Hurrah for Europe and for publishers who don’t realise that in these internet-enabled days, even a magazine article in *gasp* a foreign language will be translated and spread all over the net in a matter of hours. Thanks to german magazine “PC Games” (PC Spielen?), the final two classes have been revealed for Bioware’s upcoming Star Wars MMO.

As Massively report in the previous link, Bioware did confirm that the Jedi Consular and Sith Inquisitor will complete the lineup. They have chosen to keep the numbers of classes small, and have stated that each class will have its own personal epic storyline.

So, what do we have on offer? I’m going to run down the list and make some assumptions about the styles of the storylines and what sort of role each class might play in combat. I am assuming a holy trinity based game, I love Dragon Age as if it was my own child, but Bioware’s strength is in storytelling and producing awesome gaming experiences, not in reinventing the rule book.

Republic

Trooper

“The fate of the galaxy rests upon ordinary men becoming extraordinary heroes. This is the path of the Republic Trooper.”

“The Knights of the Jedi Order have defended the Republic for generations, but they have not fought alone. A host of unsung heroes have marched at the Jedi’s side—common men courageous enough to enlist and face the same risks as their Jedi comrades despite not having access to the Jedi powers of protection.”

It sounds as though this storyline is all about how ordinary guys and gals in the Republic special forces become extraordinary heroes and end up fighting alongside Jedi and … err.. smugglers. The gear has a strong military flavour.

As far as their role in combat goes, the official site has this to say:

“A Trooper’s rifle is his best friend, and the military is constantly challenged to design faster, more powerful and more reliable blaster rifles every year. Wielding such rifles and wearing protective battle armor designed by the Republic’s top engineers, the Trooper will not hesitate to step right into the crossfire.”

Sounds like a mostly ranged class to me.

Smuggler

“Stacking up enemies as fast as they stack up credits, Smugglers only survive in this galaxy by being slick, sneaky and street-smart.”

“Experienced in flying under the radar, Smugglers are amazingly elusive. Yet when backed into a corner, they quickly become cunning and often deadly combatants.”

OK, so the smuggler is Han Solo. Since he was the coolest character in Star Wars, that’s not a bad thing, and it  gives a good indication of the sort of storylines to expect.

For the role in combat:

“Smugglers often rely on the element of surprise, using stealth and trickery to catch opponents off guard. Despite the sly tactics, they are more than capable of holding their own in a fair fight.”

So it’ll be roguish, probably with some tricks and traps, but the flavour text sounds as though they prefer pistols to melee.

Jedi Knight

“A source of inspiration to allies and intimidation to adversaries, the Jedi Knight’s presence is welcome in any confrontation.”

“With unwavering allegiance to the Republic and the light side of the Force, the Jedi Knight fights with valiant determination, wading into the thick of any battle to protect freedom and democracy and hold fast against those who oppose it.”

Wading into the thick of battle to protect X  and Y, and hold fast against Z screams tank to me.

The combat tactics section reads:

“Whether defending allies by deflecting a barrage of blaster-fire or charging in to challenge a Sith Lord, the Knight’s role is crucial in any conflict.”

Defending, charging in to challenge nasty Sith Lords … it’s a tank. I have no idea where the storyline might unfold for this one, but I’m thinking Knight at King Arthur’s Court for the style of story and moral dilemma.

Jedi Consular

Not one but TWO Jedi classes on each side. We don’t have much information about this class yet, but it is known to be a ranged heal/ CC type of support class.

Sith

The Sith classes  sound stronger than their Republic counterparts — maybe to encourage players to pick the side they haven’t seen so much about in the films.

Bounty Hunter

“In the bounty business, one’s name is everything, and with each mark a Bounty Hunter takes down, his reputation grows, as does his price.”

Well that pretty much sums up what I’d expect in the storyline.

“Tracking elusive targets across multiple star systems requires expertise, especially when the targets can be prominent, powerful, and often prepared for confrontation.”

“Bounty Hunters are renowned for their versatility on the battlefield and their ability to go toe-to-toe with force-users.”

