It was over 220 years ago when the rag tag troops of George Washington’s Continental Army settled into Valley Forge, Pennsylvania just six days before Christmas. It would be a long and deadly stay for these men and boys who were our earliest American Patriots. Frigid conditions and poor supplies contributed to 2500 deaths of the 12,000 who hunkered down that fateful winter. It is well to make mention of the fact of the Regimental Camp Followers who also were rotating in attendance at Valley Forge. Those contributions quite probably prevented more deaths. Americans helping other Americans was born during the earliest colonial days of our country.

These Patriots at Valley Forge did not go home for Christmas and neglect the rest of the citizens of this fledgling nation, nor did their followers. They were on a mission to pursue the freedoms, rights and liberties demanded from the separation of King George III and England. The Continental Army was willing to back up our Declaration of Independence.

Though the battlefield has changed internally upon the United States of America due to a Bogus POTUS, a bribery induced Congress, and a weak Supreme Court, our Military is still the epitome of our National Patriotism and the Tea Party Conservatives are it’s Regimental Camp Followers.

God Bless America at this Christmas Season.

***Also forwarded to The 912 Project Fan Site for use.

Dacotah ทุ่งหญ้าพิพิธภัณฑ์ได้เริ่มต้นกลับ 1,938 และ amassed รวดเร็วประดารายการเพื่อเก็บ. พิพิธภัณฑ์ย้ายจากตำแหน่งไปยังตำแหน่งครั้งสุดท้ายก่อนที่จะ settling ใน 1,970. มีหลายสิ่งดูที่ขอบคุณพิพิธภัณฑ์ไปบริจาคผู้บริจาคหลายรายการสำหรับพิพิธภัณฑ์หรือ loaned พวกเขาเก็บเฉพาะมี. ระหว่าง 1980s และ 1990s พิพิธภัณฑ์ยังคงเติบโตและสร้างตัวเอง.

ในช่วงทศวรรษที่ผ่านมา Dacotah ทุ่งหญ้าพิพิธภัณฑ์ได้จริงๆมาทางยาว. อาคารประวัติศาสตร์ซึ่งอยู่จะถูกเรียกคืนและพันธกิจของพิพิธภัณฑ์คือเงินตัวเองผ่านการบริจาค, แก่และเช่น.

หากคุณเกิดขึ้นที่จะเดินทางในดาโกต้าใต้คุณจะมั่นเหมาะต้องการหยุดและเรียนรู้เพียงเล็กน้อยเกี่ยวกับประวัติศาสตร์และวัฒนธรรมของพื้นที่ที่ Dacotah ทุ่งหญ้า Museum. แกลเลอรี่เปิดจาก 9 จนถึง 8 วันอังคารและจาก 9 จนกว่าจะ 5 วันพุธถึงศุกร์. เสาร์และวันอาทิตย์พิพิธภัณฑ์เพียงเปิดจาก 1น. จนถึง 4 และเวลาราชการเป็น 8 จน 5 สัปดาห์ตลอด.

นี้เป็นครอบครัวใหญ่ออกนอกบ้านเนื่องจากมีเข้า no. คุณสามารถใช้เวลาเรียนรู้เพียงเล็กน้อยเกี่ยวกับประวัติของดาโกต้าใต้และคนที่มีอยู่โดยไม่ต้องจ่ายอะไรในการเข้า. เพราะเป็นสมบูรณ์ฟรีคุณแน่นอนจะต้องตรวจสอบ out. บริจาคจะได้รับการยอมรับแต่ไม่จำเป็นต้อง.

Dacotah ทุ่งหญ้าพิพิธภัณฑ์ไม่ปลายทางที่คุณอาจจะวางแผนไปทั้งหมดที่มันเองถ้าคุณอยู่ใกล้. แต่ถ้าคุณเดินทางใดใกล้ Dacotah ทุ่งหญ้า Museum แน่นอนแล้วคุณจะต้องใช้เวลาและพลังงานเพื่อนำออก. เก็บเป็นจริงมากวิเศษและคุณจะพบสิ่งที่คุณอาจไม่ได้เห็นหรือได้ยินก่อน. เป็นมั่นเหมาะสถานศึกษาไปและเหมาะสำหรับครอบครัวที่มีเด็ก.

โดย Robert W. Benjamin

คุณสามารถเผยแพร่บทความใน ezine, จดหมายข่าวของคุณหรือบนเว็บไซต์ของคุณนานเท่านี้เป็น reprinted ครบถ้วนและไม่มีการเปลี่ยนแปลงนอกจากรูปแบบความต้องการหรือแก้ไขไวยากรณ์.

And why not? This is pretty much perfect as an atmospheric Christmas fic. All the best to everyone!

*

Title: Christmas Gift
Author: Forge
Rating: PG
Word Count: 915
Characters: Seventh Doctor, The Master (Ainley)

The Master leaves the Doctor a gift. An eerie festive crossover and a reminder that the Master isn’t very nice, after all.

Hey everyone! We havn’t posted much useful ODST info in a while becuase we have been busy finding some amazing stuff just for you! Our mission has been accomplished! You will be getting better secret info about Halo 3 ODST everyday! Be sure to come back to the blog everyday to see some knew posts! For today, here is the locations for the Skulls on the custom games maps Citadel, Heretic and Longshore. These maps will be found on the second disk you recieved with Halo 3 ODST 

Here is a video showing you the locations of the skull on the map Citadel:

Here is a video showing you the locations of the skull on the map Heretic:

Here is a video showing you the locations of the skull on the map Longshore:

Hey everyone! Sorry we have not posted in a while. Today, we will show you a cool forge trick that allows you to forge spartans and elites into maps. It is a video tutorial, please enjoy!

Important Points not in video:

1. Before you being the forge, hit X to go to forge options and make the Damage Resistance for the Player 10%!
2. A ball contraption is not always necassary, you just need to get rid of your shields!

Yes, dear reader, the title of this week’s Storm Sunday is lifted from the new “Fame Monster” album by pop goddess Lady Gaga!  If it is within your personal tastes, you might wish to listen to this song while you read this post.  Why?  Because today we’re going to take a look at one of the most important X-Men relationships in comics:  Storm and Forge.  (Click on images for larger versions)

(Artwork by Whilce Portacio)

You can read all about Forge and Storm’s relationship here, here, here, here and here, but here’s my take on the story:

Native American inventor (whose mutant power is to create any technological invention he can conceive of) works for the United States government to make a gun that will strip a mutant of their powers.  The gun is used against Storm, mutant weather wielder and leader of the X-Men,  instead for whom it was designed (Rogue, who had a criminal record).  Storm falls out of the sky and Forge rescues her and hides her in his penthouse from the government.  When she awakens powerless and despondent, Forge tries to help her count her blessings.  Forge gets a phone call and Storm eavesdrops on the conversation and learns Forge is the inventor of the gun that took her powers.  She runs away with Forge following after.  They exchange heated words as Storm says she cannot believe she trusted him and Forge says he’s sorry and has feelings for her.  Storm says that she was falling for him too, but that it doesn’t matter.  She punches him and leaves even though Forge says he thinks he can reverse the damage.

(Artwork by Barry Windsor Smith)

Forge also has a talent in sorcery that he doesn’t embrace because one time in Viet Nam he cast a spell that used the souls of his troop to summon demons to kill the Viet Cong.  We don’t learn this until much later except that this past is alluded to in holographic projections that Storm runs through as she escapes Forge’s home.  Much later, the X-Men are fighting evil aliens known as the Dire Wraiths and Forge and Storm’s paths collide.  Forge reveals he’s still crushing on Ororo and Storm is not impressed.  ”We will meet again,” she says, “but you may well wish we had not.”

(Artwork by Kerry Gammill)

During the Asgardian Wars, the God of Mischief Loki totally fixates on Storm.  I should also mention that way before this, Doctor Doom put the moves on Storm, too.  Oh yeah, and before Storm loses her powers she has a relationship with the thief Yukio that some interpret as intimate.

Later, Forge tried to right the wrongs he made in Viet Nam and this fiasco included his old mentor Nazé, who was really dead by this point and possessed by an evil entity known as the Adversary.  So, when Storm swallowed her pride to ask Forge to help her get her powers back, she was accompanied by Nazé who tricks her into believing that Forge was evil.  When she finally finds Forge her mind is dead set against him and thinking he is creating a rift in space, she stabs in the heart without a second thought (Storm is really good at doing this.  See Callisto and Marrow).  The Adversary then traps Storm and Forge on an alternate Earth without any other people on it.  They both admit they have feelings for each other and even though they could presumably live happily ever after on their pseudo-earth decide to save the real one.   So, a year passes on pseudo-earth and Forge creates inventions from his artificial leg and hand to 1. return Storm’s powers to her and 2. create a gateway back home.  They fight the Adversary but in order to defeat him nine souls have to be sacrificed because that was the number Forge used in Nam on his buddies.  Forge cannot be one of the souls because he has to cast the spell.  Storm and the X-Men agree to spell and then “die”.  The Goddess Roma brings them back but with all this weird stuff that gets retconned anyway (some stuff about their images unable to be seen by technological equipment, yadda yadda).   Storm decides that the X-Men for all intents and purposes should keep up appearances of being dead to strike at their enemies.  Forge is not privy to their resurrection and goes home and has to fight Magik, Colossus’ little sister.

(Artwork by Marc Silvestri)

Later, Storm is reduced to a much younger version of herself.  Forge has a psychic fight with the Shadow King and barely wins, but learns that Storm is alive.  When they reunite, Storm is an adolescent thanks to the villain known as Nanny.  Awkward.  Much later, there’s some bad business on Genosha and Storm is kidnapped by the baddies to be turned into a slave.  However, the procedure turns Storm back to her adult self.  There is a fight with the Shadow King and all return to the X-Mansion.  Forge works there as the mechanic fixing the Danger Room, Professor X’s wheelchair and the Blackbird.  He asks Storm to marry him and when she appears to tell him no, Forge accuses of her of having no life outside of the X-Men and stomps off.  Jean Grey tries to tell Forge that Storm does care about him but when he finds out that Mystique is going crazy, he leaves the X-Men to help her.  Also, it seems for a minute that Storm and Bishop were flirting.  Storm breaks down as she would have said yes.

(Artwork by Whilce Portacio)

Forge runs off to lead X-Factor and make out a lot with Mystique (!) while Storm stays with the X-Men.  Forge eventually realizes that Mystique is faking her mental problems and asks Storm out again.  She agrees to go out with him and they both feel that they can make it work.  Lots of adventures later, Storm tells Forge that she sees no long term relationship working out and during her mini-series (in which she has a slight flirtation with Cable), Storm completely cuts it off with Forge.  Forge stays with X-Factor until that team runs into the ground.  Sabretooth almost killed everyone on the team and Mystique ran away, leaving Forge to nurse his heart.  After this, Forge tries to resume his studies in shamanism but quits.  Thanks to Professor X, Forge and Mystique cross paths again and Charles has Forge create inventions for Mystique while she works for the Professor as his Black Ops agent.  Forge’s feelings for Mystique are not returned although they go out on a date together.  Mystique escapes Professor and leaves Forge disheartened.

(Artwork by Whilce Portacio)

Around this point, Storm visits the Black Panther and helps him out on a mission.  They act in the manner that good friends would with one another.  Storm accuses T’Challa of going down the same slippery slope of Magneto in regards to his leadership of  Wakanda.  They share one kiss.

Storm ends up flirting with Davis Cameron (Slipstream) during her tenure as leader of X-Treme X-Men and is hit on by wannabe conquerer Shaitan.

Now here’s where things get screwy for Forge.  He encounters Nimrod, a time travelling robot who makes him invent some stuff for him or else he will teleport to Wakanda and kill Storm (who is about to marry the Black Panther).  Forge gets help from the New X-Men and la la la.  Forge obsesses over time travel and when Bishop comes calling, Forge is shot and dealt serious head trauma by the former X-Man.  After Forge recovers, he gets even more consumed by time travel and moves to Wundagore Mountain (home of the High Evolutionary).  Forge’s new scheme on how to deal with M-Day (a day when almost all of the mutants lost their powers0 is to inject synthetic DNA into  several humans.  He discovers there are other creatures from another dimension who are set on invading Earth with their “Ghost Boxes” and he sends his creatures (whom he dubs the “New Mutants”) against them.  The X-Men get involved and discover a stark raving mad Forge.  Before everything blows up, Storm asks him to leave with the X-Men.  Forge refuses, seemingly upset at her having married the Black Panther.  He apparently gets blown up while the X-Men escape.

(Artwork by Whilce Portacio)

It’s important to note that Storm has had quite a few dalliances throughout her life.  She met the Black Panther when she was a child and they had a “thing” with him depending if you rely on the few pages of their time together in Marvel Teamup #100 or the retcon crazy Storm mini-series leading up to her marriage.  She fell in love with the warrior Arkon while on a mission with the X-Men, likening her feelings to what she thought Jean and Scott had, but her duty to the team kept her from being with him (sound familiar?).  She’s had flirtations with Wolverine and Nightcrawler as well.

So what have we learned?  This romance was doomed from the start.

Deception, guilt and shame are the major players here.  As well as pride.  A lot of pride.  Forge was a lapdog for the government who turned his back on his Native heritage which led to the death of his supposed friends in the military.  Storm was a woman with extraordinary powers who instead of having peers all of her life, was worshiped by her tribe and haunted by the death of her parents.  Neither one had what could be considered a healthy relationship with their family or themselves.  Forge was an escapist living in denial, while Storm had delusions of grandeur (although if one had her powers it might seem logical that you would as well).  Still, Storm did grow up on the streets of Cairo as a thief, so she had to know that there were other lives she could be living.

Storm fell in love with Forge under the worst circumstances.  She was completely powerless, suicidal and trapped.  Perhaps it’s a bit rash to liken this situation to Stockholm Syndrome, but it certainly reminds me of it.  Forge’s feelings for Ororo surfaced while she was his captive.  The guilt he felt for destroying her life were always mixed up his love for her.  Not a great way to start a relationship.

(Artwork by Jan Duursema)

Think about the relationships Storm had before she met Forge.  Oh, that’s right.  There’s nothing there but an adolescent dalliance with a prince that borders on fantasy roleplaying and a series of flirtations.  It makes sense in an odd way that Storm would keep going back to Forge when she knew next to nothing about anything else.  (However, it doesn’t mean she should return to her first love from her childhood and marry him either, but that’s a whole other post.)  We aren’t privy to what Forge’s life was romantically before Storm, but I find it hard to believe that a women in her right mind and proper sense of self would fall in love with a man who denied his heritage and worked for a questionable government agency.  That kind of man is not boyfriend material.

So, even though it makes perverse sense that Forge would fall in love with a woman as beautiful and deeply emotional as Storm, and that Storm without her normal defenses would take a risk at love, in this instance the overall combination is rife with failure.  When Forge asked Storm to marry him and didn’t get his answer immediately, he left like a spoiled child.  Although Storm says she would’ve married him, her hesitancy betrays her emotions.  It seems that she was fooling herself, perhaps thinking she would never get another chance at love.

There’s also the Mystique factor.  What kind of low self-esteem does one have to have to go back to the man who broke your heart by going out with your arch-nemesis?  Twice!  Or flip that around.  What kind of low self-esteem does one have to have to continuously go out with a woman who is the complete opposite (and therefore enemy) of the woman you are really in love with?  It really is hard to wrap that one around my mind.

When I think of romance, I think of emotional honesty.  I think of a partnership of like-minded individuals looking to learn more about themselves and each other and, through that partnership, the world.  Romance starts with loving your self so that you can better love your partner.   I believe romance is about being mirrors for one another so you can move beyond the ego and unconscious projections.   Storm and Forge may have deluded themselves (and many a reader, myself one of them) when they spent time together that day in Dallas.  However, in spite of all of their good intentions, theirs was a bad romance.

The Indian industrial conglomerate Tata launches a new low-cost water purifier, aimed at the rural poor. Its market is huge, it is global and it is growing…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: gulf of mexico ocean. The blog is also related to: water pictures.

After talking to one of my local shop owners, I didn’t know what to expect while attending The Philly Show this weekend in Valley Forge, PA.  I arrived at the Valley Forge Convention Center at about 9:15 in the morning and the parking lot didn’t seem too full.  Browsing around the show floor you could see that about one third of the dealers weren’t there.  I highly doubt it was the weather, but instead probably because of the increasing setup fees from Hunt Auctions.  Did you know Upper Deck owns Hunt Auctions?  Today was the first time I had heard that.  MAB-Celebrity was in charge of getting the autograph guests for the show, and I think they did a great job.  All of the signers this weekend were or still are Phillies.  Bringing all Phillies in is a great idea from MAB-Celebrity.  Being so close to Philadelphia it just makes sense.  Ever since Hunt Auctions purchased The Philly Show, MAB-Celebrity has brought in big name players like Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, and Frank Robinson, but they really hit the jackpot when it comes to Phillies.  I had never seen so many people lined up for signatures.  This was by far one of the fullest shows I’ve been to.  The dealer that told me Upper Deck owns the show said he wishes they would bring in Michael Jordan and/or LeBron James and just let people get their photo with them for a few bucks.  If Upper Deck did that the place would be extremely packed, but I like the idea.  I hope they continue to bring more Phillies to the show.

While heading for lunch, I met the blogger who runs Phungo and he handed me some custom made Phillies cards for my collection.  The pack even included a card of Harry Kalas.  I also saw Chris Harris from Stale Gum from a distance.  When I started blogging, I never thought I would get recognized at shows  Thanks Phungo for the cool cards!!!!!!!!!

I got a few autographs, busted some wax, and pulled some insane stuff!!!!  Here are some of the highlights.

Former Phillies catcher Todd Pratt

Pete Rose signing my bat.  I hope he makes it into the HOF someday.

Mike Schmidt

Pratt’s signature is all the way to the right.

Rose has such a huge signature.  It takes up a good portion of the bat and looks awesome.

This Rose ‘08 Sports Legends jersey #’ed/100 is the only single I purchased from a dealer.

Pulled this Stafford autograph jersey/ball/jersey #’ed/299 from a single pack of ‘09 Absolute.

I took a chance with ‘09 UD Black Football and man did it pay off.  This is my first Peyton Manning autograph and it is #’ed/18.  It also contains a piece of film.

Tried a pack of ‘09 Leaf Limited and pulled this Brees autograph jersey #’ed/25.

Pulled this from my pack of ‘09 Leaf Limited too.  Quad jersey relic of Turner/Peterson/Jones/Brown #’ed/100

I wanted to try a box of ‘09 Topps Unique.  Pulled this 3 color Freddy Sanchez patch #’ed/99.  While opening my box of Unique, another collector sat down at the table and started opening their box of Unique too.  They pulled an Utley jersey and an Ibanez autograph

This was probably my best hit from ‘09 Topps Unique and it isn’t even “game used”.  These Presidential Bat Barrels are quite difficult to pull.  I think they come one per case.

Overall, this was probably one of the better shows since Hunt Auctions purchased The Philly Show.  I think Hunt Auctions and MAB-Celebrity finally learned what draws in the fans.  Hopefully some of those dealers return for the show in March.  You can definitely say the “MOJO” was with me today, after seeing all the cool stuff I pulled like the Manning autograph.  I give this show 4.5 hot dogs out of 5 (1=poor & 5=perfect).

The Idea for this map came from a simple suggestion that was a reply to a thread I made in the Halo 3 Forum on B.net. For some reason, they seemed set on giving me vehicle ideas as opposed to weapon ideas to put on maps… I suppose it is easier to conceive that than decide that a weapon would work well on the map because of its scenery/layout. Anyways, someone said “Put a Ghost on The Pit”. I immediately pictured a ghost doing some hardcore splattering on runway and reaping some major damage on the pits. Of course, on a map like this, it would have to be countered with some good vehicle-control weapons.. In the end I believe I mostly kept the same weaponset for power weapons, as a spartan laser (my only other real choice for anti-vehicle) would be too devastating. To me it seemed like The Pit had sufficient vehicle-control weapons, but lacked a chance to use them. Now is the time.

Ideology
As I previously mentioned, I felt that The Pit has sufficient vehicle control, but never had a chance to utilize it, as it didn’t actually have any vehicles. Now, the map not being play-tested, I could easily be wrong, but I think that the map will play something like so:

Game starts, one team gets ghost, if lucky they get rockets as well, so the Ghost doesn’t go bye-bye in the first minute of the game. In social/low level ranked play, a smart team with the ghost will follow the ghost guy around as he racks up some kills before nade spamming eventually takes him down. On a higher level of play, though, things would get more interesting. Seeing as The Pit’s easily accessible drivable area is in a kind of horseshoe shape, taking the ghost onto the opposite team’s side is suicide, unless a game of CTF is being played, then it can make for quite the effective push. I think the Ghost will become more of a defensive weapon that kind of lurks around corners to splatter unsuspecting/unawares/out in the open players. Eventually, it is taken down by rockets, grenades, an invisible hijacker, brute shot, or a well placed plasma pistol.

The point of the Ghost is not to make the map central on it, but implement it well enough that it is a much contended for target.

*Interesting/Helpful fact: The Ghost’s run time maximum is set to 2. This means that if a team plays the Ghost smartly and keeps it alive, a second ghost will spawn on time with its spawn timer (150 Seconds, I believe), leading to even more interesting matchups where each team has a ghost, or one team totally dominates and the other team is forced to sit back. This could become a problem in the game, creating an over-dominance such as in Standoff. After playtesting, things like this will be determined I guess…

Pictures

Many small implementations were made to map to make it play better with a Ghost, as well as when the Ghost is not present… Without further ado:

A distant Ghost...

1. Why the heck is the Plasma Pistol circled? It’s always been there! I’ll bet 2 out of the 3 people that actually read this post totally disregard that weapon and barely realize it exists while playing. Well, with a vehicle on the map now, people need to realize a potential weapon when they see one. I have moved the Pistol further from the wall so it is now nearer to where one’s walking path would be. (Might have changed spawn timer on it)
2. Ah, the Ghost. The reason this map was made so. Most of it has already been described, but there it is. You now have something new to rush for at the beginning of the game.

Yup.. lots of stuff to see.

1. 5 Things in this picture. lets start with the Plasma Pistol. Yup, you now have a reason to go to these two weapons. Hopefully a weapon such as this at your base should help you survive if you are being ravaged by a Ghost.
2. Hmm.. What is this? Could be just some added scenery to the map, but this offers a simple jump up to Platform for those of you willing to take the time to jump onto the locker. Watch out, it tips!
3. Hard to see, but here we have a brand new BR. Think about it, your only other BR spawns occur near the shotgun corners and at the beginning of Runway. I felt like there was definitely a BR needed somewhere, and this compliments the tower nicely.
4. Idea copied from MLG. Why have this? A couple reasons, starting with the fact of the Ghost. If you are down in the pit between greenbox and platform, you are basically dead to a ghost. This gives you an option/place to go if you know there is a man waiting for you at greenbox or training. Also, the way The Pit works, you really have to be filtered and bottlenecked to get into their base… Probably a good thing, but this gives more strategic advantage.
5. This was only added to this side of the map, seeing as there is already one on the other side. Why? Cover, mainly. It simply isn’t fair that one team can duck behind a crate while the other ducks behind a locker and a barrel..?

One last thing is Overshield. This spawns at what was previously the Sword spawn.

1. No picture because suddenly my computer won’t upload. not much to see anyways. Overshield is now in Sword spawn, there is no longer a sword.
2. This does a few things… One, it alleviates the camping problem in sword room. With one less close ranged power weapon (and in my opinion the most powerful), people will be less tempted to venture in there and stay. The OS gives yet another fighting chance against the Ghost.

Comcluding

This map has also not been play-tested. I need to do so, but as my mic is broken, I can’t (until Christmas, a friend of mine is getting me one ). I feel like this map is not totally balanced, and the only way to figure it out is to actaully play test it.

Map created by Knight Kninja.

Links

Bungie.net

Bungie Halo 3 Forums

Download Pitted

I don’t know if in the UK is common, but one of the most popular Italian travelling games is “the market game”.

One person says that he went to the market and bought something. The second person buys the same thing and something more.

The third person lists the first two items and adds one and so on…

Yesterday I fell in love. They were 4 guys and 5 girls that went by the name of The Mariners’ Children.

They were opening for Peggy Sue at Bungalows and Bears during “an evening of music, art and poetry presented by Unquiet Desperation”, or at least that’s what the flyer said. In practise, it was an unique occasion to listen to at least three very good bands in a row, drink a lot of Bushmill and be surrounded by painters brushing all over giant white canvases.

When I arrived, Tim & Sam’s Tim & The Sam Band were playing. Aside from the brilliant mixture of indie guitar and electronic, kraftwerkian sounds, the name is probably one of the best I’ve ever heard of for a band. Of course they will have to change it if they want to become famous, because no journalist will ever want to write about something he can’t remember and fans will never want to go and see a concert with people whose name they cannot pronounce, but the fact remains that it’s absolutely brilliant….

Continues on: http://www.forgetoday.com/page1212/Notes-Exploring-Sheffield-Marta-Visits-Bungalows-And-Bears

Hey everyone! I have found a really cool Halo 3 forged map that you should download to your Xbox360 Console! It is called The Crypt of Doom. (If you do not know how to download forged Halo 3 maps click here) It is by far the most impressive Halo 3 Forge ever! Check it out:

 This map is an Indiana Jones type of game where you can your friends go through a maze built in sandtrap that have switched doors, footstep triggering traps and wall jumping stepping stones activated by touch. It is used with the Indiana Jones game type in Oddball. The object is to get to the skull with the help of your teammates. You will definatly enjoy this map!

Here is a video showing you the Crypt of Doom map:

Click here for  the Crypt of Doom map.

Click here for the Indiana Jones Gametype for the Crypt of Doom map.

Hey everyone! Once you have your Xbox 360 connected to the internet with Xbox live Silver or gold, lets take Halo 3 Forging to the next level! (If you don’t know how to connect your Xbox 360 to Xbox Live click here) Yes, you can forge your own stuff and make your own games. Or, you can select millions of maps that other people have created and download them straight to your Xbox 360! Here is a picture of where you can download the games from:

All the boxes you see are maps that you can download! Simply click download and you will have the map. Not to mention you may also download gametypes! You can have hours of fun by just a click of a button! But how do you do this? I will show you.

1. Go to the following URL:  http://www.bungie.net/online/communityfiles.aspx?tags=&filefilter=4&sort=1&page=0
2. This is the bungie site where you can make your account to download the maps!

1. Select Sign Up Now! and follow the onscreen insturctions.

Your done! Simply log on to your account, and click the download button fro any map varient, gametype varient, picture, video or any other content you want donwloaded to your system. Because your account is connected to your gamer tag, the content you downloaded will be available to you the next time you access Halo 3 or Halo 3 ODST. It will take a few minutes for the content to be availiable. It will tell you on your T.V screen that the content is donwloaded. Then you will obviously beable to use it! Enjoy! 

Once again, the URL for downloading the maps is  http://www.bungie.net/online/communityfiles.aspx?tags=&filefilter=4&sort=1&page=0

The other day I had an interesting conversation with one of my local card shop dealers.  We were talking about the upcoming Philly Show scheduled for next weekend and I learned some inside stuff that I normally don’t hear.  It seems like almost every dealer is angry with Hunt Auctions.  My local shop owner has been in business for over 30 years and has been attending The Philly Show for almost as long.  After Hunt Auctions purchased the show in late 2008, they immediately raised the price of what it would cost for a dealer to setup.  According to the shop owner, he would normally pay around $700.00 to setup his booth.  Since he has a lot of stuff, he usually takes up two spots.  For next weekend’s show, it will cost $1,050.00 to setup.  He told me that I shouldn’t be surprised if half the dealers don’t show because of the price.  He also told me that Hunt Auctions doesn’t advertise the show.  I probably advertise more for the show here then they do at all.  Even though  MAB-Celebrity has been bringing in bigger name athletes like Mays, McCovey, and Fisk, they haven’t been making very much off of their sales of tickets.  One athlete got paid $25,000.00 to sign autographs for only 14 people that purchased tickets.  I’m no expert in math, but I can tell you that those 14 tickets didn’t amount to anything close to 25k.  It will be interesting to see how many dealers actually show next weekend.  This is why The Hobby is heading towards being 100% run over the internet.  I’ve talked about The Philly Show many times because its one of my favorite shows.  I’d hate to see it go down hill like this.

Update:

I also find it disturbing that they still don’t have a list of dealers who plan to attend on their website yet.  They usually have one up by now.  Perhaps they don’t want people knowing how few of them there will be.  MAB-Celebrity doesn’t have Cole Hamels on the list anymore but Hunt Auctions still does.

So now I don’t have a gig to talk about, for I spent the whole time moving from one shop to another to then drink at least four cocktails in a row in a bar called Smokestock.

Also, from the day I started to write about English music here in Sheffield, I hadn’t heard a sound so English as Scrabble….

Continua su:

http://www.forgetoday.com/page1173/Notes-Exploring-Sheffield-Marta-On-Italys-Newest-Musical-Export

One of my favorite shows to attend is The Philly Show which is held at The Valley Forge Convention Center in Valley Forge, PA.  Before Hunt Auctions purchased the show last year they would only get one or two autograph guest to come over the whole weekend.  After Hunt Auctions acquired The Philly Show they have been able to bring in a bunch of big ticket athletes for collectors to meet ranging from Willie Mays to Frank Robinson.  The next Philly Show takes place on Dec. 4-6 and is a must for any Phillies fan.  Check out the lineup of athletes scheduled to attend.

Saturday 12-5:

• Pete Rose
• Mike Schmidt
• Todd Pratt

Sunday 12-6:

• Steve Carlton
• Scott Eyre
• Keith Moreland
• Shane Victorino
• Cliff Lee

I enjoy getting in person autographs, because you can obtain cards almost anywhere you live.  It doesn’t matter if you have a hometown card shop or not.  Collectors can always go to the internet.  Meeting athletes like this can’t be done all the time.  The dealers must do well at these shows if Hunt Auctions continues to bring in big celebrities like this.  I plan to attend Saturday and hope to get some great autographs and photos to share.  I might also bust a box or two   You can learn more about the show from MAB Celebrity and The Philly Show’s site.  More autograph guests could possibly be added in the future.

Title: The Chess Players
Author: Forge
Rating: All ages
Word Count: 2078
Characters: Seventh Doctor, Lord Vetinari

Seven plays Vetinari as chess. Which, as chess goes, is probably the ultimate showdown, were it not merely a ‘friendly’ match. With Pratchett-esque footnotes and all.

I bought the tickets for Arctic Monkeys’ concert in Sheffield three days after I arrived in the city.

It was September the 22nd, one month and three weeks before the actual gig, and I was with an Italian friend of mine in a Spanish restaurant in Meadowhall. We were both newly settled and felt we should have done something more properly local than eating ethnic stuff in a mall; so we decided to blow our budget and buy the tickets, even though the gig was sold out already and it would have cost a lot. But after all: Arctic Monkeys from Sheffield in Sheffield, how cool was that? Coming from Italy, we both had never even heard of the city before they came on the scene. Excitement mounted up day after day: my friend was a long-term fan, I used to think they were incredibly overrated but I had really loved the new album.

By the day of the concert, tension had reached its climax. It was all about looking as much of a Sheffielder as possible for the event and trying to get to the Arena on time for being in the first row. After the disillusionment of finding out that in Sheffield too there are Starbucks, H&M and all those hideous chains that simply replicate themselves over and over making any city identical to any other on a random parallel, Arctic Monkeys playing in Sheffield looked as unique as the Parthenon.

Now, before talking about the concert, I do feel the responsibility of making a preface: on that very same day some scum stole my laptop by breaking the window of my room and helping himself while I was in the kitchen preparing lunch. They immediately arrested him but not before he could get rid of my adored pc; police told me they might call again at night in case they had news, so I spent the entire concert holding the camera in one hand and my mobile in the other, begging for a phone call.

Arctic Monkeys really helped, too. As I said before, I am a converted fan, and that made me the most enthusiastic supporter of the kids. But the concert was just….

Continua su: http://www.forgetoday.com/page1142/Notes-Exploring-Sheffield-Marta-Sees-Arctic-Monkeys-Sheffield-Arena

A very rhetorical question: when you go to a club for a gig, is the sound system or the whiskey selection more important?

Obviously, the whiskey selection is far more relevant. But if you run a club and decide to bet everything on that, you should also make sure you hire a band so good that the beauty of their music will overcome the whistling and the distortion of the terrible speakers. From what I’ve seen so far, The Harley really manages to do that.

As many will probably know, above the Harley Bar there is the Harley Hotel. What is less proverbial is that when you rent a room there, included in the price they give you earplugs. A friend of mine slept there for a week and told me that this is absolutely unnecessary: it is not the music that keeps you awake, although without the earplugs you couldn’t even hear your inner thoughts; it’s the vibrations produced by the sound that makes it impossible to sleep. Apparently, he would wake up every morning with severe land sickness.

So no offence, but the acoustic is really not The Harley’s thing. Of course, the alcohol is amazing and the Lagavulin whiskey particularly fantastic, so who cares. But they must take extra care in who they invite to play, and indeed they seem to always organize little great gigs. Last time I was there I was really conquered by Dirty Weekend. They are a classic, electronic-with-soul indie band from Teesside, which…

Continua su: http://www.forgetoday.com/page1097/Notes-Exploring-Sheffield-Marta-Visits-The-Harley