A major difference between cities and towns is the level of activity found within their borders. Generally, cities are the busier, with the hustle and bustle of millions of people making their way to and through, the hum of business engines engaging in commerce and employing people, the arrival of new waves of immigrants from near and far, and the influence that more active local governments exert on them all – making it seem like there is always something happening in cities. Like it or not, Chelsea is a busy city that generates plenty of news to cover. As the page turns on another year, a review of the top 12 stories from ’12 certainly reveals that Chelsea continues to be a city in transition. Here’s a look at what people were talking about locally over the last 12 months.
A new $125 million bridge on Chelsea Street replaced the aging and, at times, unreliable former bridge that was built in the 1930s. Closed for more than a year and with lane restrictions prior to that, the construction activity disrupted commutes and commerce. Eighty-percent of the project was paid for by federal grants, with the State ponying up the other 20 percent and undertaking the project.
The new bridge is now open and has restored order to local traffic patterns. At more than 200 feet tall, the bridge has become a landmark that can be seen from office buildings and other higher elevation points for miles around. The new bridge also spans a wider channel, both horizontally and in depth, making it easier and safer for today’s larger shipping vessels to carry their products in and out of the Chelsea River.
What’s next: The reliability of the old bridge, which once was stuck up in the open position for several years during the 1970s, created a major psychological barrier that had inhibited development along Eastern Avenue and Marginal Street. City development officials believe the elimination of that barrier will help unlock the fullest potential for the conversion of the heavy industrial uses to higher and better development along that portion of the city’s waterfront.
What you may not have known: The Chelsea Street Bridge is the largest lift bridge of its kind in Massachusetts. Control of the bridge has been transferred from the City of Boston to the State Department of Transportation. A companion project, undertaken jointly by Massport and MassDOT, has opened up a haul road on the East Boston side of the bridge. The Marty Coughlin Haul Road will make it more convenient for commercial activity, including heavy trucking, to get directly in and out of Logan Airport.
Gary Martel was a relatively new resident who had become entrenched in civic activities. He was a central figure in the Governor Bellingham Cary House Association, a founding member of the Washington Avenue Gateway Association, a member of the City’s Planning Board and a frequent host of meetings and a widely attended holiday party at his beautiful Victorian home that was under painstaking renovation on Washington Avenue. All of that came crashing down on Martel, as he was arrested on securities fraud, accused of bilking clients of his various financial businesses out of more than $3 million dollars.
A collaboration led by The Neighborhood Developers and including Centro Latino, Bunker Hill Community College, Career Source, Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership and Metropolitan Credit Union launched CONNECT, a co-located bundling of programs aimed at improving skills and financial security of local residents. The Chelsea Collaborative made headlines outside of the city for returning financial support from a funder who may have sought to restrict the grassroots advocacy group’s efforts to support gay rights. Roca, a youth development organization that focuses on proven risk young men, was one of three selected by the State to lead a groundbreaking “pay for success” initiative. Instead of funding an agency and hoping for performance, the initiative rewards agencies for success by using a portion of the money otherwise saved through averting incarceration or other negative outcomes.
S Senator John Kerry brought US Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske to Chelsea for a drug discussion with City Manager Jay Ash, Police Chief Brian Kyes and their peers from surrounding communities. U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis was at The Neighborhood Developers to learn more about CONNECT and to address national labor issues. U.S. Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women Acting Director Bea Hanson visited HarborCOV to share information on federal and local efforts to combat domestic violence.
The City is considering a follow-up public relations campaign to build upon the positive coverage by those two highly regarded programs.
What you may not have known: Chelsea was once the feature of a less than flattering “60 Minutes” segment the dealt with the City going into State receivership in 1991. One can still catch that segment on the Internet’s YouTube website. The Chelsea Record and its editor Joshua Resnek is also featured in that segment as well.
The Chelsea Police Patrolman’s Union took its contract battle with the City public, writing letters to the editor, testifying before City Council meetings, dropping informational “tickets” on car windshields and even holding protest signs at the Zip Trip airing. The union, which is separate from the Police Superior Officer’s Union, even went as far as to issue a report that Chelsea was among, if not the most crime-riddled community in the country.
Global Oil proposed to deliver ethanol to its Revere facility via train. To do so, train cars, as many as 60 at a time, would travel through numerous communities, including Chelsea. The Chelsea Collaborative and City officials partnered to fight the proposal, citing safety concerns about the extremely volatile, alcohol-based product travelling through densely populated areas.
Although just outside the municipal borders, the official filing by Suffolk Downs for a full casino license could have a dramatic impact on Chelsea. That is, if Suffolk secures the license. One license can be issued in the eastern region of the state. While Suffolk has long been known to be interested in securing the license from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission to build a $1 billion resort-style casino at the race track that has hosted legalized gambling on Route 1A for the last 75 years, others are looking elsewhere in Eastern Massachusetts for rival locations. Most recently, such a site was identified in Everett, although the potential proponent of that location, casino-mogul Steve Wynn, has yet to formally file a pre-application.
2013年1月4日星期五
2012年4月4日星期三
Zhongtian explores US market at NPE
Taizhou Zhongtian Plastics Co. Ltd.’s small booth at NPE2012 is filled with large, hollow plastic items – pet houses and wheeled garbage totes of different sizes. The first time NPE exhibitor hopes to open up the U.S. market with its injection molded and blown molded products, backed up by ongoing expansions of two new factories in China.
Even with rising production costs in China, strengthening yuan and shipping cost of large hollow items, the company still is optimistic to give the U.S. market a try, said Susan Zhang, an export manger.
Exports already makes up 40 percent of its business, with Australia being the largest export destination.
“Some U.S. customers are already using our products,” she said, through Zhongtian’s contract production for U.S. manufacturers. But the company is hoping to sell directly into the market.
Part of the rationale behind the effort to expand U.S. sales is to compensate for the decline of export in other markets since the second part of 2011. “Our traditional markets are sort of saturated.”
Its investment on overseas expansion is backed up by fast-paced growth in China’s domestic market, esp. through government bids and contracts. Zhongtian’s total sales are around 300 million yuan (about $48 million). Zhang said its domestic sales are expected to grow 10 to 20 percent in 2012, while export is most likely to stay flat.
To add to its production capacity at its headquarters in Taizhou, Zhejiang province, Zhongtian is launching its second factory, located in Liaoning province in Northeast China. Zhang said the plant is built on a campus of 120 mu (about 20 acres).
Zhongtian is also building a third factory, on about 15 acres of land, in Taizhou, Zhang added. The new plant is scheduled to commerce production in 2013.
The privately owned company is investing 150 million yuan ($24 million) this year to build about 624,307 square feet of new manufacturing space, according to a report on its web site.
Zhongtian has about 50 injection molding presses, plus blow molding machines, welders and other equipment.
Its workforce of 300 is expected to grow about 20 percent with the new factories, but Zhang stressed that the company is increasingly adapting automation technologies and upgrading its existing machinery to increase efficiency.
Even with rising production costs in China, strengthening yuan and shipping cost of large hollow items, the company still is optimistic to give the U.S. market a try, said Susan Zhang, an export manger.
Exports already makes up 40 percent of its business, with Australia being the largest export destination.
“Some U.S. customers are already using our products,” she said, through Zhongtian’s contract production for U.S. manufacturers. But the company is hoping to sell directly into the market.
Part of the rationale behind the effort to expand U.S. sales is to compensate for the decline of export in other markets since the second part of 2011. “Our traditional markets are sort of saturated.”
Its investment on overseas expansion is backed up by fast-paced growth in China’s domestic market, esp. through government bids and contracts. Zhongtian’s total sales are around 300 million yuan (about $48 million). Zhang said its domestic sales are expected to grow 10 to 20 percent in 2012, while export is most likely to stay flat.
To add to its production capacity at its headquarters in Taizhou, Zhejiang province, Zhongtian is launching its second factory, located in Liaoning province in Northeast China. Zhang said the plant is built on a campus of 120 mu (about 20 acres).
Zhongtian is also building a third factory, on about 15 acres of land, in Taizhou, Zhang added. The new plant is scheduled to commerce production in 2013.
The privately owned company is investing 150 million yuan ($24 million) this year to build about 624,307 square feet of new manufacturing space, according to a report on its web site.
Zhongtian has about 50 injection molding presses, plus blow molding machines, welders and other equipment.
Its workforce of 300 is expected to grow about 20 percent with the new factories, but Zhang stressed that the company is increasingly adapting automation technologies and upgrading its existing machinery to increase efficiency.
2012年1月4日星期三
World Famous V.I.P. Records To Close
It's a smoggy afternoon in Long Beach. World Famous V.I.P. Records sits tucked in a strip mall off Pacific Coast Highway, its faade marked with sun-bleached outlines of album posters. The store's iconic record-shaped sign still stands tall, though it could use a paint job. Speakers in the doorway, meanwhile, blare '90s R&B.
The shop is open, but it's empty, which is par for the course lately. That's why after 33 years in business, owner Kelvin Anderson was scheduled to close V.I.P.'s doors for good this past weekend.
Taking calls behind the register on his Bluetooth, the 57-year-old Anderson wears a polo shirt, frameless glasses and a neatly trimmed goatee. He hardly looks ready to retire, yet there's resignation in his voice. "I waited way too long to try to reinvent us," he says.
V.I.P. Records hasn't turned a profit since 2003 — the year iTunes launched — and began accruing debt about five years later. Anderson says he and his son, Kelvin Jr., with whom he runs the store, can no longer afford to pay their rent and utility bills.
V.I.P. has undergone several downsizings in the past decade. The store's original entrance on PCH now leads into a vacant storefront next door, and the wall that divides the two spaces is crowded with sunglasses, hats, jewelry, incense burners — anything to help counter dismal CD sales.
Record stores have been shuttering all over the country, but the fall of V.I.P. is particularly dispiriting. After all, "World Famous" isn't an affectation; V.I.P. is iconic in the annals of West Coast gangsta rap. It housed the studio where Snoop Dogg, Warren G and Nate Dogg — then a trio known as 213 — recorded the demo that led to their big breaks. The rooftop sign has been the backdrop for videos including Snoop's "Who Am I (What's My Name)" and Jermaine Dupri's "Welcome to Atlanta" remix.
Taking a seat on the in-store performance stage — which has been graced over the years by artists such as Nate Dogg and LL Cool J — Anderson discusses the establishment's 1990s heyday, during which it hosted standing-room-only record signings and concerts.
The store also has played a key role in breaking urban artists, even those who never stepped through its doors. It once served as a tastemaker for the neighborhood and even for Los Angeles as a whole.
At one point, the V.I.P. name was attached to a dozen outposts in Southern California. The chain's original location in South Central was founded by Anderson's older brother Cletus in the late 1960s; it specialized in gospel, Motown and R&B.
After graduating from high school in Brandon, Miss., in 1972, a teenage Anderson followed Cletus to Los Angeles and got into the business. Together they opened V.I.P.'s Long Beach location — their 12th — in 1978; Anderson bought it shortly thereafter.
"Some kids go to college, but I got my degree in the music industry working at V.I.P.," he says.
In the '70s and '80s V.I.P. distributed albums and housed two labels, Magic Disc Records and Saturn Records, the latter of which put out Ice-T's 1982 debut single, "The Coldest Rap."
By the next decade, V.I.P. was an urban-music powerhouse. Eugene Luckett, a former retail marketing and distribution executive for Polygram, BMG and Capitol, has worked with Anderson for 15 years and describes him as instrumental to the success of artists he handled, including Warren G, Notorious B.I.G., TLC and Whitney Houston.
"In the '90s all the labels wanted the next West Coast gangsta rapper," Luckett says. "Kelvin was a portal for executives who didn't know anything about those artists."
Label reps like him relied on Anderson to tell them who was hot and how to market new albums to urban communities like Long Beach. After all, Anderson always seemed to understand what those audiences wanted to hear.
"He could get 1,000 people to show up to an in-store with minimal advertising," Luckett says. "That truly speaks to his bond with the community."
By the early '90s, West Coast hip-hop was taking over, and the kids visiting the store wanted in. Anderson enlisted the help of L.A. producer Sir Jinx to build an in-store recording studio, in part to bolster what he calls V.I.P.'s role as a "safe haven" for young people in the community.
Fresh off the success of Ice Cube's first two solo records, Jinx brought Anderson to his cousin Dr. Dre's house and showed him an SP1200 drum machine. "That was all you needed to make a hip-hop record in those days," Anderson recalls.
With Jinx's help, he soon transformed the store's back storage room into a veritable musical playground for the local kids.
Snoop and 213 recorded a demo there — "[V.I.P.] gave us life," Snoop recently told Current TV — and Anderson was struck by their sound. "They were something totally unique," he says. "You had Snoop's smooth delivery, which you could enjoy even without music to back it up, and you had , who was incorporating hooks right into the raps. That was brand new."
The shop is open, but it's empty, which is par for the course lately. That's why after 33 years in business, owner Kelvin Anderson was scheduled to close V.I.P.'s doors for good this past weekend.
Taking calls behind the register on his Bluetooth, the 57-year-old Anderson wears a polo shirt, frameless glasses and a neatly trimmed goatee. He hardly looks ready to retire, yet there's resignation in his voice. "I waited way too long to try to reinvent us," he says.
V.I.P. Records hasn't turned a profit since 2003 — the year iTunes launched — and began accruing debt about five years later. Anderson says he and his son, Kelvin Jr., with whom he runs the store, can no longer afford to pay their rent and utility bills.
V.I.P. has undergone several downsizings in the past decade. The store's original entrance on PCH now leads into a vacant storefront next door, and the wall that divides the two spaces is crowded with sunglasses, hats, jewelry, incense burners — anything to help counter dismal CD sales.
Record stores have been shuttering all over the country, but the fall of V.I.P. is particularly dispiriting. After all, "World Famous" isn't an affectation; V.I.P. is iconic in the annals of West Coast gangsta rap. It housed the studio where Snoop Dogg, Warren G and Nate Dogg — then a trio known as 213 — recorded the demo that led to their big breaks. The rooftop sign has been the backdrop for videos including Snoop's "Who Am I (What's My Name)" and Jermaine Dupri's "Welcome to Atlanta" remix.
Taking a seat on the in-store performance stage — which has been graced over the years by artists such as Nate Dogg and LL Cool J — Anderson discusses the establishment's 1990s heyday, during which it hosted standing-room-only record signings and concerts.
The store also has played a key role in breaking urban artists, even those who never stepped through its doors. It once served as a tastemaker for the neighborhood and even for Los Angeles as a whole.
At one point, the V.I.P. name was attached to a dozen outposts in Southern California. The chain's original location in South Central was founded by Anderson's older brother Cletus in the late 1960s; it specialized in gospel, Motown and R&B.
After graduating from high school in Brandon, Miss., in 1972, a teenage Anderson followed Cletus to Los Angeles and got into the business. Together they opened V.I.P.'s Long Beach location — their 12th — in 1978; Anderson bought it shortly thereafter.
"Some kids go to college, but I got my degree in the music industry working at V.I.P.," he says.
