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Named “Best Place to Concertize in Color Year-Round” in the Metro Times 2007 Best of Detroit issue, the Comerica-Ford Global Thursdays World Music Concert Series returns to the Arab American National Museum with a sizzling January 31 performance by zydeco great C.J. Chenier & The Red Hot Louisiana Band.
From jazzy New Orleans, Global Thursdays transports you to the world of maqam – classical music from Middle East – with the Iraqi group Safaafir on February 7, and then on to various musical destinations including Colombia, India and Ghana.
Detroit’s always impressive music scene offers up Nadir’s Distorted Soul on March 6th, in a performance focused on the acoustic, jazz and world portions of its repertoire. Michigan acoustic music is represented by Jere Stormer’s Folk Out II (April 10) with a stellar lineup including the Rev. Robert Jones and Floyd King & The Bushwackers.
Closing out the Winter-Spring Global Thursdays season with music and humor on April 17 is Babylon Circus from Lyon, France, a group that fuses ska and reggae with jazz, swing and European folk music and a healthy serving of lighthearted fun.
The AANM’s 156-seat auditorium guarantees an intimate musical experience. After the show, Global Thursdays performers typically greet audience members in the Lower Level Gallery and autograph their CDs, which are for sale at each concert.
Global Thursdays remains one of metro Detroit’s best entertainment values. Tickets are just $10 in advance $12 at the door and $8 for museum members and students with I.D. Free, ample, lighted parking is available in the municipal lot behind the museum, which is accessed by turning north from Michigan Avenue onto Neckel Street. All performances begin at 7:30 p.m.
Concertgoers may now purchase their Global Thursdays tickets in advance with a credit card at http://www.arabamericanmuseum.org. Tickets remain available by phone, also with a credit card, at 313.582.2266 or 313.624.0215. Advance-sale tickets purchased either way are held for pickup at the ticket table on the night of the performance.
Global Thursdays now has its own MySpace page, featuring artist information, music clips and links. Visit http://www.myspace.com/aanmglobalthursdays and become a Friend.
Comerica/Ford Global Thursdays
2008 Winter/Spring Schedule
January 31 7:30 p.m.
C.J. Chenier &The Red Hot Louisiana Band
New Orleans Zydeco
C.J. is the son of the great King of Zydeco, Clifton Chenier – the first Creole musician ever to win a Grammy Award. Clifton taught C.J. how to front a world-class touring band and when Clifton died, C.J. stepped up. Get all fired up at this pre-Mardi Gras party!
February 7 7:30 p.m.
Amir El Saffar – trumpeter, composer, singer, and santoor (trapezoid http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trapezoid al hammered dulcimer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammered_dulcimer with 70 strings) player – is garnering international acclaim for his work, both in the traditional Iraqi Maqam (the system of melodic modes used in Arabic music) and in the realm of jazz.
February 14 7:30 p.m.
Abuakwa African Music & Dance Ensemble
Ghanian Drum & Dance
Established in 1998 in Kokomlemle, Accra, Ghan


Company Highlights Advantages of Service Mesh to Unify Protection of Internal/External Container-Based IT Resources
KubeCon 2019: Portshift, identity-based workload protection for cloud-native applications, recently announced the company’s exhibition in booth SE30 at KubeCon 2019, held at the San Diego Convention Center from November 18-21. At the Kubernetes + CloudNative conference, Portshift will showcase service mesh-enabled security and highlight the company’s identity-based workload protection platform for containers and microservices.
KubeCon is the de-facto Kubernetes developer and user conference for DevOps professionals as K8s has become the container management platform.
But, as adoption continues to develop, so do the security challenges. As a result, it is no longer enough to implement the open-source platform within the enterprise. Organizations today must create a secure environment between Kubernetes microservices and external IT resources, which a service mesh enables.
The Portshift identity-based cloud-native workload protection platform now uses Istio Service Mesh to provide runtime security for Kubernetes clusters and the associated ecosystem.
Portshift runtime security is an intuitive and centralized way to govern Kubernetes microservices, both internal services within the Kubernetes cluster or between clusters. The workload protection provider’s security platform generates a dedicated authentication and authorization verification microservice, which can also be extended to incorporate additional external resources. With Portshift, the administrator generates a manageable security policy that encrypts communications with a single click.
“As enterprises continue the widespread adoption of Kubernetes, it will become increasingly important that cloud-native identity-based protection is in place,” said Zohar Kaufman, VP R&D, Portshift. “With Portshift, administrators receive runtime security for mission-critical Kubernetes clusters to centralize the protection of microservices. As a premier venue for the discussion around K8s security, we look forward to meeting with show attendees on this important subject.”


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|20.||Management reserves the right to refuse |
service to anyone for any reason.
Management assumes no responsibility for
actions or safety of guests or visitors.
|Guests or visitors who violate park rules or
violate the law will be asked to leave and will
forfeit any refund.
|21.||Please... Do Not Disturb Other Campers.|
|8.||Center Hill Campground maintains a |
strict ZERO TOLERANCE drug policy.

domain: travel


text:
Non-coding RNAs in gene regulation
Non-protein coding RNAs can regulate gene expression in many different ways, and multiple mechanisms for gene repression through modification of chromatin structure have been demonstrated. For example, we have shown that a non-coding RNA in the cluster of yeast genes required for galactose metabolism fine-tunes gene expression in complex environments. We are beginning to use systems biology approaches to study how gene expression responds to environmental change, and to what extent this is coordinated by non-coding RNA.
One mechanism by which non-protein coding RNAs might influence gene expression is through the initiation of RNA interference (RNAi) responses, however evidence for this process occurring in vivo has been surprisingly rare. We have recently demonstrated that such regulation can indeed occur but is highly sensitive to gene copy number, being principally active in high-copy genomic regions. This provides one mechanism by which changes in gene copy number can have major effects on gene expression.
Proposed mechanism for selectivity of RNAi towards high copy loci. Multi-copy loci can produce a high local concentration of sense and antisense RNA in the vicinity of the transcription site, driving double stranded RNA formation
This process provides a solution to a very old question: it is known that most organisms silence high-copy genomic regions, but how does the cell ‘count’ copy number? Our research has shown that as long as these regions are transcribed at a low level, the level of double-stranded RNA production is highly indicative of copy number, which can be used to direct silencing machinery. This provides a compelling reason for the recent observation that eukaryotic genomes are pervasively transcribed into low abundance non-coding RNA of unknown function. We suggest that pervasive transcription provides a mechanism to count copy number and selectively silence new multi-copy sequences, allowing cells to identify and suppress new transposons amplifying with the genome.

domain: biology


text:
Two who were kin only by marriage, but I remember them both fondly as kind, courteous gentlemen:
Aunt Lo’s deaf-mute brother-in-law was almost as great an attraction as those tiny spoons. And I mean that in the nicest way---Unca Fancy’s two brothers were both born “afflicted” as the vernacular of the day put it. Carlo did not hear or speak, but he could DRAW anything with his ever-full pocket of pencils. Everybody in town gave him paper and tablets, and he drew. He taught me the two-hand sign language, where every letter uses both hands and you spell every word. I tried them just now, and could do every letter, but slowly, stopping to think.
He preceded Pixie Stix by a decade or so---he used his “check” to buy the few groceries he kept in the little ceiling-less shack he lived in in his brother’s back yard. (Not roofless---the peak just went all the way up to the tarpaper, and the rafters provided a handy gallery for all the curvy carvings he made). He loved Jello and all the dry-mix puddings. Straight. Dry. He’d scrounge the cellophanes off other people’s Lucky Strikes and Camels, fit them neat as a cup into his shirt pockets, and pour in the My-T-Fine, from which he took a little nip with his fingers now and then, dainty as a dandy's snuff.
And he went into their house to take his “baths” but it irritated her to the Nth that he would run water into the tub, get naked, and stand outside on the mat, wetting and soaping and wringing his washcloth over and over as he used the tub primarily as an enormous basin to wash himself and thoroughly wet the mat and floor. She'd grump, "He'll go swimmin' in a bayou fulla SNAKES, and won't get in a good clean bathtub!"
But he DID have another particular talent---he searched the woods, riverbanks, fields for bits of wood, gnarled roots, bark---anything he could carve into something else, and could see and whittle the contours of a snake from any branch or root---he made them lifelike with intricately-carved markings---the diamonds and little charms of a rattler, the evil wide-head cottonmouth. They hung in all their scary glory in the rafters of “his” house, and none of us kids would set foot inside---we were all country kids, we liked HIM, and weren’t frightened by the menacing menagerie. But too many of us had seen real snakes in the rafters and ceilings of barns and outbuildings and sometimes the hunting cabins, and we weren’t taking any chances that a real one might have snuck in amongst all the fakes.
He also had an unfortunate propensity to disappear for several days, then he’d re-surface with a new ornament---a smooth stone, a coin, once even a smoothly-ground piece of turquoise toothbrush handle, adorning his person. His PERSON---he would make a little incision on forearm, thigh, stomach, chest---anywhere he could reach comfortably---insert the object, tape the wound shut, then hide in the woods or somewhere else until the cut had healed. We kids all liked him; we were all outcasts of one sort or another, and our acceptance of him and of each other was an unspoken, righteous thing.
The other brother was blind, and had a C/W band---the one who brought the Louvin Brothers to visit one day. He loved my Mammaw---she was always kind to him and always had a good meal on the table---she’d tell him “peas at ten o’clock, potatoes at four, etc.”, and I SO wanted to do that part. He wrote to us all the time, from all over the South and West, on his old Royal---occasionally he’d get mixed up as he re-inserted the paper to write on the second side, and I’d be called on to translate the two-pages-on-one-side-of-the-paper, letters scattershot atop each other, the punctuation like free-flung flyspecks.
Say THAT three times.
I’ve since tried to imagine the endless nights riding that old panel-wagon over the roads to the next stop, bathless and fatigued, and the solitary loneliness of his unfamiliar room with its tired sameness. What grim darkness of night and eye with no input from books or newspapers or color or line. Just the idea of being in a strange room, with a new arrangement of cheap furniture every night to trip even the sighted---but he made his living, and some records, besides.
I’ve always hoped that his life was brightened enough by his music to make up for part of the darkness.

domain: artistic


text:
From Dr. Richard Bandler (Co-creator of Neuro-Linguistic Programming)
“All I say is IT’S ABOUT TIME! Michael Neill has directed the process of change in the direction that works. It should be a lesson to everyone who wants to change lives – happiness is where we need to go. Michael lays out the what and the how in an easy-to-use format. Not just good reading, but good living.”
From Oli Barry (BAFTA and Grierson Award-winning director of Bye Bye Happiness)
“Michael Neill has written a simple roadmap to understanding everything you need to know about feeling happy… It is an effective and entertaining guide that deals with issues that one would normally consider to be hard and heavy. If you are depressed, think you could be feeling down, or simply just want a better quality of life, this book is your essential guide.
From Dr. Peter Fenner (author of Radiant Mind: Awakening Unconditioned Presence and Intrinsic Freedom)
“Michael Neill is a genius in making the accumulatd wisdom of his own and humainities’ search for happiness available to busy, modern and often stressed-out Westerners. Thiis book gives you profound yet eminently practical ways for realizing spontaneous joy and deep fulfillment. I highly recommend it.”
From Robert Holden, Ph.D. (Oprah’s “Happiness Guru” and author of Happiness Now )
“Warning! As you read this book you will experience many immediate positive side effects, including gentle smiles and greater happiness. Michael Neill evokes intimacy and hope in every chapter!”
From Jennifer Louden (bestselling author of The Woman’s Comfort Book )
“This book is a brimming, practical miracle! What a spot-on distillation of exactly what we each need to practice to cultivate a lighthearted life.”
From Candace Pert, Ph.D. (as seen on What the ‘Bleep’ Do We Know?)
“Michael Neill steps forward in this book as a powerful spokesman for the wonderful world of the mind. He offers clear, practical ways to manage your moods effectively without drugs. These techniques go beyond the traditional offerings of psychotherapy or even cognitive-behavioral therapy and get into the heart of what’s possible… Read this book and feel happy!”
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From Dr. Richard Bandler, co-developer of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP):
“A good roadmap to a better life – gentle and direct like Michael himself!”
From Egill Egilsson, Producer/Director CSI: Miami:
“Direct and practical – Michael’s presence makes taking on challenges fun. Do yourself a favor and read this book….It works!”
From Sacha Gervasi, screenwriter, ‘The Terminal’ and ‘The Big Tease':
“Michael’s authentic approach and insightful concepts demystify ‘conventional wisdom’ and have enabled me to look at success in a completely different way. You can feel his positive, common sense way of addressing life gently seeping into your consciousness as you read his words.”
From Geoff Hinsley, executive coach:
“If Superman needed a coach, he’d hire Michael Neill.”
From John LaValle, president of the Society of NLP and co-author of ‘Persuasion Engineering®':
“Michael has an extraordinary ability to give you the chance to reorganize your self, your career, no, your life in this amazingly easy-to-read, easy-to-understand, and easy-to-follow-through-on book.”
From Jennifer Louden, the best-selling author of The Woman’s Comfort Book:
“When you read certain books, the simple act of engaging with the words creates promising new possibilities. Michael’s book belongs in this elite, rare category. I found myself quoting this material to clients and readers-it’s that good!”
From Sean Macaulay, film critic, London Times:
“For anyone involved in creative pursuits with all the usual blocks, crises and self-loathing drama, (i.e. half of Hollywood), Michael Neill’s astute practical tips are the wise old guru you thought only Luke Skywalker enjoyed in the swamp with Yoda. Clear, digestible, insightful and easily applied, this is a system that takes every obstacle and turns it into progress with integrity. Highly recommended.”
From Paul McKenna, number one bestselling author and TV personality:
“Michael Neill is the finest success coach in the world today. The time I’ve spent reading and re-reading Michael’s work has made a remarkable difference to my success, happiness, and well-being. I have recommended it to everyone I know who is genuinely interested in self-improvement. Buy this book – it will change your life!”
From Sanjay Mehta, Head of Industry Solutions, Oracle Communications:
“Incredible know how; fantastic tools; results for all to see. Take a deep breath – your life is about to change for the better.”
From Mike Morris, CEO, Tamdown Group:
‘Essential reading for the entrepreneur – a compelling, streetwise and elegant book about life, love, happiness and success.’
From Al Secunda, bestselling author of Ultimate Tennis and The 15 Second Principle:
“Michael Neill’s mission is to make a difference on the planet and to change lives. His teachings, distillations, and wisdom have touched my heart, opened my mind, and awakened my spirit. My hope is that his writings get out, into, and around the world.”
From Jayne Thorburn, Chief Investment Officer, Amlin plc:
“Working with Michael is always inspiring, always practical and always fun. Reading ‘You Can Have What You Want’ allows you to tap into Michael’s extensive coaching toolkit and get difference perspectives on your life – both business and personal. He will challenge your ways of thinking and doing as you clarify your true goals and make them a reality.”
How to Spend Money
Give Yourself a Relationship ‘Aha’
The Three P’s of Optimism and Pessimism
Nine Different Jobs
Paying Yourself First
Happiness and Optimal Experience
The Room of a Thousand Demons
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“Michael Neill is the finest success coach in the world today. Since using his approach to create inner and outer success, I have become happier in myself, more successful, and, to be blunt, I have simply made a lot more money!” – Paul McKenna, bestselling author and TV personality
“Michael’s authentic approach and insightful concepts demystify ‘conventional wisdom’ and have enabled me to look at success in a completely different way. You can feel his positive, common sense way seeping into your consciousness as he speaks.” – Sacha Gervasi, director/screenwriter, Anvil: The Story of Anvil and The Terminal
“Direct and practical – Michael’s presence makes taking on challenges fun. Do yourself a favor ….It works!” - Egill Egilsson, Producer/Director CSI: Miami
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Complete archive of over 700 coaching tips written by Michael Neill.
Very often I am so grateful for what I have learned from your tips and courses. They have made a wonderful difference. Your insights have cut through confusion, and I have seen clearly that I need to leapfrog over some misguided mess in my thinking. When I listen to your radio programs I am struck by how kind you are to the callers as you open up the opportunity for them to break free of their suffering. Thank you very much indeed for your wonderful work and your kindness.
- Margaret Mackenzie
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What do you really want? The good news is that whatever it is, you can have it! Providing that you are willing to allow it to be.
This is because the universe operates on the principle of Effortless Success:
When you get really clear and honest about what you want,
everything in the world conspires to help you get it.
Michael Neill will be your personal coach on this CD program, guiding you through an engaging program of practical and proven strategies to get past the obstacles that keep you from living a deeply fulfilling and inspired life. An internationally renowned success coach, he shares the best of what he’s learned—about inspiration, motivation, well-being, relationships, finances, and more—from more than 18 years of training thousands of people to have what they want and create a life that makes them go “Wow!”
Click the play buttons below to listen to sample tracks from this CD.
Let him do the same for you… and you’ll experience more happiness and greater success than ever before!
Tip of the Week
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domain: literature


text:
Florence Otedola popularly known aka Dj Cuppy has signed an endorsement deal with Pepsi. She made this known on her Instagram page.
She joins the likes of DJ Spinall, DJ Xclusive and DJ Obi on the leagues of DJ Ambassadors selected by the brand. This is her first brand endorsement deal.
In her post, She wrote: “My first ever endorsement deal! To Cuppy This Tune, Grab A PEPSI! #RefreshTheMix #PepsiDJAmbassador.”

domain: celebrity


Fail2Ban is a small script written in python that is responsible for observing the logs looking for "patterns" suspects, and is able to take steps to block attackers either iptables or launching a command of your choice.
To install on CentOS , you can install the repository EPEL the following steps:
- rpm-Uvh http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/6/i386/epel-release-6-5.noarch.rpm
After installing the repository, install fail2ban :
- yum-y install fail2ban
The fail2ban configuration directory is / ec/fail2ban / there we will find two directories: action.dy filter.d.
In action.d, find fail2ban actions performed when any of our filters "hunt" some IP doing evil. These actions pass filtering with iptables, sending warning mails etc. while in filter.d, we have all the filters we use as a "trap" to catch our attackers.
In our case, we will configure fail2ban on a web server, which lately has been detected a high number of injection attack attempts, both SQL and XSS, and at least pretend block access we observed in the logs.
For that you have to edit the file jail.conf directory / etc/fail2ban / in this file have all the traps or "jails" and their corresponding actions, accompanied by some default parameters, input, it is recommended that we add in the line "ignoreip" our local ip, or to any server you can connect in case we mistakenly we block ourselves.
- ignoreip = 127.0.0.1 <nuestra ip>
Once done, we reviewed all the entries in this file, the first entry found is the ssh, this "jail" in our case is as follows:
1. [ssh -iptables]
2. enabled = true
3. filter = sshd
4. action = iptables [name = SSH, port = ssh , protocol = tcp]
5. sendmail-whois [name = SSH, dest = root, sender = email@example.com]
6. logpath = / var / log / secure
7. maxretry = 5
We ordered the following fields:
- If enabled
- The action to be executed (one per line), in this case we filter with the "action" iptables ssh port and sent a mail with the sendmail-whois action firstname.lastname@example.org
- We indicate the log file that will read the filter / var / log / secure is where SSH logs on.
- And we indicate the number of attempts to execute the action (in this case 5)
What is important here is to change the lines logpath, because our server is a plesk logs path is " / var / www / vhosts / * / statistics / logs / access_log "or" / var / www / vhosts / * / statistics / logs / error_log "the rest are changes that are mail to send the mails, and the names of the filters to be applied, we apply these:
Blocks with the / etc / hosts.deny hosts that try to connect to password protected domains (these authentication failures appear in the error_log)
Blocked by iptables hosts that are connected using a "User Agent" suspect, and send us an email to let us know.
We block hosts that try an injection of code like: GET / index.php? N = http://www.dominio.com/fichero.htm
Block the hosts that access suspicious urls, doing a SCAN or directly accessing urls trying to inject from php system calls (system, passthru) this rule fills in the expressions that we find in the logs at the end of the post, attach the filter content in our case.
A full-time blogger & Digital Marketing Expert in India. An early adopter who loves to try out various Digital, Blogging & Social media tools along with exploring some cool iOS and Android apps.


text:
Despite a blockade of its El Limon Guajes mine complex in southwestern Mexico from November 2017 until early April 2018, Torex Gold Resources
(TSX: TXG) managed to put out solid quarterly results over the last six months.
The company reported 75 days of partial operations in the first quarter due to the blockade and challenging operating conditions, and yet managed to produce 67,000 ounces of gold in doré in the three months ended March 31. An additional 8,000 ounces of gold were shipped in carbon fines.
In the second quarter ended June 30, Torex produced 78,796 ounces of gold in doré and an additional 1,300 ounces in carbon fines.
The blockade began on Nov. 3, 2017, when a group of about 20 unionized workers demanded a change in labour union. Torex told the workers earlier that day that it did not have the authority to change the union and that any changes had to go through the government. The blockade ended on April 6.
Processing operations have continued uninterrupted since their restart in mid-January and mining in the El Limon pit resumed on April 6.
Continue reading at The Northern Miner

domain: news


text:
Current position of the SSV Corwith Cramer. Click on the vessel to view position history. Use the tools, top right, to change the map style or view data layers. Dates and times use GMT (Greenwich Mean Time).
SEA Currents: SSV Corwith Cramer
July 12, 2016
Docked at Douarnenez
Partly cloudy, low 60s
Today, we set foot on land after several rainy, rocky days at sea in the English Channel. Unfortunately, many of us discovered that not only were we afflicted by seasickness on the boat, but also landsickness once we stepped on land (which is more of a woozy vertigo sensation). But all of us were glad to get a chance to explore the quaint coastal town of Douarnenez relatively autonomously this afternoon.
Douarnenez is in an area of France known as Brittany, whose people are of Gaelic origin and sometimes identify more closely as Breton than as French. You can see in the photo of the Corwith Cramer above that we flew both the Breton flag (black and white stripes, on the left) and French flag (right) as a courtesy to the heritage of the region.
In town, we wandered around the street market, drank the apple cider (a local specialty), ate some crepes, and roamed the narrow stone streets. Many of us practiced our miming skills since our French vocabulary was very limited.
In the next few days, we will visit the maritime museum here with Professor Dan and learn more about the history of Douarnenez.

domain: history


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Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle submits list of bills she may veto
Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle submitted a list of 39 bills to the state Legislature Monday that she has the option of vetoing in the next 10 days.
Reasons that the bills have been placed on the list vary from legal or constitutional concerns and potential unintended consequences to technical flaws in writing the legislation.
“While the Legislature each year passes legislation it believes is important, it is my duty as governor to ensure the bills that become law are constitutional, fiscally responsible and in the state’s and the public’s long-term best interest,” Lingle said in a prepared statement Monday.
The Hawaii Constitution requires the governor to give the Legislature 10 days’ notice of any bill she is considering vetoing. This year, the deadline to veto bills is July 6.
Putting a bill on the possible veto list does not mean that it will be vetoed. Lingle could still sign it into law or allow it to become law without her signature.
Bills on the possible veto list are:
• House Bill 415, which directs the state auditor to conduct an audit of the Department of Public Safety’s contract for prison beds and services outside of Hawaii and with the federal detention center in Honolulu. Lingle placed it on the list saying it is expensive and unnecessary.
• House Bill 444, which would extend the same rights, benefits, protection and responsibilities of spouses in a marriage to partners in a civil union.
• House Bill 865, which would create a state and county transportation working group to study the feasibility of transferring all applicable state highway maintenance functions to counties with areas that had a population of between 100,000 and 135,000. It was put on the list because it was an unfunded mandate that was lacking resources and time to adequately complete the study, Lingle said.
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text:
It's the holiday season and I figured I might as well start writing down all my gaming stuff since I don't have anything else to do.
Games I am actively progressing on right now:
Borderlands 2 - ~23 hours in, I have no idea how far I am into the main story but I've been trying to clean up some side missions
Bioshock Remastered - 2h40m, having played Bioshock Infinite first I'm still getting used to the different controls but it's been pretty good so far
VA-11 Hall-A - replaying it for the third time because of the #DailyVA11HallA thing the deveolpers do every December on Twitter (play each in-game day on the corresponding date)
Persona 4 Golden - ~1h30m in, the start didn't really impress me (so much that I considered refunding it) but I'm starting to get into the story more
Games I have paused:
Hollow Knight - almost 10 hours in but one can only handle so much Hollow Knight in a short period of time
Oblivion - I didn't go that far in the game but I'll probably have to pick up from an earlier save due to accidentally having angered the entire guard force of the capital
Oh and since I completed them yesterday I might as well talk about them as well:
Bioshock Infinite - Burial at Sea Episode 1:
The environments and backdrops are very detailed and look absolutely stunning, though that's to be expected considering the quality of Columbia in the main game. The very short length of this DLC makes it hard to get very invested in it unlike the main game and Episode 2, but the story is till pretty decent nonetheless, though I will admit that the finale was an insane curveball that had me mouth agape for pretty much the entirety of it. Gameplay-wise, the return of the weapon wheel from Bioshock was very welcome since I always felt a bit too limited with Infinite's two-weapon restriction. Other than that the DLC play very similarly to the main campaign, with the distinction of being much scarcer on resources; we're not RE2 Remake levels of scarce of course, but it still forces you to be more strategic about fights and enemies. Speaking of enemies, there are a few that are very annoying to deal with (e.g. the revolver-wielding Splicers), mostly due to the limited resources and health. I'm pretty sure I died at least 5-6 times in Normal difficulty, which is much higher in comparison to my first playthrough of the base game where I only died once. The last thing I will mention is that, about halfway into the DLC, I ran into a very annoying and persistent bug with one of the airlocks while backtracking, which forced me to reload the checkpoint a few times before moving on anyway. While I did pass through the area I was trying to backtrack to again with the main objectives, the bug was nonetheless very irritating and definitely ruined my immersion.
Final vote: 7.5/10
Bioshock Infinite - Burial at Sea Episode 1:
Oh man this DLC. Visually it's still great like its predecessor and the base game, but gameplay-wise it's entirely new. Not only do you get to play as a different protagonist, but this DLC isn't a shooter but rather a stealth game. Resources are even more scarce this time around and guns are less effective, so the only way to get to the end is to sneak around, quietly knocking out enemies with the element of surprise. Some areas were legitimately terrifying to navigate, with the continued ramblings of the Splicers or the menacing steps of a Big Daddy. All these gameplay elements, the detailed and enclosed environments and the sound design really made this a completely immersive experience, perhaps even more than the base game. I won't go too much in detail into the story but it's definitely an improvement over the previous episode. The shift of focus on Elizabeth herself is done masterfully, with her quite literally talking to herself through a projection of Booker. You really get to see a lot more of her than you would have from just the base game, and there were some moments that were genuinely heart-wrenching (like Elizabeth pleading to "Booker" to not leave her when she's being tortured by Atlas). The ending was great, and I felt like it tied perfectly Bioshock and Infinite and was a fitting conclusion to the Irrational era of Bioshock. I honestly don't think there are aspects of this DLC I didn't enjoy.
Final vote: 10/10
Today I finished a couple of games:
Left on Read
I'm not exactly sure if this could qualify as a visual novel since the mechanic for choosing dialogue options (platforming) is a bit unconventional. The game itself is nothing too extraordinary, it's just a story about this year's quarantine told via texts. It's very short (took me 42 minutes to finish it), though there is also a "Realistic Mode" which I assume takes a good while more to finish. Like I said, the game isn't anything groundbreaking but I really liked the story since it's something I can relate to a lot, though it does have a happier ending than my actual IRL experience. As someone who lately has been in desperate need for escapism, games like this are exactly what I need.
Final vote: 8/10
VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action
This is a visual novel (an actual one this time) where you influence the story with the drinks you serve. The cyberpunk setting is very detailed and honestly just really fuckin cool, the characters are very well fleshed out and relatable (especially the protagonist Jill and especially for me in this period), the dialogue is very well-written, interesting and at times plain hilarious, the pixel-art style is amazingly detailed and the music is just divine.
I mean I don't really know what more to say, this is one of my favorite games of all time. I played it once by myself about 2 years ago and again about two month ago while streaming it to my friends over Discord. This time around I replayed it for the #DailyVA11HallA "challenge" the developers do on Twitter each year, which consists in replaying each in-game day on the respective date (December 13th to 31st). I love this game so much and I encourage anyone who is into visual novels, cyberpunk, pixel art or honestly just great music to give it a go.
Final vote: 10/10
Progress update (05/01/21).
Persona 4 Golden (almost 12 hours): probably my main focus now, I've gotten very into it in the past days. I had to turn down the damage dealt by enemies to effectively progress but it made the game much more enjoyable so I think I'll keep it this way.
Borderlands 2 (~32h30): I think I'm only a couple of missions away from finishing the main story but I'll probably dick around a bit and do some more side quests first
BioShock Remastered (~8h30): very enjoyable experience so far, if not a bit tarnished by the fact that Burial at Sea Episode 2 spoiled a lot of the story to me
Night in the Woods (almost 5 hours): very much surprised by how much I have gotten into this game and especially how I can relate in more than a few ways to some of the characters; helps that the visuals and the music are stellar as well
Also, I might replay LEGO Indiana Jones or LEGO Batman on my trusty old PSP if I have some time.
Progress update (11/01/21).
Persona 4 Golden (22h): I would love to be progressing more on this game but it crashes so often while out in the dungeons that I have to expend and item to go back and save every time I manage to finish a floor without it locking up.
Borderlands 2 (37h30): halfway through (what I assume is) the final mission, will most likely be my next completion.
BioShock Remastered (11h40): I don't know how much left I have of the game, might be one hour or three, but it will probably be my second completion of the year after BL2.
Night in the Woods: no further progress.
Today I finished my first game of the new year:
I'm not normally a fan of FPS games but I have to say this one was a pleasant surprise. The art deco aesthetic is refreshing and very cool and I didn't expect the music to be so good. It's not Transistor-level, mind you, but it definitely adds a nice backdrop to the action; I remember one particular mission (the one where you go through the dam to rescue Roland) in which the music that played while I mowed down countless Hyperion bots made me feel like a complete badass like I never had before in a videogame.
Gameplay-wise there is a lot of depth to how you can approach the game, I have only played one class so far and the other 5 all have completely different playstyles. There is also an incredible variety of guns, some better than others, some that feel more satisfying to use (*cough* explosive shotguns *cough*) and some that can borderline carry you for entire portions of the game (which happened to me particularly with the KerBlaster).
The side missions are pretty entertaining (at least, all of the non-timed ones) and provide a surprising amount of backstory to the characters. The main story is probably the weakest part of the game; it's by no means bad, but it's pretty clear it wasn't the main focus. The ending especially was a bit of a sour point for me, with Jack's fight being harder for me than the Warrior fight and the Warrior itself showcasing very poorly the batshit insane power it supposedly had. Coupled with the fact that I didn't even get a chance to teabag Jack's corpse after shooting him in the head, it made for a very anticlimactic finish in my opinion.
My only other major complaint about the game is that some enemies are particularly annoying to deal with (*cough* Threshers *cough*) and/or deal borderline unbalanced amounts of damage at higher levels; this is especially evident in Lynchwood where the enemy bandits' level scales with your own and a single pistol shot from a Marauder can take out 1/3 of your shield.
Final vote: 8.5/10
Progress update (16/01/21).
Persona 4 Golden (37h40): I have managed to fix the freezing problem with the game and it has definitely restored my full enjoyement of it. I honestly think this game beats Transistor and Bioshock Infinite in how much I have gotten into it in such a short time. And holy shit I'm almost 40 hours in and I'm still yet to cross the halfway point, that shit's crazy but goddamn if I'm all for it.
BioShock Remastered (12h25): not much progress since the last time I reported, I have mostly been dedicating my time to P4G.
Night in the Woods (~7h30): I realized I hadn't counted about 1.5 hours of gameplay so I was much further into the game that I thought. I continued it tonight and... holy fuck. I'd have done the epilogue too but if I don't get some sleep I'm going to explode tomorrow. Will most likely be my next completion.
2064: Read Only Memories: I haven't really counted it so far since I stream it over Discord to some of my friends, but we're on Act 6 (of 6) so as long as we all can manage to find time for it we should be able to finish it soon. I'll probably try to approximate a completion time off of Steam's play time.
As for stuff I'll be starting next, I'm pretty sure To The Moon and Finding Paradise don't take too long to complete so they'll be on the top of the list, then when I finish BioShock I'll also start BioShock 2 Remastered.
So, uh... remember how I said I was a lot closer to the end of Night in the Woods than I thought and that it was probably going to be my next compeltion? Well, I was even closer to the end of this game and didn't realize it.
Ok so let's get this out of the way immediately: I played Infinite before this game and liked it a lot more. I liked its visuals and soundtrack better, the very "alive" Elizabeth and Booker were in stark contrast with the silent and "plot-constrained" Jack, and unfortunately Burial at Sea Episode 2 spoiled to me all of the major plot twists of the first game, so I definitely did not enjoy this game as much as I could have if I had played it first and I apologize for the constant comparisons between the two that I will inevitably make. That said, BioShock was still pretty good.
First off, the one thing that was truly on par with Infinite was the immersion, which was consistently high throughout. I really felt like I was Jack in Rapture, just like I did with Booker in Columbia. The semi-open environments were very detailed and also gave a lot more room for exploration than Columbia's did, which from the perspective of someone like me who loves to explore every nook and cranny of every area in games is a blessing.
The gameplay was pretty entertaining, though (as I did in Infinite) I ended up relying mainly on guns thoughout the game and therefore didn't make the most use out of the very nuanced combat system. I liked that I ended up utilizing pretty much every gun and almost every ammo type since every one had at least one specific situation where it was optimal, despite how limited it might have been; for example, while the machine gun, shotgun, napalm launcher and crossbow were my most used weapons, the pistol came in handy every time I had to get rid of trap wires and the electric gel and grenade launcher were my go-to against Big Daddies.
The story was mostly ruined for me by the aforementioned Episode 2 but it was still nice seeing the decadence that this city had fallen into and getting to know the reasons behind it, especially through the environmental storytelling of the Audio Logs (a feature I had enjoyed in Infinite too); if there's one thing I have to say is that the ending felt very abrupt to me, though it might have been because I was strong enough at that point that Fontaine's boss fight was pretty much a walk in the park.
The graphics and especially the audio quality of the voice lines were nothing to write home about, but then again this game is from 2007. There were also a couple bugs and some questionable level and enemy design choices that annoyed me a bit during my playthrouh.
A very solid game overall, I personally didn't get into it nearly as much as I did with Infinite but I can definitely see the appeal of it and why many people still prefer it and rever it to this day.
Final vote: 8/10
I will most likely finish Night in the Woods later tonight so expect a review of it soon.
I did say I would complete it tonight.
Night in the Woods
I came into this game with honestly no expectations. I didn't know anything about it aside from having seen a couple of the characters before so I didn't really know what I was getting into in terms of both gameplay and story.
I'll get the gameplay out of the way first since it's the least remarkable part of the game: it's simple exploration/mild platforming, nothing too extraordinary, though I must admit that despite me having a lot of fun triple jumping constantly it was occasionally a bit tedious to get around the map, especially during the dream sequences where my shitty laptop lagged quite heavily at times.
The art style of the game is very simple yet very satisfying to look at, but it honestly pales in comparison to the soundtrack. Holy shit this game has great music. There are 129 tracks in this game, and every area, hell, most individual scenes have a dedicated one that's different from the others. That's legit insane. And all of them are just so. Good. Special mention to the band tracks that you can play at home, which are a goldmine for an actual bassist like myself.
Then, we get to my favorite part of the game: the characters, and by extention the story since all of it but the last 2 1/2 hours is focused on them. I was honestly shocked by how unsettlingly real all of them felt, like these are actually people you would find in real life. They have real problems and they face them as they would in the real world. Hell, at one point in the game, when asked to name something particularly scary, Bea responds "an angry landlord knocking at your door". And for me personally, Mae was sort of a reality check. She is a girl in a woman's body with no responsibilities and no burdens who, by the end of the game, realizes she might have to change for the sake of her friends, her family and herself. I realized while playing the game I could relate to her more than I was comfortable to admit, especially in this period, and it honestly struck me completely out of left field. And that's without mentioning Bea who is probably my favorite character in the game, mostly because going down her "route" (as in, hanging out primarily with her) revealed a lot of her nuances and made me appreciate her a lot more. The rest of the story was pretty good too, the last third of the game got me completely glued to my computer screen; while I knew rationally that I wasn't dealing with a ghost, the game managed to convince me that maybe Mae wasn't completely wrong, thus making the ultimate reveal as shocking to me as to the characters.
I'm yet to play the extra content (Longest Night and Lost Constellation) and, since this was my first playthrough, I have only played one "route" so far (Bea's), but I'm definitely going to play more of this game in the future. This was a very unexpected treat that I'm glad I picked up.
Final vote: 9/10
Another one done.
2064: Read Only Memories
Ok so I got this game after hearing of (and seeing myself) the 3 cameos by characters from this game in VA-11 Hall-A, which is one of my favorite games of all time. I honestly had no idea what to expect, I only knew this was a point-and-click adventure, and after finishing it I can say I quite enjoyed the game, though not really by itself.
Gameplay is pretty basic point-and-click stuff, nothing too out of the ordinary in this department; the pixel art visuals and music are nice (though definitely not on the same level as VA-11 Hall-A's) and the setting, while not the most original, does still have the innate charm and attraction of the cyberpunk genre.
Now, I can't talk about the story and characters without talking about how I played this game. Much like I did with VA-11 Hall-A, I streamed the entirety of the game to my friends over Discord; while this did contribute to a longer, more approximated and more diluted playing experience, having my friends along for the ride was probably the main reason I even finished it in the first place. Every decision and dialogue choice was made according to our headcanons, which revolved around the player character being a dick to nearly everyone, treating Turing like an annoying little kid, constantly calling Jess a furry and spewing cat puns at her 24/7 and occasionally being nice to some people (mostly TOMCAT and Lexi). We also managed to predict a fair amount of plot events, like Fairlight not being trustworthy, Nonya getting run over by Truck-kun and, perhaps most surprising of all, Dekker revealing himself as a killer android about 20 minutes after me making a joke about him being a war criminal. All this, coupled with some recurring inside jokes and us generally goofing around at every possible occasion, definitely made my experience with the game much more enjoyable than it would have otherwise been had I played it on my own and bumps its score up a bit. Oh, and the Dana Zane cameo was nice.
Final vote: 8/10
Progress update (25/01/21).
Persona 4 Golden (~62h30): I literally first played this game exactly a month ago and Steam says I've put 77 hours into it... I'm honestly not sure whether I should be more worried or impressed by myself. My actual saved time is much lower though because of the constant crashes, but I've kinda learned how to mostly avoid/work around them. I also may have fucked up the Valentine's Day event by starting a relationship with Yukiko a long time before getting far into Rise's SLink. She was standing there crying for god's sake, I couldn't just leave like that the only girl who's shown affection to me from the moment she met me. Also, holy shit that fog ambiance is unsettling.
BioShock 2 Remastered (50m): I haven't played much of it (mostly because of school and P4G) but from what I've seen so far it will take me a while to start utilizing all the gameplay elements decently, much like for BioShock. Also, I think I'll try the non-remastered version too because for some reason this game is very badly optimized; it confuses me how it manages to run worse than Borderlands 2 and Infinite.
To The Moon (19m): I finally started it and, while I haven't gone very far into it yet, it seems to be pretty intriguing. Also, this has to be the best looking RPG Maker game I've ever seen.
If all goes well I should be starting Coffee Talk with my friends on Thursday.
To the Moon was an absolute pleasure to play. The story was amazing. I'm really excited for you to enjoy that game.
A friend of mine recommended it to me so I took advantage of the Steam Winter Sales to get both it and Finding Paradise and they're currently near the top of my play list. Despite how little I've seen so far they do seem like worthwhile purchases.
Progress update (29/01/21).
Persona 4 Golden (~73h15): the killer has been apprehended, it's January and it's snowing!... except I still have to go get Marie back from wherever the hell she went. Jokes aside, I'll probably finish this game within 10 days and will promptly restart it in NG+ because it's just so fucking good man.
To The Moon (~1h50): the story is a lot more nuanced and interesting than I initially thought, I'm all for it. Also I am still in awe at the quality of the visuals, considering the fact that it's RPG Maker.
BioShock 2: no further progress since I keep forgetting to install the non-remastered version.
Coffee Talk (~1h30): I finally started this game with my friends and I can already tell that it's going to be a blast; we've already given a (female) character a Duke Nukem voice and drawn some... questionable latte art. The VA-11 Hall-A influence is very evident but considering how much I like that game I don't mind it in the slightest.
I'll probably play Finding Paradise as soon as I finish To The Moon, and I'm thinking of starting either Portal 2 or Pyre after that.
Progress update (05/02/21). I think I'll keep these weekly on Thursdays/Fridays since my friends are only free on Thursdays for Coffee Talk.
Persona 4 Golden (86h): ok this time I'm at the actual final dungeon, that and the upcoming boss fight are the only things keeping me from my hard-earned Golden ending. I just wish I could have been spared the steaming pile of bullshit that is the Hollow Forest.. Also, Valentine's Day happened and, as I thought, rejecting Yukiko made me feel like a complete asshole; but hey, at least Rise is a fucking treasure. I'll most likely finish this game this weekend, be prepared for a mile long essay on it.
To The Moon (~2h30): I haven't played this game as much as I would have liked to this past week due to a combination of heavy schoolwork and P4G. However I will say the story is revealing itself slowly but surely and I can't wait to get to the bottom of it. Just tonight I came across a pretty heavy twist that was honestly very out of left field.
BioShock 2 Remastered (~2h): my Remastered save files weren't compatible with the original version so I stuck with the remaster, which for some reason now runs without issues. That said, I didn't go much further into this game as well, though from what I've seen so far the gameplay is more fluid than BioShock's but the story is a bit... meh.
Coffee Talk (~2h45): since unlike Read Only Memories this game doesn not feature voice overs, I have taken it upon myself to give each character a voice, regardless of how well it matches the character itself: hence, Freya has Chills' voice and the nekomimi has a Scottish accent. It sucks that due to my friends being busy I can pretty much only play this game on Thursdays because I am having a great time testing my voice acting skills and the game itself is actually pretty relaxing.
I have managed to get my hands on a PS2 emulator so as soon as I finish P4G Persona 3 FES will be my next game, with Pyre probably following it.
Since you'll have already cleared P4, P3 may feel like stepping back. Not that I discourage you from playing it, I did and am glad for it. You'll just be missing some of those quality of life changes that you're enjoying now, such as controlling party members.
Mitsuru uses Marin Karin!
In some ways I found P3 harder. You have to manage your characters more carefully. There's an illness system and no friendly fox to give you a refresh. There's a debate about which game is better, 3 or 4, but they're both good games in their own right. You just might play them a bit differently.
And P3 will turn you into an unwilling philanderer if you want to max out the links for multiple girls. :'( To this day, Yukari is still mad at me.
Well... I've finally done it. After over 88 hours of saved playtime and about 109 in total, I have finally finished this game. Prepare for a wall of text.
Persona 4 Golden
If there is one thing I can say for sure about this game, it's that it was a curveball unlike any other I've ever experienced.
I came into this game without many expectations and without any prior knowledge of the Persona series, outside of the games being RPGs. In fact, the opening absolutely did not convince me at first because not only was I surprised negatively by the graphical quality (having somehow failed to realize it was a game from 2012), but also because the game takes its sweet, sweeeeeet ass time to set itself up. It came to a point where I considered refunding it. However, in the end I didn't, and for that I have to thank in no small part the soundtrack which captivated me almost instantly. The rest is history: about 5 hours in is when I really started to get into the game and before I knew it, I had logged almost 78 hours into the game in the span of one month (which might be considered insane by some standards).
I'll start with the aspects of the game I liked less (relatively).
The overworld graphics are what you'd expect for a 2012 enhanced edition of a 2008 game, in fact as stated before they were one of my biggest gripes with the game at the very beginning; however, I must say that with time they really grew on me. The character portraits on the other hand were amazing, I absolutely adore this game's art style.
The gameplay was mostly fine: RPGs aren't typically the type of games I actively seek out but I enjoy the amount of depth of choice that they offer in terms of how you want to play the game, and this game was no different. Battles were mostly pretty entertaining, but then again I did turn down damage taken in the difficulty settings after dying 4 times to Shadow Yukiko so most of the game wasn't particularly challenging; there were however a few enemies that were particularly annoying to deal with, and an entire case can be made for the Hollow Forest being the shittiest dungeon to go through in the entire game by a mile.
The soundtrack is absolutely fuckin stackedwith bangers, and that's a fact. There are so many tracks that are burned into my mind like Heartbeat Heartbreak, Signs of Love, Shadow World, Snowflakes, Your Affection and a handful more from the later parts of the game like Heaven, Alone, New World Fool and the surprisingly unsettling Omen. Heartbeat Heartbreak deserves special mention for getting me hooked from the very first second I heard it and consequently playing a big part in not making me give up on the game at the very beginning.
The story was well written and very captivating, although I did manage to spoil myself a fair amount of stuff from the endgame, most prominently the killer's identity and the whole deal with Marie's dungeon and the final boss of the True ending. That said, they mostly didn't prevent me from enjoying all the various story events.
And now we get to inarguably the best part about Persona 4 Golden: the characters. Oh boy. I'll dedicate a section to each major one because I feel like I need to.
- The protagonist himself, while definitely not reaching the sheer chadness that the anime and spinoffs gave him, had some very amusing dialogue choices and generally showcased an element of deadpan snark that gave me quite a few chuckles along the way.
- Yosuke was a quintessential bro, served as a good source of exposition when the protagonist's silent nature got in the way and also made for some very amusing scenes along the way. His social link was very touching since it essentially boiled down to what I strive to be for my friends IRL, someone who can lend them an ear when they need to vent or a shoulder to cry on if necessary. That rank 8 scene where you can hug him after he breaks down crying was a stab in the heart, especially because a friend of mine is going through some shit and I really wish I could comfort him in person.
- Chie was a bit obnoxious at first, in part because of her more over-the-top delivery when compared to other characters, but as I progressed through the game I saw her as she really was, someone who just wants to protect the people she loves. I didn't romance her because I kinda just saw her as "one of the bois", which I guess does prove her point about not being seen as very feminine; perhaps I'll give her a chance in one of my next playthroughs.
- Yukiko struck me from the beginning: not only is she very pretty, but her more extroverted side when with the Investigation Team kinda reminded me of myself and how I turn into a very different person when I'm among people I'm comfortable with. Her social link was also very wholesome and she was the first girl I dated; although, as the months went by I started regretting that decision, not because of Yukiko herself but because of Rise being a thing.
- Kanji was absolutely hilarious, from his Shadow to his constant threats of beating the shit out of Yosuke to his softer side sometimes seeping out. I don't really have that much to say about him since he's the one I used the least in the dungeons and also one of the last social links I was able to max, but I did find cute how he was able to come to terms with himself (no homo of course).
- Rise, oh Rise. Rise is probably the first video game character I have legitimately wished was real. As someone who has never been flirted with or been in a relationship for the entirety of my life, Rise made me feel special for the first time. I know it sounds sad, and admittedly it is, but I felt genuinely happy whenever I got to spend time with her and listen to her call me "senpai". And that's why her rank 8 SL event was a punch in the gut. I knew I had already romanced Yukiko, but seeing the only girl who had shown affection to me from the second she met me crying her eyes out... I couldn't bring myself to leave her there by herself. I'm sorry Yukiko, I'm so sorry...
- Naoto confused me at first because in the English dub she (at least to me) sounded very clearly like a woman pitching down her voice to sound like a man, and I struggled to understand how everyone else was fooled by that. Once she was officially revealed as a girl though she quickly rose to "cutest in the cast" status (her victory at the pageant was completely deserved) and also had one of my favorite social links in the game. Also, holy fucking shit her voice is so soothing, it's the auditory equivalent of a warm blanket and a fireplace on a winter night.
- Teddie started off a pure comic relief and mostly stayed that way throughout the story, despite getting probably the most character growth out of anyone in the game throughout its course. Some of his antics were a bit over the top and occasionally veered into "dude what the fuck" territory, but he wasn't really that much of a nuisance. The scene where he reveals his human body for the first time completely blew my fucking mind.
While in between the story related parts there was a good amount of "filler" involving the Investigation Team's shenaningans, I don't think I would have enjoyed these characters and this game as much without it. Seeing them have fun together and even bicker with each other really cemented them as a realistic group of friends and of course made for some absolutely hysterical moments such as the beach trip.
One thing I should mention were the technical issues I had with the game. Apparently the Steam version is quite known for freezing randomly during loading screens, which is very fristrating especially while out in the dungeons since you have to expend an item to go back and save; I was unfortunately not spared from this problem and suffered it a lot especially come mid game, to the point that I even had to repeat a fair amount of cutscenes and even important story events such as the Shadow Rise/Teddie fights, Nanako's kidnapping and the fight against Adachi/Ameno-sagiri sometimes upwards of 3 times. It didn't help that my laptop has the tendency to sometimes shut down from overheating seemingly for no reason. In fact, while my save file lists 88 hours of play time, my actual logged time on Steam is 109 hours, which means I lost a whopping 21 hours of total progress due to either the game crashing or my computer shutting off.
Despite all that, I don't think in good conscience I can give this game less than the max score. One does not pour 109 hours into completing a game in the span of 6 weeks for no reason. I could have kept going on and on about all the things this game did well, all the things that I connected to on a human level, but I've already written too much for a general review.
This game was an incredible journey, of the type that you'd want to experience for the first time again immediately after finishing it. It rightfully deserves its spot in my list of favorite games of all time.
Final vote: 10/10, only because the scale only goes up to 10.
I usually don't nitpick at voice acting unless it's seriously bad, but I was disappointed with the change in Naoto's VA. Love the anime and other installments, but I really prefer the VA from the original game.
One of the HLTB podcasts touched on this but the atmospheres of P3, P4, and P5 are very different and the characters really bring that out. P4 in particular got me attached and something about it made me play through it multiple times. For you to have so much to say about all of them, I think it's safe to say that a lot of effort went into writing them as individuals and as how they got along as a team. Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed the game and had a worthwhile experience.

domain: game


text:
The Hyères Kitesurf Association is excited to announce the 2017 Almanarre Freestyle Strapless Contest, the first of its kind in France. This fun weekend will be an opportunity for the strapless freestyle discipline to make its debut in France, a country that’s wild about kiting. Continue reading to find out more about the weekend, with information provided by the contest organizers.
The first strapless freestyle competition in France will take place October 7th and 8th at Almanarre – Hyères in Var in the south of France. The contest is a friendly, international competition that is being organized by HKA (Hyères Kitesurf Association), a French association that has experience organizing speed crossing and foil competitions.
Many high-level riders live in France, and this competition will allow them to compete with others, to challenge their level, to learn about the discipline, to meet new people and especially to have a good time!
On Saturday there will be a rider’s meeting and the qualification round. The schedule for Saturday night is still a surprise. On Sunday will be the finals and the award ceremony. The winner will take home 1200 euros.
More than 20 riders are expected to compete. We invite the public to join us!
Thanks to our sponsors: F-One, Airush, Flysurfer, Manera, Domaine de la Presqu’île, Domaine de l’allamande, Wezr, Kreakite.

domain: hobby


text:
Permit 'expediter' Jen jailed on fraud charges
Published 4:00 am, Thursday, August 5, 2010
An unlicensed civil engineer and notorious San Francisco permit "expediter" faces more than 200 felony charges for allegedly creating bogus documentation for about 100 construction projects in the city, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Jimmy Jen, 56, who has repeatedly been cited for violating building codes, was allegedly involved in "massive fraud" over two decades, San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris said during a news conference.
He was jailed on $50 million bail following his arrest on Tuesday and is expected to be arraigned Friday on 232 separate felony counts. Harris said Jen is considered a flight risk.
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Jen's employee, Jian Min Fong, was being held on nearly $2.3 million bail on charges that he was involved in the scheme, which raised questions among prosecutors about the city's approval process.
A former plan checker for the city of San Francisco, Jen was well known in construction circles for his ability to push permits through building inspectors and for his close friendship with the agency's former deputy director, Jim Hutchinson, who left the post in 2005.
Jen is not a licensed surveyor and only had an "on again, off again" civil engineering license as part of his Delta Design and Engineering Systems business, prosecutors said.
He is accused of using the names of licensed engineers and even making fake rubber stamps with their names on them in a variety of projects submitted for approval since 1990.
Prosecutors said he took the name and replicated the stamp of a licensed surveyor and engineer, Ching-Liu Wu, starting in 1990. Wu actually does not do surveys, he is an engineer for Bechtel, prosecutors said.
Jen nevertheless used Wu's name on surveyor maps of 26 properties from 1990-95, prosecutors said. Then, from 2000-07, he used Wu's engineering stamp on 60 residential projects.
Wu has said he never worked for Jen on any projects, let alone those ones, Harris said. Prosecutors believe that Jen had no license, but did the work while masquerading as Wu to get approval.
Jen is also being accused of claiming that licensed engineer Tai-Ming Chen had done work on 10 projects, notably the pending proposed renovation and other work on the landmark 1923 Alexandria movie theater.
The investigation began in November 2008, when a land surveyor raised questions about a lot subdivision in one of Jen's projects on Madrid Street. He contacted Wu, triggering the probe.
Harris said the investigators soon realized that there were "very obvious" discrepancies between the approval stamps and engineers' signatures compared to the ones Jen submitted. One "curious" circumstance, she said, was that no building inspectors ever asked any questions related to the surveys or engineering plans in any of the projects. Had they done so, they would have discovered that the engineers had no role in creating the plans, she said.
"We are curious about that," Harris said, noting that prosecutors are seeking to find out how 500 bogus documents could be reviewed by the Department of Building Inspection without a single question asked.
"We will find out exactly what was going on," she said, about how the documents could make it through "these offices and that office in particular over the course of two decades without notice."
Bill Strawn, spokesman for the Department of Building Inspection, said that so far no project mentioned by prosecutors has been found to be problematic.
"We are working with the D.A. on this," he said.
Strawn said his office reviews 60,000 applications a year, signed under penalty of perjury as valid, and would not typically verify every detail of a submission.
Jen, who faces $1.5 million in fines to the city for code violations on one of his projects, was named as a target of an arson investigation involving a San Francisco home, owned by his former wife, that caught fire in February 2009. He denied setting the blaze and was never charged.