The neighborhoods in which children and adolescents live and spend their time play a role in whether or not they eat a healthy diet, get enough exercise or become obese, concludes a collection of studies in a special theme issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
Each of the six studies uses the latest concepts and methods in geographic information systems (GIS)-based research to determine how the geographic location affects physical health. A study titled “Spatial Classification of Youth Physical Activity Patterns” shows, for example, that while rural youth get the largest proportion of their physical activity while at school, urban and suburban youth are most active when commuting. Not only does this finding suggest that the walk to school might be just as important to some children’s health as is the physical education they receive as part of the school curriculum, it is also important given that adolescent health behaviors are predictive of behaviors in adults.
Another study by researchers in the United Kingdom concludes that adolescents in rural areas ate fast food more often when fast-food outlets were easily accessible, whereas the opposite was true for adolescents living in urban areas. The researchers, led by Lorna J. Fraser of the University of Leeds, conclude that although the need continues to exist for nutritional education regarding fast food, placing restrictions on the location of fast-food outlets may not decrease consumption of fast food in the same ways in all areas.
Brian E. Saelens and Lawrence D. Frank, along with their colleagues, authored two papers for the theme issue. “Obesogenic Neighborhood Environments, Child and Parent Obesity: The Neighborhood Impact on Kids Study” evaluated child and parent weight status across neighborhoods in Seattle and San Diego and ultimately found evidence that GIS-based definitions of obesogenic neighborhoods that consider both physical activity and the availability of healthy food options were strongly related to childhood obesity.
In a second study, the researchers used GIS-based measures to determine the ‘walkability’ and proximity to healthy food of certain neighborhoods in the San Diego and Seattle regions. The study recommends that such measures be used to study physical activity, nutrition and obesity outcomes.
In a paper titled “Obesogenic Environments in Youth: Concepts and Methods from a Longitudinal National Sample,” Janne Boone-Heinonen and colleagues describe the challenges inherent to longitudinal neighborhood environment research, as well as the insights they gained and the advances and remaining gaps in study design. The researchers note that understanding which neighborhood environment features influence weight gain in various age groups is essential to effectively prevent and reduce childhood obesity.
Two commentaries included in the theme issue examine the ways that computer-based GIS systems—which transform geospatial data into visual representations of the real world—can help prevent childhood obesity. “Thinking About Place, Spatial Behavior, and Spatial Process in Childhood Obesity” by Stephen A. Matthews, outlines the content of the theme, concluding that although GIS is not a panacea, it “offers an important means of better understanding and dealing with some of the most pressing problems of our time, and provides valuable tools for researchers and policymakers alike.”
2012年4月10日星期二
2012年2月16日星期四
‘The Secret World of Arrietty’ a dead-end tale
The new anime version of “The Borrowers,” titled “The Secret World of Arrietty” by screenwriter and “supervisor” Hayao Miyazaki, has the fascination with household “spirits,” the same lovely colour palette and attention to detail for which his films are famous.
But Miyazaki, director of “Ponyo,” “Spirited Away” and “My Neighbor Totoro,” didn’t direct this Studio Ghibli film. Perhaps that is why it lacks his sense of whimsy, that little sprinkling of Miyazki magic that the Japanese director has given his best work over the decades.
Mary Norton’s oft-filmed 60-year-old novel is about the miniature people who live in the walls and below the floorboards of old houses, creatures who “borrow” what they need from the “human beans.” Every shopping trip is an expedition — nabbing one cube of sugar, that could last them months, a cracker than can be crushed to make Borrower bread. They live by two rules. “Borrowers take only what they need,” and once they’ve been seen, it’s time to move. Those humans and their curiosity are nothing but trouble for Borrowers.
Arrietty is a 13-year-old straining at the limits of her world. She only knows her family, can only hope that there are other Borrowers, still surviving elsewhere. She sneaks outside , tempts the evil ravens who wouldn’t mind gobbling her up as a snack — and is spied by a sickly human boy. Shawn wants to help, and Arrietty wants to make contact. She sees no threat from this fellow her own age and no need to move, or even tell her parents. Naturally, they see things differently.
The gorgeous pastels of Studio Ghibli films and famous attention to detail are much in evidence in this Hiromasa Yonebayashi film. The Borrowers’ world of re-purposed human detritus — pins and empty spools and discarded bolts, double sided tape, which allows father Pod (Arnett) to scale the heights of a kitchen counter to fetch sugar — is ingeniously realized.
Carol Burnett voices an old housekeeper who longs for the day when she can catch a real Borrower and be exonerated from those childhood charges that she was “crazy,” one of the film’s many lightly humorous touches. And there are hints of the larger world of Borrowers beyond this garden cottage. Norton wrote more than one book in the series, after all.
But Miyazaki, who co-wrote the script, had nowhere to take it. Either the Borrowers leave, or they stay. They’re either discovered and survive or captured and exposed. There’s no romance, no way to open the tale up, despite the fact that they’re using that most fantastical film form, animation.
But Miyazaki, director of “Ponyo,” “Spirited Away” and “My Neighbor Totoro,” didn’t direct this Studio Ghibli film. Perhaps that is why it lacks his sense of whimsy, that little sprinkling of Miyazki magic that the Japanese director has given his best work over the decades.
Mary Norton’s oft-filmed 60-year-old novel is about the miniature people who live in the walls and below the floorboards of old houses, creatures who “borrow” what they need from the “human beans.” Every shopping trip is an expedition — nabbing one cube of sugar, that could last them months, a cracker than can be crushed to make Borrower bread. They live by two rules. “Borrowers take only what they need,” and once they’ve been seen, it’s time to move. Those humans and their curiosity are nothing but trouble for Borrowers.
