work with. My research tells me he's faithful to the original ASSASSIN'S CREED narrative while also introducing elements unfamiliar to the existing fan base. Of course, none of that really matters if the book is a steaming pile of hot garbage, but Corbeyran and illustrator Djilalli Defali seem to be treating it more like a personal project and less like a licensed property for which they paint by numbers.
Would I recommend these books to fellow noobs? Absolutely. I didn't know dick about Desmond or his adventures and I was able to jump right in, so based on my limited comprehension, I would say that makes it a shoe-in for the general populace. The only requirement is that you be a fan of sharp writing and cinematic artwork. I don't think that's asking too much in the current climate and based on what some of the other publishing houses are cranking out these days, you sure as hell could do a lot worse. I say check this one out. The price tag might be a little on the steep side, but hell, it's no more expensive than some of the magazines in Barnes and Noble and at least with ASSASSIN'S CREED, you get a nice shiny hardcover.
Web heads who can't get enough of Mr. Pasty's word vomit are encouraged to watch him operate as Nostradumbass over at MMaMania.com here. Love, hate and Mafia Wars requests should be directed here.
Advance Review: In stores today!
CABLE & X-FORCE #1Writer: Dennis Hopeless
Artist: Salvador Larroca
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewer: Optimous Douche
As with all my reviews I try to push aside my personal proclivities and focus on the execution of the title versus whether "would I buy this?" I also try to think about the money strapped collector who simply can't afford every book on the shelf, and this mantra has never been more prevalent in the new cross-pollinated Marvel Now world of X-MEN & AVENGER co-mingling.
I have always been on the side of X versus A, even before Marvel asked us to pick sides earlier this year. Mutants are my thing, and as such I love a world where more mutie titles stuff the shelves. I don't even mind those damn AVENGERS getting all up in my X-titles; in fact, I outright welcome then in their own UNCANNY book, especially when Havok gets to call the shots in all mutie affairs, which is exactly how CABLE & X-FORCE opens.
Hopeless opens this book right with five of the new X-FORCEians standing amongst a sea of bodies. Cable, Colossus, Domino and Dr. Nemesis stand toe-to-toe with the Uncanny Avengers before a gunshot escape, and we are whisked away to the famed "a few days earlier" to unravel the events that led us to this point. It was great to see an underdog escape the Avengers, and I give huge props to Hopeless for having Alex acknowledge and try to use their loose familial ties to persuade Cable to come peacefully.
Personally, I've really missed Cable. I know he has his detractors, but when he's not a mutant messiah or raising a mutant messiah in the future, he is the Bruce Willis of comics. A man who must always take the hard road forward since he knows the easy path often leads to mutant demise. Also, like his father (before the Phoenix-induced breakdown) he's a natural leader.
This is truly a back to roots book, with Cable and this new team living inside an abandoned ship in the middle of the desert. Hopeless spends a fair amount of time reuniting Hope and Cable after Cable's perceived death and Hope's reigniting of the mutie gene across the globe. Hell hath no fury like a daughter scorned, and with Hope's exile into the boredom of a human foster family and Cable's lack of contact since his return scorn abounds on many pages.
Being an exposition tale, and with Hopeless' backwards story approach, there are many puzzle pieces that have yet to fit together (or perhaps I simply have a gap in memory). The only clear membership on the team is Dr. Nemesis, who Cable hijacks at gunpoint to help him with the side effects of losing the techno-organic virus. Forge's presence is still an unknown. Domino, well she goes together with Cable more naturally than Honey Boo Boo with illiteracy. Colossus is still a delta as his only appearance is on the first few pages; we still have no idea how this member of the Phoenix Five actually joins the new team.
I'm OK with questions for now, but this better be a short arc because a cool line-up only gets you so far. Purpose is a necessity; if you don't believe me, simply look at the rapid dwindling love for JUSTICE LEAGUE.
I would be remiss not to mention Mr. Larroca's contribution to this title. Any monkey with a pen can emulate characters that have been around for a generation; it takes a true artist, though, to make a static image move and Larocca is a wizard in this regard of Daily Prophet proportions. Hope's tantrum, Domino's escape act, in every instance blurring is used to make the panel whiz by.
I won't say CABLE & X-FORCE is for everyone. If you are only a casual mutie observer with enough room in your wallet for just one X-Book, that book should be ALL NEW X-MEN. If you're a mutie zealot like yours truly, though, this branching of mutant wetworks is exactly what the Dr. Nemesis ordered.
Marvel Comics
I have to admit that I came into this with big, big hopes for a Jonathan Hickman AVENGERS run given my fandom of his work, but this first issue was not quite what I expected to happen, though mainly in tone. I expected some pretty (ugh, I hate this term) "epic" events to go down – and this definitely has the shapings of some really upper-level storytelling and explosive action – but I did not expect the wordplay driving this opening shot to go for that feeling with its very methodical and somewhat loaded narrative. Unexpected, but it worked, as this issue really did feel very bold and went pretty well into overdrive on the "shit happening" scale. My only worry is if that tone continues, because I've seen it before in a Hickman book (I'm looking at you S.H.I.E.L.D.!!), it can be very disconnecting, and I know the Hickmeister's character development and wordplay are a joy to behold when he mellows it out a bit, as seen in his FANTASTIC FOUR run. As debut issues go, though, between the unique approach to the storytelling and the absolutely sublime Jerome Opena art to join it, this was definitely one of the more memorable openers I've read this year and we really were not lacking for fantastic number ones these past dozen months. - Humphrey Lee
Image Comics
As much as I love to use this website to sit back and break down some new number ones that I've been anticipating, I have to admit that this debut by BLACKACRE left me feeling like it was something worth drawing attention too but not really critiquing, as I feel this book needs more room to breathe. Essentially, I want to say here that I really appreciate the effort the opening goes through to present almost a thesis on our current, underlying pop culture obsession with the apocalypse in its many forms: zombie, religious, economic, etc. It's a really intriguing setup point to use to give us the future world BLACKACRE lives in. From that point on, though, it kind of stumbles as it moves forward. Now, by "stumbles" I mean it makes this great intro and then spends the other two-thirds of the book casually introducing some characters, giving a little context to their actions, and then putting forth a "seek and return" mission for our assumed protagonist, Hull. It's not enough to kill my enthusiasm for the book going forward, but considering how big and bold it opens and then gets somewhat traditional toward the end it let me down just a bit. Still, this is a book I'm eager to see how it develops, especially if we see more of the themes played with in the first few pages of this issue. And if/when this happens I plan to dedicate more words to what is hopefully another breakout for Image. - Humphrey Lee
Marvel Comics
Sometimes (re: most times) with this Cheap Shot space I like to go ahead and revisit books I just did a could months ago to either reiterate what I said about them before or let you wonderful readers know if my opinions had shifted. So, yeah, this book is still fucking awesome. That's really all I'm here to say. Even without David Aja's visual tour de force this issue, Javier Pulido is more than bringing the goods to what is easily the most energetic and bombastic book not only from Marvel, but possibly on the shelves in general. The action is fantastic, Hawkeye's attitude is awesome in its almost altruistic lackadaisicalness, and his interaction with Kate is still a little creepy but - god help me - on the endearing side. With no exaggeration I say that if it weren't for the perpetual home run machine that is Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples' SAGA, this would pretty much be a shoe-in for "Best Ongoing" in a month when the @$$ crew and I write up our year-end column. The quality of both is so top notch, though, that acclaim may as well come with the archery metaphor of one arrow splitting the other right in the heart of the bullseye--that's how on target are these books. - Humphrey Lee
Proofs, co-edits & common sense provided by Sleazy G
Find out what are BLACK MASK STUDIOS and OCCUPY COMICS here and on Facebook here!
Want more in all things Geek?
Check out PoptardsGo and on Facebook here!
Get your copy of highly-anticipated anthology TOME by 44FLOOD today on their Kickstarter!
Check out AICN COMICS on Facebook and Comixpedia.org!


text:
In addition to the ARM Cortex-A7 processor, the test chip includes ARM Artisan standard-cell libraries, next-generation memories, and general purpose IOs. The test chip was designed using a complete Cadence RTL-to-signoff flow including Encounter RTL Compiler, Encounter Test, Encounter Digital Implementation System, Cadence QRC Extraction, Encounter Timing System and Encounter Power System. This achievement is part of a systematic program to enable ARM technology-based SoCs on FinFET technology.
"This is an important milestone in our efforts to enable our silicon partners for continued low-power leadership in future generations of innovative, energy-efficient mobile products, said Dr. Dipesh Patel, vice president and general manager, Physical IP Division at ARM. Taping out ARMs most energy-efficient applications processor on Samsungs advanced low-power manufacturing process was achieved through the combination of leading-edge technology and R&D excellence, as well as a deep and early collaboration with Samsung and Cadence."
"Cadences advanced node design flow, coupled with our collaboration with ARM and Samsung, is essential to semiconductor companies as they move to designing for a 14-nanometer FinFET process, said Dr. Chi-Ping Hsu, senior vice president, Research and Development, Silicon Realization Group at Cadence. Our common goal is to enable our customers to reap the benefits and competitive advantages of designing at the most advanced technologies."
"End consumers are driving the need for better, faster, more connected devices, said Dr. Kyu-Myung Choi, senior vice president of System LSI infrastructure design center, Device Solutions, Samsung Electronics. Our collaboration with ARM and Cadence allows us to innovate quickly as Samsung develops this new process technology for mobile multimedia applications."
About ARM
ARM designs the technology that is at the heart of advanced digital products, from wireless, networking and consumer entertainment solutions to imaging, automotive, security and storage devices. ARMs comprehensive product offering includes RISC microprocessors, graphics processors, video engines, enabling software, cell libraries, embedded memories, high-speed connectivity products, peripherals and development tools. Combined with comprehensive design services, training, support and maintenance, and the companys broad Partner community, they provide a total system solution that offers a fast, reliable path to market for leading electronics companies. Find out more about ARM by following these links:
ARM website: http://www.arm.com
ARM Connected Community®: http://www.arm.com/community
ARM Blogs: http://blogs.arm.com
ARMFlix on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/armflix
ARM on Twitter:
About Cadence
Cadence enables global electronic design innovation and plays an essential role in the creation of today's integrated circuits and electronics. Customers use Cadence software, hardware, IP, and services to design and verify advanced semiconductors, consumer electronics, networking and telecommunications equipment, and computer systems. The company is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., with sales offices, design centers, and research facilities around the world to serve the global electronics industry. More information about the company, its products, and services is available at www.cadence.com
Cadence, Encounter, Virtuoso and the Cadence logo are registered trademarks of Cadence Design Systems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. ARM and Artisan are registered trademarks, and Cortex is a trademark of ARM Limited. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Associate ArchitectsFederico Rodriguez, Domingo Miranda, Florencia Rodriguez, Florencia Rippa
Area302.0 m2
Project Year2009
This house was proyected with two volumes. the first one overlooking the ruta 10, which contains the service area. and the second one overlooking the garden, pool and sea. on the ground floor 3 bedrooms and in the first floor the social area with an amazing view to the punta piedras beach.
The proyect has the two volumes facing each other connecting the ground floor by a terrace as a transition area, which creates a straight dialogue between each other. At the same time these two volumes diferenciate each other. the service area is a closed and heavy block and the social area is more open and transparent opening itself to the most important views to the terrace and the sea.
In the first floor several pergolas play with the social volume creating various outdoor situations that invite its habitats to enjoy al fresco.


text:
The University of Rochester had a break out performance in the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, earning the highest ranking a Rochester team has ever received. Their 10th place finish among 545 competing teams garnered an honorable mention, placing them amid several Ivy League schools. Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Stanford, and Caltech were the top five universities, while Duke, Michigan, Toronto, Waterloo, and Rochester rounded out the top 10. The Putnam exam is the premier undergraduate mathematics competition in North America. More than 3,600 students from the U.S. and Canada participated this year.
Dan Geba, an assistant professor in the mathematics department, has coached the team since 2006, taking them from 67th place to 10th place in just three years. "I had a strong belief that they had the potential to achieve results of this magnitude," says Geba. "To be in the company of Harvard, Princeton, and MIT, who are considered powerhouses in mathematics, is a great honor."
As for the future, he is enthusiastic; the interest is building among undergraduates and Geba has been recruiting students through an increasingly popular Problem-Solving Seminar. "We hope for the best and will keep the effort going. From here, its being one of the top five, that's the ultimate goal."
Team members Chris Kauffman '11, Kevin Lin '12, and Xiaoqing Tang '12, earned individual rankings of 145th, 157th, and 262nd respectively. Other notables were Cheng Sun '09, who ranked 400th and Zachary De Santis '09 and Eric Ottman '10 placed in the top 620. Seven other University students, Yi Han '12, Dennis Hu '10, Halley Orshan '12, Jordan Paschke '10, Raisa Trubko '11, Lia Joy Weiner '11, and Greg Wilbur '10, also had distinguished performances.
The exam, administered by the Mathematical Association of America, creates a healthy rivalry in mathematical studies, highlighting the value of organized team competition. Questions cover topics including group theory, set theory, graph theory, lattice theory, number theory, and cardinal arithmetic.


