The Three Rs is a primarily British viral entertainment site, with standings in many niche interests and involved in a variety of different groups. Topics range from gaming to adulthood to the latest fashion.
Hey guys! Merry Christmas/Happy New Year etc. Just thought I would pop in and and explain my lack of posts. Here goes.
For Christmas I got a brand spanking new PC, great! It's all sparkly and mine, no family to ruin it! (or to blame Trojans on...) The problem is that I currently have no internet connection for it so until I get it fixed I won't be making many posts. But I promise to go post crazy once it's up and running!
I hope you all had an Acceptably Pleasant Exchanging Of Gifts In A False Pretence At Giving A Shit About The Religious Tradition On Which The Day Was Founded, Even Though You're Atheist Or Agnostic At Best, Whilst Simultaneously Trying Not To Choke To Death On The Turkey Day. Some people call it 'Christmas', but I like to keep myself grounded at times like this. Christmas, as far as I'm aware without doing the faintest bit of research, comes from the words "Christ" and "Mass" - The religious celebration of the life of Jesus Christ. But that's not what Christmas is nowadays, so I've rebranded it and coated it with protective 'Bullshit-Be-Gone' spray, bought from some poor gardening store right before it got crushed beneath the giant snowballing behemoth of untold economic destruction called 'The Credit Crunch', and died a horrible death alongside every other store in the world.
Christmas is a time to be jolly I'm told. Why? Because it marks the birth, death or whatever of some oddball cult leader who died millenia ago? No, to hell with that. I don't like Christmas. In the last year or two, me and Christmas had a huge ideological brawl, and we haven't spoken since. I've been crossed off Saint Nick's Christmas Card list, whilst he's been added to my Shoot On Sight list. To me, Christmas is a sham. It's like a Birthday, but the weather is awful, you're expected to buy gifts for everybody you know, you're forced to see relatives you haven't seen since the Christmas before (and there's a good reason for that), and it's all built upon fraudulent religious foundations to begin with. Each year, we give up a truckload of money to buy gifts for people we're not particularly fond of in the name of Jesus. And what little money I have remaining says that if he exists, he's sat up there somewhere laughing his arse off as we all sacrifice our paychecks during this pathetic holiday season.
The redeeming feature that Christmas used to hold was snow. Snow was brilliant. I hate the cold, but provided it brings snow, I'll let it stay for a while. But it no longer does. What little snow we had this year fell far too early in the month, and was by most standards rather minimal anyway. So here I am. Recovering from spending several days with strangers who happen to cling on to a distant branch of my bloodline, warming myself with the single candle I was able to afford with the money that survived Christmas shopping, and mourning my poor, innocent wallet. But no need to worry about me, dear reader. For I received a pair of socks this year.
So, I hope you enjoyed your Acceptably Pleasant Exchanging Of Gifts In A False Pretence At Giving A Shit About The Religious Tradition On Which The Day Was Founded, Even Though You're Atheist Or Agnostic At Best, Whilst Simultaneously Trying Not To Choke To Death On The Turkey Day, and I wish a Bearable Attempt At Optimism Toward The Coming Annum When What You Really Care About Is Forgetting The Horrible Misery Of The Present Year to you all.
Whilst I pray that someone will out-bid me on at least one of the Fallout 3 lots I've foolishly thrown myself into on eBay, I figured I might as well pass the time by going through my browser bookmarks. As you may have guessed, my toolbar is full of the most random crap. From an RSS feed hooked up to Savy Gamer to Daniel Pemberton's own website.
Am I Flirting? falls into the more unusual side of my favourites. I'm not quite sure where I uncovered this little beauty, but it provides me with amusement nonetheless. Its a simple blog, set up so people call e-mail in (amiflirting@gmail.com) with their specific, day-to-day occurrences and find out if they are being flirted with, or subtly flirting themselves.
Indeed, I was skeptical at first. After all, what kind of idiot needs to know if they're flirting or not? Are these people aged 10 or something? However, AIF approaches the subject with a dose of realism. Unlike a corny romance column found at the back of a girly magazine, the blog deals with situations in a very real way. Its not afraid to insult its audience but - at the same time - isn't hesitant to give it hope, either. The entry on November the third perfectly summarises this:
18. If She Smiles and Really Listens When I Talk To Her?
For some reason, even the most simple gesture from a girl — a smile, making eye contact, nodding — can seem like flirting. Is it our Attention Starved Culture? Is it boys growing up without getting Love? Is it just that girls are too used to keeping cool distance in order to avoid gape-mouthed leers and catcalls?
And it’s not just with girls. A guy I know complains that other guys think he’s flirting with them, just because he takes time to really pay attention to them, even in small talk. That some men think he’s gay because he treats them like a person worth being nice to, ergo he wants to screw them.
So here’s the harsh take: girls aren’t always flirting with you if they’re smiling, nodding, and really listening to your cocktail banter. But that doesn’t mean they’re just playing you, either. Or that they don’t like you. “But what if she’s just being nice to me!?” When did “nice” become a consolation prize? They’re being nice to you! And nice tends to be a necessary precursor to flirting. Really, enjoy it. Or else you’ll risk becoming some kind of paranoid creep who accidentally dismisses actual-flirtation-smiles because what girl could really like you? I’m smiling as I say this, trust me.
A few friends of mine had been really stressed lately. School work, personal life, family, everything's piling up. Thus, I decided to google anxiety disorder in children, and I found lotsa infomation. People tend to think that children are the most carefree of all people, and the time they are living in now are the best times. They have no worries, no fret, no stress, no responsibilities, and nothing are of their concern other than school and hanging out with their buddies. However, this is simply paradise for the children in the modern world. Unfortunately, cases of anxiety disorder in children are on the rise.
Children today have schedules. Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday are hockey. Tuesdays the Math tutor comes over. Thursday is the day their science group meets to work on the year long project the teacher assigned. Then there are hours of homework (and those hours start at younger and younger grades), the older sibling that is out to get them to worry about, and the boyfriend to figure out how to keep.
As they get older, their parents start deciding and make them think about which university they wish to go, which module they want to take, getting the right high school or university job that will give them valuable working experience that can help them in the future. Being a kid isn’t what it used to be. Anxiety disorder in children is no longer uncommon and parents don’t know how to help because they are often unfamiliar with it.
Parents can learn about the many ways to deal with anxiety disorder in children. It is treatable and there are many options to consider and choose from. Medication is probably the first thing that is thought of but there are many natural remedies for treating anxiety disorder in children that should be considered as well. Take the time to do some research and find out what your options are before settling into one kind of treatment.
For many cases, a lot of parents can simply follow the advices and suggestions from their family doctor. Morever, the family doctor is very aware and clear of the conditions of each family member.However, it has been suggested that doctors are too quick to prescribe medication for conditions that can just as easily be treated with natural methods.
You don’t have to be living in a commune to try out a natural remedy – they are becoming an increasingly more acceptable option among a wide variety of people. They can often be bought at a drugstore or may be as simple as changing the type of food that your child consumes. Natural remedies may include a balance of diet and exercise or the learning of tools that can be used to moderate anxiety disorder in children. Once children have tools to moderate their behavior and feelings, they can learn when to apply it to a specific situation.
Anxiety disorder in children is not uncommon now. Many also fear that they are being over-diagnosed. What I think is that they should research on the web and find out natural methods of cure, and medical methods. Knowledge is power for children who have anxiety disorder and only helps them to function as well and any other child in our society – sometimes better.
Written by: Unleashed11 Merry Christmas!! ... I know, I know. It's a little bit late for that, but who cares?
Like every little curious out there, I make dozens of questions to myself each day. Questions to which, I don't have an answer obviously. One that actually erupted into my mind, was : "Hey Unleashed, do fishes sleep?". The answer was quite obvious : "Meh, let's google it.".
After a quick search, I got the answer. Using the document I read, I'll try to explain it to you.
When humans go to sleep (or even close their eyes), there are changes in the pattern of brain waves in the area of the brain called the neocortex. (The neocortex is part of the cerebral cortex.It is involved in higher functions such as sensory perception, generation of motor commands, spatial reasoning, conscious thought and, in humans, language.)
Fishes don't have the same degree of neocortical development as mammals, which means they don't display the same brain-waves that we use when we go to sleep. So, if we relate sleep with brain-waves, fishes don't sleep.
If, we define sleep as a combination of lowered metabolic rate, slowed physical activity, lowered response to stimuli and the assumption of a resting posture, then some fishes do sleep. These include the "parrotfishes". (picture below)
Parrotfishes find a spot on the seafloor and secrete a mucus envelope in which they spend the night.
Many fishes, however, don't seem to sleep. Tunas and sharks, never stop swimming. There is however one theory that tries to explain this behaviour. The theory at hand suggests that when fishes "sleep" sensory information (mostly visual) gathered during the day is processed to form memories. Fishes that swim continually in blue oceanic waters receive little information (because the sight is always pretty much the same) and require less time to process the memories, which means they have no need to sleep. This is supported by studies on several species of blind fishes that live in caves. These sightless fishes do not sleep.
And this ends Unleashed11's lesson on whether fish sleep, or don't sleep. I hope you enjoyed.
(I did not write this article by myself. I based my explanation on the info I read. Such info can be read on it's original format at: http://www.austmus.gov.au/fishes/faq/sleep.htm . Picture of parrotfish, found on google.)
Apologies to the diehard lonelygirl15 fans, for this article I did only watch the first 100 or so episodes. Remember that when your jaw drops at the stunning ignorance and vague generalisations.
If you haven't heard of lonelygirl15, you may be completely divorced from the unreality of the Internet. As web-only entertainment goes, it's one of the biggest, despite its blatant disregard for typical conventions of language like capital letters, spaces or general legibility (for this and brevity's sake, it will be henceforth called LG). But then, LG is all about disregarding the norm - at least in terms of its presentation.
It's your typical American teenage drama. A girl, a guy, some annoying parents...so far, so obviously cliché. Why, then, does LG succeed in capturing people's imaginations? Because, as I said, it breaks the traditions you'd expect. It's not sun-soaked helicopter shots of beaches, fast cars whizzing around and wooden acting. It's not made for high-definition TVs, either. It's drama for YouTube users. Literally - all the minute-long episodes are uploaded to YouTube to be watched en masse.
A lonely teenage girl on her webcam - is this the future of TV, or porn?
The makers of LG are those breed of "hip" advertisers who believe that television is so passé, and that the best way to entertain the masses these days is through the buzzword-o-rific viral marketing (basically, people linking each other to stuff). And the glue that holds entertainment to viral marketing? YouTube. So it makes perfect sense to present drama through the media that captivates so many every day - that is, after all, the point of entertainment.
The key to LG's success is its verisimilitude. Authenticity is involving and captivating for an audience, hence the mind-boggling success of reality tripe on our screens. LG capitalises superbly on such ideas by making itself as close to reality as it can possibly get. Our window into the (frankly dull) world of "protagonist" Bree is via her webcam. Verisimilitude becomes something of an art form as the mundane minutiae of everyday life are conveyed in such a boring, typical fashion that, if you didn't know it was fake (as many didn't for its opening months), convinces the audience that Bree is just as real as any of the other vloggers that clog up the Internet (or stick to their Vloggerheads haven). Such a faux reality is the crucial part of LG's existence; without it, the series would suffer greatly.
Verisimilitude is kind of shattered when you start releasing videos in seasons with promotion
Claustrophobic bedroom settings for the latest webcam updates suits the realism perfectly, not being too pretentious or unrealistic. The assortment of props lying around just adds to the wholly authenticate nature of the LG series. It is completely believable, until the plot dovetails into wild fantasy revolving around cultists, ceremonies and characters on the run - but even then, its presentation lends an air of verisimilitude to its subject, not dissimilar to the camera-shakey antics of Blair Watch and Cloverfield. By grounding the series so firmly in reality, LG can use its fanbase - the gullible, the curious, the casual watcher, the diehard lonelygirlophiles - as a springboard for whatever plots it wishes to thrust upon the Internet. You want some contrived love? Just have another account by the love interest, have a few crossover moments and your grinning audience will be delighted. The set up doesn't seem contrived, it just seems natural - unless you maybe look a little deeper and start to question why this is all happening. Do you spot a great opportunity for product placement that would make Back to the Future blush? It's simple to work in because life is littered with big brands - it's only fitting that a series resembling life does too.
You have to admire the way LG works. Complex scripts, cameras, effects, promotions and the like fall by the wayside as the offensively cheap LG strides forward. TV is stuck with weekly broadcasts and time constraints. LG can upload episodes on whatever days it likes, and the audience can watch them whenever it suits them, and catch up on any they've missed. It's so flexible that it's easy to see why a viewer can quickly become entangled in the universe of lonelygirl15 and her comrades.
Some sharp YouTubers quickly released that Bree was a fictional character, but the series continued
But enough of LG's technicalities, what of its story? I watched, in comparison to the whole series, a mere handful of the first series, from its unpretentious, unassuming beginning. There, it was slightly dull. Realistic, involving, slightly boring. It quickly evolved into more; with secondary character Daniel getting his own YouTube channel - allowing some genius audience participation by searching for this extra (though unessential) content. From there, you get your typical teenage drama, focusing on some good old love angst. And the not-so-typical stuff about Bree's bizarre religion, secret ceremonies and then...it jumps the shark. Bree and Daniel get into deep trouble and go on the run from the religious nutjobs, and then Bree's parents go missing. And some old friend of Bree's handily turns up with her own channel, too. I stopped watching around there. Not only was the plot a bit...cliché and crap, but watching LG became too much of a chore.
I've championed the virtues of the format above, in great detail. Yet now we come to the crux of the matter for broadcasting on any medium - will people come back for more? Radio? Yes. TV? Yes. Podcasting? Hell yes, it's automated! But coming back to YouTube every week or so, it becomes so easily missed, and so much like having to work for your own entertainment that you'll probably give up. This analysis seems to be unique to me, as millions (or at least thousands) adore lonelygirl15 and her friends. However, I genuinely found watching LG to be too much like dull work - hence my lack of extensive reviewing. It seems that in my lack of reviewing, there is much to be said in the silence.
User-generated content killed the video star?
Would the format have been better suited to a regimented routine weekly update? While "transmitting" first time, perhaps. But, as with me, repeating viewing fails here. Would the format have benefited from an improved plot? It's hard to tell - but I think the plot grew out of the comfort zone of the medium (and its depressingly maddening comments system...) and subsequently led to (in my eyes) its demise (not its actual demise, the show started mid-2006 and finished August 1, 2008). I don't have a suitable alternative plot, though. So congratulations to all involved in trying. Their bold, brave take on producing a show in this way paves the way for what many may herald as "the future of drama", though that's a way off yet. Innovative, but underwhelming. Perhaps genius innovation is always like that - I can't imagine everyone was agog at the prospect of nerdy teenagers in England putting their thoughts to the masses via computers. But in drama, when trying to entertain, playing it safe works, underwhelming doesn't. This isn't the future; it's a frame for the future - but the picture is forgettable.
Following the events within the Nexus and our complete failure to defeat the Blue Dragonflight, Bran suggested that we take a trip across the continent to the Howling Fjord, where another Alliance base had been successfully established. It was a good idea, especially as the chilly climate of the Tundra was beginning to bore me.
Of course my Death Knight accomplice had neglected to tell me that we needed to get there using giant turtles, but by this point nothing could really surprise me. The journey itself was relatively peaceful anyway, despite the seas around Northrend being apparently full of all sorts of nasties.
As promised, the Fjord was a lot greener and nicer than our previous spot. It was also slightly weirder, as the local walrus-people used what appear to be Viking longboats as a lift system into the cliffs. Not only was this very strange, but why boats? Couldn't they have used something a little more... aerodynamic?
I rode across the grassy knolls of the mainland at a casual pace. Ram Tastic (that's what I call my mount) got a little excited when s/he saw these two stags fighting each other. Well, at least I think they were fighting...
Not long after discovering the hormonal bull-things, I stumbled across an old graveyard, full of skeletal guardians. I dispatched them quickly and set about trying to rob the unearthed resting grounds of the deceased. Unfortunately, several thousand players had already trawled through the area prior to my arrival, so I could do little more than stare at the restless shades that haunted the ancient burial grounds. They didn't say much, and one appeared to be summoning a wave of water out of mid-air. Why is beyond me.
Things on this side of the continent only got stranger. Bran pointed me in the direction of some pseudo vagabonds stationed off the coast. I decided what tactics to use on them from miles away:
"Yarr, mateys," I had said. "I be sent here on behal' o' ye olde Death Knight."
The little gang exchanged awkward glances, then the Goblin spoke:
"Whaddup purple foo'!? Me and my bruddas will give you a ride to our pirate hood if you giz da sungrazz to us, blad."
I raised a thick, hairy eyebrow. Did these mediocre gangsters want Sungrass? The herb was a common trade good back on Azeroth, but the harsh temperatures of Northrend had made it difficult to grow, even with the aid of magic. Luckily, I had some of the drug on me, and offered it up to the Goblin's posse. The next thing I knew, the Tauren was man - Elf - handling me and the green-skinned idiot was barking on about how I was under arrest by the Anti-Drug Department of the Valiance Expedition and I was to be taken for exportation back to Stormwind. Seconds later, whilst I was claiming it was for 'personal use' with 'no intent to supply, damn it!' I was thrust into a tiny canoe, handcuffed and taken away by the burly bull.
As the beast rowed along at an extraordinarily fast rate, I hastily thought of excuses to get out of the predicament I suddenly faced. I tried everything, from trying to taunt the Tauren with such phrases as 'HEY, YO MOMMA ENJOYS HANDCUFFS TOO' to pleading with him, insisting I was a general in the Alliance army and this embarrassment for the coalition would surely ruin our efforts across the world.
At the end of the day, I used might over mind and capsized our tiny vessel. The Tauren sunk like a... cow and I scrambled to shore. Ram Tastic was there to meet me, and we set off in-land, attempting to avoid any Alliance encampments, lest the Anti-Drug Department still bayed for our blood. It situation was not unlike my initial escape from Stormwind itself, except now I was wanted for two felonies: Being a charming gentlemen and possessing totally harmless herbs! Rammy cantered on, through the night, seeking sanctuary from our former allies. In the early hours of the morning, we stumbled across this real pirate encampment. Unlike the strange, wannabe gangsters/police we had encountered earlier, the inhabitants of this seaside town were kind people, willing to take me on as a deckhand.
The jobs they gave me were easy, aided by magic and my fellow helpers. Time went by quickly, until - one day - the small port was attacked by a set of vicious, undead bandits. I was told by a fellow cabin boy, Jackov De Mastergator (he was foreign, the others said) that the skeletal attackers had once served the pirate outcasts as normal humans, but had been turned to the dark side after being promised their own island by a goddess of the sea. The fabled escape had many myths surrounding it. Some said its beaches were made out of Pokemon cards. Others claimed its trees were created from wallpaper. In truth, the place was little more than a patch of rock out in the ocean. The fiends were repelled, but it would not be the last time I saw them.
One windy night, most of the town's citizens crammed into the pub. Good thymes were to be had, until one of the drunkest patrons started sounding off about where he'd originated from. "Yeah!" the dozy git shouted, "I came to Northrend to seek out Melaisis the Elf. He's about, oh, as high as that Elf over there!" The twat pointed at me, and the next thing I knew I was flailing my fists about and the obnoxious prick was out cold.
I tried to tell my fellow pirates that it wasn't my fault, and that the bloke wasn't being out of line. Unfortunately, murdering the one person in the entire bar that had openly announced he was out to get me wasn't the best evidence for proving my innocence.
Luckily, just as the locals planned to exorcise their vengeance upon me, the ghost ship attacked. In the chaos that ensued, I clambered over the undead's ship and swam to shore.
Wait, no, scratch that.
Luckily, just as the locals planned to exorcise their vengeance upon me, I saw a parked water-plane... thing parked out by a nearby jetty. Using my infinite initiative, I seized the craft and flew off to safety.
"Y'know, I don't think this thing is very stable..."
English indie-pop duo The Tings Tings got into the Christmas spirit earlier this week with a special stripped-down holiday performance for BBC's Radio 1. So why not join in the festive fun and check out Katie and Jules' performance of "Santa Baby" and "Shut Up and Let It Snow." Enjoy.
I've recently came across a topic on death penalty. To many people, death penalty seems to be a cruel method that should be banned. However, there are people who have views on both side. Everyone is a human being. Many think that it's wrong to actually tell people not to kill, but kill the killer. That doesn't make the them different from the perpetrator.
However, death penalty might not be all that bad. If you have a criminal who escaped from jail and killed people, should you keep him locked up behind bars, or hack his head off? Does that saves his life, but risks the lives of many others who are living peacefully out there? Which one should we value more then, a human life, or human lives?
Many countries now don't execute death penalty. Yet, there are still countries which executes death penalty.
Reference [[infomation]] -- Yahoo!
US: Electric chair, gas chamber and lethal injection Utah: Firing squad Iran: Hanging China: Bullet to the back of the head
So what are your views on death penalty? My view is that death penalty should be executed, however a lot of factors have to be taken into consideration. We should not execute a human who took human life, or even human lives. Only if he had the ability to get out there and continue killing innocent people, then he should be executed. Many other factors also consist of his mental condition, his physical condition etc etc. So do you have any views? Feel free to share them.
They’re time-trial levels, where you can race against your own or presumably other people’s ghosts to complete them as quickly as possible. That’s where they evidently think the longevity will be, rather than in extending the plot episodically. But I’m not sure speed-running is for me.
The main basis for my excitement over Mirror’s Edge, apart from the fantastic art, is N. It’s absurdly difficult and endlessly frustrating, but you can retry quickly and there’s enormous scope for finesse. It seems like Mirror’s Edge has a similar process, but I hope speed isn’t the only type of finesse it permits. I never enjoyed trying to maximise my time remaining in N, or speed-run any other game. It was purely about elegance and style.
I tried a speed-run of the first level of Deus Ex once. It went so badly that I actually lost my left leg before I got inside the statue, and I still beat the contemporary fastest time on the Speed Demo Archive.
The bar’s risen quite a bit since then, thankfully, and there’s now a magnificently clever 43 minute run. It turns out grenade-jumping in Deus Ex doesn’t mean what it means in other games, and nano-augmented bunny-hopping is a thing of curious elegance.
This guy has a spectacular way of exiting Maggie Chow’s penthouse suite at maximum speed, never bothers to get his Kill Switch removed, gasses most of UNATCO to get them to open doors for him in their panic, stabs Tracer Tong to shut him up, assassinates Tiffany Savage to save time rescuing her, and pulls off the most laughably improbable escape from the swiftly scuttled Wallcloud. Deus Ex had scope for finesse.
Update: He also survives the most awkward lift ride ever, and there’s something of a surprise ending. I accidentally the whole thing.
This year, I went to Hong Kong for vacation. When I first reached that cold place, I thought that all the mists and haze were simply due to the fact that it's cold. However, after arriving there for a day or so, I realised that it wasn't cold air. It was smoke.
Reference [infomation]: wikipedia
Yes, Hong Kong has serious air pollution. It affects flora and fauna in the area, and the health of residents living there. Visibility is currently less than eight kilometers for 30% of the year. Cases of asthma and bronchial infections have soared in recent years due to reduced air quality.
The dense population, smoke-belching factories and power stations, ceaseless construction and large numbers of diesel vehicles have made for dangerous levels of particulate matter (RSP) and nitrogen dioxide.
Whilst the Government has in the past maintained that the Mainland was an important source of airborne pollutants, experts have estimated that most of Hong Kong's acid rain comes from its own industry and transport: Most of Hong Kong’s power is generated by burning coal. Electricity generation produces half of Hong Kong’s total emissions of nitrogen oxide and particulates, and 92 per cent of its total sulphur dioxide emissions. Most local power stations do not yet have flue gas desulphurisation, although equipment is being installed and the government has required that all new generation capacity should come from natural gas.
In terms of carbon dioxide emissions, the city's Castle Peak power plant, run by China Light and Power, was named the third most polluting electricity generator in the world by Washington-based group Carbon Monitoring for Action, which estimated that the power station produced 35.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in order to generate 28.2 million MWh of energy. The generator, however, claims emissions were one-third of that level.
Hong Kong’s roads are also the most crowded in the world, with almost 280 vehicles for every kilometre of road.[citation needed] The city’s vehicle fleet is dominated by heavily polluting, aging goods vehicles, most of which run between the city and the Pearl River Delta/Shenzhen. Diesel commercial vehicles are responsible 90% of RSPs and 80% of NO2 emissions from the entire road transport sector, despite making up only 23% of the vehicle fleet. Double-decker diesel buses and a steadily growing fleet of private cars have also added to congestion and pollution.
Declining regional air quality means visibility has also decreased dramatically. In 2004, low visibility occurred 18% of the time – the highest on record, according to the Hong Kong Observatory.The number of days in which visibility was less than eight kilometers rose to 102 in 2005 from 40 in 1997.
According to research at the University of Hong Kong, the air in Hong Kong contains almost three times more soot and other pollutants than New York's and more than twice of that in London. Environmentalists blame principally the electricity companies, which have been ordered by the government to cut emissions. Hong Kong has declared the goal of reducing levels of four major pollutants by 55 percent by 2010.
Air pollution figures for the very wet June 2008 were higher than for corresponding periods in the last two years, causing scientists to be mystified as to its unexpected behaviour.
The mortality rate from vehicular pollution can be twice as high near heavily traveled roads, based on a study conducted in Holland at residences 50 meters from a main road and 100 meters from a freeway[6]. Since millions of people in Hong Kong live and work in close proximity to busy roads, this presents a major health risk to city residents. The Hong Kong Medical Association estimates that air pollution can exacerbate asthma, impair lung function and raise the risk of cardio-respiratory death by 2 to 3 percent for every increase of 10 micrograms per cubic metre of pollutants[6]. Studies by local public health experts have found that these roadside pollution levels are responsible for 90,000 hospital admissions and 2,800 premature deaths every year.
Cast your mines back to August 2008. Remember this post? Well you should! It's our most digged post, our most popular post and therefore better than everything else ever, so why would I reference this? That's because it's time for the promised Slipknot Live review.
The gig I am reviewing is the Sheffield Arena event, held on the 12th of December. I would of done this earlier but I have been sick. Damn foreign bodies attacking me on the inside!
The Supports
Supporting was fan favourite Children of Bodom and controversial shredders Machine Head. With Bodom up first they had the hardest job of the night... warming up 12,000 metalheads on a cold rainy night. Something which was achieved if not for the unfortunate underlying thought of their lack of stage presence. The lead singer moved around... but the rest of the band could have been cardboard cut outs. Harsh, too harsh but it's a complicated thought to put onto paper without doing as such. Just when you thought you could catch your breath out come Machine Head. Increasing the temperature, Halo was serenaded with 4 circle moshpits, which was mention as part of Rob Flyn's excellent crowd taunting. However during the second to last song Machine Head's Phil Demmel collapsed. Being quickly rushed off stage, their segment was ended. The band minus Phil did return to the stage to apologise for not finishing their set and thank Sheffield. The Sheffield audience returning with a uniformed applauded for Phil. Memorable to say the least.
Children of Bodom Live: 3/5 - Musically brilliant... but they need to work on their live act.
Machine Head: 3.5/5 - Interacted with the audience well and performed. (Well... You know what I mean.)
One question remained... Could Slipknot top this?
Slipknot Live.
Do I really need to answer that? Opening with Surfacing the gig rose and rose... Rising to dizzying heights I've never seen from a show. Not only was the music prefect, but they owned every nanometre of the stage. Add to that a lights and pyrotechnics show that would leave Jeff Wayne in awe, it's hard not to get caught on the bandwagon. Songs included Before I Forget, Duality, Psychosocial, Surfacing and The Heretic Anthem, all of these songs being song with pride by Slipknot's faithful maggots. The biggest songs missing from the setlist were Wait and Bleed and Vermilion, but with a back catalogue like Slipknot's some thing's got to give. Moshpit's were constant and huge... not surprising, just amazing. Every song worked well in the arena with all instruments being at the right volume, especially the kegs, nothing overpowering. The first time I've seen this at a concert of any type, often drums are the main offenders for overpowering. Overall the night proved that Slipknot are the best band to see live because they can write complicated, intricate songs whilst this never letting the intensity dropping and producing a visual spectacular.
Sky News writes: '"Jason Farrell has been investigating the darker side of the virtual world Second Life - and found an area called "Wonderland" that is being used by child abusers.
Farrell created his own character in the multiplayer onlineworld to carry out his investigation over a number of months.
"Wonderland is a virtual children's playground where paedophiles cruise and kids are solicited," said Farrell.
"At first site it looks like a real-life playground.
"Here child-like avatars are not just playing on swings - they're offering sex. These are virtual children of all ages - even toddlers.
"After talking to one child I was offered a range of sordid and sick sexual acts.
"My avatar had entered a virtual paedophile ring. Obviously, I declined the offers and reported my disturbing findings."'
Shrug indeed, stock photo! My opinion is that of the neutral ground, for now. There are paedophiles everywhere on the Internet, and measures should be taken to foil their devilishly perverted plans whenever possible. Steps are already in place on various popular websites to stop kids from joining (Everything from Habbo to Facebook require you to be at least of a certain age to join, from 12-or-be-banned to 16 but-we-hide-it). This is for good reason. Despite 'net paedophiles being quite rare, these steps are here to deter children from joining so they don't fall prey to paedophiles, but surely if a webmaster knows there's some around his site, he should actively move to eliminate them, right? It is naive to assume that most successful enterprises take up this technique, usually due to the lack of manpower, time or the fact that most of these individuals are their investors. Still, Second Life Insider seems completely against any of these steps.
"It's likelier that these are adults roleplaying as children. Regardless, this is exactly the sort of 'broadly offensive' behavior that Linden Lab is famously against, yet nothing has been done about Wonderland, despite repeated entreaties over a period of weeks from the community of residents who roleplay nonsexual children. Of course, the mainstream press pick this up and run with it, making Linden Lab look bad, the child avatar community look bad, and all of us in Second Life look bad by tenuous association."
I apologise, lovey, but that's not the way the cookie crumbles in the media world. How many newspapers would sell if we spent 450 words out of 500 writing a disclaimer saying 'well, not everyone in Second Life does this but...'? Moreover, people like to pretend they're kids? I dabble in roleplay occasionally, but really.
The comments section of the SLI article is laughable, too. People attack the first poster for daring to suggest how 'disgusting' pretending to be a child is, and then try to defend such an... interesting imaginary escape. Now, I'm not saying the Sky article is right, as the possibility of kids getting involved with predators online and adults pretending to be kids are two completely different things (although it could be argued the latter could lead to the former in some twisted way). The thing that fascinates me is 'child's play' (and not the charity). Surely we all had a rollicking good time being kids back well... y'know, when we were younger? I trawled the comments of the Second Life Insider and other such sites for an explanation and... didn't really get one. People are more than happy to spring to the concept's defence, saying that consenting adults should be able to do anything non-sexual, but why? I don't understand the psychology of behaving like a kid, when you aren't. There's an escapist element, but it involves you purposely acting more idiotic than you already are.
The latest telly-revolutionising zeitgeist bandwagon is "on demand". Pioneered by NTL/Virgin Media through set-top boxes, its spread - thanks to the BBC's iPlayer - onto the Internet. Which means that a whole lot of TV is available on demand. Each UK terrestrial channel has its own on demand service, and The Three Rs would like to present its guide to one of these services (iPlayer).
BBC iPlayer Shows: an extensive library of audio-visual treats are mere clicks away with iPlayer. The majority of shows from all BBC channels (and radio stations) are available for playback. You can also watch BBC channels live through the live streaming technology. Catch-up Period: exactly seven days, though some whole series (Merlin, for example) are available with episodes dating back months ago! Price: free...if you pay the licence fee, of course... Delivery: embedded Flash player, or download in restricted files playable through BBC iPlayer Manager.
iPlayer's slick presentation and banquet of content is a large reason why watching TV on the web has become the current vogue. It offers normal quality and a high-quality stream for big broadband connections. With the huge corporation of the BBC behind it, iPlayer is a massive Internet success and works supremely well.
Bran returned to find me shortly after my encounter with the huntericidal Druids and my old Archmage friend. "Here!" the Death Knight had said. "Get on my horse and ride out!"
"Why?"
"Because it'll make for some cool screenshots!"
So I mounted up on Bran's originally-named steed ('Dusk') and we set off on our quest once again.
I began by volunteering to help out the Red Dragonflight against their Blue brothers (ignore the fact that I am no longer riding Dusk).
"Rawr, raaaawr!" Said the dragons. Fortunately, I had taken a doctorate in Draconian at Feathermoon University, and we able to successfully translate what the mighty, ancient beasts were saying:
"¡Hola! ¡Viene paseo nuestro pato, señor!"
"¡Usted debe agarrar a los magos malos!"
"Quick, torture the bugger!" This one was English; a member of the Kirin Tor of Dalaran. Like part of the ruling sect of the magical city. It was our imperative to discover what the Blue Dragonflight were up to, lest they take over the entire continent. Unfortunately, it emerged that their plans on the mainland weren't that evil, really. All I had to do was break one of the Red symapthisers out of a magical prison and return to base. Simple, right?
Of course the Reds neglected to inform me that the temporary jail were large, floating cubes formed out of pure arcane energy and protected by the backbone of the Blue forces, but I was willing to overlook this slight technicality, given the possible reward.
Following the jailbreak, the Reds deemed me capable enough to take the fight to the Nexus, stationed on an island just off the coast of the Borean Tundra. The forward camp there was hardly more than a glorified Paladin bubble with some snazzy effects. It was full of weirdos, too. The kind of people who would want JLS to win this year's X-Factor, or advertise their website on JJ.AM.
These perverted idiots sent me out on a few ridiculous missions to monitor and interfere with Malygos (who's a Dragonflight leader) and his plans. These included charming the Blue drakes (see above) so they can be slaughtered by the members of the encampment. Well, they have to eat something, I guess.
"Storm the Nexus!" they say. "Get them where they're weak!" What the Blues failed to realise, however, is that I was only level 71 and therefore any instance I went to would probably have zero effect on the storyline anyway. All the same, we got to battle against some pretty cool things; the bottom level of the citadel rests on a rift in the magical ley lines that litter Azeroth, meaning that some pretty crazy stuff has a habit of spawning.
Y'know what they call me back in the homeland? Tankzilla, baby. Hold on bitch; I'm about to get arggo. My mage don't make a blizzard, he makes it snow. When you a tank, no one says 'no'! Now bend over Nelf female, 'cause you is a hoe! Hold on girl, Melly is about to get low.
/freestyle
"What did you mean; Malygos wasn't there!?" I had told the Reds (who had evidently learned English in the time when I was in the Nexus that there wasn't even the slightest hint of a killable lore character in the low-end instance, so they sent me on the back of an elder dragon to seek out the big Blue. See that bearded bloke in the picture above? That's Malygos and he's at the top of his castle. What a surprise!
"Oh, hi Mr.Malygos! Yeah, it was all the Reds! Burn them! I didn't help them at all! They're insane! Love your facial hair! See you later, I'm er... off to kill some mages, yeah!"
After managing to escape from the insane Blue leader (it sounds like bloody Top Gun) I rang Bran up on my Hearth... phone and told him the story of my situation. He sympathised, and took me on a trip to kill some Scourge. I knew it would be just a chance for him to boost his own ego by killing undead fiends, but I let it slide.
"Cool."
"Yep. Say, you done the quest that involves you having to kill the vampire bloke at the top of the floating necropolis because the Lich King likes him? Its pretty cool!"
I sighed. "My blog entries are supposed to be semi-IC, Bran! The only quests I'm on is the one to get my reputation back, and the quest of life. Also, how much exp does it give?"
You'd think we were in a China Mieville novel. Except I don't want to have sex with the giant beetles. Yet.
Blood-sucking, good looking Night Elf half-breeds that oppress all the other, lesser races could be seen as some sort of complex political message. Unfortunately, I am far too simplistic to analyse this possibility, so here's some Bob Marley lyrics:
I am on the rock, and then I check a stock,
I have to run like a fugitive, to save the life I live,
Im gonna be iron, like a lion, in zion (repeat),
Iron lion zion,
Im on the run, but I aint got no gun,
See they want to be the star,
So they fighting tribal war,
And they saying iron like a lion in zion,
Iron like a lion in zion,
Iron lion zion.
LAST WORD WITH ARCHMAGE VARGOTH: "No dragon is an island, Melaisis! You should live to learn with your enemies, otherwise they'll end up in your giant fort and killing your friends for epics. Just remember that red is the colour of Communists, and crazy people. Sometimes they're the same thing. What matters, however, is that we're all dragons inside, but not all of us are voiced by John Hurt."
Written by: Melaisis (brought to you by David Thomas!)
Swedish indie outfit Peter, Bjorn and John has released their first Seaside Rock single "Take Your Hands Off That Girl (unofficial title)" today. As a bonus the already catchy tune is coupled with a great modern day masquerade party that features a dance-off for male dominance. Overall, this is a great follow up release to reintroduce Peter, Bjorn and John after their rampant success with "Young Folks."
Also, there is a a subtle Rick Roll in the video that Stereogum keenly pointed out. See if you can spot it.
Sitting on your couch, you remember the good old days, where you used to watch the same good old cartoons, play the same old games and imitate your good old heroes.
I don't know about you guys, but being a kid from the 90's, I have loads of memories I would like to share, so that you too, can remember your childhood.
Memory Nr1:Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Who can forget these little guys? The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are part of everyone's past, and no one can deny it. Their adventures were bloody awesome and we all loved to see Shredder get a kick up his ***.
Memory Nr2: Power Rangers
Power Rangers... Those guys really made our day with their "Aiiiha!!!" and their punches that made opponent's fly 3 meters back. Unfortunately, the quality of the show has declined a lot since their "golden days".
Memory Nr3: POGS This is something that each and everyone of us had. Pogs (or Tazo's in other countries) played an important role while we were growing up. The competition and the need to have the coolest ones were one of the main reasons of "Pog Mania".
Memory Nr4: Light-Up Shoes Ah, I remember having one of these. Step, step, Light, light. These sneakers were the shit! Having them was a must in terms of fashion.
Memory Nr5: Dragon Ball The adventures of our favorite little monkey, who dyed his hair blond later in the series. Seeing this was a ritual for us. Interrupting us during the show meant instant death...
Memory Nr6: Pokémon Video Games
Ok, if you didn't have a Gameboy Color with a Pokémon Red, Blue or Yellow cartridge, you had some kind of problem. Maybe you thought Pokémon was childish. Maybe you couldn't afford a Gameboy Color. Or maybe you were just plain stupid(no offense meant xD). Having your monsters up to Lvl100 meant complete pwnage when playing with the link cable... and you spent months of your childhood training these little sprites inside a screen so that you could boast:
-"Hey look at my Lvl100 Charizard!". -"Who cares? We prefer Mudkipz." -"Huh?"
PS: Mudkip's didn't exist at that time XD
Memory Nr7: Spice Girls "Yo, I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want, So tell me what you want, what you really really want!". The words you would whisper after listening to these girls sing "Wannabe". These girls were a real phenomenon down in the 90's, and we all liked seeing them on TV.
Memory Nr8: Tamagotchi
Tamagotchi's... god damn! These little machines had you glued to it's tiny screen for hours! Feeding it...putting it to sleep and cleaning it's shit. -_- But we all loved this little machine! Even though we had to clean his shit. -_-
Memory Nr9: Going to McDonalds just to get them bloody toys McDonalds toys were like drug at the time. You couldn't just get enough of them. Each and everyday you would ask your parents -"Can we go to McDonalds?", but you didn't even realise that you were poisoning your body with fats and shit like that.
Memory Nr10: Action Man
Action Man ... We all had one of these! Some of us even had a whole collection. -_- We had fun simulating battles and other crazy stuff. But one thing is for sure, Action man can't surpass Chuck Norris!
And that's it folks. Of course there are hundreds of other memories I could've posted here, but I posted the ones that I think everyone familiarizes the most with. Tell me what you think and post your own memories. :D
Its a gorgeous, hi-def trailer that I - someone who hasn't touched a Final Fantasy since getting bored half-way through 12 - was simply astounded at.
I love how that, on the GameTrailers boards, people are speculating its a new take on the events of 7 simply because it has cars in it. If anything, the setting and apparently high use of magic is far more fitting to 8.
Sometimes certain advertisements just... entice you to watch them; even if they're slowly streaming and muted by default. This was one of them. Kudos to the marketing guys over at Pepsi. Now, if only they'd pay us!
Opening Note: Tales of epic journeys have been told for centuries and when Wrath of the Lich King (the second expansion for World of Warcraft) was announced, many of my fellow journalists took the opportunity to shadow or reprise such huge pieces of literature from (up to) thousands of years ago. Homer's Odyssey? How about John "Is That Your Real Name!?" Funk's 'Northrend Travelogues', a highly under-rated video series over at WarCry. Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings? Consider Mike Reilly's surprisingly deep review on Game Revolution (I would have called it A Reilly Awesome Story, or something). Each of these articles have their own positives and negatives and - as when being time pressured to write fully as possible about a game - summarise the whole WotLK experience quite nicely. However, everyone's story as they saunter through the winterly realm of Nothrend - the main setting for the expansion - is going to be different. Review and beta previews may be all well and good at highlighting the general jist of what the entire experience is like, but its always a bit... general. What I aim to do, is bring a personal flair to my writing when I discuss playing the damn thing. To keep a diary of sorts, while attempting for it to be entertaining, similar to what I've done in the past. Why pick Wrath of the Lich King? Well, its a big game and everyone will definitely have different approaches to the tasks that present themselves. Furthermore, can you seriously say you don't know anyone playing WoW at this present time? The audience scope is huge, and perhaps they, too, are a little tired of non-specific reviewers barking vaguely about the expansion 'on the whole'. I hope you enjoy it.
MELAISIS IN NORTHREND - PART ONE
A Quick Escape
I had not intended to visit Northrend originally. Like many of my fellow, rather cynical, players, I believed that the expansion was simply Blizzard's way of squeezing us for money whilst still managing to avoid fixing the old content or filling in the empty areas of Azeroth which have been vacant since 2004. I still do believe that, to some extent.
My adventures actually began a week after Wrath of the Lich King was released. I was riding around Stormwind - the Human capital - one lonely, cold night when I was approached by a stranger. He rode a steed not unlike a Warlock's, wielded a polearm glowing with the light of a thousand suns and his eyes possessed a similar, striking shine. Initially, I held him to be the Devil incarnated, and the exchange between us did nothing to ease my troubled thoughts:
"What are you!?" I found myself asking aloud.
"I'm a deaf knight," the unholy beast proclaimed.
"Oh," I apologised hastily and repeated: "WHAT ARE YOU!?"
"No, no," it corrected. "I'm a death knight. A bringer of evil. A force of darkness. People flee when they hear my name alone: For I am Bran, the Shitecaller!"
I sighed. I had battled many death knights in the past. They were champions of the undead Scourge, but no match for a well-trained warrior such as myself. I had never seen a Night Elven one before, but supposed it made sense considering the Lich King's expanding influence.
"Very well, dismount fiend! We shall duel to the death!" I challenged the monster, who simply shook his head.
"I am not here to fight you, Melaisis. I am here to guide you into the winterly realm of Northrend, so you can join the fight against our mutual enemies!"
I admit, I was taken aback at this and pried further, "how did you know my name, and, why must I go with you!?"
"We're in the same guild," Bran exhaled. "I've been sent to clear our guild's name. It seems the authorities have caught wind of you bitching about them and trying to go for that two-minute trolley dash under Prestor's petticoat before she mysteriously vanished."
Under any other circumstances I would have immediately rejected any idea of exodus from the beloved city. However, I could not change the fact that I was a soon-to-be wanted man, alongside the point that none of my old friends still remained in Stormwind. It was a choice of remaining on mainland Azeroth as a criminal, or setting sail to become a war hero once again. What else could I do, aside from head out to the docks to catch the next boat north?
As the lighthouse spread its beacon of... er... light across the bay, I bid goodbye to the stone metropolis and looked to the dark horizon, with Bran at my side.
Enlisting
A short time later, the steamboat docked at a small port in the Borean Tundra. Valiance Keep - the Alliance settlement - was to be the first outpost we visited of many. Bran assured me that our stay in the small town was to be a short one, and we queued up to be enlisted in the forces fighting against the Scourge.
We waited and waited. I overheard some of what the guys at the front were saying: Our fellow volunteers were no more than farmers and footmen; mediocre peasants. Bran seemed to be thinking the same as me, and leaned over from across his line to whisper an idea.
After waiting for the guards to turn away, we used to 'creative' methods in order to get to the front.
"Yeah, excuse me."
"Sorry. Move or I'll set my status to 'At War'."
"It ain't my fault you were made without clipping!"
The recruitment officers didn't take too kindly to all of that, of course. All the same, they sent the death knight and I on a fool's errand to help the frontlines out on the beach.
It was there we fought against giant, arachnid-like creatures on the behest of the force commander back at base. Bran showed off some of his scummy undead moves, and I attempted to summon a (rather incompetent) Argent Guardian. Indeed, good times were had by all.
Following the success of our spider-slaying mission, I stumbled across three, military-esque gentlemen buying drinks at the local pub. They offered to buy me a few pints, and who was I to resist the opportunity to bond with a few local comrades?
"Shee you later guysh! Thanksh for the drinksh!" [Actual dialog]
In retrospective, my intoxication did little more than cause me to feel even more depressed that I had been exiled from my favourite city back on the Eastern Kingdoms. When Bran left me alone to gather supplies in the Keep for our great journey ahead, I received a mystical vision of my old friend Archmage Vargoth. He was broadcasting all the way from Outland. I asked for advice from the mysterious magi, but he merely gave me a blank, confused stare. Was he as drunk as I? Perhaps I was just hallucinating.
Bran returned shortly after with sufficient supplies to see me on my way, and sent me off on some random quests.
Such strange tasks included being chased chasing Kraken in the chilly seas under icebergs and stalking around ancient ruins. On both occasions, I was accompanied by some very kind Blood Elves.
At one point, I discovered a burning hunters' camp as I rode across the rocky hills of the Tundra. It turned out to be the temporary home of an organisation known as DEHTA; a bunch of surprisingly murderous druids bent on destroying the forces of Hemet Nesingwary, a legendary hunter. I had no love for Hemet, so did my best to help their hippy ways.
This little discovery and the resulting quests culminated in me springing a few baby elephants from traps, and finally riding against the hunters on the above: A giant, woolly mammoth. It was amusing for a time, but I couldn't help but ponder how my reputation was coming along at home. As if to heed my thoughts, the Archmage Vargoth appeared to me again.
"Trust in Bran," he assured me - slightly soberer than our last encounter. "People still think of you as an incompetent pervert back home, but Bran will show you the way to change their minds."
Or, simply, ‘in place of a parent’. Cutting to the point this month: Should games teach our children?
No doubt if I went out onto the street and asked this, I’d be subject to ridicule from passers by; they’d claim I was insane, that videogames breed hatred and glorified violence for children, as well as probably suggesting they demonstrate how to host a rainbow party or something. We all know that these misconceptions hail from deviancy amplification spirals* caused by a mixture of mass media hype, crowd psychology and my previous blog entries, but can if we ignore all of those things for a minute, and play on the fact that games teach children.
I’m not necessarily talking about ‘Brain Training’ for the DS, either. When I was a kid, I’d watch adverts on television that promoted independent consoles and PC games made by Disney or some crap, like ‘Learn The Alphabet With Timone And Pumba’. Mother dearest saw my interest in such devices, but also noted that I was beyond the age of needing to know what noise a cow made, or the lyrics to Lion King songs. Instead, she went out and bought me a Super Nintendo. Almost two decades on, I still find myself defending my parent’s decision to buy me a games console, instead of something that which has been founded to be educational to kids, or at least make the Disney Corporation that little bit richer. The SNES did so much more for me than a simple learning toy would have; the endless reams of written dialogue in Breath of Fire II taught me how to read faster, Super Mario World perfected my hand-eye co-ordination and Super Mario Kart showed me how to be a competitive arsehole. All the while, my mum would encourage and play with me whilst feeling secure that I was having a good time, wasn’t going to go rampaging out onto the streets and I was actually increasing basic skills I’d need for later in life.
The epitome of these experiences was embodied perfectly when I graduated to the N64 and got my large, bony hands on a copy of Ocarina of Time. I feel that most of the Zelda series’ hype comes from reviewers and fans alike having a similar experience to mine: We were entering the golden age of videogaming, as well as beginning pre-teenage years myself. Not only did me and my friends spend hours discussing the many ways to progress through the challenges that the game faced (providing some sort of social lubricant for high school years) but also me and my mum used to play the game together; her dictating what route to take with help of a guidebook and I would take action on screen. They were good times indeed and Ocarina was able to introduce themes and emotions into my life that both my parents and teachers had neglected to talk about directly. Alongside giant spiders and disembodied hands came topics of unrequited love, jealousy and hubris**. Ocarina was, at heart, a coming-of-age tale which happened to reflect exactly what was going on in my own life at the time. Whilst it is difficult to claim that a single game alone shaped my teenage personality, it definitely taught me things about life that – otherwise – I certainly would not have considered until years later. Movies and television often attempt to convoy these emotions and messages, but these media forms remain ineffective to the average 12 year-old. Ocarina was able to show me and thousands of other children my age the values of loyalty, compassion and honesty; ethics that are essential to be a functioning member of society, but are notably overlooked by most children, especially since most of the time these themes are merely presented to us in the form of rants at sermons or boring school sessions.
Questions of morality have been reprised in recent years; the last major title to dabble in such gameplay that I certainly played was Mass Effect. Such games are cited as a way for children and adults alike to test out their own ethos on life, as well as aiding immersion. All the same, this element of choice doesn’t promote an exactly positive way of thinking as the good old linear classics once did. Seriously, who ain’t gonna choose to blow up the Council during the final space battle; because I certainly did! The fact that negativity in games is permitted and even encouraged for better rewards really makes such titles less of a learning tool, which could also give reason to why the mass media’s in-house ‘experts’ loathe them so much. Instead (if developers want to proceed with my idea of a moral-enforcing tool) games should make the good choice more obvious and realistic. With Mass Effect, there really isn't a 'bad' ending: Blow up the Council and you'll take it over and save it and you get a place anyway. The effects of blowing up the main leaders of intergalactic government should have been shown more clearly and accurately than 'oh, well, looks like we'll lead it instead then!'. At the same time, its still important to give the player freedom and the grounds to do whatever they wish, but harsher consequences should be enforced for those who opt for negative actions.
That being said, I'm not saying that all games should aim to teach children about life. Ocarina didn't even intend to, but its ideas were presented in such a way that they were subtly woven into the game. There is a huge amount of plotholes in the first third of the title alone: Why does Link accept his fate and proceed with what the Great Deku Tree says without questioning it? Why does he delve into a strange series of unfortunate events optionally? Why does he sacrifice his own innocence to save the land? Because Link is a silent protagonist, we never really know his motivations for getting caught up in the craziness; we never know his opinion on any of the many strange situations the player encounters, or why he still continues to fight. Link does not have to justify his choices, which is something that many games end up focusing their entire story to doing, usually for dramatic effect. Emotional exposition on behalf of the character can have the adverse affect to what many developers believe. Take Tommy in PREY (one of my favourite FPSes): Due to some great voice acting and timing, he usually reflects what the player is thinking (like shouting 'woo!' whenever a boss goes down or 'shit! Oh shit!' when, y'know, his girlfriend gets turned into an abomination) but many fans of the game believe Tommy is a bit of a selfish, reluctant arsehole due to various points of the game where he displays such characteristics, despite them making him be more 'human'. Children are using game characters as their role-models, and although many will criticise that Link's silent nature and willingness to go along with whatever people tell him as two major personality flaws, the negativity that the likes of Tommy spurts out explicitly dwarfs Link's pitfalls. The latter hardly lives a positive impression on our young, but it is at least better than influencing them in a totally evil way. Sure, we can understand the sacrifice and pain Tommy is going through and therefore expresses his emotion through anger. When a kid sees that kinda behaviour, they don't read as deeply into it as we do. Whilst Tommy is a violent, misunderstood fellow who has to resort to violence to battle genocidal man-eaters, children see the following, simplified equation:
Guns + Swearing = Saving The World = Cool
It is on these basic principles that children gain their moral grounding on. As such, whilst games are a great way to teach children the ways of society through a fantastical and interactive setting, it is also imperative that we monitor what kind of influence our children are exposed to without being too restrictive about their fun. While basic principles can be recommended to developers of how to make their games more beneficial to those who end up playing them, we definitely can't dictate that they should include only mentally productive content. I could have ended up with arachnophobia from Ocarina of Time, after all. By demanding companies only include features, storylines and characters that support a benevolent and cheery cause would ultimately detract from the fun factor of playing games. Besides, why would a kid be playing a FPS with a foul-mouthed main character? Why should the entertainment value of the game have to suffer because pre-teens may decide to convince their irresponsible parents to pick it up? These folks only make up the minority of the overall gaming population now, so why should we deliberately concentrate on making games to satisfy them or increase their morals? As I said in the beginning of the article: The stuff we learn from gaming experiences is often as an indirect result of them. Brain Training doesn't appeal to me (and wouldn't as a child, either) but learning the delicate workings of Human Nature through character interaction in Breath of Fire definitely does. Deliberately aiming a game (and, even worse, marketing it as such) as a 'child-friendly' experience can produce very 'unfun' results so even their target audience will be put off from picking it up.
Adults should moderate what children learn from gaming – from any genre. They should judge reactions to what their kids are playing and decide for themselves whether or not their child will be affected in a negative way for continuing playing, not simply expect for the developers to include a reflection of humanity's good side. In loco parentis should not exist with gaming, but rather the stories and morals that certain titles teach can be a helpful guide for children which isn't presented to them in lecture format, as well as a tool for parents to help teach, but sole dependence on games to teach your kids is an absurd idea which will probably result in them growing up as Duke Nukem as their idol, or something***.
*God, I ain’t half laying in on the big words this month, eh?
**Love: Ruto’s lust, platonic between Saria and romantic with Zelda. Jealously is presented behalf of Ganondorf, with his sole desire to possess all three elements of the Triforce. Hubris is shown throughout, ranging from the main antagonist, to figures such as Talon or the Zoran king who believe themselves better than their peers and close their eyes to the growing darkness; in each case it comes back to whack them in the face.
The Three Rs have got news that Channel 5 Broadcasting Ltd (Five) will be rebranding Five US. The logo has been confirmed to be changing in the rebrand. Though the news is hardly that surprising, the time scale was revealed. Early 2009 is being ear marked as the time of the Five US rebrand.
The Three Rs received this email from Five:
Thank you for your recent enquiry regarding Five US.
We will be refreshing the channel early next year, and this will include a new logo.
If there is anything further we can help you with, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Thank you for your interest in Five.
Yours sincerely
Philip
On the 6th of October Five was rebranded with a new logo and on screen presentation. Recently launched Fiver also had a slight logo change to suit the font of the new Five logo but Five US was left, pumping speculation that a rebrand was in order.
We'd love to know what you think the Channel should change. The Name? The Logo? etc. Leave your opinions in the comment section below.
Early back in March 2007 something was birthed. It grew, it ramped up the hype-meter more people than I had seen anything do in my lifetime. Later that year, its promised release date of Q4 2007 was delayed, to the dismay of millions of fans. It was once again delayed in Spring of 2008, where it dashed the hopes of millions once more. It is now here.
Epic introduction aside, I've had Playstation Home for quite a while now in their extended closed beta. But now, I can't wait for what can only be described as epic. I can't wait for the release of new features, the rush of people, and the general excitement.
What? You want more? Fine. This coming Monday I'll post details and a review of my experiences.
NSFW: Note that the video included in this post is not safe for viewing at work. As in, its pretty dirty. Well, not pornographic but the language is quite controversial. If you are on The Three Rs at work (or at school, for that matter), then we admire your loyalty to this blog, but really: Get back to work! No wonder the economy is in such a state! That is, unless you're browsing for press and/or advertising opportunities! In that case, you should email me.
Also, to the denizens of Temple Moor High School (six-form specifically): I hear that the riggers for this year's Christmas show need a few extra hands. I can't personally help out, as I'm busy running publicity and things, but if you're willing to lend your assistance (it looks good on your CV/UCAS!), head on over to Mr. Cook.
These are the recent news of conspirators wanting to confess for the incident of 911, the attack of the Pentagon. The attack of the Pentagon was tragic, killing almost 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
Five detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, say they want to confess to conspiracy charges for planning the September 11, 2001, attacks, a Pentagon spokeswoman said Monday.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed -- the confessed architect of the attacks, who was captured two years later in Pakistan -- and four other alleged co-conspirators asked a military judge if they could withdraw all pending motions and plead guilty, Maj. Gail Crawford said in an e-mail.
The defendants announced their decision in front of relatives of victims in the al Qaeda-orchestrated attacks, said Jennifer Daskal, senior counter terrorism counsel for Human Rights Watch. She attended Monday's hearing.
The military judge accepted the requests from Mohammed, Ali Abdul Azziz Ali and Walid bin Attash, but ruled that competency hearings are first needed for Mustafa al Hawsawi and Ramzi bin al Shibh, because "questions exist as to their competency to stand trial," Crawford said.
It has not been determined whether the defendants, formally charged in June, will face a potential death sentence.
The commissions to try foreign terrorists have been delayed for years by legal challenges. In 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled an earlier version of the commissions was unconstitutional, forcing the Bush administration and Congress to revise guidelines for the military tribunals at Guantanamo.
"What should have been a major victory in holding the 9/11 defendants accountable for terrible crimes has been tainted by torture and an unfair military commissions process," Daskal said.
"This is the government's last hurrah," she added, referring to the final weeks of the Bush administration's second term, which ends January 20.
Denis McDonough, a senior adviser to President-elect Barack Obama, said no decisions have been made about what to do with the 255 inmates at the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, "and there is no process in place to make that decision until [Obama's] national security and legal teams are assembled."
Officials close to the Obama team said the incoming administration is considering putting some of the inmates on trial in existing federal courts, setting up a special national security court to deal with cases involving sensitive intelligence, and releasing other inmates.
Some conservatives, however, don't like the idea of bringing suspected terrorists to the U.S. mainland.
"There's really no place in the United States that can replicate the sort of operational security features that Guantanamo has," said David Rivkin, a former Justice Department official.
In 2006, President Bush said he would like to close the prison but announced it needed to remain open to house what he called "cold-blooded killers."
The Pentagon's chief prosecutor resigned in protest in 2007 after declaring the military commissions had become "deeply politicized."
Critics say the camp has damaged the reputation of the United States overseas, with a U.N. report declaring that interrogation techniques used on prisoners "amounted to torture."
The White House has consistently denied that the United States practices torture, but CIA officials have admitted to using "waterboarding." The technique, which is said to simulate drowning, has been considered a war crime in the past.
Several detainees, including Mohammed, were moved to Guantanamo Bay in September 2006 after being held in secret CIA prisons around the world.
The detention facility, which was intended to house foreign fighters captured on the battlefield, was created on the grounds of the naval base after the September 11, 2001, attacks that killed almost 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
I'm not a big gamer, but if you are then you probably know that Mirror Edge is one of the most anticipated new video games of the year. Produced by EA, the game is a so-called "first person action adventure game" that is set in "conformist dystopia" in which communication is heavily monitored by a totalitarian regime. A network of runners, including the main character, Faith, are used to transmit messages while evading government surveillance. Very intriguing indeed.
Video games have been an extremely successful way for record labels to promote new music. Whereas the sales of music is shrinking and the popularity of video games is continuing to grow, video games placement is a great way for music marketers to connect to their target audience in a non-obtrusive way. The Economist recently wrote about teenagers' renewed interest in Aerosmith after the rock group was featured in their own Guitar Video game.
Mirror's Edge will be accompanied by the release of a remix collection for the game's provocative title track, "Still Alive." With vocals from one of Sweden's leading voices, Lisa Miskovsky, the remix EP features remixes from Junkie XL, Benny Banassi, Paul van Dyk, Armand van Helden and Teddybears. The remix EP will be available on November 11.
Due to the heavy pouring rain that happened in Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, a landslide occured during 4am in the morning.
It was quite a shock for me since my dad went to Kuala Lumpur to play golf with his friends during that time too. ): However, he was safe and sound, though he was shocked at the news.
After the landslide that killed 4 people occurred, prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has banned hillside developments not only because that it took away 4 lives, it caused a massive destructions to the homes there and forced thousands to evacuate that place.
"I am sure this will incur the wrath of individual land owners and developers but enough is enough," Abdullah said, according to Sunday's Star, ordering current projects to be frozen while soil tests are carried out.
"Future projects will also not go on to prevent any further worsening of the soil conditions at the hilly area," he told the daily after a series of landslides in northeastern Kuala Lumpur.
The terrible disaster hit Kuala Lumpur in early Saturday, 6th December, 4am in the morning. It sent 14 houses to destruction, leaving them buried under the debris. It strucked upmarket estate of Bukit Antarabangsa, cutting off access for thousands of residents and disrupting water, electricity and phone lines.
Among the four dead was a 20-year-old who was found by his father buried under the rubble still clutching a mobile phone, the Star reported. One person is reportedly still missing.
Police ordered 3,000 to 5,000 residents living nearby to evacuate their homes.
The landslide occurred after days of heavy rains in the area, which is prone to slippages. In 2006 four people were killed and 43 homes destroyed in a nearby suburb.
And in 1993 a landslide triggered by heavy rains caused a 12-storey condominium tower, the Highland Towers, to collapse, killing 48 people.
"Malaysians never want to learn from past experiences. They want good views while developers only seek to profit ... no one takes safety and soil stability into consideration," the prime minister said.
"We will be courting more tragedies if we do not care and protect hillsides," he said.
Opposition parliamentarian Lim Kit Siang accused the government of "sheer criminal negligence" over the incident.
He said in a statement that officials bore responsibility for "closing an eye to dangerous hillside developments and in totally ignoring the lessons of the Highland Towers tragedy 15 years ago."
Selangor police chief Khalid Abu Bakar on Sunday ordered residents from a condominium tower located near the landslide site to evacuate immediately, fearing it "may collapse at any time," the state Bernama news agency reported.
Y'know its something local when I use my real name alongside my (pretty invalid now) alias.
As many of you will know, I used to write for EVE-Radio's e-zine in a column. Unfortunately, the thing fell apart before it got any real publicity, but I wasn't too bothered as I was just recycling old articles from my Game Revolution account anyway. Regardless, the way I entered their little writers' circle was via listening to their Internet radio station, which bagged around 200 listeners an hour (400 on popular nights). Thus, I've grown quite attached to streaming radio, especially if its of the independent kind.
Electro Leeds FM comes at an ideal time for me, then. E-R has been in decline since my old favourite DJs left (the likes of which included Blades, Baggins and so on) and I've taken a liking to house music, despite my trance-orientated past. For now, the station is on a limited, 5-7 o'clock (BST) stream that provides a constant mix, interspersed with the occasional shout-out, depending on whose in the handy chat nearby. Its quite impressive how they keep it going, and some of the tunes they put together are a little more original then your average self-proclaimed house club night. Its good stuff, and they should be proud. There's a good variety of sub-genres here, too, so as long as you, y'know, like electro, you'll be sorted.
There are still some problems with the stream, mind. Its pretty low quality for now (they've just set up, after all) and the site itself is damn dire to look at. The whole 'only on for 2 hours every few days' isn't really an issue as yet, as I think its a great, targetted dose of music which will satisfy most people. Still, if you want to pitch in and help, they're already accepting donations (there's no ads!) and I'm sure the guys are open to contributors, so long as you know a damn thing about the genre.
Electro Leeds is set to soar, provided the guys can keep up with the commitment. Their Facebook group already has over a hundred members so - heck - some people are listening.
ELECTRO SESSIONS Every Tuesday 5-7 DJ REMIE LA'LONDE AND DJ JORDAN WATERHOUSE Mixing everything from latest house to bassline house. Textline -(for shoutouts etc) 07514351808.
FIDGET/TECH SESSIONS Every Wednesday 5-7 DJ TOM COTTRELL Mixing the wonkiest of beats. Textline - (shoutouts etc) 07971925755
SUNDAY SESSIONS! Every Sunday 5-7 DJ REMIE LA'LONDE AND ARMZ IN GARMZ(MIC.) Mixing the greatest in electro genres. Textline -(for shoutouts etc) 07514351808.
The other day Activision announced they would be raping the Guitar Hero brand once again with Guitar Hero 5. Most likely they will be releasing it about one year today... so I'm doing a wishlist. In a year, if you remind me, I'll see how well mine compares or maybe if they took inspiration from my list.
And yes, I did do one for Guitar Hero 4 last year. You can read it here. Only two songs made it into the real set list... not bad. Anyway the problem with my wishlist was diversity, it contained a lot of screaming. I'd like to think me and my music collection have grown since then and this years list will hopefully have a larger diversity of music. (Or should that be a larger diversity of screaming?)
...To Be Loved - Papa Roach
4th Of July - Soundgarden
5 Minutes Alone - Pantera
Aesthetics of Hate - Machine Head
Attention Please - OUTCRYcollective
Beverly Hills - Weezer
Black Betty - Ram Jam
Blood In Blood Out - Bloodsimple
Bring Tha Noize - Anthrax & Public Enemy
Burnin' Up - Jonas Brothers
Concrete Jungle - Black Label Society
Damn Right, I've Got the Blues - Buddy Guy
Decode - Paramore
Different World - Iron Maiden
Do You Want To - Franz Ferdinand
Don't Speak - Eagles of Death Metal
Don't Stop Believing - Journey
Down From The Sky - Trivium
Drag Racer - The Doug Wood Band
Duplicity - Silent Descent
Eat You Alive - Limp Bizkit
Empty Promises - Forever Never
Erase/Replace - Foo Fighters
Ever Fallen In Love - The Buzzcocks
Face Down - The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
Faint - Linkin Park
Feeling This - Blink 182
Firestarter - The Prodigy
Gay Bar - Electric Six
Gravemakers and Gunslingers - Coheed & Cambria
Grieve The Living - Solitary Mass
Hell & High Water - Black Stone Cherry
Hold The Line - Toto
Holy Roller - Throwdown
I Wanna Rock - Twisted Sister
I Won't See You Tonight Parts 1&2 - Avenged Sevenfold
Inside The Winter Storm - DragonForce
It's Not A Fashion Statement, It's A Death Wish - My Chemical Romance
Killed by Death - Motörhead
Kiss - Prince
Let's Get Rocked - Def Leppard
Living is a Problem Because Everything Dies - Biffy Clyro
Mailbox Arson - Alexisonfire
Make It Wit Chu - Queens Of The Stone Age
Milk Lizard - The Dillinger Escape Plan
Money for Nothing - Dire Straits
Mutiny - Pendulum
My Sharona - The Knack
Never Wanted To Dance - Mindless Self Indulgence
Nine In The Afternoon - Panic At The Disco
Parklife - Blur
Play That Funky Music - Ten Masked Men
Plug In Baby - Muse
Poison - Alice Cooper
Pokemon Theme (Indigo League) - Pokémon
Psychosocial - Slipknot
Rats!Rats!Rats! - Deftones
Reload - Rob Zombie
Rock Lobster - The B52's
Rockstar (Jason Nevins Remix) - N*E*R*D
School Of Rock - School Of Rock
Sell Out - Reel Big Fish
Set You Free - The Black Keys
Shinobi Vs. Dragon Ninja - Lost Prophets
So Happy - Theory of a Deadman
Sonne - Rammstein
Sorry You're Not A Winner - Enter Shikari
Sweet Victory - David Glen Eisley & Bob Kulick
Teddy Picker - Arctic Monkeys
The All Night Lights - 36 Crazyfists
The River - Good Charlotte
The Road To Hell - Chris Rea
These Days - Alien Ant Farm
Tick Tick Boom - The Hives
Turning Japanese - The Vapors
United States Of Whatever - Liam Lynch
Wake Up Call - Maroon 5
Wake Up - Rage Against The Machine
Waking The Demon - Bullet For My Valentine
Where's Captain Kirk - Spizzenergi
You Only Live Once - The Strokes
You Shook Me All Night Long - AC/DC
You Suffer (But Why) - Napalm Death
What you think? Better? Probably not. The Guitar Hero fad is over, long live Rock Revolution or something!
I like the idea of the licence fee. Everyone chips in and, as a result, everyone gets at least something they like. Whether you're amused by Strictly Come Dancing, or enjoy the high-jinks of Top Gear, loved Bonekickers, grin at the mere thought of Antiques Roadshow or think Prime Minister's Questions is the best thing on TV - you cannot say the BBC offers you nothing.
The licence fee: basically a big bus ticket for TV
But because everyone chips in, many people think this entitles them to have a right to whinge, moan and kick up a fuss over something they don't like. These prats are often sanctimonious, holier-than-thou and believe that society should uphold the moral deceny of "the good old days". And they read the Daily Mail as well.
Quite obviously, they are mind-numbingly wrong. Of course, in Sachsgate (the apparent term for the debacle over Johnathon Ross' and Russell Brand's phone calls to Andrew Sachs), this was justified and arguably a necessity. But in the wake of Sachsgate, any complaint made is immediately apologised for. There's a recent example I'm thinking of, from a few days ago.
John Barrowman - the apparent centrepiece of BBC schedules of recent years - got out his Torchwood (a pun-tastic euphemism for his genitals). On the radio. There was a webcam. It was covered up. No one, bar the presenters who were asking for it, saw anything. One idiotic person complained to Ofcom. Yes, just one. The BBC went into a panic and issued an apology, as did Barrowman.
Barrowman before the incident, being pushed around the studio in a wheelbarrow
Why hasn't the BBC grown a spine? Why hasn't it learnt that in some cases, deranged retired colonels do not deserve apologies because they "don't want to see nudity on the radio" (a real quote, would you believe?)? If a man was arrested for being naked at midnight, on his own, with nobody around for a kilometre, the Daily Mail would declare this as inhumane, a breach of rights, political correctness gone mad. But it happens on the radio and this is the end of days!
Complaining to the BBC has a legacy of being stupid. People request Doctor Who be less scary, that pregnant girls shouldn't do the weather and a plague should be wrought upon those who read out the weather in anything but Fahrenheit. It's like getting on a packed bus, paying your fare and demanding the bus take you to right outside your front door. If you want that service, get a taxi. Or, pay for your own TV station. You're a small contributor, and you cannot dictate all that is done with your money. That is the point of paying the licence fee.
You don't like John Barrowman? Tough. You don't want to not see his genitals? Equally tough. You want to see his genitals? Watch Torchwood - probably. I don't ever intend to watch Songs Of Praise. But QI, Top Gear, Have I Got News For You, Doctor Who to name but a few are all shows I adore. And anonymous complainers had better not try to steal them from me.
Oil prices fell despite a surprise draw on oil and refined product inventories, as weak demand continued to weigh on the market.
Well now here's some world news coming up, especially it's kind of rocking terribly hard in every country.
Oil prices have again took a downturn due to the dropping prices of the barrels. It's good news for drivers who would be able to stitch up their pockets while pumping petrol.
Light, sweet crude for January delivery settled US17 cents, or 0.4 per cent, lower at $US46.79 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil prices ended at a 3.5-year low, and have fallen for four straight sessions. January Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange settled unchanged at $US45.44 a barrel.
The oil market remains locked in the downward spiral driven by weak demand that has taken crude futures from above $US145 a barrel in July to below $US50 in recent days.
While demand has begun to stabilise in the US, albeit below year-ago levels, further weakening is expected globally. Barclays Capital became the latest forecaster to predict that global oil demand will contract in 2009, by 130,000 barrels a day, as more economies slip into recession.
Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries president Chakib Khelil appeared to embrace the view that oil prices could fall lower still, in an interview with Spanish public radio RNE. "Prices can drop to a very, very low level - it depends on supply-and-demand conditions, inventory levels, and also the future of global economic growth," Mr Khelil said.
OPEC elected not to cut production at a November 29 meeting in Cairo, helping to set the stage for oil futures to drop this week.
OPEC is expected to reduce output at its next meeting, on December 17 in Oran, Algeria, though the widely anticipated move hasn't prevented futures from sliding further in the meantime.
"The market is sceptical about OPEC," said Tom Bentz, a broker and analyst with BNP Paribas in New York. Mr Bentz said he believes the market is intent on pushing oil prices down to around $US40 a barrel. "I'm not seeing a whole lot of buying interest in this market yet," he said.
Weak demand and the market's dismissal of OPEC blunted the impact of an unexpected decline in US oil and product inventories.
Oil stocks fell by 400,000 barrels in the week ended November 28, according to the Energy Information Administration, compared with an analyst consensus forecast of a 1.4-million-barrel build. Fuel inventories also fell, where analysts had anticipated gains.
"We're still not focused on supply-side issues yet," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of the trading advisory firm Ritterbusch & Associates. "We did see stock draws across the board, but the magnitude of those draws simply weren't large enough to really prompt significant price support."
Hi guys. Another World of Warcraft post, so be warned. Earlier this week I hit level 74 on my warrior and completed a series of quests which led up to an assault on the Wrath Gate in an attempt to draw the Lich King (the main antagonist of the expansion) out from hiding in his big, icy lair. A lot of stuff happens during this attack, which I'm sure many of you have already witnessed. Anyway, as predicted, things don't go as planned (it would suck if the big, bad guy of the entire game died when the player ain't even level 80 anyway). Following the destruction of the combined forces of both the Alliance and Horde, total war threatens to break out between the two factions.
According to the designers over at Blizzard, this little fiasco signals the end of the first 'Act' of the expansion with two still to follow. What can we expect from these forthcoming patches, then? Well, join me as I make some well-educated guesses:
Most Likely:
Moar Dragonz
Malygos, who leads one of the dragonflights in-game, is the first major dragon to be killable since the game's release. Blizzard seriously don't care about character shields, and will probably continue to make such key players in the lore into boss encounters. As such, we can expect at least one other dragonflight leader to die. But who? Even if this is true, how would they work it into the current storyline?
Until Wrath was released, many speculated that Neltharion (also a dragonflight leader; specifically the black one) had been captured by the self-proclaimed 'Queen' of the dragons, Alexstrasza, and was being kept under her close guard. However, opinion has shifted away from this theory after old Alexxy positioned herself in the middle of the Dragonblight to fight against both Malygos and the undead Scourge. Her main encampment is located at Wyrmrest Temple - an ancient Titan city. Underneath this structure lies a small lobby, known as 'Chamber of the Aspects', which includes five doorways, four of which are empty. The last is a portal to the Obsidian Sanctum, a black dragonflight-orientated area. It is obvious that, over time, the developers intend to implement other encounters related to the other aspects.
Or do they?
Think about it. We're already fighting alongside the reds, the greens are busy pratting around in their fantasy world, the bronze lot are dealing with the darker side of their own flight (who are messing around with the past) and the blue dragonflight have been destroyed. If anything, it makes sense to portal the players to other groups of blacks across the world (or even further), slowly eliminating that aspect alone, instead of needlessly fighting against other dragonflights. As long as the fights and locations are kept varied, it could turn into quite a good story arc, especially if it climaxes with Deathwing's defeat.
Extra cool points to Blizzard if he smokes a hookah during the encounter.
It is claimed on WoW Wiki that Deathwing is actually somewhere in Grim Batol, carrying out some evil experiments on his fellow flight members. This does not detract from my 'Chamber Of The Aspects Portal' idea, though: It could simply be a gateway to some inner lair within the old Dwarven city.
Alliance vs. Horde
As anyone who has completed the 'first act' will realise, Varian (who's the Alliance's new poster boy because Fordragon - Stormwind's former guardian - kicks the bucket) is a bit of a nutter. After the betrayal of the equally crazy Forsaken at the Wrath Gate fight, he goes a bit insane and attempts to kill Thrall. Unfortunately, the bint Jania comes along, freezes everyone and teleports the Alliance forces back to Stormwind.
'That's the end of that,' you may think. However, I wouldn't be so sure. Given the focus on PVP that this expansion has brought us, I'd safely bet that we see this possible conflict heat up a little more.
Currently, the main focus of inter-faction warfare is set around two major locations within Northrend: Wintergrasp and Grizzly Hills. The former is an entire area dedicated to siege warfare, whilst the latter features more open-ended gameplay, orientated towards guerrilla strategies. Still, we are yet to see all-out combat between forces, as most of the conflict is kept to isolated areas (battlegrounds being a key example). Now, I'm not going to suggest that Alliance camps will suddenly spring up outside Horde cities. Hell, there's enough moaning about town raids on PVP servers alone! Still, perhaps the inclusion of more 'assassination' quests? After all, Varian is already giving the level 60s quests to kill the Forsaken's Blightcaller out in the Plaguelands, so why can't we have similar escapades for the Horde, too?
Scourge
These guys are now the main, key enemies of the expansion. With the blueys out of the way, the undead seem to be the more prevalent threat to all life on Azeroth. We've already had the whole 'zombie invasion' thing, so what can the developers possibly do now to improve on the epicness of that event? What possibly could be better than a zombified Melaisis?
Well, to be honest, nothing really spring to mind. This isn't solely a testament to how awesome an undead version of myself is, but rather: How do you 'up' the standards from that? What will the final encounter with Arthas actually be like?
Ideally, I'd hope for the real battle with the Lich King to be worth talking about. I picture the siege upon Icecrown to be a mixture of the 'Gate' events of Quel'Danas combined with Ahn'Qiraj's opening. An epic questline would have to be completed, requiring the greatest players on the server, in order to get even close to Arthas. In the meantime, the rest of the populace should be donating to the war effort. Turn-in NPCs could make a come-back, or other means.
You have to remember that Arthas is supposedly one of the most powerful beings around at the moment (despite him being barely taller than my Night Elf). When his personal lair is invaded, it should be felt by all of Azeroth; not simply a tiny minority of the server population.
Least Likely:
Old God Rumble
Now for the fun options!
Its implied at various points throughout Wrath that there may be many Old Gods loitering about. Despite being defeated thousands of years ago, the remains of these ancient beings still appear to be causing chaos across the land. Aside from C'Thun in an old-world instance, there's a beast known as 'Yogg-Saron' dwelling beneath Grizzly Hills. Yoggy is currently throwing a hissy fit because the old, ruined World Tree penetrated its lair. There is great potential here to slip in an encounter, especially if reason is given for the Old God to be even more pissed off (Arthas attempts to tame it, maybe?).
Furthermore, there's still a possibility that the Nerubians (semi-arachnids) may worship a god different to Yogg-Saron, but it makes little sense for two different ones to be so close together.
An opinion that no one seems to have considered, is the big blighter above. She is a giant sea goddess, worshipped by a bunch of walrus-men on the shores of the continent. Oacha'noa (that's her name) is absolutely bloody huge, and gave me the creeps when I first called her up. Honestly, there's a tall pinnacle off the coast of Dragonblight, and this bint dwarfs it easily. She is involved in this one quest only, and gives advice to the player about what the aforementioned talking walruses should do regarding the war with the Scourge and blue dragonflight. I didn't pay attention to her, though: I was shitting myself.
However, she definitely has potential to become a raid boss (despite her being a re-skin of the Lurker Below in Serpentshrine), especially if - oh, I don't know - she becomes somehow corrupted.
The Ressing Of Galakrond
Galakrond - the father of all the dragonflights - was laid to rest in the middle of the Dragonblight in Northrend. Unfortunately, his remains are being dug up by the Scourge and Arthas wants to resurrect him as the ultimate frost wyrm. Sly, Lichy!
The Scourge's evil plans are foiled by the player leading up to the Wrath Gate event, but surely their efforts could be restarted, given the reward? However, having a raid boss who is supposedly as strong as a Titan flying around may be a little too far for WoW's developers.
Huge thank you to WoW Wiki for the inspiration and images. Kudos, gang.
Written by: Melaisis (Scott Constantine). Images Provided By Arts Photography
As many of you will already know, we're providing coverage of this month's 'Leeds Next Top Model', alongside the likes of Leeds Guide. The final is tonight, and apparently the winner is going to be decided by a combination of public vote and the opinion of celebrity judges*. At the moment, I'm having a sneaking suspicion it will turn into a popularity contest, but if Eurovision has taught us anything: The underdog usually wins.
Have a look at the finalists below. All of them have had professional shots done by Arts, but if you think you look better than any of them naturally, enter next time!
Andrew
Gregg
Joana
Kelly
Keri
Olivia
Ryan
Sarah
'The Mysterious X' (The image file wasn't named)
Yvonne
Comments (God help us)? Post them in the section below.
*I was actually going to volunteer for this position. No joke.
What you are reading now are saddening news. As I was watching the news a few days ago, between a few minutes interval the news reporter reported LIVE news that several hostages were killed.
Thousands of mourners bid an emotional farewell in Israel to Jewish victims of the Mumbai attacks.
Large crowds gathered for the funerals of a rabbi and his wife, who ran the Chabad House Jewish cultural centre in the Indian city. Those present included President Shimon Peres, Defence Minister Ehud Barak and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu. Six Jews died at the centre, which was one of several places targeted in the attacks that left 188 people dead. The victims' bodies were flown to Tel Aviv on an Israeli air force flight early on Tuesday.
They include four Israelis, one US citizen and one Mexican.
'Why, why, why?' At the Chabad headquarters in Kfar Chabad, a village near Tel Aviv, around 10,000 mourners thronged the main square for the funerals of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, 29, and his wife Rivkah, 28.
The two bodies, wrapped in blue and white prayer shawls, were laid out on a podium.
Many mourners had tears streaming down their faces as a rabbi delivered a eulogy asking: "Why, why, why?"
The couple's two-year-old son, Moshe, survived the attack. He was found crying next to their bodies by his Indian nanny, Sandra Samuel.
She hid in a cupboard when the centre was attacked, but emerged to rescue the child after his parents were killed.
Ms Samuel was given a passport at the last minute and travelled to Israel with the young boy and his grandparents for the funerals.
The Israeli foreign ministry was said to be considering granting Ms Samuel the status of "Righteous Gentile" - one of the highest honours Israel can bestow on non-Jews - which would allow her to remain in Israel for some time.
The Holtzbergs will be buried on Jerusalem's Mount of Olives.
Bitter homecoming
In Mea Sharim, an ultra-Orthodox enclave in Jerusalem, thousands of people mourned Aryeh Leibish Teitelbaum, a 38-year-old US citizen who lived in Jerusalem.
Mr Teitelbaum was in Mumbai last week supervising the preparation of kosher food.
A funeral was also held for Mexican citizen Norma Schwartzblatt-Rabinowitz. The mother-of-two had been planning to move to Israel to live with her daughters, media reports said.
Earlier, a brief ceremony was held at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv as the flag-draped coffins arrived.
Among those on the Israeli air force plane were the parents of Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg, who had attended an emotional ceremony at a Mumbai synagogue on Monday.
"The house they built here in Mumbai will live with them," Rivkah's father, Shimon Rosenberg, told about 100 mourners at Keneseth Eliyahoo synagogue.
"They were the mother and father of the Jewish community in Mumbai," he said. "The House of Chabad will live again."
The Chabad centre was stormed on Wednesday evening by armed militants who seized hostages and fought a gun battle with Indian commandos.
Indian forces eventually regained control of the centre, killing several gunmen, but six of the hostages were found dead.
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