Dig details? Then you’ll like illustrator Justin Nelson.

The current world tallest completed building, Taipei 101, will have fireworks display to celebrate new year again, which has become a tradition for the megastructure. This new year 2010, Taipei 101 plans for the largest, grandest and most spectacular new year fireworks in its history.

Taipei 101 is completed in 2004, and has its’ first opening and new year fireworks on new year 2005. Same goes to 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, which fireworks are seen better than the previous years with more styles, more colours and more creativity, eventhough still in duration of 188 seconds.

Little descriptions of the planned fireworks display to celebrate the new year 2010 at Taipei 101:

• 22 000 number of fireworks, largest in history, increase of 6 600 over last year.
• 1 700 number of fireworks will go off simultaneously, never attempted before, truly spectacular sight.
• first time firing of fireworks at various angles of 180, 90, 45 and 30 degrees from the tower.
• two fireworks layers to cover the diverse angles.
• 3-inch barrel fireworks allows further range and a larger scale.
• brand new moving fireworks, combination fireworks and new dazzling colours, utilized for fire wheel fireworks, drifting star fireworks and bouquet shower fireworks, challenging limit of low altitude combination fireworks.
• First layer: Pili Flashing Fireworks.
• Second layer: Parade Bouquet – flying fireworks, visual effects of moving, running and dancing.
• New design: Bouquet Fireworks, ignited horizontally at 180 degree to create feeling that the building is blossoming in brilliant colours.
• combination of candle lights and fire wheels will be used for the first time, form fiery network of flames, with the rotating fire wheel shuttling in between.
• Taipei 101 will be given a fiery golden crown.
• large bore fireworks installed on the upper and lower deck platform of observatory, so the visitors can experience the power of the fireworks.

Great after knowing all these facts on the upcoming fireworks show of Taipei 101, let’s wait and check out the fireworks on new year eve night. Expected to be great, awesome, amazing, fantastic and marvelous!

So, I think I’ve mentioned it before, but just in case – and for those of you who don’t know, when it came to Christmas presents, I told everyone that our wedding registry also doubled as my Christmas list.  Now, I italicized the “my” because I didn’t want Neil to get stuck with registry stuff…especially when he already has a million and one things on his list for the house!  Anyway, I really had no clue what I was going to get for Christmas – aside from the obvious sunglasses, but I was definitely hoping for some things.  Not big things, but just some things that would make our wedding that much better!

Let me explain…

Since the day we finished our registry at Bed, Bath & Beyond, I’ve been absolutely obsessed with what we’ve registered for.  I never knew BB&B had such cool stuff!  It’s amazing what you find when you have an unlimited time frame and can just click, click, click away!  Anyway, yes, I did get some stuff off our registry – which I highly recommend for all soon-to-be brides.  There an absolute must for a totally chic kitchen!!  Okay…so here’s my little plug for BB&B (and no, I won’t bore you with everything I got for Christmas, but just some highlights – mainly those who really belong here on the journal)…

First, my dear sister and Paul got me two things we registered for from BB&B.  The first was this:

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The Simply Strawberries 3-Piece Tool Set is, of course, from BB&B, and I’m pretty sure it’s been featured on this site before.  It’s such a handy little tool and I absolutely cannot wait to get home and try it out!

Then there was this:

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First of all, let me say that I didn’t know how massively huge these pasta bowls were.  It’s 4 bowls and 1 server.  They’re so fun and will definitely give dinner a little more flair than if I were to serve pasta in our normal dinnerware.  Definitely a must-have for the bride trying to impress.  I absolutely love them!!  I’m so happy Amy and Paul got them for us!!  Of course, getting them home…that could be a challenge!

So, there were two things from the registry, but there’s more.  After all, I named this post “A Very Wedding Christmas” for a reason.