text:
Divorce records
Prior to the Matrimonial Causes Act of 1857, divorces could only be obtained by the very rich through a private Act of Parliament. We hold an incomplete series of private Acts from 1818 to 1886. Alternatively, couples could apply for a legal separation which may be noted in church court records, Quarter Sessions or local newspapers.
We do not hold any post-1858 divorce records. There is a Central Index of Decrees Absolute for divorces from 1857 to the present day - request a search.
If a divorce took place between 1857 and 1937, you can search online to see if a divorce case file survives at The National Archives.


text:
The cost of living is higher than ever. But thanks to the combination of good food, great places and wonderful people I have managed to survive another year on this amazing planet. I have gathered a selection a photos to illustrate the past few months. The end of 2008/ the start of 2009 through the eyes of a struggling London artist. A few art shows, a couple of trips, a little food for thought from across the big pond. London says Hello to Fecal Faces, wishing you all a very happy 2009 and thank you for the ever-expanding catalogue of free information and artsy entertainments.
Late 2008 saw the big 'Freeze' art fair in central London, so many galleries in one place, I'm pretty sure its the biggest art show in the world, or at least the biggest temporary art space. A few of my favourite pieces from the show:
Chris Johanson:
Simon Evans:
Marcel Dzama:
Another great show late last year was Jose Parla at Elms Lester. An awesome range of works including a site-specific wall piece.
I felt the show was really well curated, and the work was so well lit. Well-done Elms Lester. This piece stood out, set against this grey wall and boxed in to give the feel of a cave type environment.
Random Street Stuff:
I always carry a camera to collect images while out and about. Of all the random shots of last year this photo still keeps me on my toes. Beautiful crazy natural street art, it seems Mother Nature is the original stencil artist!
Random toilet/corridor in a warehouse show: East London, I forget where, who or what, but still like the decoration.
I was part of a nice group show at the Standpoint gallery and Gallery 1.1 in December. "The Saved and The Damned" saw a whole bunch of very different artists making work around that theme and here are a few shots of my work in progress.
A real showstopper for me this winter was 'Broken Knees' by Herbert Baglione at Lazarides gallery. Amazing painted detail.
So as a Christmas present to each other my lovely girl friend and I took a trip to Amsterdam. Here is Haxie at a tram stop looking all Amsterdam. It was very cold but we wrapped up warm and drank fine wines and beers to keep warm
Hired bikes. The only way to travel through the 'Dam.
Awesome winter sunsets over the city.
Mad street art. This little guy was painted on the wall outside our hotel.
Amsterdam is loaded with street art/public art. Loads of the usual illegal stuff, but its great to see a city giving over its walls to artists. This under-path piece had been commissioned by the local hotel. I don't know the artist.
If you are in Amsterdam, take the free ferry from behind central station to the north island. On the north side there are loads of freaky warehouses and old boat yards, submarines and a few little café/bars. My camera ran out of battery (damn digital cameras) but I did get this pic of the massive abandoned boat yard, completely out of use, very spooky and worth exploring if you find yourself there.
We visited Haxies grandmas in a town a few hours out of Amsterdam and found this classic working windmill. I wana live in a windmill one day.
Back to London for New Year. I took the time out to visit the well publicised 'School of temporary thought'. A group of artist and students who squat in massive Mayfair mansions that are empty. They stay for a few months until the authorities kick them out and while they are there they run free classes and talks and generally have a real bohemian time of it. The house was immense, and had rooms that went on and on, huge stately rooms with high ceilings, but mostly with no electricity so difficult to document. Here is the dining room to give you a taste. Kind of like fight club for art students. Check out more on these crazy law breaking art types at www.temporaryschool.org
A glimpse of London Rush hour.
I heart hazard tape.
Another great trip, this time to Cambridge, something really worth doing for anyone visiting the UK. Just an hour from London, Cambridge is a very beautiful, historical city. My lovely girl friend studies French and Italian there and I often go and visit to escape the big smoke. It's a rad place to go, everybody cycles, and there are canals where people punt like its Venice. There is a big Italian community there so there are loads of great places to eat Italian. The city is loaded with cultural substance, many great people studied there and you see people walking round in gowns holding quills, off to write their new theory of this and that. I love it in Cambridge, just cycle around, kick back with a great coffee, do some drawing and feel very clever surrounded by very clever people.
Cambridge by night. (Being a student town it's never too hard to find very cheap drinks and very loud music)
I loved this graffiti in the basement of a club.
Another good reason to visit Cambridge is the Kettles Yard Gallery. Home to some great modern art, especially a large collection of works by Ben Nicholson, one of my favourite artists of all time.
The piece on the flyer for the recent show is by Julius Bissier from 1962.
Next to the gallery is a tiny house that was owned by the couple that started the gallery, Jim and Helen Ede. Jim Ede was a curator at the Tate gallery, the couple started the gallery and renovated the old house when they retired, its all free to view and the house is amazing, full of treasures and beautiful objects collected from around the world. A labyrinth of tiny corridors and twisted secret passages. You are invited to sit in the house and read books from the shelves, and at weekends the house hosts live jazz and classical music. Here are a few snaps from the house. The photos really don't do the place justice.
So much art hanging on the walls of every room. This piece caught my eye.
Just behind the Kettles yard is an ancient mound that would have supported a medieval castle on top, now there is nothing on top, but an awesome 360-degree view of Cambridge. At the bottom of the mound is very good public house serving the best local beers and home made food.
The journey home was all blue skies and wide-open spaces, but as I approached London the wind was getting seriously cold and I felt a change in the weather.
I woke up this morning with all London transport cancelled due to freak levels of snowfall. I guess nature is still calling the shots.
These snow-covered rooftops are what I can see from my fire escape today on the 2nd of February 2009. It is far to cold to do anything but stay inside and drink lots of tea.
I am lucky enough to work from home and thought id share a photo of the current state of my studio. I am currently preparing for a solo exhibition in Bristol in a few months.
I am also working on the set design for a show with a theatre. If anyone reading this blog lives in London please come along to a show at Chicken Shed Theatre in a few weeks for the show of 'In Watermelon Sugar'. The show is an adaptation of the book by San Francisco writer Richard Brautigan. I will be doing the set design live each night with projections and light engineering. The show will be amazing to watch and very different from anything you have seen before, mixing contemporary dance and physical theatre. You can book tickets at www.chickenshed.org.uk. Hope to see you there.
As well as being excited about my own work I am really interested to see the new work from Boris Hoppek's new exhibition in Brazil. A shame I wont be able to make it, but I thought to give it the heads up for anyone living in South America or anyone who doesn't know his work. Boris is a very amazing street and gallery artist who you should all take a look at, check it out at www.borishoppek.de/bh-blog His show is at the Rojo art space. Check out Rojo at www.rojo-magazine.com/sp/
Also wanted to give a shout to King Ads who recently released 'The Urban Cookbook'. Amazing dishes, so much cool information and incredible graphic design. I've been cooking from it all winter and it rocks. Much more than just a cookbook: http://www.100proof.tv/
Lastly, the London show that is really giving me food for thought is 'Alter Modern' at the Tate Triennial. View information on the show here: www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/altermodern/
Altermodern seems to be a new art movement, with a whole new twist of the kind of art we are used to seeing come out of the UK. Good old Wikipedia describe it: "Altermodern, a compound word defined by Nicolas Bourriaud is an attempt at branding art made in today's global context as a reaction against standardisation and commercialism." Sounds very interesting to me, read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altermodern
All the best from a very cold London.
Peace and Love,
Words & photos: David Shillinglaw
|< Prev
|Next >


text:
My Neck Of The Woods
Reynaldo D. Reyes 7/13/2012 6:45:16 PMAbsolutely beautiful view Dayna, the composition is so inviting with all the lead-in, and this image has a lot of elements that take it over the top ~ the rainbow and the flying bird, so breath-taking in your neck of the woods.
Thanks for stopping by my gallery to post your compliments, It is greatly appreciated. #1474732
Neal D. Hatcher 7/13/2012 7:26:52 PM------------"BEAUTIFUL"----------------
Joannie Bertucci 7/13/2012 9:19:52 PMStellar composition Dayna and I agree with Reynaldo about all the wonderful elements in your beautifully presented image! #10228578
Nikki McDonald 7/13/2012 10:21:08 PMWonderful use of the fence and road, Dayna, and the colors are just beautiful. Love the rainbow. #10228608
Terry Cervi 7/15/2012 5:47:24 PMA fave for me too, Dayna! This is gorgeous! #10230715
Danny B. Head 7/16/2012 9:58:33 AMGreat story and great scene! Fence rows, gates and dirt roads are hard to beat. I can relate to your story. At 14 years old, I cleared about 9 acres by hand myself. #10231820
JO ANN CLEVELAND 7/16/2012 1:44:55 PMFabulous Dayna, such a beautiful capture! Love the colors and treatment..
jo ann c. #10232064
Connie J. Bagot 7/16/2012 3:41:31 PMYour neck of the woods is just beautiful! What everyone else said----goes double for me!!! #10232263
Mary Dimitriw 7/16/2012 6:50:55 PMSo beautiful Dayna!! I love all of the wonderful elements that work so well together. #10232528
Christopher Budny 7/17/2012 3:36:45 AMSuch beautiful countryside; I love your comp with the two roads converging. #10232914
Maple Creek Road is on the left and the old Piper farm is on the right. Yesterday evening Mark and I had been out driving around and was on our way home when the rainbow appeared. Mark was driving and I yelled STOP! lol The farm land was cleared by hand back in the sixties and Mark's dad was one of the ones who worked to clear it.
Exif: F Number: 16, Exposure Bias Value: -0.33, ExposureTime: 1/250 seconds, Flash: did not fire, compulsory flash mode, ISO: 400, White balance: Manual white balance, FocalLength: 36.00 mm, Model: Canon EOS REBEL T3i
Uploaded on 7/13/2012 6:27:20 PM
Camera: Canon Rebel T3i EOS 600D
Copyright for this gallery photo belongs solely to Dayna Cain. Images may not be copied, downloaded, or used in any way without the expressed, written permission of the photographer.
Contact photographer via gallery.
Log in to follow or message this photographer or report this photo.


text:
Bypass the box office line at many theaters with guaranteed advance tickets. If something comes up, you can return or exchange them up until the posted showtime.
Earn rewards points from our partners, including AMC Stubs, Regal Crown Club and more.
Save your favorite theaters and movies to experience a customized Fandango just for you.
Get the VIP treatment, free screenings, digital downloads, discounts and more.
Alan Rickman in "CBGB."
Ashley Greene in "CBGB."
Estelle Harris in "CBGB."
Ashley Greene and Alan Rickman in "CBGB."
Rupert Grint in "CBGB."
Rupert Grint and Alan Rickman in "CBGB."
Donal Logue in "CBGB."
Malin Akerman in "CBGB."
Malin Akerman and Taylor Hawkins in "CBGB."
A scene from "CBGB."
Mickey Sumner in "CBGB."
Johnny Galecki in "CBGB."
Johnny Galecki and Taylor Hawkins in "CBGB."
Freddy Rodriguez in "CBGB."
Randall Miller and Jody Savin on the set of "CBGB."
Rupert Grint and Stana Katic in "CBGB."
Stana Katic in "CBGB."
Malin Akerman and Randall Miller in "CBGB."
Richard de Klerk in "CBGB."
Justin Bartha in "CBGB."
Poster art for "CBGB."


text:
Treating ?ram peswani wrote:How are the Krishna people treating you Ram? Are you content with their degree of acceptance of your theories?gregkavarnos wrote:.
I am truely thankful to you for your ignorant replies to Lotus sutra.
In this last one month I have progressed a lot.
I am a BRAHAMKUMAR with every drop of my blood.
I have donated my portion of my house to Braham kumar Satsang for the benefit of others.
Also i have started sharing my wealth for their benefit.
My meditation is going wonderfully.
My quality of life (health, relationship, peace) is getting better and better.
I do wish that I could share some of this with Buddhist world. But I am feeling sadness for all Bhuddists.
Brahmkumars are Shiva devotees and not Krishna devotees[/quote]
I'm glad you are happy. Don't worry about us, though. We're doing okay.


text:
I've been shooting nudes all over the world for over 12 years and everywhere the industry practically always works the same way, so I thought we came well prepared and knew what we were doing. But the culture clash we experienced the first 3-4 days was shocking.
In Japan you are either a fashion model or a porn model - for them there are basically no nuances between the two. The whole porn, fashion, music and entertainment industry are run by organized gangsters.
And do not think we took on this Tokyo production lightly. In fact, it was the highest budget production we had ever planned. 2 months before our arrival a trusted colleague had spent a week doing research checking on accommodation and locations and meeting local photographers, production managers and model agents... and all seemed to be in order...
We had reviewed 100s of models online before we came to Tokyo and had handpicked many for our first big casting day. What we saw, however, was nothing like in the model composites we had been shown previously. Never before have I seen such manipulation. And the creepy agents with their "$$$" grins and stupid hats and mix of wall-street and hip-hop outfits just made it all even worse. What appeared to be big-eyed and slender girls with great features turned out to be "pygmy hogs".
Sorry for the lack of a more delicate description, but it was nothing but shocking and frustrating. It was then and there that I realized we had been blue-eyed, and that this was going to be a much bigger challenge then we would ever have imagined...
'Till tomorrow


text:
BeerBooks.com Findany book on beer!
Magazine Subscriptions
Our Beer Magazines
For 25 years, Zymurgy has been the leading light for amateur brewers in North America and around the world. It features innovative and award-winning recipes, discussions of equipment building, explanations of brewing science and presentations of brewing techniques in addition to a healthy dose of beer culture.
Read More / Order a Subscription
Brew Your Own is the largest circulation magazine for the homebrewing hobby in North America. Each issue is packed with tips and techniques for all brewing levels - from beginner to expert. Brew Your Own gives you all the fun and practical information, recipes and projects to help you make great beer at home. Order a risk-free 8-issue subscription from BeerBooks.com today and you'll save 22% off annual newsstand rates!
Respected worldwide for in-depth reviews, expert panel tastings, beer travel, and feature articles, All About Beer Magazine has been all about beer for over 25 years! Each issue is packed with entertaining features, the cutting edge on beer news as well as top-notch columnists. You'll find information about travel, collectibles, homebrewing, beer history, beer cultures in other countries, food and beer . . . plus book reviews, the Beer Lovers' Calendar and much more. We offer ratings of more than 100 beers in every issue, with our panel of experts getting up close and personal with an Elite Eight. You'll find all this and still more in the next issue of All About Beer Magazine.
Delve into the world's premier beer magazine as it explores beer culture both in America and abroad. After years of swirling, sniffing, and spitting at wine tastings, the American public is discovering another way to enliven and tantalize the taste buds. Craft and import beers have found their place with some of the most intricate and delectable creations of our time. The reader will find magazine articles and unique content on craft beers and those who brew them. You may also expect in-depth beer reviews, the best in dining, cooking with recipes, international travel articles, brewery tours, industry personalities, up-close beer-style studies, culture and more.
The Celebrator Beer News Brewspaper is published bi-monthly by Celebration Publications, and is distributed by subscription and through breweries, pubs, restaurants, liquor/wine and beer stores, homebrew shops, and tourist information centers throughout the U.S. Current distribution 55,000.
Great Lakes Brewing News
Keep up on the latest beer and brewing news in Illinois, Michigan, N. Ohio, New York, W. Pennsylvania, N. Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Ontario & Quebec.
Southwest Brewing News
The brews-paper for Arizona, Southern Nevada, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Southern California, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas.
Mid-Atlantic Brewing News
Delivering all the latest beer news and events for New Jersey, Delaware, E. Pennsylvania, Viriginia, W. Virginia, Maryland, and Washington D.C.
Yankee Brew News
Beer and brewing news for all you Yanks in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New York.
Northwest Brewing News
Get all the up-to-the-minute beer and brewing news for Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Northern California, and British Columbia.
Rocky Mountain Brewing News
Covers beer and brewing news and events in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Northern Nevada, Utah, and Colorado.
Copyright 2000-2014 BeerBooks.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
BeerBooks.com is a registered trademark.
Copyright 2000-2014 BeerBooks.com LLC, All Rights Reserved.BeerBooks.com is a registered trademark.