“Whoever they must face, however, the Bounty Hunter comes armed with the most-advanced weaponry on the black market, packing heavy firepower but always keeping a variety of tricks and gadgets ready to go.”

It certainly sounds more flexible than the poor Trooper who only has her rifle to fall back on. The Bounty Hunter here sounds like a strong dps class with lots of tricks and gadgets up her sleeve.

Imperial Agent

“Agents of Imperial Intelligence track down and eliminate the Empire’s enemies—from intractable Republic senators to traitorous Imperial Moffs to bloodthirsty rebels with Republic ties.”

“Though there are few idealists in Imperial Intelligence, the art of professional perfection is held in deep reverence, and the Agent embodies the Imperial ideal in this respect.”

So you’re going to be Evil James Bond if you play one of these chaps.

“Though striking from a distance or from the shadows plays to the Agent’s strengths, a well-equipped operative is more than capable of evading his enemies when necessary or moving in close to quietly slide a blade between an opponent’s ribs.”

Again, the Agent sounds like a more flexible class than her Republic counterpart. They will be stealthers, with some ability for assassination, and also have ranged capabilities.

Sith Warrior

“Sith Warriors crush their opponents and stride toward their goals with dreadful determination, leaving ruin and annihilation in their wake.”

“A natural leader in any context, a Sith Warrior inspires both fear and undying loyalty into his followers and allies.”

It’s a tank.

“Protected by heavy armor and his powers of intimidation, the Warrior wades into the thick of the fight and unleashes pure hatred and fury to eliminate all who would stand against him.”

Huh, the Sith Warrior actually gets heavy armour. Well that screws up the plans for total world domination via robe.

Sith Inquisitor

The other newly revealed class, as with the Consular we don’t know a lot about this one yet. But it’s likely to fill a similar role.

Keeping down the Jedi numbers

So I think that all the Jedi are actually going to be support classes in this game. The Knight and Warrior will be tanking classes, and the Consular and Inquisitor will be support. The non-jedi will make up the bulk of dps and stealthers.

You have to admit, that’s quite a smart way to keep the numbers of Jedi limited …

]]> http://themeatshield.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/color-me-confused-about-swtor-classes/ Thu, 26 Nov 2009 02:03:42 +0000 Pid http://themeatshield.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/color-me-confused-about-swtor-classes/

A while back I wrote a post about why I wanted to play a bounty hunter in The Old Republic when it comes out. To make a long post short(er) I thought that playing a non-force class would be the way to go because it would be less popular but the bounty hunter would be popular enough to not make it obscure. Now they just released two more Force classes and it would appear that my reasoning is not quite as good as it was before.

Syp just posted a poll over at Bio Break that allows you to vote on what class you would play. While it only had 148 votes when I looked at it, the leader with 30 votes was …wait for it…the bounty hunter! I was a little surprised, but when I thought about it some more I guess it makes some sense. Now that there are two force classes per side, each will vie for a chunk of the force user player base. If you add up the total of the Jedi Knight and Consular votes it is about the same as the bounty hunter tally. Strangely, if you add up the sith force users it is considerably less.

Now as a scientist in real life I should know better than to make heads or tails out of a poll with so few votes cast (especially an online poll), but it does make me wonder if I should consider changing my mind. With the new classes in effect, it will spread the force users into four classes instead of just two. This could be a blessing if the classes are unique and have separate equipment lines and talents. I realize a Jedi is a Jedi whether it is a melee fighter or a support class (they are both hefting a big laser sword after all), but if you use a little meta thinking, they are two separate MMORPG classes with potentially two separate MMORPG roles to play. For those that want to be a Jedi but not be the meat shield, they now have an alternative.

As the lore goes…it fits to some degree, and as game mechanics go it could work rather well if implemented properly. The devs still have some work balancing out the other classes and such, but maybe now I can make that Darth Maul character and not be like the ten million other ones…just the two million!

-Pid

Okay here’s something looks really cool. The new trailer for the forthcoming Family Guy special episode Something, Something, Something, Dark Side… has been unveiled.

The episode will see the cast give tribute to the movie The Empire Strikes Back and is a follow on from the previous special Blue Harvest, which itself was a parody on the original Star Wars, A New Hope. The trailer meanwhile is a absolute direct remake of the original TESB trailer.