I’ve been in need of sunglasses, as you already know, but now I have a cute new pair to tote around Scotland, London, and Paris.  And the best part – I have a case to keep them safe!!

personal photo

I absolutely love my Maui Jim’s!  If you talk to anyone who has ever owned a pair, they’ll tell you that once you have a pair, it’s impossible to go back to anything else.  Now, granted, Neil was pushing for the Ray Ban’s it didn’t matter because him and I both loved the Maui Jim’s the best.  They fit my face perfectly and they aren’t Dale Earnhardt-like.  Per-fect-o!

personal photo

So, I included the water bottle simply for size-comparison.  This precious little mini-laptop came from Santa.  Both sis and I got one and it couldn’t be more perfect!!  It’s the perfect travel size and it will be perfect for our jaunt to Europe.  Dad completely customized it for us so it has a webcam for easy video chats and all the programs I would need.  It also has an amazing 3-hour battery-life and weighs all of about 3 pounds.  I love it!!

personal photo

Check out these bad boys!!  Courtesy of Troy, I can now walk Europe in style!  When Neil and I went shopping on Sunday, I was begging him for these shoes!!  He wouldn’t budge.  I suppose it’s because he had something more in mind!  Next thing I know, I’m opening them Christmas morning!!  Thanks, Troy!  I can’t wait to use them for the honeymoon!

DRUM ROLL PLEASE…

So, I had an inkling that I would be getting these from Daddy, but I had no idea how gorgeous they would be!!  I almost cried when I opened the box!!  On the gift tag it read, “With these, your wedding will be pearl-fect!”  I have the greatest daddy!!

personal photo

Aren’t they to die for?  It’s exactly what I wanted!  Unfortunately for Jeff, it had to be custom-made, but fortunately for me, because of that – it’s pearl-fectly perfect!!  I cannot wait to walk down the aisle…to meet my groom…donning these beauties.  I love you, Daddy.  Thank you.

And because I couldn’t possibly forget so things Neil got for Christmas, let me present to you the Christmas Present of the Year…err, let’s make that CENTURY!!!

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Yes, we did register for this.  And yes, I love it, but again yes, this was part of Neil’s Christmas present from “Amy but mostly Paul”!!  But what makes this present even better is this…

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Yes.  A PLUNGER.  Although, probably better him than me!!  But yes – my dear groom opened a present last night that included a toilet bowl brush and plunger!  Oh, Paul.  You really are a unique individual!!!

Either way, it’s caused for some great laughs!!  I absolutely love it.

Merry Christmas!  There is no doubt this time of year is definitely the best.  Good friends.  Good family.  Good food.  Everything about this time of year just makes me smile.

And oh!  I didn’t mention the best part!  Two nights ago, my sister invited us to dinner with another couple they’re friends with.  The wife had just recently returned from Scotland and was gracious enough to cook us a traditional Scottish dinner.  We had haggis, turnips, mashed potatoes, mushy peas, and some kind of delicious dessert!!  First of all, I can’t believe I ate haggis…and liked it!!  Then, the turnips!!  In fact, they were quite tasty!!  They really just tasted like broccoli.  And no, I’m not a huge fan of mashed potatoes, but I ate a bit of it and then the mushy peas.  I love peas – so of course I love mushy peas.  Based on that, I think we’ll be okay in Scotland!!

mengembalikan jati diri bangsa

Ada mengembalikan jati diri bangsa berbagai metode yang digunakan untuk mencuri pencuri identitas rincian

– Fisik pencurian terutama dari tas atau dompet Anda atau 10 Penyakit dengan Biaya Pengobatan Termahal surat Bangsa Anda adalah sarana umum Mengembalikan Jati Diri pencurian Jati Diri identitas. A break-in ke rumah Anda atau sebuah amp quot tangga penari amp quot mengganggu ke kantor Anda di tempat kerja peluang lain. Melalui sampah Anda untuk informasi identitas lain.

– Sebuah variasi mencuri surat Anda bahwa beberapa pencuri digunakan hanya untuk mengalihkan itu. Mereka dapat melakukan hal ini dengan mengatur dengan kantor Mengembalikan Jati Diri Bangsa pos untuk e-mail anda akan diarahkan atau dengan hanya menulis untuk bank perusahaan kartu kredit atau lembaga keuangan lainnya dan memberitahu mereka bahwa Anda telah Bangsa pindah.

– Anda juga harus berhati-hati setiap kali rincian identitas Anda dipertukarkan karena situasi ini mungkin juga menawarkan peluang untuk bermoral. Bahkan orang-orang yang Anda anggap sebagai teman kadang-kadang bisa membuat Anda berisiko pencurian Jati Diri identitas. Conmen biasanya sangat disukai orang – itu adalah baik mengasah keterampilan kejuruan. Selain itu kadang-kadang conmen Kebangsaan dapat bekerja melalui teman atau saudara tanpa disadari Anda seseorang yang Anda percaya sepenuhnya. Yang ketat amp quot perlu tahu amp quot kebijakan untuk informasi identitas penting karena itu akan sangat mengurangi risiko Anda.

