Here is a prayer from that collection of Puritan prayers known as The Valley of Vision. This is a prayer of confidence--confidence in the greatness and the grace of God. It is a bold prayer made through a right apprehension of the character of God.

*****

O God, Thou art very great,
My lot is to approach thee with godly fear and humble confidence,
for thy condescension equals thy grandeur,
and thy goodness is thy glory.

I am unworthy, but thou dost welcome;
guilty, but thou art merciful;
poor, but thy riches are unsearchable.

Thou hast shown boundless compassion towards me
by not sparing thy son,
and by giving me freely all things in him;
This is the foundation of my hope,
the refuge of my safety,
the new and livnig way to thee,
the means of that conviction of sin,
brokenness of heart, and self-despair,
which will endear me to the gospel.

Happy are they who are Christ's
in him at peace with thee,
justified from all things,
delivered from coming wrath,
made heirs of future glory;

Give me such deadness to the world,
such love to the Saviour,
such attachment to his house,
such devotedness to his service,
as proves me a subject of his salvation.

May every part of my character and conduct
make a serious and amiable impression on others,
and impel them to ask the way to the Master.

Let no incident of life, pleasing or painful,
injure the prosperity of my soul,
but rather increase it.

Send me thy help,
for thine appointments are not meant
to make me independent of thee,
and the best means will be vain
without super-added blessings.

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'Invitational Games for the Deaf, Taipei 2008' Day 2 features martial art events

The web app is such a buggy, antiquated joke that I think I'd rather use Outlook Express 2 to get my mail.

And I really love getting an email from one of my other email addresses that's been forwarded to me.com and then have to go crank up outlook just so I can respond from the appropriate email address. Really state of the art stuff, Apple, way to go.

So much for a thin week! Well, for me. This like 1/5th of Burgas’s weekly haul.

Speaking of Burgas, I actually feel bad about stealing the venom from him. Especially because I was barely even trying, really. He really has to really work to get people howling for his blood; apparently, it just comes naturally to me. Let’s see if I can move towards inoffensiveness with my own reviews of some floppy pamphlets. Right there, I bet I made 12 people angry by calling them that.

Amazing Spider-Man #570- Hey, speaking of the Venom, which I did a few sentences ago but by damn I will not let that easy transition go without a fight; there are two of them in this! Well, one of them just used to be Venom and now is so adamantly against him he made that part of his name. Talk about a single issue voter!

I missed the last issue of this storyline, but was able to follow this well enough; this is the first time I’ve ever really been able to use one of those “story so far” pages. I’m not entirely sure what the deal with Anti-Venom is at all, but they set this up in that Waid backup strip in the issue before last, and I’m not really sure I want to know why Eddie Brock is covered in malleable white goo and able to cure cancer with his tentacles.

It helps that it’s an extended fight scene broken up by various subplots, which is (as World War Hulk proved last year) the kind of thing John Romita Jr. was born to draw. Possibly literally; his dad was quite the company man. It’s always a joy to see what someone with as much skill at panel to panel storytelling can do, even if (especially when?) it’s kinetic fight coreography. Throw in some gorgeous coloring (especially in the opening pages) and you have a very pretty comic book.

Slott peppers in some of his trademark humor in there, and we get a pretty nice moment between Eddie Brock and Peter, especially for people who grew up during the time period when they were arch enemies, before feces collide with fan. A lot of my enjoyment of the Brand New Day Spidey feels like I’ve got a mental checklist and the writers are just marking off all the boxes. Not that I’ve ever had a problem with being pandered to, but it is odd how well these are working for me with based on what amounts to a recipe of things I want in a Spider-Man comic.

Blue Beetle #30- It took Sims’ description of Matt Sturges description of the supehero kitsch golf course to finally get me to sample an issue of this series. While that was a fun sequence, the rest of the book also kept my attention by doing many things right.

I was impressed with how well Sturges juggled a lot of disperate plates of story here. He was able to integrate topical material that the setting demands (a Texas border town), the tropes you expect from a teen supehero comic (he has to juggle his personal life with superheroing!), and some elements specific to the character (even if the dialogue with his suit reminds me of Dwayne McDuffie’s Deathlock). Nice to see some humor come from there, too. Sturges even throws a nice, Julie Schwartz-esque science less in there, although I don’t think they were ever applied like this in Julie’s comics. Heeven caps it off with the best line I’ve read in awhile.

