Gilberd The Knight walkthrough

Gilberd the Knight is a the title of a new point and click adventure game from abroy. Its about a guy who knows what justice means and he's out to travel into the medieval times wearing heavy armor but not heavy enough to keep him from pursuing justice and taking out the baddies in order to bring back peace and harmony in the lives of his people.

Analyze each scenes, pick up objects and click on the right spot to interact with the game environment thus leading you the next level. If you got stuck at some point of this game but does not want to give on pursuing justice, see this Gilberd the Knight walkthrough showing the solution.

House of Dead Ninjas walkthrough

House of Dead Ninjas is a new platformer action pixel adventure game from adultswim. Play as a ninja warrior who somehow got trapped inside a seemingly infinite tower swarming with deadly enemies. Jump, stab, throw shuriken and bomb your way for as long as you can and as long as the clock ticks. Find backdoor passages to make shortcuts.

The tower is randomly generated and is different every time you play. Dive as deep as you can in this survival platformer game before the tower claims your little ninja soul. For some tips and tricks watch this House of Dead Ninjas walkthrough from some pretty awesome player.

Maintenance

Not my house, but not all that far off ...

Our roof, of cedar-shakes, was, like most everything outside here now, covered with a thick, furry green coat of moss. Plus the gutters were full, and some of the shakes had mostly rotted away. No leaks yet, but the roof is what they call a fifteen-year roof, and it's been more than twenty years since we had it installed, so we broke down and had a guy come to work on it. 


Eventually, we need to go to composite shingles, which will outlast us, but that requires ripping the shakes off, installing plywood, and then shingling over that, and for a house the size of ours, is half again spendier than replacing the shakes, which isn't cheap, either. Somewhere between twelve and fifteen grand. 


So, if we can patch the current top and get a few more years out of it, which the roof guy guarantees, and for a few hundred dollars, it's a deal.


Which we elected to do. But it was a wet, dirty, and noisy two-day process. DID I MENTION THAT IT WAS NOISY!?


This was because the compressor that ran the big water tank and pump and all was just outside my office. And also because two guys were power-washing, then tromping around on the roof in spikes, ripping out old shakes and nailing in new ones.


The dogs were real skittish. Me, too. 


When there is a high-decibel roar coming through the walls, it's harder to tune out than you expect, especially when you can feel it vibrating your chair ...


Um. Anyway, it's done. We can mop up the muddy dog footprints again and sleep better knowing the rain won't start dripping on our heads for a while.


It's always something.

Purple Invaders walkthrough

Purple Invaders is a new point and click physics based puzzler game from turbonuke. This game is loosely similar to the popular physics puzzle game called red remover. The objective is to keep the green smileys in the game while you strategically remove the purple baddies and other elements in the game screen.

There are only 30 levels in this game but it gets progressively harder you go further. If at some point you got stuck, here is Purple Invaders walkthrough showing us the complete solution to the game.

Feet Don't Fail Me Now ...

Earlier this month, I did a post on barefoot/minimal shoes, the most recent of a few. My experience has been that when my shoes, usually cross-trainers, get worn down, my feet start to hurt, and the logic of that for me was, less padding = sore feet, and since more padding in the replacements stopped that, you can see how I might make the leap to causality there.


But since everybody and her kid sister has been writing pieces on the glory of minimal footwear, ranging from totally bare to those that are essentially rubber socks, to slightly heavier versions, I thought maybe I should–to be fair–revisit the notion.


As it happened, I have a pair of wrestling shoes in the bottom of my closet. These were from a time when we were doing a lot of mat-work in silat class in a cold garage. Summers, I go barefoot in the sand pit, but that cold concrete is more than I can manage bare-tootsied, so I got the wrestling shoes for that. 


I think the rubber socks, ala Vibram Five Fingers, and the like, aren't feasible for dog walking on muddy concrete–I wear out the soles on a pair of heavier shoes in three or four months, which is also what I used to get out of leather moccasins, and I can't imagine that the thin rubber things would last any longer, and they are really spendy. And let's be honest here, I think these things–with apologies to my friends who wear them–look like they been beat on with an ugly stick Sorry. 


The wrestling shoes, as you can see from the pictures, are pretty minimal. There are two patches of rubber on the sole, heel and ball of the foot, the rest of the sole is leather, and they aren't designed for the street, especially on wet, muddy, slippery sidewalks. I expect they'll wear out pretty fast outside. But they are thin enough so I can feel a rock or even a fir cone through the sole, and I already have them, so I am going to try wearing them instead of the cross-trainers for a while and see what that does. Empirical research.


I don't walk so fast that I can't alter my stride for a mid-sole instead of a heel strike, and they are thin enough that my foot flattens out when I put my weight on it.


So, never let it be said that I am completely closed-minded about such things. I'll try these for a while and see what's what. (What is "a while?" I dunno. If my feet start screaming after a block, that'll probably be a bad sign. One wouldn't think that one would need to break in one's feet, but perhaps mine are weak after all the time in padded shoes with arch supports, so I'll allow for that.


My main criterion for such experiments is simple: The new way feels much better than the old? I'm there. If it is less comfortable after a trial period? I'm not there. If it's the same? I'm not there, either. 


Some years ago, I decided to give up red meat, to see if it made me feel better. It didn't, so I went back to it. Later, I did cut way down on it, but for other reasons. 

Unless thin shoes that wear out in a hurry and cost more are an improvement in how my feet feel, then switching to them doesn't make sense. If there is a big improvement? I can justify that. 


Stay tuned.

How-to Knifery for Writers

Mac, over at Quantum Donuts, put up a little video on YouTube as a how-to for writers. The terminology is a little more broken out than I usually use–I tend to just use either "stab" or "slash."  (And "slice" is an alternative term to "slash.")


The first is a thrusting, or pushing motion, and the second more a waving action that eventually draws the knife sideways or backwards in a pull. A stab is usually–not always–like a punch or a hammer, with the arm extending. A slash tends to be like a slap. (One can stab on a drawing motion, of course, if one's hand is behind an opponent.)


Basically, that's all you do with any kind of muscular activity, push, pull, or combinations thereof.


Mac's divisions offer more detail, and it's a most useful bit of business if you are a writer and you don't know from knives.


Have a look:

Obama's Report Card

Those of you who are long-time followers of my ramblings here will probably recall my political posts over the last few years. Plug "Obama" into the blog's search pane and you'll see a few, more than a couple of which said, back before the election, that anybody who thought that Obama was going to sweep into office and cure everything that ailed us was in for an unpleasant surprise.


Wasn't gonna happen.


Hasn't happened.


He wouldn't be able to do half what he promised, I said, and while I expected him to fall short, I figured he was so far superior to GWB that all he had to do was one thing to beat the meatball's record, and he's done that. Health care alone, as flawed as it is, did that.


If you are against the idea of health care, that's your business; I'm for it–civilized countries don't let their old and sick and poor die because they can't afford medicine or bandages. The private sector hasn't done, and never will do, anything that will adversely affect their bottom line. Yesterday, there was a piece on the news about a drug company that raised the price of injections to help with problem pregnancies from thirty bucks a hit to fifteen hundred dollars a pop. They didn't invent the drug, so it's not as if they are trying to recoup all that research money. They just got greedy. 


They declined to be interviewed on camera. Hard to imagine why–just because they are looking to make obscene profits off women terrified of having miscarriages?


Greed might not be good, but there's a bunch of it around. 


Why has Obama's tenure been so difficult? First, here was the hellacious mess he inherited from Previous Occupant–a couple wars, a depression, country going widdershins down the toilet, all like that. Then, there were the spineless Democrats in congress who didn't step up; The man started out with two strikes against him and a pitcher with a fresh arm and a fastball with a lot of heat standing on the mound. And Republicans who didn't give a rat's ass about the country as long as Obama failed trying to fix things. And on and on and on. Started out in a deep hole and all he had to work with was a shovel ...


Obama's report card so far?


Health care, education, aid to countries hit by disasters, helping the economic recovery, mostly good. The Forever War, the situation at Gitmo, the current lob-missiles-into-Libya business? Bad. 


Yeah, yeah, NATO, everybody is being really careful to point at NATO, look, look, it's not us, but let's face it, a quarter of NATO's money comes from the U.S. and we call a lot of those shots. And most of the missiles came off our aircraft carriers and jets, even though the French and English are stepping in. There's some smoke and mirrors there, and they don't look any better now then they did when Bush and company lied about the WMDs. 


Why Libya and not Ivory Coast? There is always a line of tinpot dictators oppressing their people, and when Obama accused Bush of picking his battles–why Iraq and not North Korea? Because they have a big fucking army and no oil? he was on the money. 


Does it look different on him? No, it doesn't. 


We are still in Afghanistan and there's no early train home from that lonely stop. Everybody knows you can't win a war from the air, and unless Gaddafi bags it and heads for a villa in Syria–which might not be safe for long–the only way to beat him is on the ground. If his army doesn't defect, the rebels can't beat them. 


There is no way in hell that Obama can spin American troops on the ground there and not wind up looking like the reincarnation of George Bush.


I think he's trying. I think he's so much smarter than Bush as to be Einstein to your average bonobo. But he's not batting anywhere close to a thousand, and he needs to focus.


I give him a C+, and the plus is shaky. 


Better, of course, than the F- I gave Bush ...

Hitstick 6 walkthrough

Hitstick 6 is a new point and click adventure game developed by pyrozen. Be the most unstoppable, undetectable, unpredictable and lethal living weapon created by some insane agency. Use clever disguises by grabbing clothes from downed guards or civilians and use stealthy tactics to identify and eliminate your targets.

This game is equally entertaining like its other previous predecessor games. Missions namely; anesthesia, all in one, snow patrol and cashing out are fairly challenging. If you got stuck at some point, let this Hitstick 6 walkthrough show you how to beat the game.

Gods Eater Burst walkthrough

Gods Eater Burst is one of the newest action adventure game for the psp created by Bandai Namco. It features intense battles versus giant creatures, different types of weaponry and bullets that gives a battle variety, great atmospheric visuals and sound. The story line is also interesting setting on planet Earth but not the world you would recognize.

For more in depth review of this game, check out the first vid. As for the Gods Eater Burst walkthrough, jump to the second vid showing some boss battle gameplay.

Hands Of War 2 walkthrough

Hands of War Reign of the Black Council is a new point and click rpg adventure fantasy game on armorgames. In this game, the civil war has returned and the Heartstone is missing. Choose your side and battle your enemies on this one epic quest to unite once again the broken shards of the Heartstone. Choose your class and build attributes and increase abilities. Collect items, weapons and runes to make your character even more powerful. Raid dungeons and battle enemy bosses.

HOW II offers a nice story and lengthy gameplay with lots of side quests to do. Meanwhile, here is part of the Hands of War 2 walkthrough whilst we wait for the rest of it to be available.

Egg and Ghost

Egg and Ghost is a new action shooter platform point and click game from tequibo. The game presents a new and unique yet simple gameplay with quirky and funny characters. Defend the egg by shooting enemies like skulls with mustache, ghosts, angry enveloped and killer boxes who doesn't care about killing you but the egg. There are different power ups to utilize against funny looking egg assailants. There are also boss battles once in a while to make your life more challenging.

Whilst we wait for the Egg and Ghost walkthrough to be online, let's watch this game trailer.

Weather in Portland This Month

March, which is supposed to come in like a lion but go out like a lamb, or vice-versa, is almost over. Here, it came in like a tuna and is going out that way, too. We've had twenty-three days in a row in which we have had rain, and twenty-six of the last twenty-nine altogether. 


There's a bearded old guy down the street building a big wooden boat, and the dogs bark at something running around in his back yard every time we go for a walk ...


And twenty-three days only equals the old record–when today is over–and it's raining now–I expect a new record will have been set.


Also been cool. So far this year, we haven't hit sixty-degrees F. yet, and that's a new record, too.


At least the rain hasn't gotten too radioactive yet ...

Wizard Hult walkthrough

Wizard Hult is a new adventure puzzle point and click platfomer game developed by miniclip. Conjure a super duper powerful magic spell to make the beautiful shiloh fall inlove with you - an aging wizard. Use sparkling magic to create bricks to form platforms and overcome obstacles in your way to your love. But be careful not to hurt yourself with those bricks and also use it wisely for every block of brick costs you mana points.

Miniclicp's WH offers nice graphics, art style and fairly challenging levels to beat. Though it is not the first on its genre it is still entertaining and fun. If at some point you got stuck or don't know how to figure out a level in this game, you can see Wizard Hult walkthrough for hints and solution.

Angel Escape 3 walkthrough

Angel Escape 3 is one of the latest point and click puzzle game created by 123bee. In this game, you are a part of a fairy tale. Apparently, you were sucked into it while reading its book and now you must get out of there and get back to the reality before you get completely lost into the void. Releasing the fairies in might help you.

The game is controlled entirely by mouse. Find items and solve puzzles. Stuck on it? Find help in this Angel Escape 3 walkthrough showing the solution to the game.

Fun Da Vinci walkthrough

Fun Da Vinci is a new point and click physics based puzzle game from armorgames. Help Leonardo da Vinci to configure the system of cannonball movement towards the designated urns with the help of subsidiary subjects. Game is controlled entirely by mouse.

Fun Da Vinci walkthrough

AntiCast walkthrough

Anticast is a point and click adventure game brought to us by gamepirate ye! Starring Leon, a regular student living a normal life until one day during his class in school an anomaly occurred and he was thrown into a different world known as Aura. No one knows exactly how he got there and why. Maybe a girl named Sara has the answer. It's up to you to find out.

There are 2 possible endings for this game and one shown below is just one of them and it is the "to be continued" part. Anticast walkthrough after jump.

October Daye Contest!

I'm not going to lie, I love Seanan McGuire and the October Daye series.  I gushed over Rosemary and Rue when it first came out, and I've been devouring each book as they come out.  And I'm not the only one--the fourth book in the series, Late Eclipses hit the NY Times extended list just a few weeks ago.

And it just so happens, I have an extra copy of Late Eclipses.

IT'S DARKEST JUST BEFORE THE DAWN


With Blind Michael and his Hunt safely behind her, October "Toby" Daye is doing her best to settle back into a normal routine—or as normal of a routine as she can manage, with her personal Fetch now paying half the rent. Still, things seem to be mostly under control...until the events of a single night send everything reeling. Now, with the Queen of the Mists watching her back and the Lady of the Tea Gardens deathly ill, Toby has no choice but to get involved, no matter how much she wants to avoid it.


The trials ahead will be some of the worst faced by Toby and her strange band of allies, and not even Tybalt will be able to escape totally unscathed. What's worse, the Luidaeg is unavailable to help them. This time, they're on their own. And people keep making Toby wear dresses, which is just adding insult to dangerous injury...


Late Eclipses is the fourth book in the October Daye series, a modern urban fantasy set in both the San Francisco Bay Area and the Faerie Kingdom of the Mists which overlays Northern California.


Which means...

Writing Contest!


Here's what you've have to do.

Write a story, one hundred words or fewer, using these words:

Rosemary
Habitation
Artificial
Night
October

Bonus Points if you use the phrase "These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend"

Contest open internationally. It starts NOW, and runs through midnight Wednesday March 30th. Post your entry in the comments section.

Enter as many times as you want.

Book Review: Devil Red

Ahem:


If you are a fan of Joe Lansdale's series featuring Hap and Leonard, then all you need to know is that the newest novel featuring them, Devil Red, is out. Go get it.


If you aren't a fan of Lansdale's work, you should be. He writes good, for a white boy. 


He's also a martial arts master who has created his own system, and when he does a fight scene and wants to make it play, you can tell that he knows some stuff.


Other than that, I'm not gonna say much, save for this: In the previous adventure, Vanilla Ride, there was some gun stuff Joe got wrong. I pointed it out, and offered to vet stuff if he wanted. He thanked me, and said he'd consider that.


When I saw the book, not having gotten the call to look at gun stuff, I figured he found somebody else. 


Not exactly ...


On page 75, there is a gun reference, and I'm going to quote part of the graph in this here review:


"I mention is was a Super because if I don't Leonard always says something like, 'They don't actually make thirty-eights in automatic.' And I always think if they don't, then why do they call it a .38 with a word behind it? Shouldn't he know I'm talking about a .38 Super? Gun fanatics make my ass tired ... "


Made me laugh out loud, and is an elegant and unexpected way of dealing with it. Nice. 

Hotgame Ville Game Competition

Pada acara Hotgame Ville yang diadakan Sabtu lalu pada tanggal 26 Maret, Tim majalah Hotgame mengadakan segudang turnamen game seperti Point Blank, Gran Turismo 5, Pro Evolution Soccer, Dissidia FF, dan masih banyak lagi. Acara ini berlangsung dengan sangat menarik XD, menurut saya terutama pada Dissidia FF yang mengadakan turnamen resmi pertamanya di Indonesia. Banyak pemain-pemain handal yang biasa disebut DEWA pada game yang mereka kuasai dengan baik dan mereka bertarung untuk mendapatkan posisi atas.

Point Blank Tournament

Turnamen Point Blank yang diadakan di Hotgame Ville ini juga tidak kalah menarik dengan sejumlah player unggul dari berbagai macam kota berkumpul dah menunjukan kebolehannya di acara game competition ini.

Proyektor berukuran besar meramaikan suasana di kompetisi game ini. Para penonton dapat melihat kebolehan para peserta kompetisi game dan belajar cara bermain para pemain handal.

Final Fantasy Elixir

Komunitas Fan Site Final Fantasy Indonesia membuat stand dan mempromosikan komunitas besar mereka di Indonesia dan membagikan member card bergambarkan karakter Final Fantasy kepada pengunjung secara geratis. Di stand ini juga dihadirkan banyak barang menarik seperti "Elixir" yang biasa diketahui sebagai item dalam game Final Fantasy untuk memulihkan HP karakter dan MP X3. Bagi yang ingin bergabung dengan komunitas ini, kalian dapat mengunjungin website ini "www.ffcrystalesia.com"

Street Fighter Competiton

Kompetisi Street Fighter juga tidak kalah menarik dengan sejumlah player yang sangat menguasai game tersebut saling mengadu kebolehan dan memperebutkan posisi teratas.


Disiidia Final Fantasy Tournament terlampau dikunjungi banyak penonton karena keindahan pergerakan karakter FF yang sangat cepat dan menarik. Pada kompetisi ini dilakukan dengan menggunakan Playstation Portable yang di hubungkan dengan layar LCD berukuran besar. Tidak disangka para player Dissidia FF disini sangat handal dan tidak dapat diremehkan. Dissidia FF Tournament ini juga menghadirkan preview Dissidia 012 Duodecim versi USA yang merupakan sekuel dari Dissidia FF yang pertama.

Berbagai merchandise juga dihadirkan disini untuk kalian yang ingin memiliki figur karakter dalam game XD.

Saya rasa hanya itu yang dapat saya dapat dokumentasikan, karena terbatasnya waktu yang saya punya disana saya mohon maaf atas kurangnya informasi yang saya cantumkan T_T
Okay~ im Zenith Zenexsl over and out! XDD

ePub Updates

The publishing industry is changing, and the pace of change is picking up. Traditional paper publishers are noticing that the ePub train is leaving the station and scrambling to find a seat. Agents are looking for new models for staying onboard. Writers are realizing that they have a choice and opting at times to take the bullet train instead of the bus ...


Not to say that paper is moribund–it's still the prevailing vehicle for books, and even though the numbers there declined last year as the eBooks went up, it still offers advantages. Don't need batteries. There is the organic experience of holding a book in your hand. The royalty advances. Seeing your work in a bookstore and watching as other people see it.


Anybody notice that Borders went bankrupt? That Powell's laid off thirty people? That outside Amazon.com and the big box stores like Costco and Wallyworld, books stores in general are having a hard time of it?


There are writers who look at some of the strictures of traditional publishing and elect to turn away from that route, to directly feed the Kindles, iPad, Nooks, and whatever else can download material from the new stores, and that includes phones, laptops, and regular computers. No advance, but ebooks never go out of print. The royalty rates are six or seven times more. The delivery is immediate. The cover looks like the writer wants it to look.


Check the picture above. In some cases, at least, it even looks like a book.


I have four novels and a collection of short stories that started out as eBooks only, no paper editions, and six others that are out-of-print in paper, but now available electronically. 


If I could get the rights to all the Matador novels, I expect I could sell a few of them as ebooks. Ace doesn't want to give them up, and can't be bothered to put them on Amazon.com.


Am I making as much from them as I would if New York had put my novels out? No. Not yet. Eventually, I might, but–even if I don't? At least there is a great amount of crap up with which I won't have to put. Something to be said for that, too. 


Write a book and it doesn't slot neatly for the traditional publishers, they pass on it. If they don't think they can make enough profit on it? They pass. Put it up on the eStores, and if it sells ten copies? That's forty bucks you wouldn't have otherwise. Is that a smart choice? Hell, no, not moneywise; however, there are books that I feel the need to write, and the commercial aspects of them aren't the motivating factor. Stories I want to tell.


Dan Moran's new Trent novel is going to be an eBook first, and a POD, and I would give you good odds that he will make more money with it going this route than he would have from a traditional publisher. Not at first, maybe, but eventually. Because it is a good book–as good or better than it would be as a paper version. He's the same writer. He doesn't have to answer to a publisher or editor who doesn't like what he did. He can get input from folks who can help the same ways he did before, only faster. He makes a good living doing computer-y things, he doesn't need the money, so he can say, "Fuck this crap!" and do what he wants. 


I read about all this future-shock stuff at various places, and here are a couple, if you are interested, where you should drop round and tune in: Check out writer/editor/publisher Dean Wesley Smith's blog, along with Kristine Kathryn Rusch's, also a writer/editor/publisher. Follow some of their links.


And ... keep watching the skies ...

Laughter is the Best Medicine

You've probably seen this before–thirty eight million people have on YouTube–and there are others, but if this doesn't make you smile or laugh out loud yourself, you need to get your wiring checked:

Plazma Burst 2 walkthrough

Plazma Burst 2 is a new sidescroller action shooter adventure game on coolbuddy. Basically, this is the sequel to the popular plazma burst game. This time, you have to find a lost time machine to prevent the coming of thousands of alien usurpers. Blast your way through levels swarming with enemy robots and other filthy creatures. Run, jump, shoot (an awful lot of shooting) and enjoy the awesomeness of the graphics and physics as you reach for the final level.

The game features nice graphics, physics, a wide variety of weapons and upgrades. Also, there are 23 achievements to unlock for those who seek more challenge. Meanwhile, here are some Plazma Burst 2 walkthrough from some player - it's pretty awesome.

Ninja Time Trials walkthrough

Ninja Time Trials is a new point and click physics based game from bored. Swing your way from platform to platform as a caped stickman ninja. Ascend from hell to heaven in this ultimate swinging action platformer game. The game also has a banzai mode where the swinging is equally fun like in the ascend to heaven mode.

Anyways, as for some guide, tips and tricks for this game, here is Ninja Time Trials walkthrough that can be some sort of a guide.

Click Tribe walkthrough

Click Tribe is another adventure type point and click game on armorgames. Apparently, a tribe has a problem the plagues the people of it. As the leader of the tribe, you must find a way to solve this by finding items and solving puzzles. Navigate around using your mouse and use items in the right places.

It features nice art style, good music background and well done animation. For the walkthrough, here is Click Tribe walkthrough showing the solution to the game.

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Tiger And Monster Hassle walkthrough

Tiger and Monster Hassle is another new physics based point & click game on physicsgame24. In the story of the game, the two main characters which are Tiger and Monster had a fight and they grew apart. Enter you, the player who does not delight seeing two cute game characters having a quarrel,  must bring them back together by strategically removing blocks in the right order.

This one is quite entertaining and the physics elements are pretty good. The game is controlled entirely by mouse and there is brief tutorial at the start that should help you get started. Also, there is a solution button in the game screen that will lead you to the Tiger and Monster Hassle walkthrough video if ever you got stuck.

Mixed Blessing

Regular readers here know that I have gone from playing my guitar alone for an audience consisting of my dogs and cat, to a weekly jam session with five or six, sometimes more, musicians. Been doing this for about six months now, and been having a fine ole time.


On balance, it's terrific. But there is a drawback ...


The good part is that I'm learning how to play with other folks making sounds at the same time, and figuring out how to fit my instrument and voice into the mix. That's all new, and I'm getting everything from how to do a start count-down–one, two three, four!– and keeping time, to shifting keys without using a capo, to which harmonies I can add, or how I sing lead when somebody else is harmonizing. Great stuff.


If I hit a clam, it usually passes unheard, since there are other instruments covering it.


I'm learning new repertoire, and this is where the mixed blessing arrives. On the one hand, I've got a bunch of new songs, some in genres I've never dabbled in before–light jazz standards from the 1920s, anybody? On the other hand, most of what the group plays is simple enough that I can keep up on first seeing the words and chords–there are sevenths now and then, but mostly, the chord progressions are 12-bar blues or simple rock, three, sometimes four or five major chords, and that's not stretching me, technique-wise. 


I like playing "Hesitation Blues," which has been around since 1915, but it's not a stretch the way we do it. 


If I'm practicing repertoire for the jam and not working on some of the more complex (well, as complex as I can manage) chordal and fingerpicking material, then I'm actually losing chops. I don't want to do that.


What that means is that I'm going to have to up my playing time if I want to learn new stuff and keep the old. 


I suppose there are worse things in life than saying, Oh, well. I have to play my guitar more ...

Accoutrements

iPhone skin, above, from Grove

iPad case

iPad folding cover/stand

When new toys arrive from the electronics industry,  accessories quickly develop for them from third-party makers–not the least of which are ways to carry the gadgets around. 


There are some neat cases for iPhones, laptop computers, and the iPad. Plastic, leather, and here's a local maker, Grove, who has come to the Apple fold using bamboo.


I am fond of bamboo as a construction material. I like the way it looks, and while one can hardly talk about green and an iPhone or iPad in the same breath, the bamboo and electronics together have a nice wry effect, as you can see from the images. Way cool look.


I will be getting one of these cases for my iPad when I get it. 

Roy, Roy, Roy

With one thing and another, the Roy short stories haven't been making it into the store. Since I've continued to write them, I now have nine, and while they will be available as singles eventually, I am also going to bundle them all into a collection, and peddle it for $4.99.


Here's the slug for that:

Collected here, the nine Roy the Demon short stories. These are raucous, profane tales, rated NC-17, for language, sex, and hellish situations. You know you are curious. Come on down ...

The Roy the Demon Stories

1. Neighbors

2. A&R

3. FNG

4. Balance of Power

5. Alliance

6. Under the Rose

7. Paved With Gold

8. Disco Inferno

9. Blades

Nine stories at .99 each is nine cents short of nine bucks. The collection of all nine at five dollars, less a penny? Such a deal ...


I'll probably have to fiddle with the link, but for the moment, it does take you to my page on the Fat Sam store, and once the collection is up, that's where you'll find it first.


Eventually, I'll make these available elsewhere, Amazon.com and Smashwords, so as not to miss any of my tens of fans ...

Red Dragon Rampage walkthrough 1

Red Dragon Rampage is a point and click tower defense on armorgames. It is a classic defense game with increasing difficulty in each wave. It also features plenty of upgrades and a really fast paced action. Grab everything except bosses and throw them high only to fall to pieces or just claw them to death. Collect gold coins which you can use to buy upgrades or hire mercenaries in the shop.

RDR also has plenty of medals to earn, by the way. As for the tips and guide see the first part of Red Dragon Rampage walkthrough we have here.

Beneath the Waves walkthrough

Beneath The Waves is a new story based exploration platformer game by Gregory Weir about the sun and the sea once being lovers and the sun gave the sea eight great idols as gifts. As time went by, they grew apart and life emerged. That is when the sea shaped these idols into terrible monsters who wrecked terror before they died. The sun decided to take back his gifts and claim all of the earth for good.

This game is also about jumping, running, climbing cliffs, exploration and an awful lot of exploration in a single world. Very good game and the music background is just awesome. Anyways, if you ever need a guide to this game, here is Beneath the Waves walkthrough from some good player.

Song Stuck in My Head

For a couple years now, there has been a song stuck in my head. Actually, the more accurate depiction would be that there's a song hiding in my head. I think it's a love song, but I don't have any words for it, nor even a tune. It has a sound I can't quite describe, but I know it involves an aggressive, rising chord sequence between the verse and the chorus–or bridge, I'm not sure which way it will go. Each change should create more tension until it resolves with the last chord. 


Thing is, I'm not sure what the chord sequence is, or even exactly what it sounds like. 


That sounds a little bit addled, I know, but–it's kind of how a terrier knows a rat–I'll know it when I hear it, but I'm having trouble figuring out how to hear it. I think if I can get that chord sequence, which right now seems to be at least eight chords long, I can get the rest of it.


I've tried to nail it down a couple times, and that wound up in a couple of songs I thought weren't bad, one of them an instrumental, "Cady Jo," but those weren't what I was trying to find.


I think maybe I'm going try to pick out a melody line for the chord and then amplify that g and see can I get there from here. 


Now is when I wish I had the music theory to figure this kind of stuff out instead of trial-and-error ...

But Weight!

Before I cut out most white sugar and down on saturated fat, I weighed 205 pounds most days.


On days after I fasted, those run 36 hours between meals, that resulted in a temporary loss, usually around six pounds, sometimes a little more. All of it back during the week until the next fast.


After eschewing White Death and various forms of lard, including cream and butter and cheese, my cruising weight dropped nine or ten pounds, so 195-196. However, on mornings after the fast, it now drops only four pounds. 


I find this interesting. I am doing as much exercise as before, but only shedding two-thirds as much temporary weight after the same length fast.


I'm drinking as much water as I was. Still getting plenty of fat, mostly in the form of vegetable oils and nuts and fake butter–I couldn't give that up on baked potatoes. Not as good as real butter, but at least it's the yellow experience ...


Might be due to body composition. I figure I was about 14% body fat at 205, and maybe 11-12% now.


 It is interesting ...