“Green Celebrity Profile: Hayden Panettiere short celeb hairstyle, long history of saving the world - Examiner” plus 3 more |
- Green Celebrity Profile: Hayden Panettiere short celeb hairstyle, long history of saving the world - Examiner
- Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes - Planet Xbox 360
- Literary Calendar - The Spokesman-Review
- Through The Looking Glass: Why Majora's Mask is the perfect sequel to a classic - Gamasutra
| Posted: 12 Jun 2010 07:20 PM PDT Green Celebrity Profile! Hayden Panettiere flaunted her new sexy short hairdo at the Earth Day celebration and VIP screening of Avatar at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Thursday (April 22) in Los Angeles. Just Jared reports, "The 20-year-old actress was accompanied by her boyfriend, Ukaranian boxer Wladimir Klitschko, to the Bing-sponsored event, which benefited the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools. The Earth Day event was produced by Words That Shook The World." Hayden chose to wear designer clothes from Emilio Pucci, but it was her celebrity hairstyle that set all the celeb gossip reporters tongues wagging about her red carpet appearance at the green carpet function.
GREEN CELEBRITY PROFILE: WHO IS HAYDEN PANETTIERE? Who is Hayden Panettiere? Only one of the hottest young female celebrities who is out to save the world. She was born August 21, 1989. Known best for playing the Cheerleader who has miracle healing powers on the hit television science fiction based series HEROES, she's been very active as a green crusader already since her teenage years as a soap opera celebrity kid. MTV News writes, "The gorgeous star of "Heroes" has spent the past year working with the Whaleman Foundation to protest the killing of dolphins and whales in Japan and elsewhere, taking part in demonstrations and traveling to Washington D.C. in order to speak out for the preservation of marine life." Green news excerpts from Wikepedia about Hayden Panettiere as a green celebrity:
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| Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes - Planet Xbox 360 Posted: 10 Jun 2010 04:59 PM PDT Based on the Cartoon Network series and collaborating directly with Lucasfilm Animation, Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes allows players to take up arms on behalf of the noble Galactic Republic, while pursuing the mysterious bounty hunter Cad Bane and combating the all-new Skakoan super villain Kul Teska.
Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes allows players to fight as both Jedi Knights and Clone Troopers through over 30 unique missions, all created incorporating the same ground-breaking, stunning visual style from the TV series. Featuring a brand-new storyline, players will get the chance to take part in the key events that lead directly into the highly anticipated second season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Jedi characters can slice and dice their way through countless enemies, commandeer droids and show off their combat prowess on foot and in a variety of vehicles. Clone Troopers fire things up with a heavy weapons armament that includes rocket launchers, thermal detonators and even jet packs in levels built specifically to take run-and-gun gameplay to exciting levels. Five Filters featured article: Headshot - Propaganda, State Religion and the Attack On the Gaza Peace Flotilla. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. | |
| Literary Calendar - The Spokesman-Review Posted: 13 Jun 2010 12:42 AM PDT
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Among local literary events over the coming week (free unless otherwise indicated): Richard Morgan - Presents his book "Warrior Mind: Strategy and Philosophy from the Martial Arts." Today, 12:30 p.m., Auntie's Bookstore, 402 W. Main Ave. (509) 838-0206 Lynne Hinton - Interim pastor at the Chewelah United Church of Christ presents "Wedding Cake," the latest installment of her fiction series. Tuesday, 7 p.m., Auntie's Bookstore, 402 W. Main Ave. (509) 838-0206 Inland NW Writers Guild - Join with other aspiring writers to discuss the latest news about the publishing industry. Wednesday, 6:30 p.m., Auntie's Bookstore, 402 W. Main Ave. (509) 838-0206 Dawn Nelson - Signs copies of her memoir, "A Cowgirl Remembers When," and her novel, "Cowgirl's Justice." Friday, 6-9 p.m., Arbor Crest Wine Cellars, 4705 N. Fruithill Road, Spokane Valley. (509) 328-5729 Emma Hox - Romance writer revisits the characters of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" as she presents her own novel, "Longbourn's Unexpected Matchmaker." Friday, 7 p.m., Auntie's Bookstore, 402 W. Main Ave. (509) 838-0206 John Heffernan - Signing his book "Not One Drop of Blood." Saturday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., Medical Lake Founders Day festivities, Medical Lake. (509) 534-0372 Local Authors Event - Authors will be on hand to meet readers and sign books, including Bob Manion, "The Treehouse and Santa's Heroes;" Frank Zafiro, "The River City Series, Beneath a Weeping Sky, Heroes Never Fail;" Dawn Nelson, "A Cowgirl Remembers When" and "Cowgirl's Justice;" James Parry, "Book All the Teachers;" Sharon Cramer, "Cougar Cub Tales;" John Heffernan, "Not One Drop of Blood;" Penelope Rundle, "Last Caravan;" Robert Pillsbury, "Crossroads;" Vern Hopkins, "It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time;" Michael Connelly, "Mountain Lyrics;" John Thamm, "Vets: 50 Portraits of Vets and their stories." Saturday, noon-5 p.m., Borders, 9980 N. Newport Highway. (509) 466-2231 Rich Leon - Presents his book "Nature Exploring in Eastern Washington and North Idaho." Saturday, 1-5 p.m., Hastings, 2512 E. 29th Ave. (509) 535-4342 Rob Rideout - Presents "Still Singing, Somehow." Saturday, 2 p.m., Auntie's Bookstore, 402 W. Main Ave. (509) 838-0206 Five Filters featured article: Headshot - Propaganda, State Religion and the Attack On the Gaza Peace Flotilla. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. | |
| Through The Looking Glass: Why Majora's Mask is the perfect sequel to a classic - Gamasutra Posted: 12 Jun 2010 10:05 PM PDT |
A new Zelda game is always a ripe topic for speculation and discussion, yet when the latest release takes the stage at E3 on Tuesday, the pressure on its creators will be of a different nature to the usual expectations of living up to the high standards they have set themselves. Moreso than the Mario series, which has kept the same basic rules of play but drastically evolved the framework in which they are employed every few releases, the Zelda series struck gold with its very first iteration and bar the inevitable enhancements that have come with changing technology, it has produced many masterpieces but few that offered any major evolutions of the tried-and-tested formula. Since the series' peak with Ocarina of Time however, fans have been growing weary of this repetition. Twilight Princess was a fabulous game (two-thirds of it anyway) but never felt surprising or new. Producing a masterpiece on your first attempt can be as dangerous in many ways as a failure because not only do you have to deal with massively disproportionate expectations of brilliance for your next work, but are also bound by how much of the original can be changed or replaced without attracted ire. Having achieved such success with both the series' first 2D and 3D iterations, the pressure is now firmly on Nintendo's shoulders to pull off an entry which both moves the series forward, but also keeps intact the elements that fans have come to love. I've been thinking a lot about sequels this week, no doubt due to my most recently played games being No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle and Super Mario Galaxy 2. Striking the right balance between the new and the old can very strongly depend on the reception of your first entry, not just in positive or negative terms, but also how the scenario was received, the specific mechanics and even whether the removal of one poorly-received element of play can end up adversely affecting part of the game that was universally beloved. I'll probably end up writing a lot more about this on Wednesday, but for now my eye is going to be on what I consider as one of the greatest of all gaming sequels and a prime example of how familiar gameplay can be given the same freshness as something brand new by employing it in a subtly different way. In gameplay terms, Majora uses its mask system to add subtle variation and depth to its scenarios, but sticks pretty closely to the usual Zelda formula of items, dungeons and sidequests. But the context in which it places those familiar mechanics makes all the difference.