– Menggunakan kartu kredit Anda telah menjadi Mengembalikan Jati Diri Bangsa jauh lebih aman dalam Mengembalikan Jati Diri beberapa tahun terakhir dan perbaikan tidak diragukan lagi akan terus berlanjut. Tapi Anda tidak boleh membiarkan kartu Anda keluar dari pandangan Anda saat berbelanja atau di restoran.

– Identitas pencuri memanfaatkan email dan telepon pintar terutama Jati Diri Bangsa dalam cara-cara untuk membujuk atau menipu Anda untuk memberikan data penting di saat-saat terjaga. Sekarang ada bahkan nama untuk pencurian identitas email penipuan amp quot phishing amp quot . Target sering sandi Anda dan rincian rekening bank sehingga pencuri dapat mentransfer dana secara elektronik dari account Anda biasanya melalui rantai rekening ke beberapa lokasi asing jelas dari uang yang ditarik. Bank hari ini berusaha keras untuk memperingatkan mereka tidak pernah meminta rincian akses account Anda melalui email atau telepon Mengembalikan Jati Diri tetapi beberapa orang masih terjebak oleh penipuan ini.

– Secure transaksi situs web yang dikelola oleh perusahaan terkemuka biasanya cukup aman tetapi surat email dan telepon menawarkan kesempatan untuk penangkapan pencuri. Anda tidak boleh menganggap mereka selalu swasta terutama telepon seluler atau cordless percakapan yang dapat disadap.

– Hal ini juga tidak bijaksana untuk memeriksa rekening bank Anda di komputer orang lain. Anda tidak pernah tahu Kebangsaan apa yang spyware mereka terus. Risiko dapat sangat besar pada warung internet komputer bersama mereka terkenal akan lebih terbuka untuk pencuri identitas yang dapat memuat perangkat lunak penebangan stroke kunci ke komputer ini jika mereka tidak mengembalikan jati diri bangsa terlindung dengan baik.

You can read Dylan Thomas’ story “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” online. You can also listen to the author read a substantial excerpt from the 1952 recording. In addition, you can hear the interesting story of how this recording came to be in this NPR broadcast.

Thomas grounds the story of this long-ago Christmas in real details–snow and fire brigades and uncles–and yet he tells it as if it were a fairy tale.

The ending: “I said some words to the close and holy darkness, and then I slept.”

[Annual Christmas Eve post]

LOOK WHAT’S STILL ON THE MARKET: one of my favorite houses from last winter’s house-quest. Only now they’re advertising it for $1.2 million; last winter it was $499,000. How can that be?

Oh, well. The new pricing, less disingenuous than the old pricing, includes 23 acres attached to the house — acres which cannot be unattached, ever, nor sold for profit. That’s because a previous owner cashed in already, by selling the land in perpetuity to the Peconic Land Trust, which insures at least some part of Eastern Long Island will remain forever farmland. The land can be used for agriculture, or rented to farmers, or turned over at break-even. It can’t be subdivided or built on.

It’s a treasure of a house, in Southold on the North Fork, a few miles west of Greenport and a mile from Sound beaches. One of those square Italianate houses you see a lot in upstate New York, with a side porch and a small barn – I’m guessing 1840s – in near-original condition (not to say good). It needs a heap of work, but the architectural character hasn’t been messed with.

More info is here.

Okay, Okay this is just ridiculous.  Details magazine has published essentials for the Groomsmen.  Yeah, I was beginning to like it.  Then the last thing they threw in was Botox.  Can any men please tell me they Botoxed number one, number two on the day of their wedding.  Ridiculous.  Men should not Botox. period.

Should You Pregame With Botox?
Yes, people actually do this. But if you’ve already laid out your tux, it’s too late to visit the dermatologist. Make an appointment for Botox at least one week before the big night. “With any of these procedures, you can have some bruising,” says Dr. Haideh Hirmand, a clinical assistant professor of surgery at Cornell Weill Medical College. And it takes at least three days for Botox to fully iron out those lines. If done right, no one should drop their drink when you walk in. “With Botox, people just think you look less tired,” Dr. Hirmand says.