In the obligatory “I know next to nothing about comics art but am obligated to talk about it” section, Rafael Albuquerque does a great job here, although it’s not nearly the most expressive/adorable thing he’s drawn lately, as I will mention later.

It all adds up to a comic that zips along and ends on a pretty interesting cliffhanger for our young hero. So my interest is piqued, and all it took was a cardboard Vigilante popping a wheelie just off the green to get me in the door. Take note, other superhero writers! Also, old school fans; a bone was totally thrown to you with that foot note referring to the Manhunter crossover!

Brave and the Bold #16- First thing’s first; not a fan of Scott Kollins art here. Something about it seemed sloppy and drab to me. That said, it doesn’t hinder Mark Waid’s snappy, fun script, it just didn’t do a lot for me as being anything more than illustrations for the story instead of an integral part of it.

The fact that this is only the third issue of this incarnation of DC’s legendary team up book brings up something I’ve found about self contained stories. I like the idea of them, and am more likely to pick one up on impulse, but I find it easy to not buy them in serial form due to the fact that there’s not the same kind of hook to pick them up as there is in an ongoing (i.e What’s gonna happen next!). Oddly enough, the fact that it had a running storyline made me less likely to pick one up during its first two arcs.

That is to say, I wish there were more done in one comics (especially when it comes to superheroes), but I don’t put my money where my mouth is often enough to help make that a reality. Also, this book is damned if it does and damned if it doesn’t. Furthermore, Magneto and the Wildstorm Universe are equally deserving of my disrespect. It is really hard to keep a lid on this whole internet douche thing now that I have unleashed it.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 #18- Yeah, so, this sure was a part of an ongoing storyline. The plot was certainly advanced somewhat. It was totally like a segment of the television show, expect I paid $2.99 for it.

There are portents of heavy things going down and double crosses and all, but this seemed to be stalling for time before the big cliffhanger. Well, we did get a pretty nice contrast between what Buffy’s become thanks to her new role as general of a slayer army and what she was in Fray. So, that was an interesting piece of writing from Whedon. We also got one of those fun “mythical creatures talk like real people” gags he likes to use with some mutant offsprings of these guys. He is making the best of Dawn as a Centaur, I guess, although the fact that his name is on the damn comic makes it hard to pretend this could have possibly been forced on him. Maybe he lost a bet and really did have to use random monsters from a D&D book, and Dawn was the most expendable characte for that exercise.

That said, the sooner Fray and her sub-Mutant Gang slang go away, the better. She just really annoys the crap out of me every time she shows up on panel. The weird thing is, I don’t remember hating her at all in her solo mini-series. I mean, that thing left me cold, but I didn’t have any problem with her then. I guess my tolerance for Whedon’s attempt to take his already stylized dialogue to the absolute limit of coherence has greatly dissipated in the intervening 5 years since I read the mini the special (and I do mean special!)guest star sprung from.

All that said, I have to hand it to Dark Horse; I have never been happier to see a variant cover than when I had to choose between this and this. So, thank god I could choose Jeanty’s there, although his tend to have more charm than Chen’s anyway. Seriously, though; I only thought Trachtenburg being sexualized in Road Trip was creepy. What is this, a Buffy comic or dirty, dirty centaur porn? Of course, Jeph Loeb is next up on scripts, so maybe I better enjoy this while I can, even if it’s nice to see them finally get something out of that Buffy cartoon.

Superman/Batman #51- Well, that was certainly the most adorable comic I’ve read in a long time. In fact, if there were an Eisner solely for most adorable superhero comic, this would win hands down. I mean, that’s both not much of a contest these days and an exceptionally specific award that you’d be making up just to give this one (just like best letterer! Seriously, did they just make that up to give Todd Klein a bunch of statues and Augie something to geek out about besides Chuck Dixon?)

Green and Johnson deliver a light, fun script while still getting in some shots and the current sturm und drang of supercomics, while Albuquerque does a great job on the Lil’ League (seriously, just typing that makes me smile). I really liked the device of the little hearts being visible when one of the Lil’ Leaguers (I’m beaming right now) was lusting after some one. Just some fun work here, the kind you don’t get to see in mainstream books too much these days, due to all the crises and what not.

Hey, I actually like that stuff, it’s just nice to have a different flavor out there when I want something beyond Skrull paranoia and Grant Morrison’s technicolor superhero apocalypse in my capes and tights comics. I’d seriously at least consider buying a Lil’ League (I just vomited from the saccahrine head rush I get typing that!) ongoing by this team. I mean, Red Tornado looks like his mini-mate! I mean, the kids get Tiny Titans and Super Friends; I deserve an infantile version of my favorite superheroes! Respect the primacy of the Babyman! RESPECT IT! (I still kind of hate that word, although at least it doesn’t cause me physical pain any more. But seriously, was manchild not adequate, Manley?)

New widget soon to be released: Image: http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/503...ure6yc7.th.png ...

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It keeps your favourite kexts and plists - and bundles safe.

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This widget enables u to use softwareupdate without thinkin much.

One version for amd that automatically patches after update is also solved,
but here there is still more testing and investigation to be done since I dont
have amd - I got intel mac.

regards,

aRt

Amis gourmands bonjour

J'inaugure ici une nouvelle rubrique grâce à l'ami Val. Vous y trouverez toutes les semaines mon billet hebdomadaire, parfois d'humeur, parfois d'humour, en rapport avec le monde de la bonne bouffe.

Le but de la Confrérie des Amis de Lucullus est la défense du patrimoine culinaire, la défense de nos terroirs et de leurs produits, et l'inspiration à la retrouvaille festive.

La démarche est comportementale et incitative. C'est un art de vivre au quotidien. La Confrérie défend le bon sens en cuisine et en alimentation. Loin de nous de vouloir créer une mode ou d'édicter des principes absolus. Nous sommes avant tout une bande de copains partageant le plaisir de cuisiner puis de manger cette cuisine entre amis.

Je suis très heureux de vous retrouver pour ce premier billet de la saison.

J’espère que ces vacances se sont déroulées selon vos attentes.
L’été finissant, peut nous rendre mélancolique mais le gourmand, le gourmet ne peut que se réjouir de l’arrivée prochaine de l’automne.

Nos marchés vont bientôt voir arriver, alors même que nous avons encore les produits de l’été, les gibiers, les champignons et autres délices du moments.
Cela va être l’occasion de se réunir entre amis autour d’une bonne table pour parler, pourquoi pas, des vacances passées et peut être déjà même des futures.

Mon billet de la semaine parlera de la race bovine Limousine, race bouchère s'il en est.
Celle ci vient de dépasser le nombre de 1 000 000 de têtes et son rayonnement est mondial.

Le patrimoine français, en terme de qualité, est toujours bien présent. On la retrouve notamment en Australie et en Argentine, Ce sont là deux acteurs qui savent ce que bonnes viandes veut dire. Elle est présente aussi aux Usa et en Angleterre qui, pour cette dernière, possède cependant d'excellentes races à viande.

Le Massif Central a su donner au monde une race de grande qualité tant sur le plan de l'élevage que sur le plan gustatif.
Cette race se situe juste après la Charolaise mais avant la Blonde d'Aquitaine. C'est vous dire ses qualités.

Ce qui m'intéresse également c'est que l'élevage de cette race n'est pas, chez nous, industrialisé. Même s'il existe de grosses exploitations, ce ne sont pas là des usines à viande et la Confrérie ne peut que se réjouir de cet état de fait où encore une fois des paysans, et le terme est élogieux croyez le, font le choix de la qualité.

Sur ces quelques mots je vous souhaite une excellente semaine.
Gastronomiquement votre Lucullus
Le site de la Confrérie des amis de Lucullus

mickey mouse in the old times

Author: 9627149 Keywords: animation anime art short film manga interview filmmaker reel experimental documentary trailer tutorial Added: September 7, 2008

Tales of Vesperia
Publisher: Namco Bandai
Developer:
Genre: RPG; JRPG, SRPG
Players: 1-4(Offline)
MSRP: $59.99
Platform: Xbox 360


The Tales series really never has gotten the proper respect it deserves. People who have played the tales series games have most loved it, and this was shown by the love that Tales of Symphonia and Tales of Destiny(which is actually a low point in the series in my opinion) had received for the Gamecube. Abyss, Legendia, and just about all of the other Tales series have never nearly gotten noticed by the mainstream in America and Europe. by releasing this RPG on the 360, it seems Namco Bandai has been hoping for the best with results in getting the series well known in the US. (They must not be too enthusiastic about it, since I have yet to see a commercial or advertisement for it anywhere.) But nevertheless, here it is, the next chapter in the Tales of series, Tales of Vesperia. Despite being on the Xbox 360, Tales of Vesperia warranted a vast turnout in Japan, launching the often abysmal 360 sales 5 times what they normally are. Currently, there is even a shortage of 360s in Japan right now, which has never before happened. This should tell you a little something about the amount of influence that this series has in the East.


But anyway I'll stop beating around the bush and get this review started. The Tales of Series has always been known for its signature Anime style graphics, character skits, and what is quite possibly the best character development in the genre. So the first thing you'll notice is the intro. Its made fully of cartoon-Anime CG, and stands out very well from many different game's styles of cutscenes(Fact: This is one of the very few games that I've even bothered to watch the intro of.) This highlights one of the defining traits of Tales series games; they make use of full cartoon graphics in some cutscenes. They have done this for a while in fact: Tales of Symphonia has 1 or 2, Abyss had around 3-5, and Vesperia has around 21. It gives a very nice break from the normalcy of full CG graphics all the time. Back from what they never really specified(correct me) but they give a great and distinct flavor to the way the story is unraveled, and they also serve to highlight some of the most important points in the game. The character skits were also bashed a good bit. The thing is, they are all optional, but if you want to get the most out of the storyline, you'll want to watch them. And I'll tell you now, if your even slightly interested in the story you will want to watch them. They feature animated, drawn versions of the characters and they have conversations, which ends up really helping to endear the characters to you. But don't take it from me. Take it from what the people who have played the series have said.

The overall story also reaches a standard of greatness, and easily is the best story that a Tales game has seen yet. It tells the tale of badass ex knight Yuri as he forges his own idea of justice in a corrupt empire. Along the way(naturally) meeting a cast of characters who, as well, get a huge level of development before the game is over. Unlike most JRPGs, the characters (with few exceptions) break most boundaries of generic "save the world" JRPG characters(you know, classic cliche characters.) Still, they do have the essence of the Japanese RPG hero, which in itself has a bit of overall generic-ness to it. Compared to most games out there, however, they stand out well. The story has a few linear parts to it, but Vesperia takes the storytelling abilities of the Tales series to greater heights. Perfectly paced with some of the most well developed characters of any JRPG out there. Much better then Symphonia, and somehow even better then tales of the Abyss. After you finish the game, you may be begging for a direct sequel(Even more then I did with Abyss. And thats saying something.) The story never gets boring or too cliche(though it has its moments) but to get into the story you may have to invest a good 30 minutes or 1 hour. But oh how its worth it.

Speaking of which, the 30 minutes you'll first be spending will probably in figuring out the combat system. A large number of small tweaks to the ever-expanding Tales battle system greatly enhances the it far past the likeness of Symphonia and most passed iterations of the game. The combat is real time, and starts off a bit slow. Once you've got a full party of characters at your disposal a a good list of moves and skills, the core combat gets deep. Awesome attacks, spells, and combos(Mystic Artes are stunning) make up the combat in Vesperia. The main combat is fairly 2 dimensional though, as you only have the attack option of moving forward or backward. Hold the left trigger and you'll be able to freely run around the arena however, but you'll need to attack the enemies in a regular, linear fashion. Combos in Vesperia are also a great deal longer then in past Tales games, if you do them right. With one character, you can get a 75 hit combo all while continuing to do combos in the air, reaching a huge height before bringing them back down in a broken mess with a 20 hit combo upon returning to the ground. And if you have read my Ninja Gaiden review, you know just how much I love a kick*** combo.



I cut this flower--for HONOR!

Multiplayer has returned to this installment of Tales as well. Four people can play cooperatively at the same time, and it is by far one of the most fun JRPGs(and one of the only ones) in terms of multiplayer. Each player controls a different character, and uses their specific abilities to help the team and take out monsters. Combat is fast and fun, and cooperating with the people you playe with is key to winning the battles. Magic users don't suffer from the same boredom they do in singleplayer when it comes to fighting bosses, since support is a huge need in battles, and with a human player directing the magic, it becomes far more effective then it would with A.I. Its not without some problems though. In battles you will be using a good bit of items, and to use them you need to pause the game to use them. Its only a minor annoyance though, since most players will know how to use items fast by the time you'll really be needing to use them often. The biggest complaint, and the reason Namco Bandai says they excluded online play, was because there is only one character in the overworld at any one time. I could think of a vast number of ways to make it interesting for other players as well, but whats done is done. The lack of online stings. Badly. However, if you have a few mates to play the game with locally, you've got nothing to worry about. The multiplayer is fast and fun, though not without its annoyances.

And there isn't a Tales game without its puzzles. Vesperia beats Abyss in terms of puzzles that you have to actually think your way through, rather then guessing or easy puzzles. The puzzles usually makes use of logical decisions to solve them, which is done by iteraction to the vast environments. Once you find what is interactive and what isn't the puzzles usually consist of you trying to figure out how to get these two things to do what they are supposed to. Vesperia won't guide you through them either. They are fairly difficult, which for you people out there who like challenging puzzles will please fairly well. But the main problem I had with these puzzles is how the story is usually at a hugely climactic part when the game throws a tough, time-consuming puzzle at you. As a design choice, its absolutely perfect. It makes the player not want to finish playing till they have beat that puzzle and see what comes next in the story. As a person who really isn't very big on puzzles in games, I got fairly aggravated at this. However, this part does come down to personal preference, so I won't be adding or taking away score for its timing. The puzzles aren't really complicated though, which makes the design of them quite ingenious. Still, there are some puzzles that are there really to JUST build hype for the next major plot twist, and they usually aren't so much challenging as they are time consuming. Still, as an RPG first and a puzzler, well, not first, Vesperia has some very well designed puzzles. They aren't exceptional or amazing, but they do give a well rounded amount of challenge to they're players, at(in my opinion) some of the worst times.

Back to combat, the combat system has no trouble staying fresh and fun through the entire game, but despite smaller tweaks and more attacks and magic, its not so much different from Abyss and Symphonia's battle systems. So I guess you could say that while its obviously better and smoother then past Tales games, the combat really isn't very innovative.

You'll probably hear the phrase "not extremely innovative" for a good bit of things about this game. The storyline, while well done and interesting through the game, is basically exactly what You'd expect from a Japanese RPG. Not writing it off, but the overall feel of it feels very traditional, and the plot shares many of the feelings you'll get from playing Tales of the Abyss. In fact, this game could best be described as "fun and fresh, but not too fresh." Yes it is confusing, but I think you can understand. The game makes a fantastic sequel, but not an amazing new take on the series. But you know what they say, why fix it if it isn't broken.



The Tales classic Anime-inspired look is back and better then ever.
More things from the past games have returned here without much change too; the ones most profoundly effecting gameplay being the Overworld, cooking, and synthesizing. Likewise, all have had an upgrade, despite being very similar to they're Symphonic roots. The ridiculous loading times in Abyss have been fully done away with in Vesperia, and the Overworld runs at a perfect framerate. Monsters appear on screen, and are never random battles(one of my all time favorite parts of the Tales series) and the detail displayed in the overworld is as colorful and fine for the monsters as it is in the battle arena. Cooking and synthesizing are basically the same, with more things to learn and eat(and that your teamates will sometimes complain if you don't cook often enough. I probably did it once every 5 hours, so its not a big deal.) Overall, you could say the core gameplay isn't taking the series to a whole new height, but its doing everything a sequel should in terms of freshness.

The graphical design of the Tales series is basically they're series trademark. Tales has always tried to look as close to an anime in terms of graphics as they can, and with the graphics Vesperia has, they are getting extremely close. The entire world is a beautiful cell-shaded look(Trust me on this. I would never say the word beautiful. Thats how good it looks.)that is extremely colorful and endearing. Its got a sort of charm that Symphonia certainly had, and its been translated very well into the HD era.

The character models aren't lacking much depth and detail to them, though the characters appear less detailed then Eternal Sonata who uses a similar style(also published by Namco Bandai.) While they are a bit less detailed then the aforementioned, Eternal Sonata makes use of rigid outlines, whereas Vesperia's characters more or less are distinctly visible against the watercolor look of the background by shading. Overall it looks fantastic, and the art direction isn't to be messed with either. Backgrounds in towns, cities, dungeons, and other enter able areas for the most part are just as detailed as the characters, and sport a very artistic look to them. The animations are clean and crisp, and some of the battle animations look awesome. Most of the animations by normal attacks and some Artes are pretty normal, not bad, but nothing that'll have you screaming about how awesome it looks. They do exactly what they are supposed to, look fine, and thats really all they need to do.

What will make you think "thats awesome!" about the graphics are some of the magic and special attacks. As usual, Mystic Artes look absolutely awesome, and the new Burst Artes are pretty sweet too. They effects in this game are up and away the most well done part of the graphical aspect. Colorful, brilliant and appealing magic attacks are found in every battle. While some of the melee fighters don't have a "bang" to they're visual attack styles, the magic users spare no expense lighting up the battlefield. Nothing quite like seeing some of the best Artes in Tales history rendered in full HD with these effects. It'll make any Tales fan shed a tear.



Probably gonna hurt.

The backgrounds that DON'T share the same detail as the characters, effects and towns are the Overworld backgrounds. While by no means bare, the lack a huge amount of variety. When you encounter an enemy, you go to a mini arena to duke it out, and the backgrounds there are even worse. They certainly don't look bad, but they have little to absolutely no interaction at all with the character, which makes them have no part in determining a battle. Its more of a problem of what they lack rather then what they do wrong. Really, it doesn't make any matter where you fight when it comes to determining the battle. The landscapes in the background look good, but the foregrounds are severely lacking in detail. This has always been the case for Tales games, and it couldn't hurt to much to make the backgrounds a little more stand-out-ish while in combat.

Jumping topics to sound here. The musical score has a very emotional feel to it, and will well envelope you in some of the battles. it may sound strange, but the music sometimes even effects your willingness to fight some of the battles. Other battles the music will send you into a fiery feeling that you just want to beat the crap out of your enemy. Even other times will make you just want to mess with some of the enemies. The point being that the music helps to inspire much of the emotions in the game, and it works absolutely well for its purpose. And I'm willing to make a bet that no one out there can finish this game and NOT have Bonnie Pink's song Ring a Bell(the games theme song) stuck in their head for the next few days. The music is obviously inspired, and it does its job of inspiring you as well. A fantastic soundtrack for what its supposed to be, though listening to the tracks along without the substance of the cutscene or battle may not be as good as listening to it in game.

Voiceovers are(considering the infamy of JRPGs with western VOs) rather well done. While there annoying characters in the game, the characters you will be hearing the most won't sound bad. The lead character especially does his job well, and is probably the best voice in a Tales game since Symphonia's Regal. The emotions that they're voices convey will reach you, which just goes along with the fact that the characters are extremely well done and fleshed out.

The story in Vesperia isn't as long as Symphonia or Abyss. In fact, as far as the main story goes its can be completed in 30-40 hours, which is a bit average for a JRPG, while short for a Tales game. The side quests give this game a huge amount of extra life though. In fact, it nearly doubles the life of the game well past 80 hours. Should you also take the time to get a significant amount of grade for a second play through will probably take you upwords 150 hours. To say the least its a massive game, and if you have people to play it with it will become much longer. So its not over quickly, but you'll defineatly be wanting more when it is over.



Great backgrounds, though they could use more interactivity.
Wrapping it up.

Major Selling Points:
--Anime styled Graphics
--Fast and fluid combat system
--Explore a massive, expansive world
--Characters are extremely well fleshed out
--Decently challenging and fun puzzles

Major breaking Points:
--Doesn't break much new boundaries
--Intricate puzzles are placed at some of the worst times.
--Check closing comments


Story: 9.5
An interesting and thrilling tale with some of the most well developed characters ever made. The story doesn't really break any huge boundaries though.
Graphics: 8.5
The classic tales anime style characters have never looked better. They don't have the same amount of detail as Eternal Sonata, but they still shine. The art direction and the watercolor look of the towns are also charming, but arena backgrounds and some dungeons look bare. Environmental interaction is at a low.
Sound: 9
An epic soundtrack really brings out the emotion of the scenes. The Voice overs are well done and show each characters personalities and feelings very well.
Gameplay: 9
The combat system hasn't had a huge overhaul, but small fixes and tweaks and some awesome new features show that the Tales series still has life in it yet. Challenging puzzles are pretty fun(if poorly placed), but there is a good bit of running around to do. Nothing to hold it down though.
Replayability: 9
The main quest will take you from 30-40 hours, but side quests can get you well over 150. Achievements won't have you running back to the game.
Value: 8.9
At a full price tag, this game is well worth it. The best JRPG on the 360 yet, and the best Tales game ever.

Overall: 9/10
Tales of Vesperia does everything its supposed to and nothing it isn't. There isn't really any big flaw or major problem with the game, and the experience is a perfectly authentic JRPG one. However, the game doesn't break new ground by any means, and may seem a bit too similar to past Tales games. Still, Vesperia has everything a JRPG fan could want-- a great combat system, and epic(If very common) storyline, great characters, and a pipe smoking dog that fights with a sword.

via http://www.rebelart.net/diary/index.php?paged=2

Today we added the first ever review of Starz's upcoming documentary, Fantastic Flesh: The Art of Make-Up EFX, which airs October 7th of Starz! The doc takes an inside look at the creation and execution of some of today's most spectacular special effects in Hollywood blockbusters, through one of its most prolific FX houses in the industry -- KNB EFX. From animatronic critters to prosthetics and character makeup to aliens, monsters and ghouls, the KNB EFX group has been creating innovative state-of-the-art effects for movies for more than 20 years and over 300 films as diverse as Scream to The Chronicles of Narnia.

. East Coast today after making landfall this morning near the border of the Carolinas. Hurricane Ike, meantime, charted a path across the open sea toward the Caribbean. Making your own art to fill those pressurepacked niches ...

Programme en cours.
Emission : Metropolis
Metropolis est le magazine culturel hebdomadaire d'Arte. Musique, architecture, photographie, littérature, peinture, événements culturel, tous les arts se retrouvent autour de cette émission.Chaîne / Radio : Arte
Date Evénement : 13/09/2008
Heure Evénement : 20:15
Site Internet :
http://www.arte.tv/fr/art-musique/metropolis/ARTE_2C_20Metropolis_2C_20Tout_20sur_20Metropolis/1426228.html

En France, la culture de "divertissement" est souvent ignorée par les partisans de l' "art", alors qu'elle séduit le plus grand nombre. Elle

concerne des pans entiers de notre vie culturelle, le cinéma, la musique, l'édition, le théâtre privé et s'élargit constamment du fait

de la mondialisation et des nouvelles technologies.



Cette émission de France Culture vise à prendre au sérieux cette culture commerciale, à en présenter les acteurs et à en décrypter les enjeux. Elle part du principe que les industries culturelles sont un sujet en lui-même qui mérite d'être analysé d'une manière globale.



Avec les acteurs qui produisent ces cultures de marché et avec les journalistes et chercheurs qui en commentent les mutations, cette émission vise à présenter sous un jour nouveau la culture de masse d'aujourd'hui, d'un point de vue à la fois explicatif et critique. D'où son nom : Masse Critique.
Emission : Masse critique
En France, la culture de "divertissement" est souvent ignorée par les partisans de l' "art", alors qu'elle séduit le plus grand nombre. Elleconcerne des pans entiers de notre vie culturelle, le cinéma, la musique, l'édition, le théâtre privé et s'élargit constamment du faitde la mondialisation et des nouvelles technologies.Cette émission de France Culture vise à prendre au sérieux cette culture commerciale, à en présenter les acteurs et à en décrypter les enjeux. Elle part du principe que les industries culturelles sont un sujet en lui-même qui mérite d'être analysé d'une manière globale.Avec les acteurs qui produisent ces cultures de marché et avec les journalistes et chercheurs qui en commentent les mutations, cette émission vise à présenter sous un jour nouveau la culture de masse d'aujourd'hui, d'un point de vue à la fois explicatif et critique. D'où son nom : Masse Critique.par Frédéric Martelle samedi de 8h10 à 9hChaîne / Radio : France Culture
Date Evénement : 13/09/2008
Heure Evénement : 08:10
Site Internet :
http://www.radiofrance.fr/chaines/france-culture2/emissions/masse_critique/avenir.php

Cette semaine dans Tracks : le premier festival de cinéma écolo s'installe au cœur de la forêt amazonienne, Tricky joue les dénicheurs de talents dans son label Brown Punk, on trinque à la santé du cinéma finlandais avec Aki Kaurismäki, et les Black Angels prêchent la fin du monde en live!

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Cine écolo : le cinéma durable

Depuis l’oscar décerné à Al Gore pour “Une vérité qui dérange”, le cinéma voit vert. Jusqu’alors réservé aux médias militants et peu exposé, le ciné écolo déferlent dans les salles obscures, comme “La 11e heure”, documentaire produit par Leonardo Di Caprio qui tire la sonnette d’alarme à propos du réchauffement climatique ou “Biutiful Cauntri” d’Esmeralda Calabria (monteuse pour Nanni Moretti) qui dénonce le scandale du traitement des déchets à Naples par les “ecomafias”. Et depuis 2004 à Manaus, au cœur de la forêt amazonienne, se tient le festival Amazonas, véritable "festival de Cannes" de l'écologie. Documentaristes et réalisateurs "conscious" comme John Boorman (le réalisateur de Délivrance et de La Forêt d'Emeraude), Jean-Jacques Annaud ou Jan Kounen s'y retrouvent autour des nouveaux enjeux écologiques. Après les éco-warriors, les écos-réalisateurs?



Tricky : Brown Punk records

Fondateur du sound system de Massive Attack en 1983 et pionnier de la vague trip hop au début des 90's, Adrian Thaws aka Tricky attaque la rentrée 2008 avec un planning de ministre: un nouvel opus intitulé "Knowle West Boy" , un film et… son propre label, "Brown Punk"! À l'instar de l'écurie Factory records fondée en 1978 par Tony Wilson, son idée est de laisser aux artistes le contrôle absolu sur la production de leurs disques… Jusqu'où?



Aki Kaurismaki : la Finlande à l'honneur

"Je n'ai pas de vie en dehors du cinéma, je n'ai pas de temps pour la vie". Et pour cause: avec vingt films à son actif dont un Grand Prix du jury à Cannes en 2002 pour son film "L'homme sans passé", ce réalisateur de 51 ans dirige et produit avec son frère Mika, le cinquième du cinéma finlandais! Invité à la cinémathèque française en Juillet à l'occasion du festival Paris Cinéma, l'auteur du loufoque "Leningrad Cowboys go to America" nous confie ses secrets de fabrication autour d'une bonne bouteille.



Black Angels : les brebis égarées

Formés en 2004 à Austin, Texas (berceau du rock psychédélique) les Black Angels qualifient leur musique de “Rock’n’Drone”, comme le son lancinant et hypnotique des cérémonies chamanique. Les cinq anges noirs au goût prononcé pour les substances psychotropes sont les descendants directs des Doors et du Velvet Underground (leur nom est d’ailleurs inspiré du titre d’une chanson du Velvet: Black Angel's Death Song). Issus de familles très croyantes, ils ont tourné le dos aux églises de la Bible Belt américaine pour prêcher une vision apocalyptique du monde, avec en prime quelques gouttes de LSD dans le bénitier.
Emission : Tracks
Tracks, c'est le magazine d'Arte qui se consacre à toutes les formes d'expression de la jeunesse, utilisant souvent la musique comme une clé. Sans à priori, en donnant la priorité aux aventures humaines, l'émission est ouverte à l'avant-garde artistique et aux mondes alternatifs. Elle donne aussi bien la parole à des groupes négligés par le marketing et les cultures "officielles" qu'à des stars d'envergure internationale.Chaîne / Radio : Arte
Date Evénement : 12/09/2008
Heure Evénement : 22:40
Site Internet :
http://www.arte.tv/fr/art-musique/tracks/104524.htm

Posted by Dave Merten

Opcoders has announced the fifth public alpha of Toolbox, a visual programming language for constructing digital art. Toolbox is useful for generating textures, composing logos, photo manipulation, typography and web graphics. Among many new features in this release, Toolbox is now a single window program, and one the biggest changes.