Majora picks up a short time after Ocarina ended with Zelda sending Link back to his childhood. The problem is that Link is not a child anymore: he has fought monsters and saved lives and worlds. Worse still, no-one around him is even aware of the battles he fought to protect them. So he goes in search of the friend with whom he shared his adventures, the only one who can understand what he has been through and the hero he has become. From the very beginning, directors Eiji Aonuma and Yoshiaki Koizumi are holding the truths of Ocarina up to a mirror and revealing their opposite reflections. Ocarina's happy ending for the many of Hyrule becomes a tragedy for the individual who made it happen. The use of these small reflections, showing us new sides to familiar things (remember that masterstroke of subversion when Link finally arrives for his final battle on the moon?), is key to how Majora manages to escape Ocarina's long shadow while remaining true to the beloved elements at the series' core. Being forced to work under tight conditions has inspired many famous feats of creativity and in having to produce in less than two years a sequel to a game commonly considered as one of the greatest in the medium's history, Aonuma and Koizumi managed something remarkable by taking everything that was loved about Ocarina – its scale, its epic interpretation of the Zelda mythology, its sprawling dungeons – and turning them upside down. Where its predecessor told the story of one boy saving the world, Majora showed a boy discovering the stories of people who made the world worth saving. Each inhabitant of Termina is to their world what a dungeon was to Ocarina, yielding even the same rewards for solving their mysteries. Where in Ocarina the rewards were items to empower the hero, in Majora the rewards are masks, representative of the people who gave them to you as thanks for your benevolence in helping them. Of course Majora has items too, but most of them are recycled and feel more like recovering something lost than gaining something new. The game presents its masks in the way many tribal cultures see them, as a captured spirit whose face can be worn to gain their power and wisdom. When Link solves a puzzle using one of the masks he has acquired, it is no longer a solitary hero overcoming an obstacle, it is him drawing on his friends and memories for the power to keep pushing forward on his quest to save them before their world ends.
This idea of heroes being built by their memories and friends is at the heart of the game's story: both Link and his antagonist Skull Kid begin their stories as outsiders. But where Link goes in search of friends who can help him define himself, the Skull Kid shuns his friends in search of glory. Where Link acquires power by forming bonds with people around him, Skull Kid is betrayed and used by the mask he thought would give him alone great power. Even we players are brought into this theme at the start of the game: when Link is transformed into a Deku scrub, it is an alienating experience so early on. Seeing an old friend we admire and with whom have shared many adventures suddenly transformed and left in a weakened state is scary. Nintendo are asking of you: are you brave enough to push through that fear to save your friend? Will you turn off the console and leave Link to his fate, or will you show the real strength of your friendship in helping him no matter how he looks or how weak he has become? So many of Majora's stories are little vignettes of humanity like this one: an ignored, wounded soldier looking for validation. An old lady being mugged on her way home. An overworked postman, a dancer's spirit needing to pass on his art before he can rest in peace, star-crossed lovers divided by a cruel twist of fate. Ah, Kafei and Anju, whose final act on the eve of the world's end was to affirm their love for each other. In how many of our cold gamers' hearts are they still sitting in wait for the morning together? The three-day cycle takes a familiar criticism of the series (NPCs repeating themselves over and over again) and gives us the chance to break them free of that loop. The Hero of Time discovering that a world is not saved by conquering dark overlords, but helping each vulnerable citizen, one at a time. The symbolism of the city at Termina's heart being represented by a giant clock becomes all too apparent. One of Nintendo's greatest skills is in putting little human frailties into even the most peripheral of their characters, but never before have we been allowed to explore and help them overcome those vulnerabilites. Modern gamers might snort at the game's N64-era graphics, but amount of HD technology can make a cast of characters seem quite as human and real as Majora. That's the message Nintendo need to remember for whatever latest step they plan to unveil for the series at E3. We already love Zelda, but no matter how new her clothes and beautiful her body, sometimes more than anything we would like the chance to see into her heart.
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