Something about the sounds of lullaby’s mixed with cute stuffed animals gets the attention of infants like no other. Calvin is a sucker for the 3 little bears that spin above him in his playpen. He can be really pissed off and with the turn of the knob, he knows what is coming. He can stare at them for a good 30 minutes. This is the perfect time for me to go outside and practice my ninja skills while he dazes off into bear heaven. The only thing is, you have to keep turning the knob every 3 minutes. I guess I could buy him the battery operated one but I am afraid that he won’t like it as much. Maybe he likes to bother his parents lol… anyways, for those of you listening, that would be a great Christmas gift for Calvin! (hint, hint)

gangsta rabbi [impose]

eli roth plugs inglourious basterds on tmz [heeb]

can a knesset debate improve israel’s eurovision chances? [haaretz]

on details, “hot jewish girls,” and sloppy, knee-jerk misogyny [jezebel]

the hanukkah story [nytimes]

yiddish king lear on the relief roll [forward]

hipsters busted for repainting bike lanes removed at satmar request [failedmessiah]

photo stroll [eli valley]

Heyyah All My Fans!!!

Here Are The Details Of My 2,000 Hits Party!!!

EVERYONE IS INVITED!!!

Specail Guests:

Spikeman 8 - COMING!!!

 Donnuh – COMING!!!

 Penguins Coming:

Rj2k8

 PizzaBarCp

Hope You Can Make It!!!

~Lilbeclil x

As Baloo (from The Jungle Book) says, it’s all about the bare necessities.  And these are my wedding planning necessities.

At top left, the organizer and budget planner.  Essential at the beginning of this process as I tried to wrap my brain around just how much we could spend.  Also, it’s full of questions to ask vendors…and I ask all of them.  Sometimes I feel badly for them…but I still ask.  Not only is it an organizer and planner, but its got file folders built in (!) so that I can keep all receipts together.

Top right, the book that makes my mom happy…my Emily Post etiquette book, or how not to piss people off and write super authentic thank you notes.

The bottom book is my baby…my idea book.  Though I love Mt. Bridal Magazine, I can’t (and I don’t want to) do everything, so I clip ideas out of magazines and put them in there.  It’s helpful to keep me focused on what my vision for our wedding is and it’s also nice to show to people so that they know what’s going on.

For whatever reason, my employer is still requiring that I work during the planning process, so organization is key and these help me a bunch.

If you love S.C., you’ll understand this pic isn’t an ecouragement to drink a particular beverage, so much as a statement of pride in our state flag. 

To celebrate the release of Cheryl’s second single, we are giving away a signed, personalised double-platinum award frame for 3 Words.

To be in with a chance of winning we want you to record your own version of ‘3 Words’ and upload it to YouTube. But because this is no ordinary prize, we want you to go all out for this one and like Cheryl, we want you to perform it as a duet.

But the catch is we want it to be sung with the most unlikely duet partner possible. It could be your Gran, your teacher, your local Tesco checkout guy, anyone at all! You’ll need to post a link either in the comments below or send it to @welovepop on Twitter.

‘3 Words’ featuring will.i.am is OUT NOW, and on iTunes, there’s a Club Mix EP available!

The Club Mix EP features Steve Angello’s Extended Re-Prod, Doman & Gooding’s I Love You Remix and the Geeneus-Rinse FM Main Mix. iTunes also has an exclusive EP of ALL the club radio edits – this includes the incredible Steve Angello Radio Re-Prod.

You can also pick the CD up from www.hmv.com and of course HMV, and the CD features the Radio Edit of ‘3 Words’ as well as all new B-side ‘Boys’!

Source

Bad Company is still a hugely popular game on Xbox Live,and with the release of Bad Company 2 drawing nearer and nearer the fans are gearing up for some more high-octane action.

So how is Bad Company 2 going to improve on the Battlefield formula?

Bad Company 2 promises to ramp up the multiplayer action with more mayhem and even more destructable environment’s,unlike the original Bad Company it will now be possible to completely level a building.
Throw in even more map variety such as snow maps and jungles and fans are going to be pleased.

But wait…there’s more.

Bad Company 2 will be shipping with a total of 4 multiplayer modes and 16 maps to keep players happy.
Players can expect to see the return of Gold Rush (renamed to just Rush)
which see’s you trying to attack/defend 2 crates,when these are destroyed the map opens up a little more and 2 more crates appear.
Dot his 4 times to achieve victory if you’re the attackers,or deplete the enemies reinforcement bar if you’re the defenders to win.

Conquest also makes a welcome return along with 2 new modes,1 of which is Squad Deathmatch.
Sounds simple?
However Dice have mixed it up a little,instead of 2 teams facing each other down there are going to be 4 teams of 4 players each battling to score 50 kills.
This makes sure the action is non stop as your always going to be fighting,and to spice things up there will be 1 vehicle in the centre of the map.

Bad Company 2 will also be stepping onto Modern Warfare 2’s turf with the promise of kit customisation and specialisations (almost exactly like perks in COD:MW2) that will add extra vehicle armour or make you more accurate.
It also seems that you will be able to add red dot sights and different scops to your weapons as well as choose between things like short and long-barreled grenade launchers.
The actual variety of customisation is still being kept under wraps,but it’s going to have to be fairly extensive to trump Modern Warfare 2’s options.

At this point Dice are promising 46 weapons with 200 customizations and 15 specialisations to keep players happy.

There also going to be making it easier to kill opponents as well as adding in a Hardcore mode which will remove your hud and of course make killing people a one hit deal.
Playing Hardcore on Bad Company 2’s huge open maps is going to be an experience akin to Operation Flashpoint in my eyes with snipers being a lethal danger.

Gone are the health syringe’s from the first Bad Company and in its place comes a slow health regeneration system,so finding cover after a bad firefight will be all important as you wait to regain your health.

Dice are also dropping the Class count from 5 to 4,removing the Specialist altogether.
The Specialists equipment is going to be distributed to other class’s now.

Among the new additions are some new vehicles including the Apache Gunship,Quadbikes,the T-90 Russian Tank and a Blackhawk helicopter capable of transporting 4 people at a time.
Oh,and throw in parachutes as well and you open up the strategic advantages of Paratroopers who can drop behind enemy lines.

Single player is being kept fairly quiet,however we do know the original Bad Company guys will be back for Bad Company 2 and Dice are promising a “darker and more mature storyline”

There’s also a special edition of Bad Company 2 and it only costs the same price as the standard edition,but stocks are limited so hurry if you want to get early unlocks of:

. Improved Vehicle Armour – An Up-Armour package mounted on all vehicle types decreases the effect of both explosive and penetrating warheads, significantly improving vehicle survivability.

 Vehicle Alternate Fire - Additional weapon packages mounted for the driver of all armoured vehicles, greatly expands the range of targets the vehicle can successfully engage and destroy.

 Vehicle Motion Sensor – Upgraded Sensor to locate enemy units in direct proximity to the vehicle.

 Tracer Dart Pistol – Launched by compressed air, this magnetic dart attaches to any vehicle surface, allows friendly shoulder launched rockets to lock on to and track moving targets even beyond line of sight.

2 Classic Battlefield 1943 Weapons:

5. M1A1 Submachine Gun – Popular with Paratrooper and Commando units in WW2 for its rate of fire and stopping power the M1A1 is still seen in the hands of paramilitaries today. Reliable but heavy this classic weapon is still a powerful force in the hands of a Battlefield Veteran.

6. M1911 Pistol – Adopted in 1911 by the US Army the M1911 saw heavy service in WW1, WW2, Korea and Vietnam. Highly customised M1911 are still favored by Special Operations forces for its reliability and the power of its large .45 calibre round

With Battlefield: Bad Company’s fantastic graphics and intense battles it’s going to be the hot multiplayer game of 2010,competing with Modern Warfare 2 for the top spot.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is released on 05/03/2010

Cheryl Cole’s amazing 2nd single ‘3 Words’ featuring Black Eyed Peas star Will.I.Am is out in the UK today and hopefully looks set to follow Fight For This Love in achieving massive success for our favourite pop princess! Yesterday it was announced on BBC Radio 1 that the track had already reached number 7 purely on downloads alone. We think you’ll agree, fantastic news!

Here at Total Cheryl Cole we’d love to see Chezza do even better this week though so here are the details of all the different ways you can buy the single and help Cheryl get the best chart position possible this coming Sunday! Who knows, she might even get to number 1, actually making her the last number 1 single of this decade! There’s even a Facebook group to support the single, which you can join by clicking here!

You can also share and RT this link around,  http://tinyurl.com/cherylcole3words - It will link people to this page and let them know all the ways you can buy Cheryl’s single this week.

You can go out and buy the physical single from your local record store or order it online from HMV or Amazon

The track listing is as follows and contains the ace new b-side ‘Boys’ written by Adele ‘Emili’ Sande who featured on Chipmunk’s ‘Diamond Rings’

1. 3 Words (Radio Edit)

2. Boys

You can also download the 4 track remix EP from iTunes or HMV

1. 3 Words (Radio Edit)

2. 3 Words (Steve Angello Extended Re-Production)

3. 3 Words (Doman & Gooding I Love You Mix)

4. 3 Words (Geeneus-Rinse FM Main Mix)

You can also purchase the remix edits exclusively from iTunes containing all the shorter edits of the club mixes here.

1. 3 Words

2. 3 Words (Steve Angello Radio Re-Production)

3. 3 Words (Doman & Gooding I Love You Edit)

4. 3 Words (Geeneus-Rinse FM Radio Dub Edit)

As I’ve said before, I enjoy my wedding magazines.  They’re an addiction, maybe one day I’ll put up a picture of Mt. Bridal Magazine.  I can justify it though, because I got this idea for our centerpieces from a British wedding mag so that totally makes my magazine consumption worthwhile.

Anyhoo, these cute little containers are representative of what I’ll use for our centerpieces.  I’m ordering flowers wholesale, but I really wanted real flowers and I want a lot of flowers…so wholesale is the way to go.  It took me a few trips to antique shops (where the owners would without fail ask why I was buying so many of these things), Goodwill & Salvation Army stores to get enough for all of the tables.  And since they’ll double as favors for the guests, I needed enough for them too.  After one of my (many) trips to get more of these, The Mister was finally like, don’t you think you have enough?  I have, well, a lot of them.

What’s that I hear?  That’s the voice of reason…stop going to the store Dawn.  But I’m excited about these cute, little containers.  I like that they’re all different and not all matchy-matchy.  I think that they’ll look beautiful (bee-you-tee-ful!) in the old Victorian mansion where we’re holding our reception.

Anyhoo, I’ve got two major DIY projects.  One is for the ceremony and we’ll talk about that later and the other is doing flowers for the wedding and reception.  That means bouquets, boutonnieres, corsages, centerpieces, and ceremony site.  A wonderful do-it-yourself with the bridesmaids!  There are lots of wholesale places online…and I’ve heard that Sam’s and Costco also have fresh flowers.  I haven’t checked into it, but I’ve also heard that they’ll special order flowers as well.

I love flowers.  They make me smile.  I know that’s stereotypically female, but it’s true.  So I decided early on that it was worth the expense of getting nice, real flowers.  Then I saw how much florists were charging and I put my thinking cap on.  I realized that I didn’t need someone to make the flowers look pretty…they’re flowers!  They’re already pretty!  I just needed flowers…and lots of them.   So I’m doing the wholesale route and the flowers (with those snappy-looking containers above) will be the only decorations for the reception site.

I look at other people’s wedding websites and they’re doing/building/creating all sorts of stuff…surely we can put some flowers in containers and make bouquets and whatnot.  Right?  Right? So, in my efforts to have a sane, practical, and fun wedding…this all seems to fit that criteria.

Wanted to share this quote with you from Anne Enright’s The Gathering:

“I love this undertaker.  He has that thing that young people got, sometime after I grew up.  He does not pretend.  He does not judge.  He talks about the caskets in a ‘whatever’ sort of way, like it is all just shopping–the real questions are elsewhere.”

What a lovely, original, and novelistic dichotomy Enright allows to emerge from the personality of this character.

And another reminder to ground myself in what’s important as I scurry around for those last few gifts.

Snow and Shadows

Canon 5D mark 11, 100mm macrois lens, iso100,1/25@f22

Winter has finally arrived and I have managed to capture some of what winter means, details. I have no mountains or sweeping landscapes, so I make the most of what my county has to offer. This for me means looking for details and translating this into an image which gives a meaning of winter. I had spotted some really nice ice patterns in some frozen pools two days before but I was looking for hunting owls at the time and didn’t have the correct lens for the task, so I made plans to return as soon as possible. A superb Great Northern Diver was too much of a chance to miss on the following day, I didn’t have chance until the day after. Yes you guessed it, the pools were now covered in a light covering of snow. A short walk did however reveal other details to work with, here using a shadows and light to create this image and shot with the amazingly sharp canon 100mmm macro is lens I was more than happy.

Ice Detail

Canon 5d mark 11, 100mm,iso100,1/6@f11

A decent few images to start the winter off, just hope it continues.

I am at the moment in lens nivarna, after the purchase of the canon 800 lens a few months ago and seeing the stunning results in combination with the 5d mark11. Primes are a thing of beauty, the 100mm macro has been out awhile and at first I wasn’t that bothered by the lens but the results I was seeing from other users tempted another purchase and what another stunning lens canon have produced, so sharp it could cut paper, yes its that good, no stunning. Now I am waiting for the trio to be complete with a 24mmtse mark 11 on its way, and I can’t wait. I will post some images when I get into my hands with some images. An exciting time to be a canon user, producing some of the finest sharpest optics I’ve had the pleasure to use.

It has been confirmed that the released date is the 23rd of december for 400 microsft points

New Achievements in DLC are:
-Piggyback (15G): Catch a ride and surf on top of a car in Dangerous Ride. Can you go the distance?
-Ride on top of a car in Dangerous Ride DLC track.
-No Deal (15G): Which box to choose and when to bailout?
-Bail out and land the rider inside a lucky box.
-Look ma I can fly! (20G): Bounce 5 trampolines in succession in Skyway to reach new heights.

In more detail, Trials HD – BIG Pack includes:
-35 brand new Trials HD tracks, with a special focus on medium and hard tracks, the difficulty levels most requested by players – the sweet-spot of track difficulty:
-23 racing tracks: 12 medium, 9 hard and 2 extreme – most with new physics objects providing Trials rides never experienced before
-12 skill game tracks
-Five new tournaments including all the new tracks
-More than 50 new crazy physics objects: Car, rocket turbine, gravity field, wind, motor and many others! These objects will also be available on the level editor for users to utilize in creating their own tracks.
-Three new fun Achievements worth 50 Gamerscore

In more detail, free Title Update includes:
- Ultimate Endurance tournament simplified. This change makes the close to impossible Marathon achievement possible for much wider audience. The tournament now includes beginner/easy/medium tracks.
- Improved Down the Stairs skill game. The physics glitch all top players used is fixed and now the user has better control over the tumbling down rider.
- Fixed the corrupted leaderboard scores found in some tracks (zero times, impossible scores). All leaderboards have been cleaned off corrupted scores and we have a system in place to keep them clean in the future as well.
- Fixed a number of minor bugs reported by players and found by testers. Now the game is even more polished and stable than before.
Due to huge demand, the amount of tracks users can save in their hard disks and memory cards is doubled.

The following Trials HD Xbox Live items will also be launched soon:
-Trials HD Xbox premium theme
-Trials HD Xbox avatar item pack

Discussion from yesterday:

Dawn: Oh my God, the paper’s here!

The Mister: What?

Dawn:  Paper! Paper! Paper!

The Mister: What are you talking about?

Dawn: Paper! Paper! Paper!

The Mister: *shakes head*

Dawn: *dancing* *jumping* *clapping*

Before July 25th (the big ask), I promise I wouldn’t have been so fired up about a package filled with blank paper…mostly because I wouldn’t have ordered a package full of blank paper.  Now it’s cause for dancing, hooting, and hollering.  We’re having a frugal (but classy, thank you very much) wedding.  That means we’re doing a lot of the details ourselves.  But not in a true DIYer way…because I have neither the time nor the inclination to be cutting and pasting invitations together.

I’ve got a graphic designer friend who’s designed all of our stationary for an incredibly cheap price and we’ll order nice paper online and print it at a Kinko’s or something like that.  It’ll save a significant amount of money without skimping on the niceness of the stationary.

Just last week I’d gone through this routine.  Got the paper, took it to Kinko’s, they printed off the samples for me, and I brought them home to show to The Mister.  He picked his fave (he’s got surprisingly good taste) and all was well with the world.  Or so he thought!  I was like, well if he likes that one…why don’t we order five more that are just like that one (but different!) and make him choose again?!  Ah…the joys of wedding planning.

Anyhoo, though I don’t have the finished product yet, I’d totally recommend this way of doing things.  I had the designer create save the dates, invites & reply cards, thank you’s, programs, and maps…very cheaply.  The paper and envelopes can be found online at any number of websites and you can go to Kinko’s or Staples or whatever and have them print & cut the paper for you.

For you brides out there who want things done well, want them done nicely, but want them done frugally…this is a great option!

THE GAME EYE has posted an details on Splinter Cell Conviction’s multiplayer modes. For the details, go here:

The Game Eye/Splinter Cell: Conviction – Co-op Mode Details

As for the videos you can watch them below:

Splinter Cell Conviction co-op trailer:

Splinter Cell Conviction co-op walkthrough: