It’s 1am on New Year’s Day for your (mostly) faithful author, gentle readers.
It snowed, no one called, my hair underwent a dramatic re-tealing, I had some wild nightmares, and I’ve got a few ideas in mind for the New Year and the blog!
Organize collections (books, films, dust bunnies, etc.)
Purge the unnecessary (knickknacks, old clothes, stuff I don’t need in general)
Yoga (i.e. stretching routine, meditative relaxation time, etc)
Use organizational tools to support good habits
Get into the makeup routine
Extend aggressive budgeting rules to food, clothes, vice and miscellaneous spending.
And some older goals I set for myself that still need doing (updated comments in parenthesis):
Wake up early enough in the morning to do what I want to do, not just what I have to do.
Eat breakfast, plan for lunch (see bento challenge above, too)
Drink once a week or less. (already getting there)
Find a phystical activity that I will stick to. (the yoga thing I hope)
Cut coffee intake. (less of an issue than it was when I wrote that)
Recognize and learn to manage my triggers to unhealthy actions. (ties in with restructuring my diet habits and various vices)
Read more (doing better on that!)
Blog more (no comment)
Develop a schedule for bill payment (BOOM! done on that one. heck yeah!)
Stay motivated to make lunches and dinners. (seriously, the food thing. gotta stay on it.)
Find out what smells weird in the fridge!! (an admittedly recurring issue.)
Save up for “splurge stuff”. (ties in with that budgeting of non-bill items.)
Go through my closet, find different “target weight” outfits and put them somewhere obvious. (probably not an easy thing to do since my weight has effected my wardrobe in strange ways. the idea here is to motivate myself every day to do the right things.)
Do more organizational tasks, cleaning, making lists, STICKING to lists. (can’t argue with that.)
What do you want to do in 2009? Share your list (or link to your list) in the comments!
Note: The diet and magickal journals may be completely seperate from RKNet, or at least run in an area seperate from the main blog, for those who simply aren’t interested. I am also investigating my theme options to see if a more magazine-like style might be a good way to provide you, gentle readers, with a more approachable and fun RKNet for 2009 and beyond. If you have suggestions for the site, by all means comment or write me! I love outside perspective and all criticism is helpful even if it’s not strictly “positive”.
I want to thank everyone for reading, for commenting, for subscribing to the feed, and for generally being awesome. I hope this coming arbitrary Gregorian time period is as fun, as enlightening, as painless, and as unpredictable as possible.
Dem, der allerede er tilmeldt til
(FeedBurner) RSS feed
har måske bemærket en særlig stor link dump post, bredfuld af esoteriske whatnots og okkult plantelægemidler gør-dads.
Dem, der ikke er det, jeg gerne vil direkte din opmærksomhed på den store lilla boksen i øverste højre hjørne. Eksklusiv til foder er min del.icio.us aktivitet i daglig fordøje stillinger. "Men hvorfor jeg ønsker at vide, hvad du gør på internettet?" Du måske spørge dig selv. En gyldig spørgsmål faktisk, men huske på det oprindelige formål med "blogging" som
beskrevet af fyr krediteres med at opfinde den blog
er at dele links til ting, man vil have eller ønsker at dele.
De elementer fra lørdag's link dump post alle deler en fælles tag:
wcghm.
Denne kode står for White koagulerer Greater
Homunculi
Matter. Not really. Det står for
Weiser Concise Guide til Plantelægemidler Magick.
Judith Hawkins-Tillirson tilbyder en nem at forstå indledning til studiet af plantelægemidler correspondences til planetgearet arketyper og Qabbalah som oprettes ved (Uncle Al) Crowleys
777
og beslægtede værker med en målsætning om at forbedre ens magickal praksis gennem anvendelse af planter.
Dem, der allerede er dybt fortrolig med
777
kan finde denne lidt overflødigt, men for begyndere eller generelt nysgerrig det er en fantastisk reference. Jeg tog det op på min lokale Barnes & Noble til omkring 12 $, og det var mere end værd at hver en krone. Hawkins-Tillirson mere end bare en kondenseret forståelse af plantestoffet oplysninger, der findes i
777,
hun nævner mange forskellige kilder og til tider giver forskellige fortolkninger fra denne klassiske magickal guide.
Den wcghm del.icio.us tag giver dig næsten alle web-baserede referencer citeret i bogen. Du kan komme indefra SCOOP om ting som dette, ved
at abonnere på RKNet foder,
eller du kan gå
føje mig til din del.icio.us netværk
og tilføje din del.icio.us netværk foder til din læser af valg. Du kan gøre dette ved at gå til dit "netværk" side i del.icio.us - delicious.com / network / ditbrugernavn - og rulle ned til bunden af siden, vil der være et link der hedder "RSS feed for disse Bogmærker" som vil give dig din tilpassede net-specifikke foder.
Bonus: Hvis du er en Amazon Prime medlem (du kan altid gøre det frie måned retssagen!) Kan du få det for $ 11 uden shipping. Der er også nogle der anvendes (og meget på I guess?) Kopier derude for mellem 3 $ -7 $ hvis du er nysgerrig, men lavt på lommepenge. Og selvfølgelig er der altid dit lokale bibliotek. Som Judith nævner selv i bogen, ikke undervurdere det værdifulde tjeneste, interlibrary långivningspolitik bestemmer!
Those who are already subscribed to the (feedburner) RSS feed may have noticed a particularly large link dump post, brimful of esoteric whatnots and occult herbal do-dads.
Those who aren’t, I’d like to direct your attention to the great big purple box in the upper right hand corner. Exclusive to the feed is my del.icio.us activity in daily digest posts. “But why do I want to know what you do on the internet?” you might be asking yourself. A valid question indeed, but bear in mind the original purpose of “blogging” as described by the guy credited with inventing the blog is to share links to things one likes or wants to share.
The items from Saturday’s link dump post all share a common tag: wcghm.
This tag stands for White Coagulate of Greater Homunculi Matter. Not really. It stands for Weiser Concise Guide to Herbal Magick. Judith Hawkins-Tillirson provides an easy to grasp initiation to the study of herbal correspondences to planetary archetypes and the Qabbalah as set up through (Uncle Al) Crowley’s 777 and related works with a goal of improving one’s magickal practices through the use of plants.
Those already intimately familiar with 777 may find this slightly redundant, but for beginners or the generally curious it is a terrific reference. I picked it up at my local Barnes & Noble for about 12$ and it was more than worth every penny. Hawkins-Tillirson provides more than just a condensed understanding of the herbal information available in 777, she cites many different sources and at times provides differing interpretations from that classic magickal guide.
The wcghm del.icio.us tag provides to you nearly all the web-based references cited in the book. You can get the inside scoop on stuff like this by subscribing to the RKNet feed, or you can go add me to your del.icio.us network and add your del.icio.us network feed to your reader of choice. You can do that by going to your “Network” page in del.icio.us - delicious.com/network/yourusername - and scrolling down to the bottom of the page, there will be a link labeled “RSS feed for these Bookmarks” which will give you your custom network-specific feed.
Bonus: If you’re an Amazon Prime member (you can always do the free month trial!) you can get it for $11 with no shipping. There are also some used (and overstock I guess?) copies out there for between 3$-7$ if you’re curious but low on pocket money. And of course, there’s always your local library. As Judith mentions herself in the book, do not underestimate the valuable service that interlibrary loaning provides!
OK, så lad os tale om de ting, der gør mig med at få en sur smag i ryggen af min hals, hver gang jeg faktisk kalde dette en Mortal Kombat spil. Først vil jeg straks mærke til (som i cirka ti sekunder i min første kamp), at de kæmper og bekæmpe systemet var latterligt lavt for en MK titel. Hver spiller har kun et par combos på thir bortskaffelse og omkring 80% af dem er genanvendt (hver karakter's tre første combos på listen er X, X, Y på 360. Hver en.) Og en masse af de særlige tiltag ( nu hedder magt flytter 'eller anden grund) viser, at udviklerne let foretrukket nogle af de tegn ... det er vist i skaerende detalje efter du forsøger Sub-Zero, Jokeren eller Rayden der er en smule skæv. På samme notat, de fleste af DC Universe tegn føler sig en smule lys på magt og awesomeness ... Batman er uden nogle af hans køligere gadgets (selvom han får to forskellige version af hans Baterang - hvoraf den ene er det, Douglas Adams kunne kalde
"det meste nytteløst
«) og Superman bare ikke føler, at Super.
Det drejer sig om de mest blod du vil se.
MK vs DC Universe gør en anden ting at pisse på Mortal Kombat afstamningscertifikater ved at fjerne th ...
With crossovers being a major staple in the world of superheroes, you’d think that twisting together two separate universes wouldn’t be such a foreign koncept. Leave it to long-time game developer Midway to take an idea brimming with awesomeness and lead it down a path toward failure approaching epic proportions with their newest installment of their classic, blood soaked fighter Mortal Kombat, predictably titled Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s a fully capable fighter, it just lacks the sheer kickass factor that you’d expect from an alchemy of these two trusted pedigrees. It’s sort of like most rock-and-roll super groups…combinations that look good on paper but wind up being something far less than they should be. This title takes many instantly recognizable faces from both worlds like Sub-Zero, Rayden, Batman and Wonder Woman and salts in a few third-tier douchenozzles like Jax and Captain Marvel (lolwut?) for (debatably) good measure, because I guess that Bizarro, Mr. Freeze, Doomsday, The Riddler, Steel and Lobo were all too busy to participate.Â
Massive chins a'plenty.
OK, so let’s talk about the things that make me get a sour taste in the back of my throat every time I actually call this a Mortal Kombat game. First, I immediately noticed (as in about ten seconds into my first match) that the fighting and combat system was ridiculously shallow for an MK title. Each player only has a few combos at thir disposal and about 80% of them are recycled (EVERY character’s first three combos in the list are X, X, Y on 360. Every one.) and a lot of the special moves (now called ‘power moves’ for some reason) show that the developers easily favored some of the characters…this is shown in glaring detail after you try Sub-Zero, The Joker or Rayden who are a bit unbalanced. On the same note, most of the DC Universe characters feel a bit light on power and awesomeness…Batman is without some of his cooler gadgets (although he gets two different version of his Baterang - one of which is what Douglas Adams might call ‘mostly useless‘) and Superman just doesn’t feel that Super.
This is about the most blood you'll see.
MK vs DC Universe does another thing to piss on the Mortal Kombat pedigree by removing the one constant that the series has seen over it’s seven previous titles, namely the series’ trademark violence and over-the-top fatalities. While there still is a moderate blood (this is the first T-rated Mortal Kombat), the fatalities (or DC’s ‘Heroic Brutalities’) were apparently grown with some care on the stupid farm. From Superman’s overly cartoonish “pound someone into the floor”, the Green Lantern’s “dual energy sledgehammers of doom” or The Joker’s toned-down “shoot ‘em in the face” fatality (which is unfortunately mimicked by Deathstroke, who has pretty much the same thing), every last fatality in the game is either lame or just plain weak at best. Also, you’ll find another series addition (from MK 4 on) missing in action, the multiple style palette switching and weapons. While I was reluctant to this addition at first, i did fall in love with it the first time I found up fighting a skilled player in MK: Deadly Alliance and things went from a heated fistfight to and all-out swordfight within a matter of seconds…and with heroes present like the sword-wielding Deathstroke or The Joker (who, if he’s true to character, is carrying an assortment of knives somewhere on him) this could have been easily implemented, in my opinion. If it wasn’t bad enough, add the obligatory poorly written (and equally poorly voice-acted) story mode to the mix for even more (piss-poor) flavor.
4chan users will have fun with this one, I'm sure.
MK vs DC isn’t a complete failure, find a few friends for multiplayer and overlook it’s shortcomings and you can actually have fun pitting some of the better characters against each other, and several new mechanics like a pretty intriguing grapple system and what I call ‘Falling Kombat” where characters actually beat the piss out of each other while in mid-air and the real-time bruising and suit tearing and you’ll have a degree of fun, but ask yourself…is it really $59.99 worth of fun? This gamer thinks not…but look on the bright side: at least Brandon Routh has some competition in the “make Superman look like a pussy” department.