Arrietty is a 13-year-old straining at the limits of her world. She only knows her family, can only hope that there are other Borrowers, still surviving elsewhere. She sneaks outside , tempts the evil ravens who wouldn’t mind gobbling her up as a snack — and is spied by a sickly human boy. Shawn wants to help, and Arrietty wants to make contact. She sees no threat from this fellow her own age and no need to move, or even tell her parents. Naturally, they see things differently.
The gorgeous pastels of Studio Ghibli films and famous attention to detail are much in evidence in this Hiromasa Yonebayashi film. The Borrowers’ world of re-purposed human detritus — pins and empty spools and discarded bolts, double sided tape, which allows father Pod (Arnett) to scale the heights of a kitchen counter to fetch sugar — is ingeniously realized.
Carol Burnett voices an old housekeeper who longs for the day when she can catch a real Borrower and be exonerated from those childhood charges that she was “crazy,” one of the film’s many lightly humorous touches. And there are hints of the larger world of Borrowers beyond this garden cottage. Norton wrote more than one book in the series, after all.
But Miyazaki, who co-wrote the script, had nowhere to take it. Either the Borrowers leave, or they stay. They’re either discovered and survive or captured and exposed. There’s no romance, no way to open the tale up, despite the fact that they’re using that most fantastical film form, animation.
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27日星期二
Indie Ink: Office Queen
Anna Lee strutted into the office, her heels clicking obnoxiously. Heads popped up like gophers throughout the cube farm, silently observing. She scanned the room before settling into her own space. No matter if no one liked her personally, they would come flocking all in good time.
She booted up her system and read through the emails. Another bug found in the database. She shook her head in disgust. Morons. The company paid thousands of dollars for worthless software.
A tap at her entrance grabber her attention and she swiveled around, pasting a huge fake smile on her face. Her crimson caked lips spread to expose just enough of her gleaming white teeth. A young girl stood at the door, her feet shuffling and her hands twisting around her fingers. Lank, nondescript hair fell in a waterfall across her face.
Anna Lee quirked an eyebrow, wondering where the hell the company found these losers. “Can I help you?” She asked, her voice dripping with saccharine. The girl started, her head flying up, her wide brown eyes meeting Anna Lee’s cold, calculating ones.
“Uhm…my system…it’s not working. And David over there,” she pointed in a vague direction off to the right. “He said…he said you could fix it?”
“Why yes, I do believe I have that ability,” Anna Lee purred. She stood and straightened her skirt. The girl looked at her with a faint sense of hero worship. Anna Lee felt her heart melt, just a touch. She once was this girl, unsure and shy with bad hair and worse fashion sense. Leaning in conspiratorially she wrapped an arm around the girl’s shoulder and pulled her in close.
“I’ll show you a trick,” she said kindly. The two walked in silence to the girl’s cubicle. Once there, Anna Lee saw the familiar sight of the blue screen and green writing. She sat down and waved the girl close. With a few deft clicks she had the system unfrozen and operating normally. The girl’s eyes widened.
“How come IT doesn’t know that trick? Why does everyone come to you to fix their systems?” she asked.
Anna Lee smiled. “I can’t fix everything, just this one problem. I’ve tried explaining it,” she lied. “But they just don’t get it. So I try to make myself useful to the rest of the department.”
“Wow,” the girl breathed. “Thanks, Anna Lee.”
“You’re welcome sugar. Tell me, what’s your name?”
“Juliet,” she mumbled, ducking her head. Anna Lee smiled and patted her on the arm. She stepped out of Juliet’s cube and encountered other members of her department. The spoke over each other, trying to get her attention.
“Anna Lee, I need you.”
“No, me first, Anna Lee! I have that deadline.”
“But you pass right by my cube, come fix my system first!”
Anna Lee entered the office, the same as always. She walked with her familiar arrogance, eyeing the occupants of the cubes with superiority. The heads of her colleagues remained down, eyes averted. She plopped down in her chair and went through her morning routines. There was a pile of files stacked up in her inbox but she brought out her nail file instead. Someone would do her work for her, as always.
She leaned back and waited for that first breathless “Anna Lee could you…”
Her perfectly arched brows furrowed in confusion. She opened her email, her eyes flicking over the subject lines looking for an announcement about the database. Nothing.
She stood and walked down the aisle towards the break room. Everyone was studiously working, fingers clicking on the keyboard. She absently poured a cup of coffee, stirring in the cream halfheartedly. As she lifted it for a sip she heard that familiar electronic bong and the accompanying “Shit”. Her lips curved into a smile and she set down her coffee, waiting for the plaintive, “Anna Lee.”
Juliet passed by the door to the break room and hung a left at the entrance to the cube where the expletive had emerged. Anna Lee could hear murmured voices and she edged close enough to hear, “Thanks Juliet. That’s so simple. I won’t need anyone help to fix the system now.”
Juliet exited the cube, almost skipping down the aisle. She caught sight of Anna Lee hovering in the door and smiled broadly, saying nothing. Anna Lee watched her continue towards her own cube only to be stopped by an imploring hand. All along the aisle, Juliet paused periodically to help her colleagues with their systems.
She booted up her system and read through the emails. Another bug found in the database. She shook her head in disgust. Morons. The company paid thousands of dollars for worthless software.
A tap at her entrance grabber her attention and she swiveled around, pasting a huge fake smile on her face. Her crimson caked lips spread to expose just enough of her gleaming white teeth. A young girl stood at the door, her feet shuffling and her hands twisting around her fingers. Lank, nondescript hair fell in a waterfall across her face.
Anna Lee quirked an eyebrow, wondering where the hell the company found these losers. “Can I help you?” She asked, her voice dripping with saccharine. The girl started, her head flying up, her wide brown eyes meeting Anna Lee’s cold, calculating ones.
“Uhm…my system…it’s not working. And David over there,” she pointed in a vague direction off to the right. “He said…he said you could fix it?”
“Why yes, I do believe I have that ability,” Anna Lee purred. She stood and straightened her skirt. The girl looked at her with a faint sense of hero worship. Anna Lee felt her heart melt, just a touch. She once was this girl, unsure and shy with bad hair and worse fashion sense. Leaning in conspiratorially she wrapped an arm around the girl’s shoulder and pulled her in close.
“I’ll show you a trick,” she said kindly. The two walked in silence to the girl’s cubicle. Once there, Anna Lee saw the familiar sight of the blue screen and green writing. She sat down and waved the girl close. With a few deft clicks she had the system unfrozen and operating normally. The girl’s eyes widened.
“How come IT doesn’t know that trick? Why does everyone come to you to fix their systems?” she asked.
Anna Lee smiled. “I can’t fix everything, just this one problem. I’ve tried explaining it,” she lied. “But they just don’t get it. So I try to make myself useful to the rest of the department.”
“Wow,” the girl breathed. “Thanks, Anna Lee.”
“You’re welcome sugar. Tell me, what’s your name?”
“Juliet,” she mumbled, ducking her head. Anna Lee smiled and patted her on the arm. She stepped out of Juliet’s cube and encountered other members of her department. The spoke over each other, trying to get her attention.
“Anna Lee, I need you.”
“No, me first, Anna Lee! I have that deadline.”
“But you pass right by my cube, come fix my system first!”
Anna Lee entered the office, the same as always. She walked with her familiar arrogance, eyeing the occupants of the cubes with superiority. The heads of her colleagues remained down, eyes averted. She plopped down in her chair and went through her morning routines. There was a pile of files stacked up in her inbox but she brought out her nail file instead. Someone would do her work for her, as always.
She leaned back and waited for that first breathless “Anna Lee could you…”
Her perfectly arched brows furrowed in confusion. She opened her email, her eyes flicking over the subject lines looking for an announcement about the database. Nothing.
She stood and walked down the aisle towards the break room. Everyone was studiously working, fingers clicking on the keyboard. She absently poured a cup of coffee, stirring in the cream halfheartedly. As she lifted it for a sip she heard that familiar electronic bong and the accompanying “Shit”. Her lips curved into a smile and she set down her coffee, waiting for the plaintive, “Anna Lee.”
Juliet passed by the door to the break room and hung a left at the entrance to the cube where the expletive had emerged. Anna Lee could hear murmured voices and she edged close enough to hear, “Thanks Juliet. That’s so simple. I won’t need anyone help to fix the system now.”
Juliet exited the cube, almost skipping down the aisle. She caught sight of Anna Lee hovering in the door and smiled broadly, saying nothing. Anna Lee watched her continue towards her own cube only to be stopped by an imploring hand. All along the aisle, Juliet paused periodically to help her colleagues with their systems.
2011年12月14日星期三
Hot toys through the ages
The story is legend: Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt went on a Mississippi hunting trip, where he refused to shoot a black bear that had been caught and tied up for
him. The incident was satirized in a political cartoon by Clifford K. Berryman, but in subsequent printings the bear was made smaller and cuter.
The cartoon inspired candy seller and aspiring toymaker Morris Mitchum, a Russian Jewish immigrant, to create a small stuffed bear and put it in his shop window, calling it “Teddy’s bear.” Sales were so brisk that Mr. Mitchum was able to found the Ideal Novelty and Toy Co., which went on the manufacture such hits as the Magic 8 Ball and the Rubik’s cube.
By 1906, Teddy bears were a full-on craze, and not just for children: High society women carried them as accessories, and Roosevelt used one as the mascot for his 1906 reelection campaign. Teddy bears even inspired music, like composer J.K. Bratton’s “The Teddy Bear Two-Step” for piano. Lyrics were added and the song became “The Teddy Bears’ Picnic.”
Teddy bears remain popular today, but they have undergone a few cosmetic changes over the past century or so. Early teddy bears had more bearlike features,
like elongated snouts and beady eyes. Today’s bears are more likely to be pudgier and more human-like than their predecessors, with larger eyes and shortened snouts.
him. The incident was satirized in a political cartoon by Clifford K. Berryman, but in subsequent printings the bear was made smaller and cuter.
The cartoon inspired candy seller and aspiring toymaker Morris Mitchum, a Russian Jewish immigrant, to create a small stuffed bear and put it in his shop window, calling it “Teddy’s bear.” Sales were so brisk that Mr. Mitchum was able to found the Ideal Novelty and Toy Co., which went on the manufacture such hits as the Magic 8 Ball and the Rubik’s cube.
By 1906, Teddy bears were a full-on craze, and not just for children: High society women carried them as accessories, and Roosevelt used one as the mascot for his 1906 reelection campaign. Teddy bears even inspired music, like composer J.K. Bratton’s “The Teddy Bear Two-Step” for piano. Lyrics were added and the song became “The Teddy Bears’ Picnic.”
Teddy bears remain popular today, but they have undergone a few cosmetic changes over the past century or so. Early teddy bears had more bearlike features,
like elongated snouts and beady eyes. Today’s bears are more likely to be pudgier and more human-like than their predecessors, with larger eyes and shortened snouts.
2011年11月28日星期一
Keys to the unseen future
It's not unusual these days to see virtual keyboards on the touch screens of portable devices like tablets and phones. These devices lack a physical keyboard but make up for it by displaying a picture of one on the screen and letting the user tap away on that.
But virtual keyboards are not just constrained to the screen. Today almost anything can become a keyboard – from a table top to the palm of your hand.
Korean company Celluon has been developing virtual keyboards for several years and their latest product is the Magic Cube, a small box that fits in your hand yet provides a full-size keyboard when needed.
Switch it on, sit it on a desk and it projects an image of a keyboard on to the surface in front of it. Tap the virtual keys and the corresponding characters are communicated wirelessly to any compatible device, from a laptop to a smartphone.
The principles involved are very simple. The projection of the keyboard is just that – made by a tiny projector at the top of the box. At the bottom of the box beams of infrared light are emitted just above the surface of the desk. As your fingers tap the surface they cut through these beams which are reflected up to a camera in the middle of the box. The camera sees the reflection and works out from its position which key you have "pressed".
Though the Magic Cube is clever it is essentially just a very portable replacement for a real keyboard.
More radical possibilities are on the horizon. Microsoft researchers Hrvoje Benko and Andrew Wilson, along with Chris Harrison of Carnegie Mellon University in the United States, recently showed off a system they call OmniTouch, which turns any surface into a touch screen.
OmniTouch is made up of a shoulder-mounted projector and depth-sensing camera combination. The projector displays interactive images on any nearby surface – a wall, a table, a pad or even parts of the user's body. The camera tracks the user's fingers, working out where and when they touch other objects.
Putting it all together allows the user to, for example, dial a phone number on a keypad displayed on the palm of their hand, or draw projected pictures on an ordinary paper pad.
Pretty much anything, in fact, that you can do with an ordinary touch-sensitive display, except that the display itself can be any suitable surface.
We take it for granted that the size of portable devices is a compromise between compactness and usability. But if the display and controls need not be physically part of the device, all bets are off. It's too early to tell whether systems like OmniTouch will take off. But in a few years they may virtually replace their physical counterparts in many situations, in more ways than one.
But virtual keyboards are not just constrained to the screen. Today almost anything can become a keyboard – from a table top to the palm of your hand.
Korean company Celluon has been developing virtual keyboards for several years and their latest product is the Magic Cube, a small box that fits in your hand yet provides a full-size keyboard when needed.
Switch it on, sit it on a desk and it projects an image of a keyboard on to the surface in front of it. Tap the virtual keys and the corresponding characters are communicated wirelessly to any compatible device, from a laptop to a smartphone.
The principles involved are very simple. The projection of the keyboard is just that – made by a tiny projector at the top of the box. At the bottom of the box beams of infrared light are emitted just above the surface of the desk. As your fingers tap the surface they cut through these beams which are reflected up to a camera in the middle of the box. The camera sees the reflection and works out from its position which key you have "pressed".
Though the Magic Cube is clever it is essentially just a very portable replacement for a real keyboard.
More radical possibilities are on the horizon. Microsoft researchers Hrvoje Benko and Andrew Wilson, along with Chris Harrison of Carnegie Mellon University in the United States, recently showed off a system they call OmniTouch, which turns any surface into a touch screen.
OmniTouch is made up of a shoulder-mounted projector and depth-sensing camera combination. The projector displays interactive images on any nearby surface – a wall, a table, a pad or even parts of the user's body. The camera tracks the user's fingers, working out where and when they touch other objects.
Putting it all together allows the user to, for example, dial a phone number on a keypad displayed on the palm of their hand, or draw projected pictures on an ordinary paper pad.
Pretty much anything, in fact, that you can do with an ordinary touch-sensitive display, except that the display itself can be any suitable surface.
We take it for granted that the size of portable devices is a compromise between compactness and usability. But if the display and controls need not be physically part of the device, all bets are off. It's too early to tell whether systems like OmniTouch will take off. But in a few years they may virtually replace their physical counterparts in many situations, in more ways than one.
2011年11月10日星期四
The blanket, Hot Wheels and dollhouse join 46 other classics
The blanket, an all-purpose plaything and a comfort for generations of thumb-suckers like Charlie Brown’s best friend in the “Peanuts” comic strip, landed Thursday in the National Toy Hall of Fame along with Hot Wheels and the dollhouse.
The three take their places at The Strong, a children’s and cultural history museum in upstate New York, alongside 46 other classics ranging from the bicycle, kite and teddy bear to Barbie, Jack-in-the-Box and Mr. Potato Head.
Curators said the blanket was a special addition in the spirit of two earlier inductees, the cardboard box and the stick. They praised its ability to serve either as recreational raw material or an accessory transformed in myriad ways by a child’s daydreams.
“Every now and again we like to shake things up, remind folks there’s play experiences that happen purely creatively ... rather than coming with rules, a path, a backstory you feel constrained into,” said Christopher Bensch, the Rochester museum’s chief curator.
“Blankets have been keeping people warm for centuries, but they’ve also been heating up kids’ imaginations,” serving as magic carpets and superhero capes, a peek-a-boo veil, a chair-draped fortress or “an island of safety surrounded by sea monsters.”
For Linus, the comfort imparted by his precious blue blanket blends with its “play function” as a lasso, a whip, a Snoopy towrope and, in later adventures, “when he talks about turning his blanket into a sports coat when he grows up,” Bensch said.
Longevity is a key criterion for getting into the 13-year-old hall, which was acquired in 2002 from A.C. Gilbert’s Discovery Village in Salem, Ore. Each toy must be widely recognized, foster learning, creativity or discovery through play, and endure in popularity over generations.
Trying to create a toy that would be as big a success with boys as Barbie was with girls, Elliot Handler hit upon an idea for miniature die-cast vehicles with sleek designs. Hot Wheels were introduced in 1968 and the brand became a big hit.
Handler, who died in July at age 95, grew Mattel Inc. into the nation’s largest toy maker along with his wife, Ruth, who created the Barbie doll in 1959.
The dollhouse evolved from 16th-century “baby houses,” wooden cabinets in which wealthy European women displayed their collections of miniature furnishings.
German toy makers produced variations for youngsters to furnish with tiny chairs, tables, beds, tapestries and floor coverings and, by the 19th century, mass-production methods enabled dollhouses to grow in popularity.
“The dollhouse has gone on to hold a special place in the hearts of children everywhere,” said Patricia Hogan, the museum’s curator of toys and dolls. “From the most elaborately crafted mansions to the simplest home-made structures, the dollhouse gives kids an ideal environment for creative play, from furnishing and refurnishing rooms, making up stories and collaborating with friends and siblings.”
More than a few heavyweight nominees fell short in 2011, including the puppet, the pogo stick and Rubik’s Cube.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The three take their places at The Strong, a children’s and cultural history museum in upstate New York, alongside 46 other classics ranging from the bicycle, kite and teddy bear to Barbie, Jack-in-the-Box and Mr. Potato Head.
Curators said the blanket was a special addition in the spirit of two earlier inductees, the cardboard box and the stick. They praised its ability to serve either as recreational raw material or an accessory transformed in myriad ways by a child’s daydreams.
“Every now and again we like to shake things up, remind folks there’s play experiences that happen purely creatively ... rather than coming with rules, a path, a backstory you feel constrained into,” said Christopher Bensch, the Rochester museum’s chief curator.
“Blankets have been keeping people warm for centuries, but they’ve also been heating up kids’ imaginations,” serving as magic carpets and superhero capes, a peek-a-boo veil, a chair-draped fortress or “an island of safety surrounded by sea monsters.”
For Linus, the comfort imparted by his precious blue blanket blends with its “play function” as a lasso, a whip, a Snoopy towrope and, in later adventures, “when he talks about turning his blanket into a sports coat when he grows up,” Bensch said.
Longevity is a key criterion for getting into the 13-year-old hall, which was acquired in 2002 from A.C. Gilbert’s Discovery Village in Salem, Ore. Each toy must be widely recognized, foster learning, creativity or discovery through play, and endure in popularity over generations.
Trying to create a toy that would be as big a success with boys as Barbie was with girls, Elliot Handler hit upon an idea for miniature die-cast vehicles with sleek designs. Hot Wheels were introduced in 1968 and the brand became a big hit.
Handler, who died in July at age 95, grew Mattel Inc. into the nation’s largest toy maker along with his wife, Ruth, who created the Barbie doll in 1959.
The dollhouse evolved from 16th-century “baby houses,” wooden cabinets in which wealthy European women displayed their collections of miniature furnishings.
German toy makers produced variations for youngsters to furnish with tiny chairs, tables, beds, tapestries and floor coverings and, by the 19th century, mass-production methods enabled dollhouses to grow in popularity.
“The dollhouse has gone on to hold a special place in the hearts of children everywhere,” said Patricia Hogan, the museum’s curator of toys and dolls. “From the most elaborately crafted mansions to the simplest home-made structures, the dollhouse gives kids an ideal environment for creative play, from furnishing and refurnishing rooms, making up stories and collaborating with friends and siblings.”
More than a few heavyweight nominees fell short in 2011, including the puppet, the pogo stick and Rubik’s Cube.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
2011年11月7日星期一
Brisbane 2011 Film Festival – Fantastic Fest Weekend
Following the initially fascinating but ultimate tedium of black-magic mumbo-jumbo Shaw Brothers oddity The Boxer’s Omen (1983) as the highly anticipated ‘Mystery Film’ choice from Fantastic Fest, Sunday evening’s Drive-In Delirium Presents… double bill mash-up was something to get seriously geeked out about.
Ozploitation extraordinarie Mark Hartley (Not Quite Hollywood) and Alamo Drafthouse Cinema’s ‘Weird Wednesday’ programmer Lars Niels presented their film clip compendiums; the first of which, Trailorpalooza, compiled a collection of cult film trailers plucked from the last 50 years and featured some of the most ludicrously over-the-top scenarios ever conceived. What was most surprising however was the calibre of former Hollywood heavy-weights who actually agreed to sign up to such straight-to-the-trash can concepts.
Ray Millard in The Thing with Two Heads – a supposedly humorous transplant tale with a white man/black man splicing that defies definition; Joan Crawford in (what ultimately became her swansong) Trog - an exploitative and blatant King Kong rip-off featuring one of the most woeful pre-historic ape suits known to man in an hilariously implausible but apparently deadly serious yarn about a killer anthropoid on the loose. Then there was the cautionary LSD expose The Big Cube with an aging Lana Turner and singer Cher popping up as the titular tear-about Chastity: “a bummer, a drop-out, a looser” as the trailer narrator dead-pans. Funniest of all was the Z-grad SFX flying critter contraption at the centre of The Giant Claw or the screen’s most laughably lame men-in-monster-suit threat ever imagined for The Alligator People.
But perhaps most notorious was The Mutations – an apparent Freaks re-hash from (of all people) renowned cinematographer Jack Cardiff and Cripled Avengers – Shaw Studios mentally handicapped Kung Fu extravaganza that has the audacity to proclaim itself as “A sophisticated story of the handicapped”. Firm favourites Enemy of the Ants, Ivan Reitman’s debut Cannibal Girls, The Baby and titillatingly Jesus Franco’s Sadomania – (half-naked lesbian fighting squad) all make welcome appearances interspersed with corny cautionary ‘Intermissions’ on fire hazards and drug abuse – the later of which featuring Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry mode warning audiences about the deadly consequences of cocaine. This was aptly pursued by a vintage “Coming at Ya!” advertisement for 3D features – tailed by shorts to the freaky feature Parasite – which is apparently deemed too shocking to show in a 3D trailer – and Pieces: “It’s exactly what you feel inside!”.
Lars Niels contribution – 50 Best Kills – compiled some of the most elaborate deaths to ever grave the silver screen and hilariously commenced with Brad Pitt’s roadside comeuppance in Meet Joe Black. All the infamous screen demises were present and correct: Scanners’ exploding head scene, Raiders‘ melting Nazis showdown and the notorious ice-cream girl shooting in John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13. But also included were some nice unfamiliar oddities including the Godzilla rip-off Light Blast – featuring plastic miniature dinos in a surprisingly vile duel to the death, Yaphet Kotto’s elongated death scene in Vigilante and the melting-corpse-due-to-dodgy-wine death in Street Trash. Rambo, Driller Killer, Maniac, Peter Jackson weirdy Bad Taste and, err, Paul Reiser’s sudden death scene in One Night At McCools were all accountable too.
Ozploitation extraordinarie Mark Hartley (Not Quite Hollywood) and Alamo Drafthouse Cinema’s ‘Weird Wednesday’ programmer Lars Niels presented their film clip compendiums; the first of which, Trailorpalooza, compiled a collection of cult film trailers plucked from the last 50 years and featured some of the most ludicrously over-the-top scenarios ever conceived. What was most surprising however was the calibre of former Hollywood heavy-weights who actually agreed to sign up to such straight-to-the-trash can concepts.
Ray Millard in The Thing with Two Heads – a supposedly humorous transplant tale with a white man/black man splicing that defies definition; Joan Crawford in (what ultimately became her swansong) Trog - an exploitative and blatant King Kong rip-off featuring one of the most woeful pre-historic ape suits known to man in an hilariously implausible but apparently deadly serious yarn about a killer anthropoid on the loose. Then there was the cautionary LSD expose The Big Cube with an aging Lana Turner and singer Cher popping up as the titular tear-about Chastity: “a bummer, a drop-out, a looser” as the trailer narrator dead-pans. Funniest of all was the Z-grad SFX flying critter contraption at the centre of The Giant Claw or the screen’s most laughably lame men-in-monster-suit threat ever imagined for The Alligator People.
But perhaps most notorious was The Mutations – an apparent Freaks re-hash from (of all people) renowned cinematographer Jack Cardiff and Cripled Avengers – Shaw Studios mentally handicapped Kung Fu extravaganza that has the audacity to proclaim itself as “A sophisticated story of the handicapped”. Firm favourites Enemy of the Ants, Ivan Reitman’s debut Cannibal Girls, The Baby and titillatingly Jesus Franco’s Sadomania – (half-naked lesbian fighting squad) all make welcome appearances interspersed with corny cautionary ‘Intermissions’ on fire hazards and drug abuse – the later of which featuring Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry mode warning audiences about the deadly consequences of cocaine. This was aptly pursued by a vintage “Coming at Ya!” advertisement for 3D features – tailed by shorts to the freaky feature Parasite – which is apparently deemed too shocking to show in a 3D trailer – and Pieces: “It’s exactly what you feel inside!”.
Lars Niels contribution – 50 Best Kills – compiled some of the most elaborate deaths to ever grave the silver screen and hilariously commenced with Brad Pitt’s roadside comeuppance in Meet Joe Black. All the infamous screen demises were present and correct: Scanners’ exploding head scene, Raiders‘ melting Nazis showdown and the notorious ice-cream girl shooting in John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13. But also included were some nice unfamiliar oddities including the Godzilla rip-off Light Blast – featuring plastic miniature dinos in a surprisingly vile duel to the death, Yaphet Kotto’s elongated death scene in Vigilante and the melting-corpse-due-to-dodgy-wine death in Street Trash. Rambo, Driller Killer, Maniac, Peter Jackson weirdy Bad Taste and, err, Paul Reiser’s sudden death scene in One Night At McCools were all accountable too.
2011年11月2日星期三
The ’21 Jump Street’ Trailer is Surprisingly Hilarious
In case you couldn’t tell from the recent slew of familiar 1980′s storylines, Hollywood loves its remakes. Hoping to cash in on your nostalgia, we’ve seen reboots of everything from Footloose to The Thing this year alone. Back in 2008, however, everyone cocked an eyebrow when news broke that Superbad’s Jonah Hill was going to write and produce a re-telling of TV drama 21 Jump Street. Yes, that show — one of Fox’s first successes about baby-faced cops Johnny Depp, Richard Grieco, and friends who went undercover as high school students where they busted drug baddies and more. The first trailer for the film has arrived, and if you had any doubts about the movie before, it’s probably safe to shelve them now: the three-minute long clip is hilarious. Hit the jump for our thoughts and a peek at the red band trailer.
Yeah, three minutes seems like overkill (save some of the jokes, fellas), but perhaps audiences needed a little extra convincing. Jonah Hill — or at least half the actor we once knew — stars alongside Channing Tatum (who’s currently filming male stripper story Magic Mike) in the action-comedy, which finds the comedic duo joining the secret Jump Street unit of the local police department. They go back to class undercover as ham-handed detectives trying to break up a drug ring, but find themselves facing their traumatic high school pasts. We get a peek at that hilarity through the awesome flashback scene.
Scott Pilgrim writer Michael Bacall lends his funny to the script, and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs directors Chris Miller and Phil Lords take the reins here. It seemed like an odd grouping at first, but you might recall that Miller and Lords’ remake of the Judi Barrett book classic was surprisingly clever and damn funny for what could have been average CGI porn. It seems as though everyone went the smarter route here with self-aware humor, approaching the story from a more original standpoint. Dave Franco (being a jerk), Ice Cube (talking about Twitter!), and Brie Larson are amongst the film’s other players. Johnny Depp (the TV series helped launch his film career) also appears in a cameo role. Check out the preview below, and let us know what you think. Will you be in theaters when the film hits on March 16?
Yeah, three minutes seems like overkill (save some of the jokes, fellas), but perhaps audiences needed a little extra convincing. Jonah Hill — or at least half the actor we once knew — stars alongside Channing Tatum (who’s currently filming male stripper story Magic Mike) in the action-comedy, which finds the comedic duo joining the secret Jump Street unit of the local police department. They go back to class undercover as ham-handed detectives trying to break up a drug ring, but find themselves facing their traumatic high school pasts. We get a peek at that hilarity through the awesome flashback scene.
Scott Pilgrim writer Michael Bacall lends his funny to the script, and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs directors Chris Miller and Phil Lords take the reins here. It seemed like an odd grouping at first, but you might recall that Miller and Lords’ remake of the Judi Barrett book classic was surprisingly clever and damn funny for what could have been average CGI porn. It seems as though everyone went the smarter route here with self-aware humor, approaching the story from a more original standpoint. Dave Franco (being a jerk), Ice Cube (talking about Twitter!), and Brie Larson are amongst the film’s other players. Johnny Depp (the TV series helped launch his film career) also appears in a cameo role. Check out the preview below, and let us know what you think. Will you be in theaters when the film hits on March 16?
2011年10月26日星期三
Rappelz expansion coming in November
Gala Networks Europe wants you to know that a new Rappelz expansion is launching in November. The firm also mentions that you'll be in good company if you check it out, since Rappelz has been enjoyed by over 5 million players worldwide.
In terms of new content, Epic VII Part 3: The Trial brings the long-awaited master class quest for players at level 148 and up, and the challenging encounter features battles with Lucian and an evil witch in addition to a foray into the Espoir dungeon.
The expansion also boasts the game's first solo dungeon, and the Vulcanus instance is designed for players at level 30 and above. Finally, there's a new Rappelz creature coming with the content update. The Cube is a golem "formed of pure mana crystals that have been brought to life with magic and ancient mysterious technology," according to Gala's press release. You can learn more about the expansion at the official Rappelz website.
In terms of new content, Epic VII Part 3: The Trial brings the long-awaited master class quest for players at level 148 and up, and the challenging encounter features battles with Lucian and an evil witch in addition to a foray into the Espoir dungeon.
The expansion also boasts the game's first solo dungeon, and the Vulcanus instance is designed for players at level 30 and above. Finally, there's a new Rappelz creature coming with the content update. The Cube is a golem "formed of pure mana crystals that have been brought to life with magic and ancient mysterious technology," according to Gala's press release. You can learn more about the expansion at the official Rappelz website.
2011年6月12日星期日
Mario Block Storage Cubes Hold More Than Gold Coins and 1-up Mushrooms
The Super Mario Bros. games have inspired a wide variety of fun decor over the years, and here’s a new batch of cool Mario items you can put in your office or home.
Each of these hollowed-out bricks and question mark blocks is designed for storing a pair of Wii-motes, but really can be used for just about anything like pens, tools, plants or anything else that’ll fit in a 4″ cube. I suppose you could use them to store your gold coin collection or canned mushrooms too. I’d steer clear of fresh ‘shrooms though, as they might end up leaving a mess.
Here’s another fun idea – paint your wall sky blue to look like a level from Super Mario Bros., then place a bunch of these cubes on shelves at various heights along the wall (or screw them directly into the drywall) so they look like they’re floating.
Both the red bricks and question mark blocks are available over at Strapya World for ¥1,500 (~$18 USD) each.
Each of these hollowed-out bricks and question mark blocks is designed for storing a pair of Wii-motes, but really can be used for just about anything like pens, tools, plants or anything else that’ll fit in a 4″ cube. I suppose you could use them to store your gold coin collection or canned mushrooms too. I’d steer clear of fresh ‘shrooms though, as they might end up leaving a mess.
Here’s another fun idea – paint your wall sky blue to look like a level from Super Mario Bros., then place a bunch of these cubes on shelves at various heights along the wall (or screw them directly into the drywall) so they look like they’re floating.
Both the red bricks and question mark blocks are available over at Strapya World for ¥1,500 (~$18 USD) each.
2011年5月8日星期日
Mosley eager to crack Pacquiao puzzle
Manny Pacquiao has been called a lot of things during his boxing career -- but probably never a Rubik's Cube.
Shane Mosley's trainer, Naazim Richardson, thinks his fighter can figure out the puzzling Pacquiao to claim his WBO welterweight belt Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden.
"The Rubik's Cube has a lot of dimensions to it," Richardson said. "But it is solvable. And Shane has the experience ... to solve the Rubik's Cube that is Manny Pacquiao."
Mosley said the game plan is simple.
"I have a lot of advantages over him," he said, referring to his size, strength and speed. "All I have to do is exploit his weaknesses. Once I exploit them, I should be able to take care of business."
Richardson said Pacquiao reminds him of Aaron Pryor.
"He was a southpaw and had the same kind of awkwardness," Richardson said. "We've fought southpaws before, and we've fought speed before, and we've faced tenacity before. So now you just have to draw from all those experiences and formulate a game plan that will exploit the flaws that Pacquiao does present and be able to exploit them for all 12 rounds."
The trainer has been in Mosley's corner for his past three fights: a win over Antonio Margarito, a loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. and a draw against Sergio Mora.
"To beat someone like Pacquiao, you have to land a lot of punches," Mosley said. "You have to land a high percentage and more punches every round.
"It's like when I fought Margarito. Before we fought, he was throwing like 1,000 punches. But when I fought him, he only threw 500. It's all the angles and the way you move and how you turn him to where you make him not throw as many punches."
Richardson said he's not worried about Pacquiao's ability to unleash punches from all angles, an attribute that has helped him amass a 52-3-2 record with 38 knockouts.
"If a bullet misses you by two inches, it's just as dangerous as a fly," Richardson said. "It only matters if it hits you."
The fact Mosley trusts Richardson's game plan is a testament to his willingness to adapt, something not every fighter is willing to do. Especially a 39-year-old former five-time champion with the wealth of experience Mosley possesses.
"Shane's a gladiator," Richardson said. "He looks at things from that viewpoint. I remember the first time we had a disagreement. I was training him for Margarito, and the first time I wrapped his hands he didn't like the way I was doing it.
"He wants to fight in the Bare Knuckle Era. I said to him, 'You're going to break your hands,' and he said, 'I like to feel my skin.' It took some convincing him, but we worked it out. We can always come to a compromise."
Richardson said his job is to prepare Mosley (46-6-1, 39 KOs) for any possible scenario.
"He's got the mentality, 'I'm going to knock his ass out.' " Richardson said. "I can't look at it that way. I have to put a strategy in place that doesn't limit Shane's abilities."
NOTES -- The official weigh-in is at 3 p.m. today at the MGM Grand Garden and is open to the public. Doors open at 1 p.m. … In the other title fight on Saturday's card, Wilfredo Vasquez Jr. defends his WBO super bantamweight title against veteran Jorge Arce. ... As has become tradition after he fights in Las Vegas, Pacquiao will perform with his band at his official postfight party at Mandalay Bay.
Shane Mosley's trainer, Naazim Richardson, thinks his fighter can figure out the puzzling Pacquiao to claim his WBO welterweight belt Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden.
"The Rubik's Cube has a lot of dimensions to it," Richardson said. "But it is solvable. And Shane has the experience ... to solve the Rubik's Cube that is Manny Pacquiao."
Mosley said the game plan is simple.
"I have a lot of advantages over him," he said, referring to his size, strength and speed. "All I have to do is exploit his weaknesses. Once I exploit them, I should be able to take care of business."
Richardson said Pacquiao reminds him of Aaron Pryor.
"He was a southpaw and had the same kind of awkwardness," Richardson said. "We've fought southpaws before, and we've fought speed before, and we've faced tenacity before. So now you just have to draw from all those experiences and formulate a game plan that will exploit the flaws that Pacquiao does present and be able to exploit them for all 12 rounds."
The trainer has been in Mosley's corner for his past three fights: a win over Antonio Margarito, a loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. and a draw against Sergio Mora.
"To beat someone like Pacquiao, you have to land a lot of punches," Mosley said. "You have to land a high percentage and more punches every round.
"It's like when I fought Margarito. Before we fought, he was throwing like 1,000 punches. But when I fought him, he only threw 500. It's all the angles and the way you move and how you turn him to where you make him not throw as many punches."
Richardson said he's not worried about Pacquiao's ability to unleash punches from all angles, an attribute that has helped him amass a 52-3-2 record with 38 knockouts.
"If a bullet misses you by two inches, it's just as dangerous as a fly," Richardson said. "It only matters if it hits you."
The fact Mosley trusts Richardson's game plan is a testament to his willingness to adapt, something not every fighter is willing to do. Especially a 39-year-old former five-time champion with the wealth of experience Mosley possesses.
"Shane's a gladiator," Richardson said. "He looks at things from that viewpoint. I remember the first time we had a disagreement. I was training him for Margarito, and the first time I wrapped his hands he didn't like the way I was doing it.
"He wants to fight in the Bare Knuckle Era. I said to him, 'You're going to break your hands,' and he said, 'I like to feel my skin.' It took some convincing him, but we worked it out. We can always come to a compromise."
Richardson said his job is to prepare Mosley (46-6-1, 39 KOs) for any possible scenario.
"He's got the mentality, 'I'm going to knock his ass out.' " Richardson said. "I can't look at it that way. I have to put a strategy in place that doesn't limit Shane's abilities."
NOTES -- The official weigh-in is at 3 p.m. today at the MGM Grand Garden and is open to the public. Doors open at 1 p.m. … In the other title fight on Saturday's card, Wilfredo Vasquez Jr. defends his WBO super bantamweight title against veteran Jorge Arce. ... As has become tradition after he fights in Las Vegas, Pacquiao will perform with his band at his official postfight party at Mandalay Bay.
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