The DVD and Blu-ray will be released December 28th, 2009.

The latest installment of TCW gifts us with several talking points: the grotesque, the holy-crap-how-did-they-do-that factor, and as per the usual, characterization. Firstly, I have to be honest. I was very much on edge during this episode. My expectations were, for once, not unreasonably high. Anytime someone mentions “zombies”, I have knee-jerk reaction of, “Oh, this again.” Coming into Friday night’s episode, the only thing I was thinking about were zombie bugs and how the HELL Dave was going to work them into Star Wars. Blah, Blah Deathtroopers, I know, I know… ONWARD.

So… the characterization… yeah, about that… Um, was it me or was Luminara a little out of character? From her initial spunky retorts addressed to Obi-Wan, to her “intending to grab him [Poggle]” she seemed more extroverted from the Luminara we were introduced to in Cloak of Darkness and Weapons Factory. The only thing I can think of that would herald this change is the loss of Barriss. Yes, she wasn’t present in Cloak of Darkness, but she was also uninjured, and Luminara had a replacement padawan of sorts at the time in Ahsoka. Perhaps she’s taking a page out of Anakin’s playbook. The  plight of the padawans may have effected her Jedi-tude. Anakin, on the other hand, was in classic form. From his trademark worrying, to the disregard for diplomacy over action, Anakin was himself through and through. Ki-Adi-Mundi is as mellow as ever. For some reason I expected his character to be uppity and fussy. I suppose I had unrealistic Gilbert and Sullivan expectations. (I’m still waiting, Dave. Still waiting…) Obi-Wan, who appears to have gotten over his malaise faster than Ki-Of-The-Two-Brains, is back in functioning form. Any residual “Geonosian Fears” that I touched upon in my response to Landing At Point Rain seem to have dissipated. He is his normal, dry self. I thought it interesting that instead of waiting for reinforcements like Anakin championed, during their time in the catacombs, he pushed forward to save Luminara’s life. I considered it a role reversal of sorts between him and Anakin. I particularly enjoyed the scientific aspect of Obi-Wan’s character. In some ways it exemplifies the Jedi detachment sentiment.

In my notes for the show, I have a single word written several times: faces. I noticed that in Legacy of Terror we see close-ups of the characters’ faces more so than in any other episode. It ties into the whole “horror/thriller” vibe of the episode. Seeing the reactions to the zombies and the queen before we see or understand the “threat” adds a psychological thrill to the viewing. The untraditional angles also lend a hand in unbalancing the viewer, and including them in the characters’ predicament.

Another interesting element to Friday’s episode was the sound design. Every sound was designed to set the viewer on edge. Whether it was the ominous clicking of the Geonosians or the slightly “slasher” film sounds throughout the episode, those guys created something downright scary. Also, I found the constant lightsaber hum to be reassuring in such frightening conditions. In addition to the sound effects, Dee Bradley Baker’s Queen Bee was singularly one of the most terrifying voices in SW history. It was grating and chilling, one couldn’t help but listen.

Also, I need to pose a question. Is Obes in charge re: rank wise to Luminara and possibly even Ki-Adi-Mundi? I ask this for several reasons *rolls the EU sleeves up and puts on the nerd glasses*: In Cloak of Deception I seem to remember a scene with Luminara and Obi-Wan where Obes was still clearly a padawan. So seniority wise, he should defer to her, no? I don’t know…that’s why I’m asking you guys.

I know y’all missed my list last week, so here’s an EXTRA long one to make up for it!

THE GOOD

• The Sandstorm: It was dusty, dusty eye candy.
• Was this the first mention of bacta in TCW? If it was, hooray!!
• Haters be hatin’, but I love battle droid humor. BDH gives me warm fuzzies.
• The bug “reliquaries” were freaky as all Hell.
• Mmmm… the return of Witty Banter (TM)!
• Were there space! spider webs in this episode? If there were, KUDOS.
• I absolutely love the idea of a Geonosian Hive mind. Also, the fact that Obes was willing to exploit it in order to win the war.
• The animation of the larvae was sickeningly real. Good job?
• EAT THEM, CONTROL THEM. It’s kind of a cake or death thing, no?
• I loved when Obes basically Force shoved Poggle the Tiny into the air.

THE FUG

• There were at times where I swore up and down I was playing a game of Zelda because of the background score.
• Zombie Bugs. As nifty as the idea was and as well executed, I could have done without it.
• The escape from the catacombs was very Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, hmm?
• Two words: Bug Vagina

Enjoy these stills from Legacy of Terror!

Dust in the wind...

This little light of mine... I'm gonna let it shine! Also, BEST Bug Zapper in the history of the world, y/y?

I went to COSTCO and bought a gigantic bottle of RAID on Saturday.

I have nothing amusing to say, but still LOOK AT THOSE MAD ANIMATION SKILLZ.

I attended the “Seerah: The Sheperd’s Path” course these past two weekends, from Al-Maghrib Instiute taught by Shaykh Abdul-Bary Yahya.

One of the best fun facts (I guess it could be a GEM (Genuinely Enlightenng Moment)) that I’d learned this weekend deals with Star Wars.

In the battle of Badr, in the Seerah (life of the Prophet Muhammad salallahu ‘alayhi wasallam (upon him be peace)), there were about 300 Muslims against 1,000 of the Makkans that expelled them. The Muslims had two horses, while the non-Muslims had hundreds of them. The odds were obviously against the Muslims.

However, in these battles, Allah would send the angels to help, in the same numbers as the non-Muslims, so He sent 1,000 angels to help the Muslims. So, no matter what, the Muslims are never outnumbered (with the exception of Uhud). The angels fought, even though no one could see them. A Muslim man would raise his sword, and find the enemy already defeated, because the angel had already done it.

They even, after the battle, could tell who was killed by an angel, and who was killed by a human. The people killed by angels had a very, very clean cut, and a little burn mark left.

Years and years later, the Shaykh said he saw a documentary of the director of Star Wars. The director, when developing the concept of the movie, turned to many different religious sources for ideas (Buddhism, Scientology, Christianity, Islam, etc.). He read about these angels that aided the Muslims. And he decided that he wants to make a sword like the swords of these angels of Allah, the clean, clean cut sword that would sometimes burn people. Thus, the light saber was created.

(By the way, don’t take any of this out of context, there were reasons and causes of war during the Prophet’s time, do NOT take my post as a fully sound source, because it’s not. A recommended book to learn more about the Seerah is Ar-Raheeq al-Makhtum, The Sealed Nectar).

So, naturally I became interested. (When I hear that a feature film which has gone through so much success is getting ideas from Islam, I want to know more!)

Basically, I found a great article, written by a Muslim, that cites a lot of sources on the role of Islam in the movie. Even the Jedi’s lifestyle is very similar to Islam. (I mean, long beards and thawbs with hoods, what do you expect?).

SHOCKING EXCERPT:

…it was reported in a National Australian magazine that more than 70,000 Australians identified their religion as Jedi, Jedi-Knight, or Jedi-related in the country’s 2001 national census! Don’t these people realize that the “Jedi” are make-believe? There may be some truth in fiction, but instead of looking for the truth, people get caught up with the fiction. In this paper I hope to reveal where some of the truth of the “Jedi” and “Star Wars” comes from: Islam.

Click here to read the full article.

So, Islam is truly the best way of life, for all times, and all peoples. It’s all around us, even when we don’t know. So, when we learn more about Islam, we look at things in a different way, from an Islamic perspective. Alhamdulillah (All praise is due to Allah) for that.

For some more GEMs from this Seerah seminar taken, visit the thread on the Al-Maghrib Banu Noor Forums!

-a Muslim jedi, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong.

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Creo que un día salgo a la calle así que unas monedillas me sacaré

Ni idea de donde saqué las fotos.

Today I completed My degree in Computer Networking and Securities!!!!

Coming in Spring, 2010, Gentle Giant releases a deluxe version of everyone’s favorite astromech droid complete with eight accessories!