In the '70s and '80s V.I.P. distributed albums and housed two labels, Magic Disc Records and Saturn Records, the latter of which put out Ice-T's 1982 debut single, "The Coldest Rap."
By the next decade, V.I.P. was an urban-music powerhouse. Eugene Luckett, a former retail marketing and distribution executive for Polygram, BMG and Capitol, has worked with Anderson for 15 years and describes him as instrumental to the success of artists he handled, including Warren G, Notorious B.I.G., TLC and Whitney Houston.
"In the '90s all the labels wanted the next West Coast gangsta rapper," Luckett says. "Kelvin was a portal for executives who didn't know anything about those artists."
Label reps like him relied on Anderson to tell them who was hot and how to market new albums to urban communities like Long Beach. After all, Anderson always seemed to understand what those audiences wanted to hear.
"He could get 1,000 people to show up to an in-store with minimal advertising," Luckett says. "That truly speaks to his bond with the community."
By the early '90s, West Coast hip-hop was taking over, and the kids visiting the store wanted in. Anderson enlisted the help of L.A. producer Sir Jinx to build an in-store recording studio, in part to bolster what he calls V.I.P.'s role as a "safe haven" for young people in the community.
Fresh off the success of Ice Cube's first two solo records, Jinx brought Anderson to his cousin Dr. Dre's house and showed him an SP1200 drum machine. "That was all you needed to make a hip-hop record in those days," Anderson recalls.
With Jinx's help, he soon transformed the store's back storage room into a veritable musical playground for the local kids.
Snoop and 213 recorded a demo there — "[V.I.P.] gave us life," Snoop recently told Current TV — and Anderson was struck by their sound. "They were something totally unique," he says. "You had Snoop's smooth delivery, which you could enjoy even without music to back it up, and you had , who was incorporating hooks right into the raps. That was brand new."
2012年1月2日星期一
A Return to Collecting
When the Braves exited the playoffs with a whimper in 2005, I’m certain that I wasn’t the only one who believed we had just witnessed the end of the streak of division championships. That’s not a knock on the 2005 team. After all, many of us thought the streak would end before the 2005 season had even begun. Instead, led and inspired by the Baby Braves, a group of rookies including Brian McCann and Jeff Francouer, the Braves would take the division lead on July 22 and not relinquish it. It was an exciting season highlighted by McCann’s home run off Roger Clemens in the division series.
Still, this Braves team was no longer the lock to win the division they had been for so much of the streak. The offense seemed to be fine. Andruw Jones looked to be hitting the peak of his career. Chipper Jones remained one of the best players in the league when he was healthy. Adam LaRoche was showing a lot of pop and a lot of promise. McCann and Francouer had the look of future stars. There was little doubt that the Braves would continue to score runs. It was the pitching staff that was a cause for concern.
The Braves backbone throughout their run of division championships was their starting pitching. Even if the quality of the starting staff had diminished a bit towards the end of the run, the staff was still better than most. It was almost like there was a magical quality to pitching for the Braves. Even Russ Ortiz was a somewhat productive starter while in a Braves uniform. Of course, the true backbone was the three future Hall of Fame pitchers: Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz.
Of course, Smoltz was the only pitcher of the trio to remain in a Braves uniform at the end of the 2005 season. The rest of the rotation was a question mark. The Braves had no idea when Mike Hampton would return from injury. Tim Hudson looked to be slipping from his form with the A’s. It was possible that Horacio Ramirez, Chuck James and Kyle Davies would turn into first rate starters, and it was also possible that they would remain wildly inconsistent and a source of constant frustration. The years when the Braves were anchored by three Hall of Fame starters were becoming a distant memory.
When I first started collecting baseball cards in the late 1970s, it was easy. There was one set of any note put out each year. The Topps base set was the entire hobby. That would change in 1981 when Fleer and Donruss would enter the business. Still, three major sets a year wasn’t a difficult task. Sure, it meant my allowance money got spread around a bit more and left me far shorter of the cards I needed to complete the Topps set, but all three manufacturers were putting out quality product. Score started pushing out sets in 1988 and Upper Deck followed with their on line in 1989. Topps resurrected the Bowman brand as an individual product. It was no longer possible for a set collector on a High School budget to keep buying as many baseball cards as he could find.
While I still bought the occasional pack just for the thrill of opening, I would simply wait until late in the season and buy a few of the sets from the year. The manufacturers had been releasing complete "factory sets" of their cards to retail for a few years. I was now purchasing them every year. It wasn’t as much fun as trying to piece the sets together by hand, but it was easier and less frustrating. Still, the hobby kept changing.
It was Upper Deck who raised the stakes. They used glossy photographs. They used holograms to make their cards harder to counterfeit. They abandoned cardboard. They had the gall to charge a dollar a pack. They sold like gangbusters and the hobby began to spiral out of control. Fleer would introduce their Ultra brand to compete with Upper Deck. Topps would introduce Stadium Club with full bleed color photographs. Prices were on the rise. Speaking for myself, the money I spent on cards didn’t seem to go as far.
Still, this Braves team was no longer the lock to win the division they had been for so much of the streak. The offense seemed to be fine. Andruw Jones looked to be hitting the peak of his career. Chipper Jones remained one of the best players in the league when he was healthy. Adam LaRoche was showing a lot of pop and a lot of promise. McCann and Francouer had the look of future stars. There was little doubt that the Braves would continue to score runs. It was the pitching staff that was a cause for concern.
The Braves backbone throughout their run of division championships was their starting pitching. Even if the quality of the starting staff had diminished a bit towards the end of the run, the staff was still better than most. It was almost like there was a magical quality to pitching for the Braves. Even Russ Ortiz was a somewhat productive starter while in a Braves uniform. Of course, the true backbone was the three future Hall of Fame pitchers: Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz.
Of course, Smoltz was the only pitcher of the trio to remain in a Braves uniform at the end of the 2005 season. The rest of the rotation was a question mark. The Braves had no idea when Mike Hampton would return from injury. Tim Hudson looked to be slipping from his form with the A’s. It was possible that Horacio Ramirez, Chuck James and Kyle Davies would turn into first rate starters, and it was also possible that they would remain wildly inconsistent and a source of constant frustration. The years when the Braves were anchored by three Hall of Fame starters were becoming a distant memory.
When I first started collecting baseball cards in the late 1970s, it was easy. There was one set of any note put out each year. The Topps base set was the entire hobby. That would change in 1981 when Fleer and Donruss would enter the business. Still, three major sets a year wasn’t a difficult task. Sure, it meant my allowance money got spread around a bit more and left me far shorter of the cards I needed to complete the Topps set, but all three manufacturers were putting out quality product. Score started pushing out sets in 1988 and Upper Deck followed with their on line in 1989. Topps resurrected the Bowman brand as an individual product. It was no longer possible for a set collector on a High School budget to keep buying as many baseball cards as he could find.
While I still bought the occasional pack just for the thrill of opening, I would simply wait until late in the season and buy a few of the sets from the year. The manufacturers had been releasing complete "factory sets" of their cards to retail for a few years. I was now purchasing them every year. It wasn’t as much fun as trying to piece the sets together by hand, but it was easier and less frustrating. Still, the hobby kept changing.
It was Upper Deck who raised the stakes. They used glossy photographs. They used holograms to make their cards harder to counterfeit. They abandoned cardboard. They had the gall to charge a dollar a pack. They sold like gangbusters and the hobby began to spiral out of control. Fleer would introduce their Ultra brand to compete with Upper Deck. Topps would introduce Stadium Club with full bleed color photographs. Prices were on the rise. Speaking for myself, the money I spent on cards didn’t seem to go as far.
2011年12月29日星期四
Tips for last New Year's Eve
For the second time the city its Silvestival: Ten venues, it is in a core clock time 21-2 (Late Night in the City Hall clock to 4) to explore. The direction is posed by the Nuremberg town hall in the predominantly Sebalder old to new venues such as the Pellerhaus, the John Scharrer Gymnasium, the cornerstone and the Jazz Studio. The island is the largest bulk with free admission outdoor venue.
"There are about 500 remaining tickets," says the project office of the city. If it rains, as announced, is a bit, then all fit into the ribbon-holders covered venues. Advance tickets cost 15 plus presale tickets at the box office 19 .
If you like it even more contemplative, is in good hands with the churches of St. Sebald and St. Giles: For the New Year's Eve concerts by 22 clock Tickets are still available, just for the concert at the Reformation Memorial Church at Berliner Platz. There, works by Bach and Handel are listed.
In St. Giles is a buffet for New Year's Eve concert, the musical motto is: "Behold, thou art fair, my love," can be heard love songs of the Renaissance with works by Tomás Luis de Victoria, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Orlando di Lasso, etc. At midnight, champagne and served jointly celebrated the new year.
St. Sebald is New Year's Eve in an organ concert of works by Johann Sebastian Bach. The performers of the evening Bernard Butt Man are on the organ, and Rev. Gerhard Schorr speaks the words of the year.
In the Meistersingerhalle the restaurant presents for the first time under new management with New Year's Eve menu and buffet. In the Great Hall is magic time: "Magic Unlimited" guest appearances at 19.30 clock. After the show it's in the lobby with live music by the band "Members", dance and fireworks continued into the new year.
The small hall fills the Upper Palatinate comedian Lizzy Aumeier. The best of the programs "AufBass'd", "Racer Girl" and "full on it" - award-winning cabaret.
Is sold out, "My Fair Lady" at the Opera House, as the event in the intimate theater. Remaining tickets are still for "Peer Gynt" at 18.30 clock in the theater.
There are no tickets for the theater salt and pepper, in S'Baggers is the single-party canceled, instead it gives food a la carte, the events are sold out at the Hilton on Valznerweiher well as Maritim Hotel. There are still tickets for the New Year's Eve buffet at the Sheraton, with piano music to 85 .
Cinecitta in the cards for the big party cost 16 , 18 box office, with cinema ticket, it costs 23.50, the facilities are fully booked for the menu.
In contrast, there is a gala dinner at the Grand Hotel still places. Under the theme "Opera Ball" is supplied in a festive wardrobe for 139 per person, midnight champagne reception and lunch included. In Provenza on the main market, there are fine Italian buffet, plus music by Pino Barone and an open dance floor. The card costs 69 , however, are almost all gone.
The New Year's Eve at the Park Café starts at 22 clock, entrance costs 16.50 and there's most wanted hits with DJ Cube House with DJ Icee, 2011 White roses and a welcome drink. Culinary, the Park Café until midnight, a finger-food buffet for 5,50 and long drinks.
Deer ends in the old year with 20 hours New Year's Eve for electronic 12.20. In the Vineria for "Red Passion Party New Year's Eve" at midnight and admission is free, before it costs 99 . Quite passionately celebrated in Red and best in evening dress. If you just want to dance into the New Year can do so in the Rock factory, but also the Mach 1 has revealed the clock from 22 dance floors.
"There are about 500 remaining tickets," says the project office of the city. If it rains, as announced, is a bit, then all fit into the ribbon-holders covered venues. Advance tickets cost 15 plus presale tickets at the box office 19 .
If you like it even more contemplative, is in good hands with the churches of St. Sebald and St. Giles: For the New Year's Eve concerts by 22 clock Tickets are still available, just for the concert at the Reformation Memorial Church at Berliner Platz. There, works by Bach and Handel are listed.
In St. Giles is a buffet for New Year's Eve concert, the musical motto is: "Behold, thou art fair, my love," can be heard love songs of the Renaissance with works by Tomás Luis de Victoria, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Orlando di Lasso, etc. At midnight, champagne and served jointly celebrated the new year.
St. Sebald is New Year's Eve in an organ concert of works by Johann Sebastian Bach. The performers of the evening Bernard Butt Man are on the organ, and Rev. Gerhard Schorr speaks the words of the year.
In the Meistersingerhalle the restaurant presents for the first time under new management with New Year's Eve menu and buffet. In the Great Hall is magic time: "Magic Unlimited" guest appearances at 19.30 clock. After the show it's in the lobby with live music by the band "Members", dance and fireworks continued into the new year.
The small hall fills the Upper Palatinate comedian Lizzy Aumeier. The best of the programs "AufBass'd", "Racer Girl" and "full on it" - award-winning cabaret.
Is sold out, "My Fair Lady" at the Opera House, as the event in the intimate theater. Remaining tickets are still for "Peer Gynt" at 18.30 clock in the theater.
There are no tickets for the theater salt and pepper, in S'Baggers is the single-party canceled, instead it gives food a la carte, the events are sold out at the Hilton on Valznerweiher well as Maritim Hotel. There are still tickets for the New Year's Eve buffet at the Sheraton, with piano music to 85 .
Cinecitta in the cards for the big party cost 16 , 18 box office, with cinema ticket, it costs 23.50, the facilities are fully booked for the menu.
In contrast, there is a gala dinner at the Grand Hotel still places. Under the theme "Opera Ball" is supplied in a festive wardrobe for 139 per person, midnight champagne reception and lunch included. In Provenza on the main market, there are fine Italian buffet, plus music by Pino Barone and an open dance floor. The card costs 69 , however, are almost all gone.
The New Year's Eve at the Park Café starts at 22 clock, entrance costs 16.50 and there's most wanted hits with DJ Cube House with DJ Icee, 2011 White roses and a welcome drink. Culinary, the Park Café until midnight, a finger-food buffet for 5,50 and long drinks.
Deer ends in the old year with 20 hours New Year's Eve for electronic 12.20. In the Vineria for "Red Passion Party New Year's Eve" at midnight and admission is free, before it costs 99 . Quite passionately celebrated in Red and best in evening dress. If you just want to dance into the New Year can do so in the Rock factory, but also the Mach 1 has revealed the clock from 22 dance floors.
2011年12月26日星期一
Incredibooths' Photo Booth New York Division Offers Discounted Rate
Photo Booth Rentals have spiked in popularity and the Metro New York area is no exception. From the poshest parties to the most elegant of affairs photo booths have claimed their rightful place on any events check list. The smiles and memories captured in a photo booth are different from any type of professional photography and also are a world a way from a step and repeat. The photo booth set up allows guests to pile into the photo booth, draw the curtain and let the magic happen. This nostalgic past-time is loved by all. From the classic kissy faces to the most unusual silly faces one thing is always certain: a photo booth rental is a great time. And now Incredibooths: New York's Ultimate Photo Booth Experience, is offering its luxury photo booth new yorkrentals at a reduced price just in time for the holidays.
"Our photo booths are extremely popular and thankfully because of that we are able to make this offer" says Dennis of Incredibooths. "We figured we'd make a great offer in the spirit of the holidays, this will allow some folks to same some money while still getting the luxury they deserve. It's our gift to our customers."
Incredibooths luxury photo booth rentals are completely revolutionary and modern with their hallmark all white design and clean modern exteriors. The Capture Cube and Capture Curve both use the best photography equipment available as well. The photo booths are packed with technology like a Canon DSLR camera, professional flash ring, huge color touchscreen, High-definition external slideshow displays and professional dye-sublimation printers boasting pro quality glossy photo prints in just about 7 seconds! The high end technology in the booths definitely matches the high end look and finishes of the luxury photo booth rentals.
Guest both young and old all love a photo booth and they make great favors. Even those with a shy streak tend to loosen up and get a little wild after piling into the photo booth to strike a pose. Everyone will get in the booth! Guests go home with an instant memento of the event which often includes a customized event logo or monogram and the date. For weddings this type of customization is great as it allows the bride and groom to fully personalize the experience. A luxury photo booth rental new york is a unique and fun experience that adds an extra level of excitement that you and your guests will talk about for years.
"Our photo booths are extremely popular and thankfully because of that we are able to make this offer" says Dennis of Incredibooths. "We figured we'd make a great offer in the spirit of the holidays, this will allow some folks to same some money while still getting the luxury they deserve. It's our gift to our customers."
Incredibooths luxury photo booth rentals are completely revolutionary and modern with their hallmark all white design and clean modern exteriors. The Capture Cube and Capture Curve both use the best photography equipment available as well. The photo booths are packed with technology like a Canon DSLR camera, professional flash ring, huge color touchscreen, High-definition external slideshow displays and professional dye-sublimation printers boasting pro quality glossy photo prints in just about 7 seconds! The high end technology in the booths definitely matches the high end look and finishes of the luxury photo booth rentals.
Guest both young and old all love a photo booth and they make great favors. Even those with a shy streak tend to loosen up and get a little wild after piling into the photo booth to strike a pose. Everyone will get in the booth! Guests go home with an instant memento of the event which often includes a customized event logo or monogram and the date. For weddings this type of customization is great as it allows the bride and groom to fully personalize the experience. A luxury photo booth rental new york is a unique and fun experience that adds an extra level of excitement that you and your guests will talk about for years.
2011年11月15日星期二
10 Fun Games You Might Have Missed
Last year I celebrated the fifteenth anniversary of the Sony Playstation with a piece entitled, “15 Years of the Sony Playstation – 15 Fun Games You Might Have Missed.” It proved to be a pretty popular piece with readers, so this year, in honour of the 10th anniversary of the Microsoft Xbox, we’re going to do something very similar.
Please note this is not a “Top 10″ list highlighting what I consider the absolute best games available on the original Xbox. Rather, this is a look at ten games that have had a strong cult following since they were released on the Xbox, even if they are obscure or unheard of by the mainstream or casual gamer. This list will only include games that were Xbox console exclusives. This means no remakes, no cross-console titles, and no titles that have been re-released on XBLA as a digital download. I’ve also tried to make sure the games are available for thirty dollars or less, so that any gamer can pick them up and see why these titles still hold up a decade later. There is one big exception to that rule though… These ten games will also be covered in alphabetical order, so as not to give the impression that one game is better than another. The unintended side effect of this is that we’ll be starting with the first Xbox game I ever reviewed and ending with the last. Odd coincidence, no? The goal of this piece is to inspire a combination of conversation amongst older gamers, nostalgia over titles both loved and forgotten, and hopefully exposing younger gamers to ten titles that might not have had the largest advertising but still have a loyal following due to their quality. Who knows? If you missed one (or more) of these ten games, perhaps this piece will inspire you to track them down and see why they hold a special place in the hearts of gamers who experienced them.
You might not recognize the name Arkane Studios, but they are the team behind the upcoming first person stealth game Dishonored (being published by Bethesda) and they did the art design for Bioshock 2. This little French development company got its start with this partially open source first person RPG that was originally intended to be Ultima Underworld III. Ultima Underworld might not be a familiar title to younger gamers, but mention it to someone who works in the industry and they’ll probably talk your ear off about it. The Elder Scrolls, Bioshock, Gears of War, Deus Ex, Half-Life 2, and World of Warcraft were all inspired by Ultima Underworld. It’s one of the most influential games ever and it saddens me to see how forgotten it is by the average gamer. Arx Fatalis was meant to be the third game in the series, but Electronic Arts decided not to give Arkane Studios the license or publish the game. A little retooling and rescripting later, and Arx Fatalis was born. Thank Cthulhu for that, as it ended up being one of the best RPGs for the Xbox.
Arx Fatalis takes place in another world – one where the sun is no more. All life on the planet now lives in a series of connected subterranean caverns built by the dwarves of a time long since past. Humans, trolls, goblins, wererats and more now live in these caves, using magic to grow crops and stay alive. The game begins long after the underearth has been settled. You begin by seeing your character enveloped in a blue light and learn he is an amnesiac who knows nothing of the world or its history. Cheesy and cliche, but an easy way to make you learn the history of Arx Fatalis. You are a prisoner of goblins. You escape. You wander around. You discover a Human outpost where everyone was slaughtered horribly. Then slowly a conspiracy unfolds itself…
There are two big things that make the game memorable. The first is the sheer level of detail. Straight out of old SSI AD&D games like Eye of the Beholder, you have to eat. Of course, you don’t want to eat raw food, so you not only half to kill your meat, but cook it too. You also have to mix ingredients to make anything from bread to potions. You’ll have to learn to repair armour, create a fishing pole and many other things in order to reach your ultimate goal – defeating an avatar of the god of destruction. The depth even extends into spell casting. Taking a page right out of 2nd Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, your character will need to trace runes in the air and in real time in order to cast a spell, so there aren’t any instantaneous fireballs here. I loved this back in 2003 and I still love it now. It simulates the time and precision needed to cast magic and forces you to consider timing and location rather than just button mashing. If this turned out to be too hard for a gamer, they had the option of memorizing a spell by doing the runes in a more peaceful situation and then pressing Y to memorize it for a quick release down the road. If even that wasn’t enough, you could turn on arcade magic, which just gave you a menu for quickly selecting spells. So no matter your skill level, you still could wield magic properly. I loved the attention to detail in this game, as including so many small things that most RPGs ignore or forget really helped the kingdom of Arx to come alive for me.
Please note this is not a “Top 10″ list highlighting what I consider the absolute best games available on the original Xbox. Rather, this is a look at ten games that have had a strong cult following since they were released on the Xbox, even if they are obscure or unheard of by the mainstream or casual gamer. This list will only include games that were Xbox console exclusives. This means no remakes, no cross-console titles, and no titles that have been re-released on XBLA as a digital download. I’ve also tried to make sure the games are available for thirty dollars or less, so that any gamer can pick them up and see why these titles still hold up a decade later. There is one big exception to that rule though… These ten games will also be covered in alphabetical order, so as not to give the impression that one game is better than another. The unintended side effect of this is that we’ll be starting with the first Xbox game I ever reviewed and ending with the last. Odd coincidence, no? The goal of this piece is to inspire a combination of conversation amongst older gamers, nostalgia over titles both loved and forgotten, and hopefully exposing younger gamers to ten titles that might not have had the largest advertising but still have a loyal following due to their quality. Who knows? If you missed one (or more) of these ten games, perhaps this piece will inspire you to track them down and see why they hold a special place in the hearts of gamers who experienced them.
You might not recognize the name Arkane Studios, but they are the team behind the upcoming first person stealth game Dishonored (being published by Bethesda) and they did the art design for Bioshock 2. This little French development company got its start with this partially open source first person RPG that was originally intended to be Ultima Underworld III. Ultima Underworld might not be a familiar title to younger gamers, but mention it to someone who works in the industry and they’ll probably talk your ear off about it. The Elder Scrolls, Bioshock, Gears of War, Deus Ex, Half-Life 2, and World of Warcraft were all inspired by Ultima Underworld. It’s one of the most influential games ever and it saddens me to see how forgotten it is by the average gamer. Arx Fatalis was meant to be the third game in the series, but Electronic Arts decided not to give Arkane Studios the license or publish the game. A little retooling and rescripting later, and Arx Fatalis was born. Thank Cthulhu for that, as it ended up being one of the best RPGs for the Xbox.
Arx Fatalis takes place in another world – one where the sun is no more. All life on the planet now lives in a series of connected subterranean caverns built by the dwarves of a time long since past. Humans, trolls, goblins, wererats and more now live in these caves, using magic to grow crops and stay alive. The game begins long after the underearth has been settled. You begin by seeing your character enveloped in a blue light and learn he is an amnesiac who knows nothing of the world or its history. Cheesy and cliche, but an easy way to make you learn the history of Arx Fatalis. You are a prisoner of goblins. You escape. You wander around. You discover a Human outpost where everyone was slaughtered horribly. Then slowly a conspiracy unfolds itself…
There are two big things that make the game memorable. The first is the sheer level of detail. Straight out of old SSI AD&D games like Eye of the Beholder, you have to eat. Of course, you don’t want to eat raw food, so you not only half to kill your meat, but cook it too. You also have to mix ingredients to make anything from bread to potions. You’ll have to learn to repair armour, create a fishing pole and many other things in order to reach your ultimate goal – defeating an avatar of the god of destruction. The depth even extends into spell casting. Taking a page right out of 2nd Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, your character will need to trace runes in the air and in real time in order to cast a spell, so there aren’t any instantaneous fireballs here. I loved this back in 2003 and I still love it now. It simulates the time and precision needed to cast magic and forces you to consider timing and location rather than just button mashing. If this turned out to be too hard for a gamer, they had the option of memorizing a spell by doing the runes in a more peaceful situation and then pressing Y to memorize it for a quick release down the road. If even that wasn’t enough, you could turn on arcade magic, which just gave you a menu for quickly selecting spells. So no matter your skill level, you still could wield magic properly. I loved the attention to detail in this game, as including so many small things that most RPGs ignore or forget really helped the kingdom of Arx to come alive for me.
2011年10月12日星期三
How cryotherapy chamber allowed Wales to come in from the cold
Specifically, I am thinking about the scene in Coronation Street when Anne Malone is accidentally and fatally locked inside the walk-in freezer of Freshco supermarket while trying to implicate Curly Watts in a blackmail plot by sabotaging a box of fish fingers with WD40.
It is, I grant, an unconventional reverie. But although thousands of men and women have passed through the chamber — including, a few months ago, the entire Welsh rugby squad — I still want guarantees. A session in the cold room lasts only three minutes, but at temperatures around minus 30C lower than the coldest ever recorded on Earth, that is quite enough.
“Nobody has ever died in there,” the centre’s doctor, Tadeusz Kilian, assures me. “If you feel uncomfortable, or it’s too cold, then bang on the door, and we will let you out. While you are inside, try not to touch yourself.” I think I know what he means.
My attire – a band around the ears, a mask over the nose and mouth, a baggy pair of jersey shorts, long socks and a pair of quaint wooden clogs — seems recklessly sparse in the circumstances.
But I need to be completely dry. At temperatures as low as these, anything remotely moist or clammy will freeze instantly and painfully. Not two months ago, former Olympic 100 metres champion Justin Gatlin suffered a horrific case of frostbite when he walked into a cryo-chamber in a pair of sweaty socks that fused to his feet.
In the 1920s, the OSC was the country retreat of Polish president Ignacy Moscicki, who liked to hunt deer in the surrounding forest. Little by little, accoutrements were added — an athletics track, playing fields, a swimming pool, a gymnasium — until in the 1970s, the socialist government decided to turn it into a production line for elite, ideologically unimpeachable sportsmen.
The brutalist architecture and beige-tinged decor still retain a charming, Eastern-bloc feel to them. But in every other respect, the centre is at the vanguard of sporting medicine.
The door swings open and three of us step into the ante-chamber, a holding room with a temperature of about minus 76F (-60C). After 30 seconds of acclimatisation, a second door swings open, and we are instantly met by a blast of freezing steam. Liquid nitrogen is used to cool the chamber, and it is impossible to see more than a couple of feet in front.
To get the obvious question out of the way first: yes, it is a bit parky in there. The chamber is around the size of a lift, and we shuffle around it in a clockwise direction, peering through the mist, attempting to avoid walking into the walls. The first 20 seconds are tolerable enough; with the extremities covered, it takes a little while for heat to sap from the body.
But once it does, once the temperature of my skin drops to around 10C, I begin to realise what Wales captain Sam Warburton meant when he described the cryotherapy chamber as an ‘evil sauna’.
The predominant sensation is one of numbness, but inflected with a warbling tremolo of pain. A couple of scabs on my calves begin to sting excruciatingly — later, when I peel off my knee-length socks, I realise that the lint has simply burnt off and they are beginning to weep anew.
This is how cryotherapy works its magic. Essentially, it fools your body into flooding the bloodstream with endorphins by convincing you that you are dying.
Your veins open to around three times their normal diameter and blood rushes to the surface. Among the immediate effects are pain relief, superior healing times and revitalisation of the skin. But it is the long-term benefits that persuaded Wales’ management to take a 58-man party to Poland for two separate training camps in July.
It is, I grant, an unconventional reverie. But although thousands of men and women have passed through the chamber — including, a few months ago, the entire Welsh rugby squad — I still want guarantees. A session in the cold room lasts only three minutes, but at temperatures around minus 30C lower than the coldest ever recorded on Earth, that is quite enough.
“Nobody has ever died in there,” the centre’s doctor, Tadeusz Kilian, assures me. “If you feel uncomfortable, or it’s too cold, then bang on the door, and we will let you out. While you are inside, try not to touch yourself.” I think I know what he means.
My attire – a band around the ears, a mask over the nose and mouth, a baggy pair of jersey shorts, long socks and a pair of quaint wooden clogs — seems recklessly sparse in the circumstances.
But I need to be completely dry. At temperatures as low as these, anything remotely moist or clammy will freeze instantly and painfully. Not two months ago, former Olympic 100 metres champion Justin Gatlin suffered a horrific case of frostbite when he walked into a cryo-chamber in a pair of sweaty socks that fused to his feet.
In the 1920s, the OSC was the country retreat of Polish president Ignacy Moscicki, who liked to hunt deer in the surrounding forest. Little by little, accoutrements were added — an athletics track, playing fields, a swimming pool, a gymnasium — until in the 1970s, the socialist government decided to turn it into a production line for elite, ideologically unimpeachable sportsmen.
The brutalist architecture and beige-tinged decor still retain a charming, Eastern-bloc feel to them. But in every other respect, the centre is at the vanguard of sporting medicine.
The door swings open and three of us step into the ante-chamber, a holding room with a temperature of about minus 76F (-60C). After 30 seconds of acclimatisation, a second door swings open, and we are instantly met by a blast of freezing steam. Liquid nitrogen is used to cool the chamber, and it is impossible to see more than a couple of feet in front.
To get the obvious question out of the way first: yes, it is a bit parky in there. The chamber is around the size of a lift, and we shuffle around it in a clockwise direction, peering through the mist, attempting to avoid walking into the walls. The first 20 seconds are tolerable enough; with the extremities covered, it takes a little while for heat to sap from the body.
But once it does, once the temperature of my skin drops to around 10C, I begin to realise what Wales captain Sam Warburton meant when he described the cryotherapy chamber as an ‘evil sauna’.
The predominant sensation is one of numbness, but inflected with a warbling tremolo of pain. A couple of scabs on my calves begin to sting excruciatingly — later, when I peel off my knee-length socks, I realise that the lint has simply burnt off and they are beginning to weep anew.
This is how cryotherapy works its magic. Essentially, it fools your body into flooding the bloodstream with endorphins by convincing you that you are dying.
Your veins open to around three times their normal diameter and blood rushes to the surface. Among the immediate effects are pain relief, superior healing times and revitalisation of the skin. But it is the long-term benefits that persuaded Wales’ management to take a 58-man party to Poland for two separate training camps in July.
2011年9月12日星期一
Should Retro Studios Make A Zelda Game?
In the short space of no time at all, Retro Studios, Inc. had risen from a small, aspiring second-party game development company in Austin, Texas to the world-renowned studio that had brought one of the strongest games to the Nintendo GameCube platform, Metroid Prime. It was this technical marvel which had garnered Retro Studios with the commendable praise they deserve, and as a result of this success, the studio wasadopted directly by Nintendo as a first-party developer. From then on out, it was a sure thing that the company had become one of Nintendo's most valuable assets - a development team comprised mostly of Americans, Nintendo had left it to Retro to cater for the Western audiences with the rest of the Prime trilogy.
The studio had done just that, and before long the first Prime game and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes werepioneering the 'Cube for hardcore gamers - some would argue they even put up a worthy fight against Master Chief's UNSC fleet on the Xbox, at least for a time. Retro had worked on the Metroid series for so long that they eventually became directly associated with it, taking it all the way to the Wii with Prime 3: Corruption. Wishing to pursue other interests, the company came out with a revamp of the Donkey Kong franchise with Country Returns on the Wii in 2010, and had in turn successfully reinstated Nintendo fans' faith in the true King of the Jungle. Currently, they're co-developing Mario Kart 7, to be released for the Nintendo 3DS later this year.
There's no denying it, Retro Studios make some great games. But could they handle a franchise as huge, expansive and utterly precious as The Legend of Zelda? It's a big question. In the series' twenty-five-year life-span, there have been so very few developers of whom Nintendo has actually trusted with the intellectual property rights of the franchise, to develop a fully-fledged entry in the legendary series. Philips was the first company to obtain these rights, to which they assigned two (too-often-considered) incompetent software companies, Animation Magic and Viridis, to develop three entries in the Hyrule fantasy: Wand of Gamelon,Faces of Evil and Zelda's Adventure. And, well, you know how the story goes, they just couldn't wait to bomb some Dodongos, and they ended up dropping an oversized turd on the franchise, which Nintendo had to ultimately clean up, by giving Philips and the CD-i console, the boot. We in the Zelda fan community make every attempt not to recall these absolutely horrid and embarrassing games.
Undoubtedly, the most notable software developer to make a contribution to the Zelda frachise would be Capcom - specifically, a division within the company, known as Flagship. To further expand the series in the handheld market, Nintendo had assigned Flagship to develop a series of immense, linked Game Boy Colour games not unlike Game Freak's Pokémon games, to which they came out with the fan-favourites, Oracle of Ages andSeasons. Continuing with the "linking" mechanic known to handheld games in those days, Flagship went on to produce the multi-player experience Four Swords (which is to be re-released as a 3DS download this year) and an A Link to the Past remake on the Game Boy Advance, and later, the brilliant Minish Cap, a 2D adventure that mimicked the 3D games in terms of scale, plot, cinematics and design (and contrary to popular belief, Flagship did not develop Four Swords Adventures). The Flagship company eventually closed in 2007, never to produce another Zelda title, an outcome many dedicated Zelda fans deem as highly unfortunate.
The studio had done just that, and before long the first Prime game and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes werepioneering the 'Cube for hardcore gamers - some would argue they even put up a worthy fight against Master Chief's UNSC fleet on the Xbox, at least for a time. Retro had worked on the Metroid series for so long that they eventually became directly associated with it, taking it all the way to the Wii with Prime 3: Corruption. Wishing to pursue other interests, the company came out with a revamp of the Donkey Kong franchise with Country Returns on the Wii in 2010, and had in turn successfully reinstated Nintendo fans' faith in the true King of the Jungle. Currently, they're co-developing Mario Kart 7, to be released for the Nintendo 3DS later this year.
There's no denying it, Retro Studios make some great games. But could they handle a franchise as huge, expansive and utterly precious as The Legend of Zelda? It's a big question. In the series' twenty-five-year life-span, there have been so very few developers of whom Nintendo has actually trusted with the intellectual property rights of the franchise, to develop a fully-fledged entry in the legendary series. Philips was the first company to obtain these rights, to which they assigned two (too-often-considered) incompetent software companies, Animation Magic and Viridis, to develop three entries in the Hyrule fantasy: Wand of Gamelon,Faces of Evil and Zelda's Adventure. And, well, you know how the story goes, they just couldn't wait to bomb some Dodongos, and they ended up dropping an oversized turd on the franchise, which Nintendo had to ultimately clean up, by giving Philips and the CD-i console, the boot. We in the Zelda fan community make every attempt not to recall these absolutely horrid and embarrassing games.
Undoubtedly, the most notable software developer to make a contribution to the Zelda frachise would be Capcom - specifically, a division within the company, known as Flagship. To further expand the series in the handheld market, Nintendo had assigned Flagship to develop a series of immense, linked Game Boy Colour games not unlike Game Freak's Pokémon games, to which they came out with the fan-favourites, Oracle of Ages andSeasons. Continuing with the "linking" mechanic known to handheld games in those days, Flagship went on to produce the multi-player experience Four Swords (which is to be re-released as a 3DS download this year) and an A Link to the Past remake on the Game Boy Advance, and later, the brilliant Minish Cap, a 2D adventure that mimicked the 3D games in terms of scale, plot, cinematics and design (and contrary to popular belief, Flagship did not develop Four Swords Adventures). The Flagship company eventually closed in 2007, never to produce another Zelda title, an outcome many dedicated Zelda fans deem as highly unfortunate.
2011年7月21日星期四
Film Review: Captain America (3 stars)
And to think that Quentin Tarantino was accused of rewriting the history of the Second World War. In the latest cinematic tale from the Marvel universe, Adolf Hitler is a minor threat compared with Johann Schmidt, a rogue Nazi officer heading up his own terror group bent on world domination.
The organization even has a catchphrase, carefully chosen to avoid copyReich infringement: “Hail HYDRA!” Hitler must have been Führious.
In one of the film’s first scenes, Schmidt invades an ancient castle in Norway, making off with a mysterious glowing cube and neatly tying together plot elements from Captain America, Thor and even Raiders of the Lost Ark. Hats off to screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (the Narnia movies) for crafting this jigsaw puzzle, whose pieces also include Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper), Iron Man’s dad.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. While Schmidt is busy tearing up northern Europe, 98-pound weakling Steve Rogers (Chris Evans, digitally condensed) is trying to join the U.S. Army. No luck. You must be at least this tall to enlist, he’s told. It doesn’t help his morale that his good friend Bucky (Sebastian Stan) is about to ship out.
Rogers catches a break when a kindly German scientist decides he’d make the perfect test subject for a super-serum that will amplify his everything. “Good becomes great,” the scientist tells him. “Bad becomes worse.” (No word on what happens to average.)
The scientist is played by New Yorker Stanley Tucci as part of a free-for-all in non-Germanic casting. Toby Jones of Oxford, England, plays a Nazi physicist, while Australia’s Hugo Weaving gets the juicy role of Schmidt, a.k.a. Red Skull, who once took a dose of a super-serum prototype and now resembles a cross between Nick Cage’s Hellrider and a bowl of raspberry Jell-O.
Adding compliment to injury, Weaving based Red Skull’s voice in part on German filmmaker Werner Herzog, with the result that some of his lines sound like they’ve been lifted from a Herzog documentary. “Great power has always baffled primitive man,” he says Teutonically.
Rogers is super-serumed and vita-rayed from good to great, and immediately puts his powers to the test in a car chase in which he doesn’t have a car. The scene also puts the comic in comic book when the old superhero roulette game of save-the-innocent-kid-or-capture-the-bad-guy gets an unexpected twist.
Director Joe Johnston keeps a firm hand on the tiller and manages to balance the film’s giggles and gravitas. He’s had some flops of late (Hidalgo, The Wolfman), but calls on his period-piece expertise (October Sky, The Rocketeer) to infuse this one with the perfect tone of mid-century gee-whizardry.
Red Skull’s absurdly stretched automobile (complete with serpentine hood ornament), digital countdown timers and closed-circuit TV cameras represent the height of bad-guy technology. Rogers gets a special shield made of “vibranium,” and comes up with so many uses for it, the Swiss Army is probably thinking of marketing a version.
The shield has a patriotic star-and-stripes pattern, but Captain America manages to dial back the flag-waving to an acceptably low flutter. It helps that Evans’ character is mostly referred to as Captain Rogers and not Captain America – at least, he is after he breaks out of a demeaning USO song-and-dance tour and starts engaging in real, Nazi-kicking heroics.
Rogers also gets a multi-national team of commandos, played by Neal McDonough, Kenneth Choi and others. Comic fans may know them as Dum Dum Dugan, Jim Morita, etc., but I found it easier to remember them by their headgear. “Beret, Bolwer; you’re with me. Cap will lay down covering fire. Helmet, keep a lookout.”
Good acting in such minor roles helps anchor the story. Tommy Lee Jones plays a cranky Colonel (when typecasting goes right), while Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter mostly looks nice in snug military garb while undressing Rogers with her eyes. She also gets to fire a gun several times, at good guys and bad guys.
The result is fun and refreshingly retro. It’s nice to see superheroes (as in the recent, 1960s-set X-Men: First Class) battling evil without all that post-9/11 angst. Captain America might be just a touch too long at 125 minutes (one attack montage too many, perhaps) but there’s a lot of ground to cover, not least explaining how a 1940s war hero will re-emerge in the here-and-now to star in next May’s sequel/spinoff, The Avengers. It’s the final piece of the puzzle, deftly handled.
The organization even has a catchphrase, carefully chosen to avoid copyReich infringement: “Hail HYDRA!” Hitler must have been Führious.
In one of the film’s first scenes, Schmidt invades an ancient castle in Norway, making off with a mysterious glowing cube and neatly tying together plot elements from Captain America, Thor and even Raiders of the Lost Ark. Hats off to screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (the Narnia movies) for crafting this jigsaw puzzle, whose pieces also include Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper), Iron Man’s dad.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. While Schmidt is busy tearing up northern Europe, 98-pound weakling Steve Rogers (Chris Evans, digitally condensed) is trying to join the U.S. Army. No luck. You must be at least this tall to enlist, he’s told. It doesn’t help his morale that his good friend Bucky (Sebastian Stan) is about to ship out.
Rogers catches a break when a kindly German scientist decides he’d make the perfect test subject for a super-serum that will amplify his everything. “Good becomes great,” the scientist tells him. “Bad becomes worse.” (No word on what happens to average.)
The scientist is played by New Yorker Stanley Tucci as part of a free-for-all in non-Germanic casting. Toby Jones of Oxford, England, plays a Nazi physicist, while Australia’s Hugo Weaving gets the juicy role of Schmidt, a.k.a. Red Skull, who once took a dose of a super-serum prototype and now resembles a cross between Nick Cage’s Hellrider and a bowl of raspberry Jell-O.
Adding compliment to injury, Weaving based Red Skull’s voice in part on German filmmaker Werner Herzog, with the result that some of his lines sound like they’ve been lifted from a Herzog documentary. “Great power has always baffled primitive man,” he says Teutonically.
Rogers is super-serumed and vita-rayed from good to great, and immediately puts his powers to the test in a car chase in which he doesn’t have a car. The scene also puts the comic in comic book when the old superhero roulette game of save-the-innocent-kid-or-capture-the-bad-guy gets an unexpected twist.
Director Joe Johnston keeps a firm hand on the tiller and manages to balance the film’s giggles and gravitas. He’s had some flops of late (Hidalgo, The Wolfman), but calls on his period-piece expertise (October Sky, The Rocketeer) to infuse this one with the perfect tone of mid-century gee-whizardry.
Red Skull’s absurdly stretched automobile (complete with serpentine hood ornament), digital countdown timers and closed-circuit TV cameras represent the height of bad-guy technology. Rogers gets a special shield made of “vibranium,” and comes up with so many uses for it, the Swiss Army is probably thinking of marketing a version.
The shield has a patriotic star-and-stripes pattern, but Captain America manages to dial back the flag-waving to an acceptably low flutter. It helps that Evans’ character is mostly referred to as Captain Rogers and not Captain America – at least, he is after he breaks out of a demeaning USO song-and-dance tour and starts engaging in real, Nazi-kicking heroics.
Rogers also gets a multi-national team of commandos, played by Neal McDonough, Kenneth Choi and others. Comic fans may know them as Dum Dum Dugan, Jim Morita, etc., but I found it easier to remember them by their headgear. “Beret, Bolwer; you’re with me. Cap will lay down covering fire. Helmet, keep a lookout.”
Good acting in such minor roles helps anchor the story. Tommy Lee Jones plays a cranky Colonel (when typecasting goes right), while Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter mostly looks nice in snug military garb while undressing Rogers with her eyes. She also gets to fire a gun several times, at good guys and bad guys.
The result is fun and refreshingly retro. It’s nice to see superheroes (as in the recent, 1960s-set X-Men: First Class) battling evil without all that post-9/11 angst. Captain America might be just a touch too long at 125 minutes (one attack montage too many, perhaps) but there’s a lot of ground to cover, not least explaining how a 1940s war hero will re-emerge in the here-and-now to star in next May’s sequel/spinoff, The Avengers. It’s the final piece of the puzzle, deftly handled.
2011年4月1日星期五
One of Red Skull's Main Weapons in Captain America: TFA Revealed?
A new picture potentially reveals one of the Red Skull's primary weapons that he will use for world domination in the upcoming movie.
According to the very reliable source known as FakeIrOnMaN, the Red Skull will equip his Hydra minions in the new movie with a high-tech weapon known as the "Magic Bullet".
FakeIrOnMaN states that the Red Skull creates the Magic Bullet by taking a regular piece of ammunition and then using the mystical powers of the Cosmic Cube to enhance the bullet's overall power and destruction. The Magic Bullet will apparently allow Hydra forces to chop, grate, and shred Howling Commandoes without the sticky, smelly mess in just 10 seconds or less...
Here is a picture of the infamous device:
If you haven't figured it out already, this is an April Fools' joke.
According to the very reliable source known as FakeIrOnMaN, the Red Skull will equip his Hydra minions in the new movie with a high-tech weapon known as the "Magic Bullet".
FakeIrOnMaN states that the Red Skull creates the Magic Bullet by taking a regular piece of ammunition and then using the mystical powers of the Cosmic Cube to enhance the bullet's overall power and destruction. The Magic Bullet will apparently allow Hydra forces to chop, grate, and shred Howling Commandoes without the sticky, smelly mess in just 10 seconds or less...
Here is a picture of the infamous device:
If you haven't figured it out already, this is an April Fools' joke.
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