text:
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Warcraft: A retrospective look back
There is no irrational hate here, just a lack of interest. To the contrary, I have very fond memories about WoW. And while I'm one of the first to point out all of Warcraft's shortcomings, I think (as a whole) that Blizzard has done more things right over the years than wrong.
Millions of other people also support this idea as well. Say what you will about the game, but if they actually were screwing up the game at every turn, no one would be playing the game. The simple reality is that people do enjoy playing it and if they didn't, then millions of them wouldn't continue playing it.
Burning Crusade – The Design
In retrospect, I realize now that Burning Crusade was a lousy expansion. Oh, I suppose the leveling and questing experience was fine. Not as good as Wrath, but it was definitely an overall improvement to Vanilla WoW. I think if I am being critical here, it's that there was only one entrance into Outland and it resulted in some crazy crowds at release.
There were some other improvements as well, like Flying Mounts, Heroic Dungeons, Badges of Justice, and Armor Tokens for Tier Pieces. But outside of those things, the expansion mostly sucked at end-game.
The biggest problem is that the transition path from a fresh 70 to an entry-level raiding 70 was idiotic. The entry-level raid dungeon, Karazhan, was very well done – but getting to that content was a serious pain in the ass.
You'll recall that you needed to get "keyed" in order to get inside of Karazhan (which involved a lengthy quest chain). Now, the quest-chain for a key was not a new idea. This was pretty common in Vanilla WoW.
But at least here, there were more things to do and you hadn't already been raiding at a level 50 only to hit this "key" wall at 60. Which meant that you didn't have the expectation of raiding at level cap until well after you had done many of the level 60 dungeons.
Also, in Vanilla WoW, it was only important for one person to have been keyed in some of the starter dungeons. And for the others, it was a relatively easy dungeon crawl to get "attuned" to things like Molten Core.
To make matters worse, the next raid dungeon in Burning Crusade also required a separate "key" that could only be completed after an even longer quest chain involving the raid bosses in Kara. Even worse, this next dungeon wasn't 10-man, but 25-man.
Now I'm no math wizard, but even I can tell that you can't divide 25 by 10 evenly. In order to get even the minimum of 25, you needed at least three groups of 10.
Even worse, a 10-man group was typically made up of 2 Tanks, 2 Healers and 6 DPS. If you multiply that by three, you end up with 6 Tanks, 6 Healers and 18 DPS. 25-man Raid composition needs 3 Tanks, 8 Healers, 14 DPS. So too many Tanks and DPS, but not enough Healers.
The end result is that several progression walls were created. And even overcoming one wall (beating 10-man Kara) was then faced by the next wall (getting 15 more to do the next raid dungeon).
Frustrated players would hit a progression wall and might never get past it. I'll always remember BBB (Big Bear Butt blogger) writing about how he effectively couldn't get past Karazhan not for lack of gear or skill, but because he couldn't overcome the social engineering challenge of getting other people to stay in his guild long enough to get everyone keyed for SSC.
On a personal note, I actually quit most of that whole raid progression game and focused on PvP for the last year of that expansion out of frustration.
Burning Crusade – Guild Drama
Design issues aside, much of my problem with Burning Crusade related to guild issues. I switched from a Horde to an Alliance server a bit after the expansion released with some real life friends. In doing so, we left our old Horde guild (we were part of the core group, but our Guild Leader had been absent for several weeks).
After a few months at 70 on the Alliance server, all but two of my real life friends had slowly stopped playing. The three of us then decided to go back to our old Horde server. We also wanted to play different classes (in my case, the same class I played on Alliance), so despite returning to the same server – it was a fresh reroll.
Surprisingly, our old guild didn't die after we left. Our absent Guild Leader had returned and managed to reform a new core group of players. Like the prodigal sons returning, we joyously rejoined him.
This was a pretty big mistake.
It turned out that our Guild Leader was mostly the leader in name alone. He had a great aptitude for attracting and keeping players together, but pretty much assigned out the business of running raids to his raid leaders.
A big believer in more is better, he recruited a lot of people and the result was an elite group of maybe 20 people, followed by another 20 fighting for the 5 remaining raid spots.
Elite is likely the wrong word choice to describe that core group of players. In truth, this was just the best geared group – not necessarily the most skilled.
I think what was most frustrating to those players just outside of that group is that castoffs kicked out of other guilds were often given a raid spot based on gear quality and not their ability to actually perform. Needless to say, this group wiped a lot and stalled on a lot of content that similar guilds easily beat.
From my perspective, I never raided anything beyond a few Kara runs with this group. The issue for me was Raid time. Back when I left the server, the Raid time was a very convenient 8:00pm PST. I, and my other real life friends, live on the West Coast, so this worked out really well for us.
However, after we left, the group that filled our void was largely East Coast and preferred a 5pm raid time (forming at 4:30). I couldn't even physically get home from work until 6:00 and wasn't available to raid until 7:00pm.
I think I stayed in that guild far longer than I should have out of friendship with my old acquaintances. I never even got as far from a PvE progression standpoint as I had with my old Alliance guild. I eventually left for a PvP-focused guild (since that's all I was doing).
Ironically, I ended up doing much more raiding with this PvP guild than I ever did with my former guild since we often paired up with another group once or twice a week to raid for gear. Go figure.
Wrath of the Lich King – No Guild Drama
It's my sincere belief that most MMO players struggle with the types of Guild Drama issues that I described above. I think finding a "good guild" is more the exception than the rule and is likely why the solo-viability of a game like WoW makes it immensely popular.
I think this bears repeating because I think some other bloggers have always been fortunate enough to have a good guild or group to play with and in many ways, I think this twists their expectations. The simple fact is that far more people are in bad guilds than good ones. Good people, but not enough of them to DO much of anything. Or conversely, large groups, but run by people you don't like or connect with at a personal level.
That's a very important consideration for a developer because as I learned in Wrath, having a good quality group to play with dramatically increases the "fun factor" in these games.
In any event, shortly after returning back to WoW, I was recruited into a great guild that I can't say enough good things about. It was by far the best group I've ever played with and I think that it contributed greatly to a much better experience than the one I had during Burning Crusade.
One of the reasons this guild worked so well for me is that I had a great relationship with the other Rogue. If I'm being blunt, most Rogues are scrubs and/or greedy bastards. However, the two of us were both great players and pretty unselfish. It really made for a solid friendship and I was closer to him than any other member of the guild.
Wrath of the Lich King - Design
Wrath is not without it's issues. Leveling and questing was a far more improved experience. If I'm being critical here, I would have liked to have seen more "phasing" and a smarter implementation of it in certain places. It's a great mechanic to evolve a story.
I didn't PvP much in Wrath because honestly, the far superior PvP in Warhammer had by this point pretty much turned me off from WoW's sub-par PvP. Wintergrasp was unspectacular and the new Battleground boring compared to the pure action to a scenario like Tor Anroc.
The real improvement for me was the Raiding. Much more accessible and the 10-man versions made the possibility of PuGGing content your Guild wasn't doing that week (or you would miss) a realistic option.
I know people have been critical that Raiding was made "easy" in Wrath but I think that's not exactly true. I think what made things easier (and better) is that you had twice the opportunity to do each Raid. You could run it in 25-man AND in 10-man.
Even players who never did the 25-man content could master the 10-man content and then PuG a 25 and have roughly a good idea of what they needed to do. 10-mans are a training ground of sorts and THAT'S what made the content overall easier.
The net is that the end-game was simply just more enjoyable than in Burning Crusade.
3 comments:
- Carson 63000 said...
One thing which I never understood about TBC was that, having decided to downsize raiding, they chose to go with 25-man raids rather than 20-man.
* 20-man would be exactly half the size of the old level 60 endgame
* 20-man would be exactly twice the size of the introductory level 70 raid.
* 20-man already had a history, in the form of Zul'Gurub and Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj.
25 just didn't make a lot of sense.
- May 26, 2010 at 4:57 PM
- sid67 said...
Exactly. I could understand 15/30 or 10/20 but 10/25 has just never made any sense.
It's a problem that still exists within WoW but the difference today is that you can pick up 5 PuGs who have done it on 10-man and still get the content completed.
- May 26, 2010 at 5:14 PM
- Stabs said...
It's hardly a great justification but I think they got the idea of 25 from EQ2. At the time EQ2 raids were built from blocks of 6 players - so 24 man raids.
It may also be the effect of designing in committees:
"No, thirty!"
"No, twenty!"
"Guys, how about 25 then?"
- May 26, 2010 at 10:12 PM


text:
Illustrate pizza logo
Take the sign off our restaurant and make it a logo in vecter format. Need it done quickly.
이 프로젝트의 입찰 현황은 다음과 같습니다. 입찰자: 44명, 평균 입찰가: $21
I have skill in making digital file for laser cutting and image in vector. Relevant Skills and Experience l Proposed Milestones $13 USD - l l
Hi. We are very confident that we are the one and only who can do this work according to your Specs within 24 hrs. Our company is not new we have more than 3200 satisfied clients from all world. Relevant Skills and Ex 더 보기
Hi, I can design high quality and creative LOGO for you. I assure you'll get what you're looking for. I'll give you 3 to 4 different ideas of your logo. Thanks Relevant Skills and Experience I'll give you the 100% sat 더 보기
Hi, I am expert Graphic Designer, Adobe Illustrator master with 7 years professional experience. Proposed Milestones $25 USD - Task Complete
Expert Designer Assistance Quick delivery with unlimited revisions sounds good right..? Relevant Skills and Experience I am an artist and Professional Freelancer Graphic Designer/Animator/illustrator, I am hard workin 더 보기
Thank you for this wonderful opportunity. I have 7+ years of experience in logo/print/graphic design. I have designed wide range of valuable and eye attracting logos, graphic & website. Relevant Skills and Experience 더 보기
Hi I can do it and i have experience in this job. please give me chance.i give you best quality thanks Relevant Skills and Experience Illustrator Proposed Milestones $10 USD - 10 No
I am very Professional and highly qualified in this field with huge experience. Relevant Skills and Experience I have a great skills and experience in graphic designing (Photoshop, Illustrator, Coral Draw). Propose 더 보기
I have 12 years of design experience in the field of design. Also I have various experience of freelancer contest score and big project. Relevant Skills and Experience My designs give the satisfaction for each country 더 보기
★★★★★PLEASE HAVE A LOOK ON MY PORTFOLIO DESIGNS FROM MY PROFILE★★★★★ I am looking forward to work on your project. Thanks Stay tuned, I'm still working on this proposal.
Let's Start Now! Please Visit our portfolio. https://www.freelancer.com/u/graphicsinsect.html Relevant Skills and Experience Let's Start Now! Please Visit our portfolio. https://www.freelancer.com/u/graphicsinsect.htm 더 보기
will do it in sufficient time. contact me. Relevant Skills and Experience graphic designer Proposed Milestones $10 USD - - -


text:
Lizards & Snakes Opens February 3 at the Denver
Museum of Nature & Science
New Exhibition Showcases over 60 Live Lizards and Snakes
from Around the World and is Free with Museum Admission
DENVER- More than 60 reptiles are slithering and crawling their
way to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. Lizards &
Snakes-the Museum's next temporary exhibition-opens Friday,
February 3, 2012. Presented in Denver by Southwest Generation
and on display through July 8, the exhibition introduces visitors
to live lizards and snakes from five continents, showcasing their
remarkable adaptations, such as camouflage, projectile tongues,
deadly venom, surprising forms of motion, and much more.
Visitors will be introduced to 26 species from diverse habitats
in Australia, Cuba, Egypt, Guatemala, Kenya, Madagascar, Indonesia,
Mexico, Sudan, and the United States. The animals, ranging from the
four-inch tropical girdled lizard to the 14-foot Burmese python,
are displayed in terrariums specifically designed to encourage
natural behavior, complete with ponds, tree limbs, rock ledges, and
live plants.
In addition to live animals, the exhibition features numerous
interactive stations that invite visitors to test their reptile
knowledge, explore the inner workings of a rattlesnake on the hunt,
touch skins, and view footage of these amazing animals in the
wild. This up close and personal exhibition reveals
fascinating facts that will have visitors thinking about snakes and
lizards in a whole new way.
"This is a unique opportunity to have live animals on display at
the Museum," said George Sparks, President and CEO of the Museum.
"Lizards & Snakes represents the vast diversity of reptiles on
the planet. If you think you know everything about lizards
and snakes, just wait until you see this exhibition. We can't wait
for these exotic and fascinating creatures to arrive."
Exhibition Highlights
Lizards & Snakes explores the evolution, movement, and
feeding habits of this group of reptiles. Twenty specialized
terrariums display more than 60 stunning reptiles from all over the
world, including veiled chameleon, rhinoceros iguana, eastern water
dragon, Amazonian and emerald tree boas, and more. The engaging
combination of live animals, fossil casts, extensive multimedia,
hands-on interactives, and an activity area specifically for
children offers a fascinating look into the wild world of lizards
and snakes that will enthrall and educate visitors of all ages.
More Information
Lizards & Snakes is organized by the American Museum of Natural History
in New York in collaboration with the Fernbank Museum of Natural
History in Atlanta, and the San Diego Museum of Natural History,
with appreciation to Clyde Peeling's Reptiland. Visit www.dmns.org for additional
Press Contact
Charlotte Hurley, [email protected],


text:
The MBA Tour – Bangalore, India
Meet face-to-face with UC Davis Admissions in India
The UC Davis MBA prepares you to be an innovative leader with global impact. Our broad-based management education provides the strong foundation, perspective and balance you need to have a positive impact in today's business environment. Our MBA prepares you to deliver results from day one.
UC Davis MBA is conveniently located in the heart of California's economic and entrepreneurial hub. Learn how our MBA can help launch your career into a market that has more MBA job postings per capita than any other city in the country. Our perspective and balanced approach will prepare you to have a positive impact in today's constantly evolving business environment. Get started on your MBA and visit Assistant Director of Admissions Amy Russell while she is in Bangalore.
Vivanta by Taj
41/3, Mahatma Gandhi Road
Bangalore, Karnataka 560 001India


text:
How One College Boosted Female STEM Graduates–Fast
Executives of science and tech companies often resort to finger-pointing when pressed to explain the shortage of women in the executive suite.
Employers blame colleges for turning out too few women grads with science, technology, engineering and math (or STEM) degrees. (Women earned 18% of computer and information-science degrees in 2010, down from 37% in 1984.) Colleges say high schools don't produce enough female applicants interested in STEM. High schools say parents fail to spark little girls' interest in science and math. Parents say girls have too few adult-female role models in STEM.
And around goes the debate.
The story of how Harvey Mudd College quadrupled its women computer-science graduates in just six years shows how quickly a concerted effort by one organization can shift the balance. Even though the 777-student college, which was named for the mining engineer who founded it in the 1950s, specializes in engineering, science, math and computer science, women computer-science majors in 2006 comprised a disappointing 10% of the graduating class.
Maria Klawe, a former Princeton University engineering dean who became Mudd's president that year, supported faculty members who wanted to make intro classes in computer science more interesting for freshmen who came in with non-technical backgrounds. They shifted the course content to practical applications, such as solving games and puzzles, and away from "the inner details of computers and software," Dr. Klawe says. "They would model the spread of a disease, or program a robot who wants to find all the green Spam in a maze," she says. The changes "turned computer science from one of the most despised courses to the most loved course in a single year," Dr. Klawe says.
To counter the notion that computer science is a "geeky guy thing," the school sent 40 to 60 women students annually to the Grace Hopper conference, which celebrates women in computing and exposed them to successful women in the field.
Dr. Klawe also took on psychological obstacles. Research shows women, more than men, see having to exert a lot of effort to pass STEM classes as a sign that they don't belong, according to a 2012 study headed by Jessi L. Smith, an associate professor of psychology at Montana State University; women who are encouraged to see working hard as normal and expected are more likely to stick with STEM. The college president tackles the topic of self-doubt in her annual address to incoming freshmen.
Students who have "imposter fears," who feel like a phony and live in fear of being exposed, aren't alone, she says. "Whenever you take on something challenging and there are lots of people around you who seem like they're really good at it, it's not uncommon to doubt yourself," she tells them. "That doesn't mean you don't belong. It's just something that happens."
In another move to dispel self-doubters, Harvey Mudd professors split introductory classes into three groups based on students' previous experience; those with no previous computer-science exposure are placed in a different class from those who started programming at age 5, whose expertise can be intimidating to other students.
Females now make up about 45% of the college's computer science grads, a percentage that reflects the male-female balance on campus as a whole, and is quadruple the 2006 figure.
Among them next spring will be Erin Coughlan of North Andover, Mass. Ms. Coughlan entered college thinking she wanted to be an engineer. When she toured other campuses, she disliked being singled out as a rare species after disclosing her planned major. "The guide would say, 'Great, there are two females in the entire program. You guys will be living together and working continuously with each other,'" Ms. Coughlan says. "That was the opposite of what I was looking for. I wanted to be seen as no different."
Touring Harvey Mudd, she felt she belonged. She got hooked on computer science after learning in the introductory course to solve puzzles and design games. After graduating next spring with a computer-science degree, Ms. Coughlin, 21, will start work as a software engineer at Google Inc.


text:
Yoga and Infertility
The despair of infertility and impotence is a direct result of the heavy demands of and changes in our American lifestyle today. One of the most dramatic changes in the past 20 years has been the increasing numbers of women in the workforce. This has resulted in many positive changes in the business world and in women's lives, but the "double role" now required of so many women is causing a great deal of stress that affects their biological systems. Men also are under tremendous pressure to produce.
It is our belief that the problems of infertility and impotence are seldom due entirely to organic causes, but are clearly related to stress. You can only produce so much, and the production of beautiful children requires a tremendous amount of effort in the emotional nature. It is unseen but very powerful. When men and women are both under so much pressure to produce at work, their energy is diverted; there is no energy left to produce a child. It is necessary for you to put energy back into the emotional and physical systems to take care of this extra demand on your body and emotions.
This can be seen so clearly in the phenomenon, so common, of a couple giving up on having a child and adopting one - and then almost immediately getting pregnant! It's very possible that the energy of the parents, instead of being totally directed toward work, was redirected toward the adopted child, and that extra attention and energy allowed the birth of another child.
Americans are brought up to give and give and give. When you sacrifice yourself to your job, you get a large measure of approval. Yoga says that you have to "put some water back into the well" in order to have something to give. You must learn how to replace the vital attention and needs of the body and mind. This can be done easily with a simple 30minute routine of exercise, breathing, and meditation. Among other benefits, Yoga exercises bring the glandular system of your body into perfect balance. The Cobra Pose and other compression poses are especially beneficial. Yoga exercises every day replenish and rebalance the physical and emotional systems that are depleted by the everyday stresses that lie so heavy on our lives.
In most cases, beneficial effects will appear as quickly as a week's time. There is no need to use drugs or alcohol to reduce stress when you have the daily support of Yoga as a constant source of energy and health. Yoga makes it possible to rest on a strong base of confidence and strength within yourself.
When pregnancy does occur, Yoga exercises should be discontinued for the first three months. After that time, with your doctor's permission, you can do a few Yoga exercises. You can always do breathing and meditation techniques to continue the stress-relieving effects; this will have a wonderful calming effect on both you and your unborn child.
Courtesy of the American Yoga Association


text:
The Jacquard loom weaves patterns specified by punched cards.
Leopold Gmelin publishes his handbook of organic chemicals.
Thomas Young formalizes the idea of three components to color.
The main geological periods are identified and named.
George Bradshaw publishes the first train timetables
Babbage constructed a mechanical computer to automate the creation of mathematical knowledge.
Samuel Morse sends the first public telegraph message.
Births and deaths begin to be systematically recorded by the UK government.
George Boole shows how logic can be represented with algebra.
Louis Daguerre creates the daguerreotype method of photography.
The first edition of Who's Who, which compiled biographical information on royals, members of Parliament, and others, is published.
Paul Julius Reuter uses pigeons to fly stock prices between Aachen and Brussels.
Edward Calahan invents a telegraph-like system to transmit every price change from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Roget's Thesaurus—first compiled in 1805—is published.
The New York World publishes the first edition of The World Almanac.
Henry Chadwick begins to keep systematic records of player achievements in baseball.
Dmitri Mendeleev creates his periodic table of chemical elements.
Robert FitzRoy uses a network of telegraph stations to assemble systematic charts and make forecasts of British weather.
Lord Kelvin creates an analog computer for predicting ocean tides.
Gregor Mendel recognizes the possibility of discrete genetic traits.
Shepard's Citations is introduced to organize citations to legal cases.
Dewey invented the Dewey Decimal System for classifying the world's knowledge and specifying how to organize books in libraries.
The US Geological Survey is authorized by Congress to create a geological map of the entire US.
Thomas Edison invents the phonograph.
Reuben H. Donnelly prints the first "Yellow Pages" business directory.
By an act of US Congress, collection of data on notifiable diseases by the Public Health Services begins.
Peano publishes axioms to give a complete formalization of arithmetic.
The first phone directory is issued, listing 50 subscribers in New Haven, Connecticut.
Hollerith puts all the data from the US Census onto punched cards, which can then be tabulated automatically. The company he started is an ancestor of IBM.
Frege created a formal system and language in which mathematical and other knowledge could be represented in terms of an extended form of logic.
Fred Jane collecting worldwide data and publishes Jane's All the World's Fighting Ships.
Index Medicus, a comprehensive index of medical scientific journal articles, is published by John Shaw Billings.
The Thomas Register of American Manufacturers begins publication.
With extensive information supplied by a network of volunteers, the OED is a systematic project to get complete knowledge of all the words in the English language.