Periscope scanner, mechanical gripper, utility saw, Luke’s Return of the Jedi lightsaber and more can all be assembled into the statue’s exposed chest or dome panels. Measuring seven inches tall, this 1/6th scale Poly Stone statue is hand painted and will be a limited edition.

That’s right you can have R2-D2 with all the doohickeys you ever wanted.

Source: Star Wars

When you think of the word Master, what comes up?

• Master & pupil in gilds
• Jedi Masters Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker from Star Wars
• Mastermind
• Master plan
• Bachelor & Master Education
• Master of Ceremony
• Toastmaster
• Master of Trinity
• Master and Commander
• The Guild of Master Craftsmen
• Masters of Material Arts
• Master Chef
• Old Master drawings and paintings
• Master and Servant
• Slide Master in Powerpoint
• Golf Master Tournament
• NLP Master Practitioner
• Masterclass
• Puppet Master
• Reiki Master
• Grand Master
• Zen, Buddhist or Yoga Master

Out of these I propose to focus on the following ones to discover what it means to be a Master.

1. Master & pupil in gilds (The Guild of Master Craftsmen)
2. Jedi Masters Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker from Star Wars
3. Masters of Material Arts
4. Old Master drawings and paintings
5. Master and Servant
6. Masterclass
7. Puppet Master
8. NLP Master Practioner
9. Reiki Master
10. Zen, Buddhist or Yoga Master

Where is Mastery expressed to you most?

Join the poll on the right and give your opinion! You can choose upto 5.

Those of you who have been reading my blog (or Matt’s) for awhile know that we’ve been training to be Jedi.  Don’t believe me? Check it out. Our foray into Jediism began after we learned of a discrimination lawsuit in the UK filed by a Jedi who was forced (hah) to remove his hood upon entering a grocery store.

Long story short, it sounded like fun.

Even longer story short,  it wasn’t.

Instead of enlightenment and cool mind tricks, we filled 21 days in the graduate assistant office with ridiculous tasks, innumerable to-do lists,  and other, generally impotent, endeavors.  When our poorly edited training journal informed us for the second time that we would be making lists, Matt and I decided we’d had enough.  Upon discovering that we would have to pay money to continue our training, we did what any good religious studies students would do: we decided it was time for a reformation

These are our 9.5 Theses:

1. Do or do not. There is no “make it your goal.”
2. Desire leads to suffering; suffering leads to the dark side.
3. Feel the Force; follow the Way.
4. There is no prophet greater than Luke Skywalker, the last great prophet of the Force.
5. The Jedi-hood of all believers: Every true Jedi, whether living or dead, has part in all the blessings of the Jedi Way and its Church; and this is granted to him or her by the Force, even without the purchase of training manuals.
6. The rigors of Jedi training must be conducted with caution, lest the people may falsely think them preferable to other good works of true selflessness.
7. Because one’s connection with the Force grows by works of the Force, and the Jedi becomes better; but by to-do lists the Jedi does not grow better, only more free from tasks.
8. The trappings of the Jedi are not the cloak, the hood, or the lightsaber, but the acts of goodness flowing from the Force.
9. The Force is the source of all things, does not belong to the Jedi, and is available to all through selfless acts, dedication to others, and meditation.

9.5. The Jedi must be more committed to the Force than to any document, even this one.

We, the reformers of the Church of the Jedi, believe in the Jedi-hood of all, regardless of whether or not you’ve purchased a Force FX lightsaber.  We believe that mindless tasks and to-do lists are not the way of the Jedi.  Proofreading, however, definitely is.

Lest you doubt our commitment to this reformation, here’s proof (click the photo for bigger images):

So, there you go.

As for my future with Jediism, meh.  I’m over it. Let me know if you find any new religious movements you want to reform!   I wouldn’t mind making this a hobby.

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				Lindsey hanging the 9.5 Theses over our training updates.
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				Luther helped her hang them.
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				<a href="http://matthewgallion.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/reforming-jediism/100_6092/" title="The 9.5 Theses"><img src="http://matthewgallion.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/100_6092.jpg?w=150&amp;h=112" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="Prominently displayed." title="The 9.5 Theses" width="150" height="112"></a>
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				Tearing down our training updates.
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Honey, how much could we get for one of the kids?

I love cars. I just wish I had the money (and damn good reason) to get me a kick-ass little sports car, like a Donkervoort or an Exige S. You know, nothing ridiculous, just a toy.

I really love going to Car Shows too, although I haven’t made it out to the Canadian International in a couple years (kids and all, see?), but I’m going to try and make the next one coming up in February. There’s something about seeing a brand new model under those lights all shiny and quietly awaiting the open road that makes the crowds and the shitty food acceptable.

But that’s once a year. The rest of the time I get my fix by google image searches, YouTube searches, 5th Gear (hilarious show), and the boob tube just like everybody else.

I’ve often wished I was the dude throwing the M3 around the turns or the CTS rocketing down the salt-flats, but lately it seems that auto manufacturers are looking to cut costs by cutting their drivers out of the spots in favour of CG models and impossible environments… I think that sucks.

It’s like comparing Return of the Jedi to Revenge of the Sith! Oh sure, Sith had some amazing backdrops and incredible effects, but there’s no way Jedi would have anywhere near the following (even today) if Yoda wasn’t a puppet (I also believe Mark Hamill couldn’t have pulled off such a heart-wrenching performance watching his master fade away if he had to fake it – grin).

It’s not too long now that a company will figure out how to render CG so seamlessly with live footage that we won’t be able to tell the difference (I expect that Avatar may come close), but until that day, I wanna see cars on the street, cars in the dirt, cars bouncing up boulders and drifting around corners.

But when that day comes, what will befall our wonderful drivers? Will they become obsolete? Will automakers leverage technology to reduce insurance and production costs for their new lineups? What other helpless souls will be cast aside as expendable legacy system redundancies?

Will you?

Will current CRM marketing automation one day turn into pay-as-you-go automated corporate-scale marketing strategy inferred from social behavioural analytics, cloud-logged purchase history and geo/persona-targeting from web leads captured through intelligent forms that will put us “marketing types” in the unemployment lines right beside our beloved Professional-driver-closed-course buddies?

Are we too going to be replaced by code-writers and free widgets? For me, I’ve already got a background in computer animation and post production effects compositing, so I should be ok, but the rest of you are screwed.

Maybe I’ll tip a bit of my Starbucks out the window of my Donkervoort as I pass… You know, respect for my homies.

Se un cavaliere Jedi si trova nel bel mezzo di una tempesta, non può fare altro che aprire il suo ombrello a LED, rimanendo attento a non sbagliarsi con la sua spada laser.

Ok, forse è un ombrello eccessivamente strano, però girare per strada cantando sotto la pioggia, con un neon in mano, può essere un’esperienza che in pochi hanno fatto. Ed il perchè è sotto gli occhi di tutti: guardare il video per credere. Prezzo, 44 $.

What do you get if you put a room full of HR Directors from across the world together? A debate on recruitment…….Well to be honest it’s not a World Cup year, all our economies are up shit creek and given the varying nations in the room “who started the war” probably wasn’t the best topic of conversation.

So with some of my erstwhile colleagues we started talking about the role of HR in recruitment. And to be honest I was out there on my own. Being British this is of course nothing new to me as when it comes to international relations we have a singular ability to do the “Johnny no mates” routine better than most.  

The collective view in the room was that HR had a fundamental role to play in actively recruiting staff into the business. This was based on the assertion that we acted as a foil to the manager and brought to the party “special skills” in identifying talent and future potential. This was also compounded by the fact that they felt candidates liked to meet with HR as they got to see the face of the company.

My view? Well it’s not the above. I do believe that HR has a role in recruitment, but I believe it is to skill and train managers so that they can recruit successfully. There is an attraction piece where I think HR can add value, there is a process piece which I think it makes sense to centralise and there is an offer and “on boarding” piece which I think HR can support. Other than that, I struggle to see how we add value. To suggest that we have some Jedi like capability, “the force is strong in this one”, is just nonsense. There may be a number of leadership roles that would benefit from a broader input than just the functional line manager. But in general are we really adding any value?

Or are we instead doing this because,

1) We don’t trust managers and want to police their activity?

2) We aren’t skilled enough in other areas and therefore don’t have enough to do?

3) We like to believe that we have some seventh sense that raises us above mere mortals?

Christmas in Lagos this year looks very promising.There are a host of shows, concerts, parties,fashion shows, etc lined up and we at GidiNoize just thought we’ll this one with you.

THE OVATION RED CHRISTMAS CAROL

Dunno if u’ve seen the video but theres a video for it which includes various celebrities like Olu Maintain,Wande Coal,Femi Adeyinka,Wunmi Obe,Zacky,Jazz Man Olofin,Gbenga Adeyinka the 1st,Dekunle Fuji, Niyola, Essence, Kefee, Kenny St. Brown, Davina, Artquake, OJB, Foluke Daramola, Segun Arinze, Jedi,Omawumi and many more.All the celebrities featured in the video will be part of the show.

Dress code–>RED

Venue and Date–>To be disclosed later

I could have quit when Miss Q declared she wasn’t going swimming; she wanted to go to the airport and have blueberry bagels with cream cheese and hot chocolate – um, have we done that too many times?

I could have quit when my bathing suit didn’t fit – dang polyester live-forever suit and 3-month postpartum bod.

And, I could have quit when Miss Q ran ahead of me, up the stairs, slamming the top door so hard that the mop popped off its hook; falling straight at me in the dark.  Thankfully I have lightning-fast Jedi reflexes.

But I kept pushing.

Two hours later, we were at the pool.  Two hours, for a thirty-minute activity.

Working in aquatics for 16 years, I’ve taken for granted the families who’ve come through the doors.  How much time do they spend getting ready for swims?  How on earth can they think it’s worth it?

When it was just me, I could be ready in 5-minutes flat.  One bathing-suit, one towel, dog downstairs, out the door.

When it was me and Miss Q, it took about an hour.  Two bathing-suits, three towels (one for me, two for her), diapers, wipes, extra clothes, dog downstairs, out the door.

Now, it’s me, Miss Q and Miss S, it takes two hours; one for each child.  Two bathing suits (Miss S is still too young for swimming); two towels (one for me, one for Miss Q); snacks for Miss Q; water for me and Miss Q; shampoo for me and Miss Q; diapers, wipes, extra clothes for Miss S and Miss Q; ‘top up’ Miss S; has Miss Q peed?; dog downstairs; out the door.

Once at the pool, the madness doesn’t stop.  We have to get from the minivan to the building in the rain.  I feel like a pack-horse with my two bags, and two girls.

Only after leaving Miss S with her daddy and the diaper bag, I breathe.

There is one thing I haven’t taken for granted in 16 years: the water.  There’s something about floating, splashing and submerging that whisks away stress, pregnancy symptoms, and hang-overs… though the latter comes from long-ago memories.

Miss Q and I frolicked for only forty-minutes – probably our shortest swim ever.  She put her face fully in the water for the first time today, and relaxed when doing a back float.  She chased after a purple ball and played with rubber chickens.

We laughed.  We sang.  We explored three of the six pools.  And you know what?  In the end, two-hours of prep-time was miniscule compared to the joy we experienced.  We can’t wait for Miss S to join us.

Thanks to the movie “The Men Who Stare at Goats” many are now asking:

What is The First Earth Battalion?

The first thing it may do is profoundly change your perspective on the world around you.

Thirty years ago, U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Jim Channon announced “he worked for the planet.” While at the Army War College in Carlisle Barracks, Channon spent two years researching the value of the human potential movement. He created a proto-mythology for the soldier of the future known as The First Earth Battalion. These warrior monks would be dedicated, first and foremost, to people and planet.

The First Earth Battalion has many facets including Operation Desert Stream. The point hits home in the image on the t-shirt.  Those that view the shirt have to change their point of view to reveal the secret embedded within the image. Bringing water to seemingly inaccessible places certainly requires a person to change their perspective.

You must think outside the box and accept the idea that a paradise like world is within our reach.  Action is all it takes, just as the viewer is called to physical action by turning their head to see the secret revealed.

Of course his supporters didn’t need him to trick their minds, they were already mindless fools.

OK I had to post this one here too: