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Mad Max

PlayStation Plus Gets PAYDAY: The Heist, The Unfinished Swan Early Access

Morgan Haro's Avatar Posted by Morgan Haro on Oct 15, 2012 // Community Manager, PlayStation Digital Platforms

By now, you should have already tackled NFL Blitz which came in free for Plus members earlier this month. You should also make sure to download one of the best fighters in the genre, King of Fighters XIII, which is also free for Plus members. With tomorrow’s PlayStation Store update, you’ll want to get your blueprints out and cover up those fingerprints because you’ll be robbing some banks (in video game form of course) courtesy of PAYDAY: The Heist, coming free to Plus members! You’ll also be able to get Unfinished Swan before anyone else this week. That said, there’s much more so let’s get to it.

Don’t have PlayStation Plus? Go to the PlayStation Store on your PS3 or click here to get access.

October 16th PlayStation Plus Update

PAYDAY: The Heist

Free for PlayStation Plus Members

Dive full force into six heists of co-op madness, fighting off cops, stealing large sums of money and embarking on the ultimate high-intensity, first-person shooter adventure. You can play all the ‘heists’ solo if you like, or team up with friends on your friends list, or get your matchmaking on and work together as a group to pull off the crime.

The Unfinished Swan

Exclusive Early Release; Price: $14.99

The Unfinished Swan is a first-person painting game that begins in a totally white space; but as you throw globs of paint to explore the world, you’ll discover that the surreal, unfinished world that you inhabit is more than meets the eye. Plus members will get to be the first to discuss what this game is all about with the gaming community; so don’t miss out. The game will be released for all of PSN on 10/23.

PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale

Exclusive Beta Access

It’s time! We need your help in getting PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale prepped for showtime when it releases on PS3 and PS Vita on November 20th. Get a taste of the full game with 2v2 and 4 player online tournaments and choose from Kratos, Sweet Tooth, Radec, Sly, PaRappa and Fat Princess as you fight in Metropolis or Hades for victory. You’ll also get to check out the Cross Play functionality since this beta access works for both PS3 and PS Vita! The beta ends at 10/30 at 11:59pm PST, so get in while you can!

007 Legends

10% Discount (Regular Price: $59.99, PS Plus Price: $53.99)

As part of the door busting Day 1 Digital event, Plus members can snag the lowest price around on this new PS3 Full Game title, releasing the same day on PSN as it is at retail. Gamers and Bond aficionados alike will become James Bond reliving iconic and intense undercover missions from throughout the entire Bond film franchise including ones from the upcoming new Bond movie, “Skyfall”.
Caravan of the Dead – PlayStation Store Halloween Sale

Various (spooky) Games and Add-Ons With Extra Discounts for Plus Members

Time to celebrate Halloween with some of gaming’s most outlandishly ghoulish titles. This sale is for all of PSN, but Plus members will have the best discounts; many from 50% – 75% off the regular price. Find great games like the Costume Quest complete bundle for just $3.75, inFAMOUS Festival of Blood at a steal of a price at $2.50, and Dead Space 2 at $9.79. The sale ends 10/30. Here’s the full breakdown:
Game PSN Sale Price Plus Sale Price
Dead Space 2 $13.99 $9.79
Call of Duty: Black Ops Rezurrection: Content Pack $10.49 $7.34
Dead Rising 2 Off The Record $13.99 $9.79
Plants vs. Zombies PS Vita $10.49 $7.34
Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City $34.99 $24.49
Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack $5.59 $3.91
The House of the Dead Bundle $21.99 $15.39
Zen Pinball 2 PS Vita Monsters Bundle (The Paranormal, Sorcerer’s Lair and Plants vs. Zombies) $5.99 $4.19
AMY $4.99 $2.50
Costume Quest complete bundle $7.49 $3.75
Dead Nation $7.49 $3.75
Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime $2.49 $1.25
inFAMOUS Festival of Blood $4.99 $2.50
Monster World IV (Plus Price: $1.00 – 80% off) and SEGA Rally Arcade (Plus Price $2.99 – 70% off the regular store price of $9.99)

Exclusive Discounts for Plus Members

Our friends at SEGA once again deliver gaming goodness at a price you can’t resist. With the Master System classic Monster World IV and the more recent arcade hit SEGA Rally Arcade seeing deep discounts. I encourage everyone to check out these titles.

That’s it for this week. Make sure you check out tomorrow’s PlayStation Store update post to see all the details for this week’s Plus update, and come back next week when we’ll have more great Plus news to share. See you in the comments!

PlayStation Plus Update 10-15-2012

//Add Your Own

456 Comments   33 Replies

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+ snakeeyes211 on October 15th, 2012 at 1:52 pm said:

I wouldn’t doubt the PlayStation creates accounts just to write good things about these updates

    Morgan Haro's Avatar

    + Morgan Haro on October 15th, 2012 at 9:20 pm said:

    lol; if only we had that kind of time

+ USCCM on October 15th, 2012 at 1:55 pm said:

It’s no Bulletstorm or RE5: Gold Edition, but it’s a game that I don’t have and have been wanting to try… so no complains from me this week.

So Morgan, you got one less person to throw malice at you this week.

+ USCCM on October 15th, 2012 at 1:57 pm said:

Also, the sale is great, but I do want to mention that Festival of Blood appears on every single sale on the US PS Store. I don’t care how good it is, let it die already!

+ USCCM on October 15th, 2012 at 1:58 pm said:

Oh yea, one more thing, Morgan.

I noticed some of the early games I got from the PS+ service expired and cannot be started up, even though my subscription is still active. Any idea why or how to solve/prevent this?

    Morgan Haro's Avatar

    + Morgan Haro on October 15th, 2012 at 4:05 pm said:

    Which game(s)?

+ ezeka_matthew on October 15th, 2012 at 2:47 pm said:

Awesome update! I know I was down last week since Plus seemed to be lacking in an October / Halloween theme, but let me quote Lloyd from Dumb and Dumber, “And then you do something like this and totally redeem yourself!” That’s how I feel! Looking forward to Payday and buying a couple of the games on sale.

One question: I signed up for the PS Rewards card, redeemed both the $50 voucher (Dishonored pre-order!) and one year of Plus, which is also fifty dollars. Does that mean I get the free $20 dollar voucher in November?

Thanks for the help!

    Morgan Haro's Avatar

    + Morgan Haro on October 15th, 2012 at 4:05 pm said:

    Yep, you should be at the $100 total for the $20 back in November

+ ATFrez on October 15th, 2012 at 2:53 pm said:

Some great deals there, but none of them actually interest me. I played the Payday demo and wasn’t impressed. I would definitely love to see Hell Yeah!: Wrath of the Dead Rabbit as an addition to the IGC. I hear the EU Plus already has it.

+ dino2115 on October 15th, 2012 at 2:58 pm said:

Sadly nothing in this update that appeals to me.Guess ill get Payday and try that out,

+ Astro411 on October 15th, 2012 at 3:07 pm said:

Even though PAYDAY doesn’t look like my kind of game i can at least try it, it’s free and i can’t complain about that $-D

Adding money to the wallet and using voucher codes (which i think the one year Plus was) don’t count, you have to spend money from the PSN wallet to make it count towards the promotion.

@ Morgan
After all the announced Day1 Digital titles are released will it be over or will more titles be added to it?

Already have some of the stuff from the discount and will be getting a couple of titles more, hopefully there will be more discounts next week and the one after that, and i would be really disappointed if any of these titles ended up free fer Plus anytime soon.

    Morgan Haro's Avatar

    + Morgan Haro on October 15th, 2012 at 4:49 pm said:

    Whatever content we can get that we can release the same day on PSN as it comes out at retail, we will do so. This initiative wasn’t just a one time thing, but more of a kick off greater things to come. So while they may not be labeled Day 1 Digital, we’ll still be doing the same practice. But as far as whether they’ll have a Plus discount, or a preorder will depend on a game by game basis for the time being.

+ asc1982 on October 15th, 2012 at 3:10 pm said:

+ DasRequiem on October 15th, 2012 at 3:10 pm said:

I just got a $20 psn card. It looks like I’ll have to get a $50 now.
Awesome! and Payday is free. This is terrific news.
I have to get Unfinished Swan and inFamous Festival of Blood.
Keep up this awesome service. I hope everyone gets to know what Playstation is doing with PSN Plus.

+ liledawg on October 15th, 2012 at 3:15 pm said:

PAYDAY The Heist is a great game, anyone who has not played it will love it. Nice discounts also, and the PlayStation All-Stars beta, looking forward to testing it out, already know I am buying it though. I have loved Playstation Plus since day one and always will be a member and a supporter, I love coming on here every Monday to see the weekly Plus post.

+ Andy10003 on October 15th, 2012 at 3:19 pm said:

Thanks guys! I’ve been interested in Payday for a while but never ended up getting it. Although if you guys could put Catherine for free for PS+ that would be the best thing ever :D

    Morgan Haro's Avatar

    + Morgan Haro on October 15th, 2012 at 4:49 pm said:

    <3 Catherine. One of my top games from 2011.

+ TwinDad on October 15th, 2012 at 3:20 pm said:

Only Sony knows the subscriber numbers for PS+. I doubt highly that the number of complaints on the content of PS+ even on the blog if it were 100% (take 200 unique comments), wouldn’t total 1% of the subscriptions to plus. I think that a Poll would be great, but I still believe that Morgan would be correct in saying that the response is positive.

Summer 2011 free title, that’s the one, thanks for the reminder.

+ Street_Killaz on October 15th, 2012 at 3:24 pm said:

Dead Rising 2 Off The Record 9.79 holly deal,Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime 1.25 lol i will get those…crazy deals

+ snakeeyes211 on October 15th, 2012 at 3:26 pm said:

Well my biggest problem is I can’t go on somebody somebody says the works for PlayStation and and has an agenda I go on what I see week by week believe you me I love my PlayStation and being a PlayStation plus member but where not getting the same value as other regions are and that’s my biggest complaint

+ IIL0YDII on October 15th, 2012 at 3:27 pm said:

Payday?who’s picking these “awesome” free games for plus?

+ bamahollis88 on October 15th, 2012 at 3:28 pm said:

Hey Morgan I have a couple of questions. The first one being when are you going to give us more full PS3 games? US is going to have 8 PS3 full games and 16 psn games by next week , while EU will have 13 full games and 11 psn games by the end of this month. I know you said that the team is looking into this and are going to try and fix it, but can we get a time line on when we should see the changes?

The next question is, will there be a Halloween type game coming next week for the IGC, because I’m not spending any of my money until I know what’s coming out next week.

Also if you could give real answers and not any vague answers like “don’t worry you will be happy next week”, because most of the time that’s just not true at all.

+ blakseed on October 15th, 2012 at 3:28 pm said:

I wonder if people that comment like asc1982 know how insane they look to people. hmm. Anyway, Dig the update. I’m wondering if the DLC that came out for Payday will get a plus discount anytime soon?

+ snakeeyes211 on October 15th, 2012 at 3:29 pm said:

I can go on what somebody that works for PlayStation says as they have an agenda
Sorry for the typo

+ snakeeyes211 on October 15th, 2012 at 3:30 pm said:

Sorry for the typo
I can’t even type anymore I’m getting all my words wrong :-(

+ asc1982 on October 15th, 2012 at 3:37 pm said:

+ Akimitsu782 on October 15th, 2012 at 3:41 pm said:

To those complaining about Dead Space 2 being given away for free in other territories must remember one thing. If your PS+ subscription runs out, you can’t access those free games. If you pat for the discounted version, you still get to play that game even if your subscription runs out.

+ pers1m0ny on October 15th, 2012 at 3:42 pm said:

Seriously? A *discount* on Dead Space 2 is the best that you can do for the US PS Plus members?

Thanks, but no thanks. After Playstation EU has gotten it for free I have to agree with what others have said, this is a slap in the face. I am simply not going to buy this on principle. Paying 10$ now to get it on discount is like casting a vote that I’m ok with this kind of shenanigans.

Well… I’m not ok with that. So you get no $ from me.

And if you think that giving us KOF23.5 is anywhere near to closing the gap between EU and US because it nominally is a ‘full game’… guess again…

That KOF is a full PS3 game?? Give me a break, you can put it on the pile with Bloodrayne and those other 2D ‘retro’ games we’ve been getting so much of lately. It fits right in with that, and to me, is worth just about the same…oh just about 0$. Actually, worse than that because I don’t even feel like playing that crap even though I’m getting it ‘for free’.

+ Akimitsu782 on October 15th, 2012 at 3:42 pm said:

I noticed that happening to me the last few times I resubscribed after my PS+ ran out. A quick fix is to initiate the download for that game again and then cancel it, which should allow you to play it again and update the expiration date on that game.

+ SLEEPLESS_KNIGHT on October 15th, 2012 at 3:45 pm said:

Can’t wait to try out some PS All-Stars BR on my Vita vs. my kid on his PS3! Just signed him up for a PS+ account this weekend since I’m a fairly new member and love it so much and he already got his money’s worth with LBP 2, Infamous 2 and Ratchet & Clank All4One! He’s loving it so far!

Looking forward to more great things from PS+ going forward.

[PS] LOVE the new design coming for the PS Store – it’s long overdue!

+ Dinsouza on October 15th, 2012 at 3:48 pm said:

Hello Morgan! I know this isn’t the right place to ask this question, but no one answered it on the “The Drop” post for this week.

Can you confirm to us whether Vita’s Jet Set Radio is coming tomorrow or not?

Thank you

    Morgan Haro's Avatar

    + Morgan Haro on October 15th, 2012 at 9:21 pm said:

    Stay tuned to the blog

+ asc1982 on October 15th, 2012 at 3:49 pm said:

+ tippy78 on October 15th, 2012 at 3:50 pm said:

Any word to when the store will be updated tomorrow? I wanna get on that allstars beta as soon as possible

+ dodgedoors on October 15th, 2012 at 3:53 pm said:

I am definitely getting dead space 2. Just wish they were packaging 1 and 2 together for 15 bucks, would be much better. I know plus will probably give it away next week or the 30th, but at 10 bucks I’m down to own it. I have extraction already but I haven’t played it in over a year, maybe I will revisit it.

+ asc1982 on October 15th, 2012 at 3:53 pm said:

+ DION3TO on October 15th, 2012 at 3:54 pm said:

Great update!
I amc ertainly getting Pay Day and buying The unfinished Swan!

Thanks, Sony.
And pleasy keep coming with this great support!

+ camiwaits_us on October 15th, 2012 at 3:56 pm said:

I’m still not feeling PS Plus enough to go back to it. I shall wait for next month when it arrives with Vita content.

+ whatisdelicious on October 15th, 2012 at 3:57 pm said:

Morgan, don’t worry about all the week-to-week hate on Plus. Just a very small, vocal minority. I probably wouldn’t have chosen Payday, but that’s kind of what’s great about it, right? Now I get to play a game I never would’ve bothered with otherwise. Same thing happened with Borderlands and Double Dragon and Scott Pilgrim and Lara Croft and Warhammer and Renegade Ops and a TON of other games on Plus. No, not every game will appeal to me personally, but that’s impossible. Just means I have a diverse lineup.

So yeah, try not to let it all bog you down.

+ SLEEPLESS_KNIGHT on October 15th, 2012 at 4:04 pm said:

@83 Exactly! Without Plus, I wouldn’t have bothered even downloading a demo of most of those games you mentioned, but offer them to me for free? Hell yeah I’m gonna at least download them and try them out once. I’ve even been pleasantly surprised by a few of them.

Of course you can’t always please everyone, but is it worth $50 /year? Absolutely!

+ Darth-Krayt on October 15th, 2012 at 4:06 pm said:

Hey Morgan,
Thanks for PayDay. I’ve been wanting to play this for a while, just havn’t had the extra money these days. This is why Plus is so great for the financially strapped gamers like myself. Love it, no matter what the delivery format may be. It was amazing value when I signed up not long after the program launched, and it’s amazing value now. I would love Red Dead Redemption. So put in my vote for that. Maybe even just the Standalone Undead Nightmare Red Dead game. It would be a great addition just before All Hallows Eve.

And a bit of feedback for the digital preorders. As a gamer I don’t care SO much about mid-night launches (though I would like that as well), what I REALLY care about, and THE reason I pre-order games, is the DLC that comes with those pre-orders. I don’t want a theme, I hardly want avatars though they’re welcome. All I really want is cool in-game content. DOOM 3 doesn’t have a retail preorder DLC bonus, so I’ll be going digital anyway. RE6 and BL2 digital customers were miffed about not getting the pre-order DLC, so it’s not just me. Feedback to keep in mind for future digital pre-orders.

+ Benmo316 on October 15th, 2012 at 4:09 pm said:

Wow. This is going to be a busy week. I can’t wait to get my hands on PS All-Stars. Also getting The Unfinished Swan early is awesome. Tomorrow’s update can’t come soon enough!

+ DeviantBoi on October 15th, 2012 at 4:09 pm said:

Another crappy PS+ update… a crappy game that you give out for free hoping that people will spend money in micro-transcactions.

Don’t you think we’ve noticed? How many pieces of micro-transactions did King of Fighters have?

+ race2winnet on October 15th, 2012 at 4:10 pm said:

Re: Weekly vs Monthly Plus Updates

It appears that most of us love getting a new game every week, rather than all at once, but I think that it would go a long way for you to give us a blog post at the beginning of every month outlining all the games that are scheduled to be added to the IGC, along with the respective dates. That way the team can continue to update weekly and the subscribers will know what they have to look forward to for that respective month. If nothing else, it would limit the complaining to just once a month rather than once a week! ;)

+ B-I-G-_-R-O-B on October 15th, 2012 at 4:12 pm said:

you would think that with all those old PSP games sitting there that SONY would at least give ONE A WEEK to PS PLUS MEMBERS. i need PSP GAMES that one reason i got PLUS come on people PLEASE put one in next week GRAN TURISMO, THE 3rd BIRTHDAY, ALICE MADNESS RETURNS for PS3

+ snakeeyes211 on October 15th, 2012 at 4:12 pm said:

What about PlayStation plus giving us games that we couldn’t afford through the year instead of games we were never going to get to begin with and borderland is a great game but if you compare what we’re getting to other regions we are getting less value for plus

+ Fiado12 on October 15th, 2012 at 4:14 pm said:

awesome pay day… but … Resident evil 5 ???? =( =(

+ MrBeatdown on October 15th, 2012 at 4:18 pm said:

Cool. Looking forward to Payday.

I might grab Dead Rising and Infamous FOB too. I got to renew PS+ by the end of the year too… I might have to consider going for the $100 deal.

And Morgan, is the response to #55 right? Does redeeming a PS+ voucher count as spending $50?

    Morgan Haro's Avatar

    + Morgan Haro on October 15th, 2012 at 4:44 pm said:

    He (or she) only said they redeemed the voucher to get the Store $$, and then bouth PS Plus. But to be clear, redeeming a PS Plus card that was purchased at retail can’t count towards the “Spend $100″ promotion because no money left your SEN wallet. But when you add funds to your SEN wallet via a voucher and then spend them in the Store, then that counts.

    hope that makes sense!

+ Jak23ft on October 15th, 2012 at 4:19 pm said:

So EU get Dead Space 2 for free and we get it on sale? What gives?

+ Qatsmasher on October 15th, 2012 at 4:19 pm said:

I don’t know if you guys simply aren’t thinking about it this way or if there are other factors limiting what you can do but, here’s an example or two:

Darksiders 2 came out on August 14th. It would have been wise to give away Darksiders 1 as part of the IGC a few weeks prior. Why? It could help drive sales of Darksiders 2. If you give away a game like that and the majority of people play it, and dig it, it is likely they’ll purchase the sequel, either on release day or shortly thereafter.

You had an opportunity to do the same with Assassin’s Creed 3 but it looks as if you’ve missed the boat on that one too. You could have put AC1 in the IGC, and discounted all of the other Assassin’s Creed games in the month leading up to the release of AC3. Again, get everyone who may not have played any or most of them and bring them into the series, thus, potentially driving more sales of Assassin’s Creed 3.

Seems a better strategy than giving away another 2D game or small PSN game. I’m all for the smaller guys getting buzz but they’re also the ones that could likely use the actual money from sales.

    Morgan Haro's Avatar

    + Morgan Haro on October 15th, 2012 at 4:42 pm said:

    other factors yo

+ Tsupi_Az on October 15th, 2012 at 4:20 pm said:

I am content for the week with PAYDAY, was hoping for a horror game for halloween but this will do since they wear masks :)…. But this does beat all those 2D retro games we have been getting.
Maybe next week we will get something from the horror genre right Morgan…..

+ texas_ride on October 15th, 2012 at 4:23 pm said:

I don’t like finding out the day before store update what’s in Plus that week. If I buy something the month before it’s free or discounted I don’t feel ripped off. But buying something in the week or two before it gets discounted hurts. Pretty much I don’t buy anything now unless it has Plus promotion except for the rare new game that got me interested for a day-one buy. I think monthly or at least biweekly dates should return to the weekly post. Today should introduce content for Oct 30, but then list what’s in the next three updates.

+ UnHoly_XXIV on October 15th, 2012 at 4:23 pm said:

*sigh* I JUST bought Payday last week. Story of my life. Anyway, keep up the good work Sony!!! Proud PS+ Member.

+ MiNdOfADaRkSoUl on October 15th, 2012 at 4:25 pm said:

Really am wishing i wouldn’t have renewed my membership to plus , the deals are getting worse and worse.Won’t make the same mistake again, waste of money !

+ NovaChronicle on October 15th, 2012 at 4:27 pm said:

Nice update, not really looking forward to anything this week aside from unfinished swan (wouldve preferred a plus discount instead of early access imo) but cheers to the plus members looking forward to Payday, I got it myself on pc for like $2-3 during a sale and enjoyed the heck out of it. Really hoping the Ps vita plus content will be awesome when it launches :)

+ pudgenet on October 15th, 2012 at 4:29 pm said:

Is the Zen bundle for Vita only?

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« More Mutants | Main | More Chinese rocks »

August 10, 2006

did anyone ever find out why they called that comp 'we're all normal" (which is a bonzos thang, and NOTHING to do with arthur or love)?

Check out the lyrics to Love's "The Red Telephone" from Forever Changes: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/l/love/the+red+telephone_20085457.html

CX said everything I wanted to say, and better.

Dale Hazelton

Did Arthur Lee produce and arrange "Forever Changes"? It's brilliant, both sparse and lush at once, and a time capsule that's incredibly contemporary. The strings, horns and that sort of Mariachi guitar on Alone Again Or almost sound like Ennio Morricone helped out in the studio. Lyrics are pretty inciteful too. "The news of today will be the movies of tomorrow....." Couldn't have gotten that any more right. It's sad that geniuses of that era live in obscurity and need fundraisers to help out with bills, but Britney, Christina, Ashley etc. have more money than they'd ever need...

Holland Oats

Thanks for this -- and I was at that Keep Refridgerated show!

Holland Oats

'we're all normal and we want our freedom' is a line spoken at the end of one of there songs...

Holland Oats

...red telephone

Sure will miss this guy... BADLY

Listener Howard

Re: "We're All Normal...": Arthur was referencing Peter Weiss' "Marat / Sade". I don't remember if the Bonzos were making a similar reference, or if their's was just a coincidence of phrase.

thanks for the steer-straight on 'normal.' oddly, i have most of the love lps, and marat/sade is one of my favorite movies/plays, but i never twigged. i guess i was too imprinted by high school nights spent riding around, blasting the bonzos and screaming that phrase at people.

Thanks for this recollection. Your experience is rightly to be treasured.

Great blog! A bit of everything for everybody!
Love oldies and underground music! Make some of my own on http://www.xarj.net/

harvey the roadie

Roadied for Arthur and Love in 1974 UK tour. Cut sets regularly, in half once really annoying audience and making support band (Casablanca)go on again. However standing at side stage at Rainbow London (I made a tape of this at Arthurs request and it has been unofficially released so I have been told) and other gigs the guys power was amazing even though he was out of his head most of the tour

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Привет, Мир!

Posted by: aschilba | August 29, 2009 Comments Off on Привет, Мир! |

Hello everyone,
my name is Marta Tarantsey and this 2009-2010 year I am the language assistant of the Russian Department of the Willamette University. I am from a medium-size city of Voronezh in Russia, and I have lived in Oregon for over 6 years after having moved here in 2003 with my mother.
My major is French and I spent last semester studying abroad in Normandy, the first student from WIllamette to ever do the study abroad program at the University of Le Havre. After the program, I went back home to Russia’s black-soil region for the first time in 6 and a half years to see the rest of my family.

I enjoy working with students and truly admire the courage of those who have decided to study my beautiful though difficult to some, language. I was impressed with the passion and dedication of WU’s students I have worked with in the past – whether practicing case endings at 7 in the morning on Monday so they would be 100% confident going in to their 8 am quiz or spending afternoons helping to polish out a Politics/Russian double major’s thesis.
When it comes to literature, I like Chekhov, Leskov ( I hope to write a Russian blog about this wonderful writer later in the year), but wouldn’t resist a modern-day detective thriller, either – story has it, I possess the capability to go through two of those a weekend.
Next issue of Russian blog will be about the rumored appearance of cybernarcotics on the Russian internet, or, as I refer to it most of the time, Runet. Your ideas for Russian blog issues, class-related and unrelated events, and any questions are welcome – my email is mtarants@willamette.edu or you can find me through the WISE system via the mailtool.

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Home » Movie Review: The Shunned

Movie Review: The Shunned

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Once upon a time not long ago, the folks at Anchor Bay were dedicated to giving neglected, forgotten, and mistreated films the proper DVD treatment they deserved. When you dropped your hard-earned dollars to bring home one of their snazzy products, you knew you were getting something worthwhile, something you could add to your collection without being ridiculed by your elitist friends. Those days, it seems, are long gone. Feel free to cry into your favorite handkerchief and whine to anyone within earshot. It always helps me feel better.

Anyway, this once-dependable company has joined the greedy ranks of Lionsgate and Asylum, dumping countless subpar horror pictures into a market already saturated with half-assed backyard productions and cheap turn-a-buck motion pictures. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, any local yokel with a digital video camera and a few friends can lens a movie in a matter of days. Hollywood is just a small investment away.

And when they've returned from their slipshod journey into the dodgy world of micro-budget filmmaking, those money-hungry distributors are quick to toss these wonky epics onto cluttered video store shelves across the nation, where they ultimately fall into the unsuspecting hands of die-hard genre fanatics. We live in an age of the amateur — just look at this review.

Why I decided to waste my time and money on Christopher M. Downs' pathetically low-budget horror disaster The Shunned is truly beyond me. Maybe I was hoping for a solid "western" horror picture, something along the lines of Dead Birds or even Ghost Town. Unfortunately, I wound up with the type of listless production that usually finds its way onto those budget-line Brentwood DVD horror collections you see in the cut-out bins every Halloween.

This never should have been picked up by Anchor Bay or any self-respecting distributor who wants to continue making money off a very loyal fan base. It takes a lot to turn my cinematic stomach these days, so imagine my pained surprise when The Shunned managed to create a bloody tidal wave of acidic fury in an otherwise ironclad gut.

The story is horribly trite and entirely forgettable, but I'll sum it up for you anyway since I have nothing better to do with my evening. It seems that a psychopathic slasher with a potato sack on his head is cutting up the slow-moving residents of your proverbial one horse town using a variety of razor-sharp weaponry. How brutally original.

Seeing as how the local sheriff is completely incompetent and entirely bald, a United States Marshall is called in to investigate the murders and hopefully put a stop to the man responsible for these heinous crimes. Can they locate, subdue, and dismember this sadistic bastard before he strikes again? More importantly, do you even care?

I'm sorry if you were expecting more, but that's pretty much all the film has to offer in the way of plot and characterization. It's not unlike a drunken story told by your toothless grandfather right after he suffers a crippling stroke that prevents him from using the left side of his face. Sure, things get a bit more complicated as the film progresses, but you'll have to stay awake in order to discover them. Try as you might, I seriously doubt you'll make it past the half-hour mark. Hell, I'll be surprised if you make it past the first five minutes, which features quite possibly the worst pair of breasts I've ever seen in my entire life. You'll never look at your overweight great aunt the same way again.

Western horror is a truly untapped subgenre, full of possibilities for the savvy director talented enough to put the pieces together. Sadly, Christopher M. Downs isn't the right man for the job. His direction — if you can honestly call it that — is lacking in every possible way. I'm not sure if people are aware of this, but there's actually more to filmmaking than picking up a cheap camera at Big Lots and conning your friends and family into participating in what could easily be described as a very bad idea. If you're that desperate to make a picture, that gung-ho about lensing your own production, perhaps some time spent in a library with a how-to book is in order. That is, of course, if you can actually read.

What's wrong with Christopher's limited directorial skills, you ask? Well, let's see. The film is way too dark, coated with too many cheap video effects, and appears to have been shot on a two-dollar camera phone in the middle of the night. Is that enough for you? No? Well, let's add some horribly inconsistent sound design to the mix. At times the audio is crystal clear and rather enjoyable, then suddenly muffled and tinny. I've seen YouTube videos with better clarity, resolution, and execution.

The acting isn't too bad, but since you never really get to see the actors doing their thing, separating the good from the downright awful is a seemingly impossible task to accomplish. So I'll skip it. I'll also skip over the quality of the special effects, since they too are shrouded in unnecessary shadow. If you're going to take the time to actually film a death scene, be sure you know how to light the set properly so your audience can get an unobstructed view of the carnage. Unless, of course, you've got something to hide.

I've wasted enough time with this one, folks. The Shunned is a flat-out failure, a sorry excuse for a horror picture if there ever was one. Anchor Bay should be ashamed of themselves. Releasing this kind of novice trash into a market overflowing with cheap productions will ultimately make people like me turn their back on a genre that needs all the support it can get.

Likewise, films of this nature do nothing to help horror's already dodgy reputation. In fact, it just pounds another rusty nail into its cheap, splintered pinewood casket. If you see this so-called "movie" lurking in your favorite video store, kindly ask the manager to toss it directly into the wastebasket. The Shunned isn't worth your time.

But at least its appropriately named.

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About The Film Fiend

  • Foywonder

    I heard from the filmmaker after I reviewed it myself. According to him, it was made just to see if they could do it and was never intended to be released, but then Anchor Bay offered them money for the rights. That should tell you a lot about the mindset behind many of these companies will to snatch up and release damn near anything horror related to DVD and why the bubble on the horror DVD market is about to burst.

  • T. Rigney

    That’s really pathetic. REALLY pathetic. Taking a chance on any straight-to-video horror release is risky business these days, which may explain why I find myself turning my nose up at most of the stuff I see at the video store. Anchor Bay should be ashamed. I know the name of the game is to make a buck, but dumping this kind of nonsense into the market is embarrassing for all involved.

    Then again, some of the blame has to fall on Christopher Downs. If I had made something this subpar, I wouldn’t want the damned thing ruining my reputation before I had a chance to create something that was a true reflection of my talent.

    I wonder how much integrity goes for these days, anyway?


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Monday, November 26, 2012

House & Birds

Before the stuffing
Casa six update
I sew & sew bird ornaments while Manolo continues to make progress with our new house. Here are a few photos I took of the construction site over the weekend. The ground level (which is below street level) is where our bedrooms will be and the top level will have the living/dining room, kitchen and studio. I'm getting so excited about our house, can't wait to move in in the spring!

22 Lovely Comments:

Blogger Mendruga said...

Qué maravilla!

11/26/2012 11:52 AM
Blogger Brenda said...

Adelante! Qué emoción!

11/26/2012 2:22 PM
Blogger Anne Marie said...

Since I first knew your blog I think Manolo and you have made and lived in at least three different houses...

... I can't imagine how it must be to move from a house you like/love as often as you do.

...I must admit, I am curious... Making beautiful houses, living in them and then selling, is it a way of life not only a way to make money...? Or is it part of Manolos "artform" ...making a house, challenged by the surroundings, living in it for a while and then finding another architectural challenge....?

Anyhow, they are all beautiful!

11/26/2012 2:24 PM
Blogger Gabrielle Gauldin said...

I love your blog soo much I put a link to it up on my website

11/26/2012 3:50 PM
Blogger takumi yori said...

Your art is so wonderful.I wish I could buy it..but my money is isn't enough cause i'm just 16.. :D
From Malaysia~

11/26/2012 5:33 PM
Blogger AnnieOf Blue Gables said...

Yay, Geninne, I received your prints today, What a fun way to celebrate my birthday early. I LOVE them. Thanks so much and for the post card as well. I love the stamps on your envelope. Everything you do is beautiful. EVERYTHING.

11/26/2012 7:03 PM
Blogger nicole said...

It will be beautiful, like its inhabitants.

11/26/2012 9:24 PM
Blogger Shahrul Niza said...

Gorgeous birds again :). I'm always inspired by your pretty organisation of your tools, everything looked so yummy. I THANK YOU (and Monolo) for building your casa around the trees, preserve them as they are such beauty to behold. You are lucky to be living in nature like that soon :). I enjoyed pictures of your homes so much especially with your plants and Turbo in them!. HUGS.

11/26/2012 11:05 PM
Anonymous simona said...

How much energy to face another move! Your art and your approach to life is fantastic.

Best wishes
Simona, Milan, Italy

11/27/2012 4:26 AM
Blogger Almu said...

Qué ilusión, Geninne, seguro que es fantástica, como tú y toda tu familia (Turbo incluido, por supuesto!)
Me encantan esos pajaritos de tela.
Aunque no aparezco mucho en los comentarios, te sigo cada día. Un beso!

11/27/2012 6:46 AM
Blogger Jay Bendt said...

I certainly know what it's like to move so often, but you have beautiful homes built by your husband at least! that must allow for a lot of customization, which I imagine would be great.
Your work is lovely!

11/27/2012 8:44 AM
Anonymous Manon - Editora Rocco said...

Prezada Geninne,

My name is Manon and I work for the Children's Books dpt. of Editora Rocco (, one of Brazil's most important publishing houses.

We are working on a fiction book about Brazilian birds and would love you to illustrate it.

Here goes my e-mail adress:, in case you're interested in reading the manuscript!

Sorry to post this message as a comment, I couldn't find your e-mail address...

Manon Bourgeade

11/27/2012 10:27 AM
Anonymous eames office fashion said...

Your art and outlook is amazing! keep on inspiring! From an artists point of view, what do you think of this eames office fashion chair ?

11/28/2012 9:18 AM
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12/02/2012 7:38 AM
OpenID 95acresofsky said...

We built our own house a year ago, though the work is enormous and there is a ton of stress it is so worth it when you live in a space that really works for you!

12/05/2012 12:05 PM
Blogger Lau (Bulubú) said...

I like it, I like it so much!!!
Beautiful all of your things!
Kisses from Argentina!
I'm Lau, my blog :)

12/06/2012 8:16 AM
Anonymous Levi Ervin said...

Wow, your bedrooms are basically going to be underground! That’s so cool! I can’t wait to see what your house looks like when it’s finished. Good luck to you, and I hope you post more pics of the progress!

12/06/2012 12:44 PM
Anonymous Calvin Mordarski said...

Congratulations on the progress of your home! Putting the bedrooms on the floor beneath, which is below street level, was a great idea. It will ensure privacy and security. Here’s to hoping your new home will be finished soon!

12/07/2012 7:37 AM
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sus cuadros me parecen muy hermosos
Un saludo

12/10/2012 8:01 AM
Anonymous gilbert said...

Life's full of surprises!

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7/13/2015 6:03 PM

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Saturday, November 29, 2008

Daniel Vosovic in Grand Rapids

Photo: Katy Batdorff

Daniel returned home to Grand Rapids for an appearance at Schuler Books and Music yesterday.

Click here and here for a couple of great articles from

and here is a field report from BPR's own Paula D:

With the lure of microbreweries and a promise to avoid any malls, my husband and I set off from just outside Detroit this morning to Grand Rapids for Daniel Vosovic's book signing at Schuler's Books & Music. It was super. Daniel spoke for about 40 minutes before the signing. He was incredibly charming, intelligent, kind and warm. It was an extra treat to see him on his home turf with friends and family in attendance. It goes without saying that the book is beautiful.

He has made a lot of wise decisions to guarantee a long career. I expect many more great things from him.


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8 Ways to Search on Windows 8: The Bing App

Yesterday we kicked off a series of posts that will showcase 8 ways to search on Windows 8. Today we are following up with our second post that will cover our favorite app (you guessed it) Bing.

First off, we completely reimagined search for Windows 8 so searching with the Bing app is fast and fluid, whether you use a touch device to tap and swipe or type and click with a keyboard and mouse. The first thing you’ll notice is that visual results and images take center stage letting you quickly find what you’re looking for.

While you can still rely on the Bing web experience in Internet Explorer, we’ve tailored the Bing app to take advantage of the innovations available in Windows 8 specifically hardware acceleration and touch. You’ll see elements like autosuggest and search are designed for touch allowing you to seamlessly interact with search with a tap or swipe.

Fast and fluid scrolling through the continuous list of results with a swipe of your finger allows you to quickly scan through results. Rich answers provide a glance-able way to experience search. Your eyes quickly pick up the differences amongst search results based on smart captions and image previews urging you to click or tap into the search results.

Seeing is believing, so check out the following video where Stefan takes the Bing App through its paces.

Check back here next Wednesday and Thursday for the next two installments of the series. In the meantime, let us know if you have any areas that you’d like to see us cover.

– The Bing Team

Join the conversation

  1. yuanmei

    I have not followed it yet

  2. 45sylvesterm

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Monthly Archives: January 2013

@BUERC Member Attends the Presidential Inauguration

Patrick Devanney, the ERC’s Retention Program Specialist, was invited to view President Barack Obama’s Inauguration and take part in an historical moment in our nation’s history week. Patrick canvassed for Congressman John Tierney (D-MA 6th District) this past fall. I made my way to Washington, D.C. on Saturday, January 19th, meandering through New England byways […]


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Bright Ideas
8/8/12 at 11:18 PM 2 Comments

Pornography Addiction in America (INFOGRAPHIC)

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The following infographic from  is an excellent reminder that America has a porn problem. The infographic reports that "40 million Americans are regular visitors to porn sites."

From the Bible we learn that King David had an affair after watching a woman bathe. Later in life King David wrote, "I will refuse to look at anything vile and vulgar ..." Psalm 101:3 NLT

Perhaps this verse is not about avoiding sexual temptation but can be applied to this sin. The Bible teaches us, "Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart." - 2 Timothy 2:22 NIV

Porn Addiction in America
Browse more Health infographics.
CP Blogs do not necessarily reflect the views of The Christian Post. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author(s).


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Blogs -- Sports - News - Entertainment - Lifestyle - Opinion
Capitol Watch | Connecticut Politics -- - Hartford Courant, Connecticut breaking news, politics, sports, entertainment, weather

Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy Says Rell is 2 For 2; But Rell Supporter Responds, "Dan Who?''

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Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy says that Jodi Rell is now two for two.

After the Republican governor allowed the state budget to become law this week without her signature, Malloy says she has done it again.

Under Public Act 07-239 that became law two years ago, Rell had a deadline of September 1 to act on a new state plan of economic development. But no action has been taken - eight days after the deadline.

"This is just like the budget. It became law without the governor's signature,'' said Malloy, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor. "If you think about it, it's really kind of mind-boggling. The governor refused to take a position on the state budget, and now has apparently refused to take a position on an economic development and smart growth plan that could potentially help put Connecticut's economy back on track.''

When asked by Capitol Watch about Malloy's charges, a Rell supporter responded, "Dan who?''

One of Rell's press aides, Rich Harris, on Wednesday said, "We have not yet received the final draft from DECD. That's where things stand.''

Harris was referring to the state Department of Economic and Community Development, which is heavily involved in the issue.

A "responsible growth task force'' was created by the 2007 law, which called for membership that included state commissioners. The bill, sponsored by House Republican leader Larry Cafero of Norwalk and former Senate GOP leader Louis DeLuca of Woodbury, had wide bipartisan support. The measure passed in the state Senate on June 6, 2997 by 35 to 0.

"This is a two-year plan that is supposed to guide our economic development and smart-growth strategies,'' Malloy said. "It's a plan for which the state paid $500,000, and it's a plan that technically, by default, is supposed to now be in place. Yet, in the face of all that, our governor has no opinion on it. First the budget. Now this?''

State GOP chairman Chris Healy said that Malloy had not made any contributions to the state budget process and questioned the results of the state task force on smart growth.

"What has Dannel Malloy proposed to cut?'' Healy asked. "Smart growth is just a euphemism for controlled, centralized planning by the apparatchiks of the Democratic Party and the permanent government. It's an elitist, centralized planning model that decides who gets to build. We haven't had much growth - dumb growth, smart growth or moronic growth.''

Malloy is running against three other candidates for the Democratic nomination: former House Speaker James Amann of Milford, Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz of Middletown, and state Sen. Gary LeBeau of East Hartford.

The November 2010 election is still a long way off, and so is a potential summer-time Democratic primary in August 2010. But a poll in February by Quinnipiac University showed Rell far ahead of her potential Democratic challengers, who have much lower name-recognition than a governor who has been constantly on television and radio for the past five years. The latest Q poll on the issue showed Rell ahead of Bysiewicz by 21 points, ahead of Malloy by 32 points, and besting Amann by 40 percentage points.

The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

In a hypothetical Democratic primary, Bysiewicz was in the lead, followed by Malloy and then Amann. LeBeau had not yet announced his candidacy at the time of the poll.

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Former Colorado standout Chad Brown weighs in on Bill McCartney plea

BOULDER – I caught up with former Colorado standout linebacker Chad Brown following Bill McCartney’s speech to Buff Club members on Tuesday and asked Brown, a second-team All-American in 1992, his reaction.

McCartney asked to speak following Jon Embree’s media luncheon which this week was at a Boulder hotel and was also attended by CU boosters.

The theme of McCartney’s speech was to remind CU supporters that his first four Buff teams won a total of seven games and that everyone needs to be patient with Embree (3-13) as he builds the program.

“Everybody remembers Colorado’s glory days,” said Brown, now a sports radio talk-show host. “But it took a foundation to build the glory days. I think that’s where Coach Mac was trying to offer that perspective. And I think that’s where this program is now.”

Brown was asked if he thought McCartney’s message was effective.

“Having heard him for five years (as a player), just to hear that voice speaks to something inside of me,” Brown said. “Even to this day, I still use ‘Mac-isms’ all the time.

“To have to Coach Mac stand up and sort of reset the perspective is, I think, important.”

Brown, who played 188 NFL games spanning 15 seasons, said he is not surprised that Embree is taking a lot of heat after CU’s 0-3 start in his second season, with losses to Colorado State, Sacramento State and Fresno State.

“We live in a culture of instant reaction,” Brown said. “And we demand instant satisfaction. When Eric Bieniemy comes in (as offensive coordinator), when Jon Embree comes in, there can’t help but be expectations that are tied directly to the glory days.

“When you bring in a new coach, yes, you want some excitement. You want to sell tickets. You can’t help but make that tie (to successes in the 1980s and ’90s). But this program is not there.

“The foundation of that era is completely washed away. There’s the memory, there’s the pride, there are the expectations. But until that foundation is back, you can’t really point to those days and tie them to these days. That core, that culture has not been built. That type of player, that type of recruiting class is not here right now.”

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And the Winner Is

We posed the What Is GIS challenge and some of you responded. Thanks to everyone who participated and also to anyone who took a few minutes to ponder what a GIS elevator pitch might sound like. One thing I’ve learned in life: words matter. Communicate effectively and you have a good chance of winning the contract, job, or customer. If you speak a language that’s foreign to your audience, you court rejection or, worse, setting unrealistic expectations that you can’t deliver on.

Now, imagine a drum roll please. The winner is…oh, that’s right, wait.

We actually selected two winning entries. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a tie. Congratulations to co-winners Brandon Batt of Atlanta, Georgia and Brett Lord-Castillo of St. Louis, Missouri. Brandon and Brett both zeroed in on something we think is vitally important: the people aspect.

  • To paraquote Brett: GIS is “the people, data, and systems that answer the ‘Why?’ of ‘Where?’”
  • To paraquote Brandon: GIS is “a technological framework within which [geographic] information is stored, and includes the people and the methods employed to answer questions about the real world.”

Well done, winners!

Many participants mentioned components of a GIS: hardware, software, data, workflows, and tools. Without a knowledgeable person or team putting those things to valid use, however, the output is meaningless, dangerous even. It’s become easy to make a GIS map or use a GIS tool without realizing what’s at work. Ideally, behind the scenes GIS professionals are at work, helping to make sure maps reflect rather than distort and data informs rather than misleads.

In Esri Training Services, we know the importance of people. Our jobs revolve around devising ways to help people acquire knowledge and skills, create valid GIS products, and support decision makers as well as a mobile and information-hungry public.

Here’s what I’ve learned from this challenge: Coming up with a short, engaging description for a technology that’s used across so many disciplines, for so many applications, to answer an enormous number of questions is…difficult. My future elevator pitch involves bookmarking a cool GIS map on my smartphone or tablet, and showing rather than talking. As one challenge participant said, “A GIS map is worth a thousand pieces of data.” A GIS map is also worth more than 50 words.

Brandon and Brett, a free Virtual Campus web course is not a ticket worth 600 million, but we hope you enjoy your learning experience and take away some useful knowledge that assists your GIS journey.

About SuzanneB

Suzanne is a Maryland native with a degree in English Literature who enjoys writing about Esri technology and other topics. She works with Esri Training Services in Redlands, California.
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The True Portraiture of Judge Littleton – Pic of the Week

At a recent public event, I presented a display of books from the Law Library’s Rare Book Collection including this unusually printed 1591 edition of Littleton’s Tenures.  One of the attractive features of the book is that it contains two very nice engravings that were bound into it ahead of the title page.  The engravings, which are likely to postdate the printing of the book by several decades, are copies of a portrait of Sir Thomas Littleton that was much reproduced both anonymously and by well-known engravers during the course of the 17th century.  It is unknown who created the two engravings in the Law Library’s copy of the book.

Two engravings bound (on facing pages) into the Library of Congress copy of a 1591 imprint of Littleton’s Tenures. Identical captions below the portraits read “The True Potraiture of Judge Littleton, The Famous English Lawyer.” In both, Littleton is seen to utter his family motto in Anglo-Norman “Ung Dieu et Ung Roy,” or “One God and One King.”

Although the two engravings are nearly identical, they are not the same.  The way the binder juxtaposed the two on facing pages, the first on the verso of the preceding leaf, the second on the recto of the following leaf, emphasizes the differences.  Some of the guests who were present at the rare book display began trying to find all the points where the two engravings reproduced below differ.  Within a very short time the conversation turned to a Roman Polanski film based on an adventure novel by Arturo Perez Reverte in which a handful of nearly identical 17th century woodcut prints held the answer to a very dark puzzle.  But real life can be so disappointing: the guests gave up their search before they found any esoteric meanings in the differences between the engravings.

Please have a look and decide which engraving is the “True Portraiture of Judge Littleton.”

  1. John Baker
    June 28, 2013 at 3:03 pm

    This was originally engraved by Robert Vaughan for the 1629 edition of Coke on Littleton, and was reused in the 1633 and 1636 editions. The anonymous copies are later, from the 1670 and 1684 editions.

  2. Nathan Dorn
    June 28, 2013 at 5:13 pm

    Many Thanks, Professor Baker.

    – Nathan Dorn

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E3: Ultimate Band DS

Ultimate Band

When Hannah Montana: Music Jam hit shelves last year, I was genuinely excited. I wasn’t a fan of Miley Cyrus. Despite my little sisters constant urgings, I haven’t seen the show. Nor was I an enthusiast of pop music. I like my tunes a little more emo.

But I did like the Music Jam’s gameplay. It was phenomenal. It borrows a little from Jam Sessions and a little from Elite Beat Agents to create a phenomenal experience on drums and guitar.

If Music Jam was an appetizer for what’s to come, then Ultimate Band for the Nintendo DS could be considered a first course. Fall Line Studios and Gorilla Systems Corps. expanded the concept immensely in ways I didn’t even expect.

Players start off as a musician fresh off the bus. Looking to make it big in Rockapolis, our hero forms a band, finds a manager and works different venues trying to win over the audience and city.

To do so, players will have to play up to four different instruments: lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass guitar and drums. There could possible be a fifth instrument (but I wasn’t able to see it in action.) They’ll play through 15 unlockable songs, which each use a voice recording.

The guitar gameplay consists of strumming and holding down the directional pad as a chord. As the notes start streaming down the frets a la Guitar Hero. The system works well and it doesn’t cramp your hand like other titles.

For the drums, players have to tap on a virtual drum set posted on the touch scree. To hit the right drum, circles will appear over each pad and players will have to strike it to continue the song. It works beautifully. If tapping isn’t your style, you can also press the face buttons or directional bad to bang the virtual drums.

Now that you know how to play, check out Ulimate Band’s extras on the jump

E3: High School Musical 3

High School Musical 3

I don’t think I’ll have the energy to play High School Musical 3: Senior Year DANCE!, but I imagine there are thousands of tweens that will be bouncing off the walls to play the game. As the title implies, the latest Disney offering for the younger set is a dance game, but unlike Dance Dance Revolution, the Wii game doesn’t use a dance pad.

Instead. players move and shake their body using the Wii remote and nunchuk. They move their arms based on balls that float out of a center and hit one of six points around the body. When the ball reaches a certain area, players will have to move their limbs in that direction.

The whole gameplay style, including the poses, is lifted whole-heartedly from Sega’s Samba De Amigo. There are a few tweaks here and there. There is a Star Power-like mode that increases points. In addition, there are minigames to break up all that dancing.

Meanwhile, while playing each level, famous scenes from the movies are redone in polygons so tweens who have memorized every line can check the video game renditions and sing along.

As for the rest of the title, there’s your normal trimmings: Players will be able to get unlockable clothes and other items. On top of that, there are quizes that help fans determine which character they’re most liked.

Fans of the series can pick up the game around the time the movie released in October.

Disney turns to video games to draw crowd

Disney friends

The L.A. Times has an interesting piece on Disney’s California Adventure overhaul, which includes major video game elements.

The biggest change is Toy Story Midway Mania, which lets players put on 3D glasses and interact with characters from the Toy Story movie. From what I’m hearing, it sounds like the biggest, most complex arcade in the world.

It follows the path Disney has been taking for its rides, trying to get that gamer generation back into theme parks. Frankly, I like the trend. The Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters was the ride I liked the most. It seemed to be the most forward-thinking of the attraction’s there.

It’s basically the Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride except you shoot things, rack up points and get a picture e-mailed to you at the end. Disney even posts the high scores for the day. It’s not bad.

And here’s a tip: If you really want to rack up those high scores, pray for a slight hitch in the ride. Sometimes Astro Blasters pauses for some inexplicable reason (probably to let a person with a disability on) when that happens, blast away as much as possible at the highest scoring monster. It’s something to think about for folks going to Southern California for vacation.

Disney’s High School Musical: online chat today!

This is the velvet fog shouting out to all my peeps at East Side High. JK!

Actually it’s just yours truly but I do have a special treat in store for all the HSM-heads out there. Arielle Jacobs, she who plays Gabriella in Disney’s smash tween tuner “High School Musical,” is coming on down to the Merc today for a live video chat. Sign on today at 4 to chat up Jacobs, a Peninsula native making her big break in the pop culture juggernaut of the iCarly generation.

Be there or be…Sharpay.

(photo credit:ap)

Disney’s HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL contest: We have a winner!

Getcha head in the game! We have a winner in our HSMÂ ticket giveaway…Â

Bravo toÂ Lai Wong, the winnerÂ of our little Disney’s “High School Musical” contest where HSM competed to ask the best question of actress Arielle Jacobs, who plays the ingenue/brainiac Gabriella, in the tween juggernaut. The prize goes to Lai Wong, who has nabbed two tickets to the opening night of the tuner at the American Musical Theatre of SanÂ JoseÂ atÂ 7:30 p.m.Â Tuesday June 10 at the Center for the Performings Arts in San Jose.

Lai, please email me at kdsouza@mercurynews.com asap and I will hook you up to make the scene on the red carpet! The rest of y’all can scroll on down to see the winning entry.

And thanks so much to everybody who contributed such AWESOME questions! Arielle will be answering them when she comes in to the Merc to do a video chat with us next Thursday from 4 to 430. Be there or be… Sharpay.

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Disney’s High School Musical: WIN FREE TICKETS!

OMG! Disneyâ€™s â€œHigh School Musicalâ€ is finally marching into San Jose’s Center for the Performing Arts June 10 to June 15 and we are giving away a pair of free tickets to the opening night performance. Yay!

If you want to make the scene at the hottest tween trend-du-jour since the iPod, here’s the deal. Post a question for Arielle Jacobs, the star of the show, here and enter to win 2 free tickets to HSM on Tuesday June 10 at 7:30 p.m.

The best questions wins! (The winner will be notified by email by Friday June 6). Plus, Jacobs can answer it when she does her online chat at the Merc on Thursday June 12 from 4 to 430. Ready, set, post!

(photo credit:ap)Â

Disney High School Musical: online chat!

OMG! The live stage version of Disneyâ€™s â€œHigh School Musicalâ€ is finally bopping into San Jose. The tween juggernaut hits the Center for the Performing Arts June 10 to June 15.

â€œHSM,â€™â€™ which begans its life as a Disney TV movie before morphing into everything from an ice show to a video game, is now perhaps most famous for introducing a whole new generation to the magic of the theater. Yay!

If youâ€™re a tween you probably know all the songs by heart. But if you donâ€™t know â€œHannah Montanaâ€™â€™ from Joe Montana, the upshot is this is â€œGreaseâ€™â€™ for the text generation. Itâ€™s a cheery star-crossed lover tuner in which Troy, the jock, and Gabriella, the straight-A student, fall in love while trying out for the high school musical.

In honor of the showâ€™s San Jose debut, weâ€™re going to host an online chat with Arielle Jacobs, the local girl whoâ€™s starring in â€œHSMâ€ as the brainiac Gabriella, the Juliet of the Juicy Couture set. Jacobs grew up in Half Moon Bay, studied theater and voice in San Francisco and made her professional stage debut at Palo Alto’s TheatreWorks before getting her big break in the hottest youth culture phenomenon since the iPod. So getcha head in the game, people, and post your questions for Arielle right here.

(photo credit:ap)Â

Spectrobes: Beyond the Portal preview

There are a lot of games I haven’t played, and Spectrobes is one of them. I’ve heard about the game of course but I wasn’t sure exactly what it was. For some reason, I imagined a techno-ish music game replete with flashing lights and thumping house beats.

When I checked out the sequel with Tim Fritzrandolph, the international producer for the title, I was surprised to find out that it was an action role-playing game. The first Spectrobes was an original piece of work for Disney Interactive. The Mickey Mouse company hired Jupiter, a Japanese developer, to make a game that had some elements of Pokemon (You collect the titular creatures) and The Legend of Zelda.

For more on Spectrobes 2 hit the jump

Could Ultimate Band be a portable Rock Band?

When Hannah Montana: Music Jam was released last year, I was amazed, not with the tween license, but with potential of the game engine.

In Music Jam, you could play the drums and lead, bass and rhythm guitar. Everything was done using the stylus, but it worked amazingly well. Guitar worked like a divine combination of Guitar Hero and Jam Sessions. The drums worked almost like Elite Beat Agents.

It was an awesome idea that was limited to just a couple of songs. I thought that if they could just release another version sans the license and with more tunes, they would have a huge hit. It would just be like having a portable Rock Band.

Well, Disney may have just answered my prayers with Ultimate Band. Coming out for the Wii and Nintendo DS, this title will let uses play the drums and different guitars. On the Wii, it sounds almost exactly like Rock Band. You start off as a garage band, work your way up the ranks and get international wealth and fame. There’s customizable characters, etc.

That sounds find and good, but it’s the DS version that sounds especially intriguing. According to Disney, Ultimate Band is a “rhythm-based music game with a built-in recording studio.” Sounds similar to “Hannah Montana: Music Jam.” In addition, “players can jam to current and classic songs using the drums, lead guitar, bass guitar, or rhythm guitar. Players can also create their own original songs using the DS touchscreen and stylus to lay down tracks for each instrument and apply creative mixing effects.”

Just for icing on the cake, this is a game that works with DGamer, Disney’s new social networking program. This makes me wonder what the track list will be. I’m hoping it’s less tween stuff and more classic rock. David Hill of Radial Music, (the consultant that Disney is working with) says, â€œWith iconic songs from every decade since the 60s, these games feature music for everyone.”

I’m crossing my fingers and hoping for the best this fall.

GDC: Pure

GDC: Pure

Disney Interactive announced Pure a week ago and this week, I had a chance to check it out. Jason Avent, the game director at Black Rock Studio, showed off the title. For the past couple of years, he and his team have been working on MotoGP and ATV Offroad Fury games. Both are simulation titles and wanting a change of pace, they came up with Pure, an arcadelike offroad racing game.

This time around, the focus isn’t on finding the perfect racing line; instead, the goal of the developer is to just have fun with larger-than-life tricks (I’ve seen a rider perform an air guitar during a jump.). Of course, these signature tricks will have a benefit. By doing them in midair, players build a boost meter, which allows them to perform higher boost-increasing tricks or speed up their rider.

Pure becomes a balancing act of when to do these stunts and when to open up the throttle and race. From what I’ve seen, the game has a great sense of speed and an even better sense of air. While players do these tricks hundreds of feet in the air, the camera pans around to give this sense of queezy vertigo. It’s a nice touch.

Elsewhere, you’ll still have to learn techniques like preloading a jump (it’s sort of like prepping an ollie for a trick in skateboarding) and landing on curves at the correct angle (being offroad, there’s bound to be hilly curves).

Online and offline, players will race against 16 other ATV riders, which will lead to some frenetic races as some of the maps have vicious chokepoints. The whole track layout is reminiscent of Motorstorm but more restrained. You don’t race atop cliff buttes but Wyoming mountainsides and narrow bridges are par for the course.

ATV fans (probably not Ozzy Osbourne) can pick up the title in the fall.


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I'm going to cover the answers to some of the questions that came in after Shelley answered the first round in her post.

Q: What will happen if I try to verify a doc signed in 2010 in office 2007/Office 2007 ?

A: I'm assuming that the person asking meant 2007/2003. Office 2007 doesn't understand XAdES extensions, and can't use it to ignore an expiration. If the certificate isn't expired or revoked, it will evaluate the signature just fine. Note – there was a requirement that all top-level Reference elements had to be to an Object element. If Office 2007 is rejecting a valid Office 2010 signature, it means you haven't applied recent updates. Go apply your security patches, which will update MSO.dll to the latest version, and the problem will be solved. There's also a QFE for it, but I don't know the number.

This also depends on the algorithms used – Office 2007 doesn't understand hashing algorithms other than SHA-1 being used in a signature, and can't yet use CNG public key algorithms.

Office 2003 (and earlier) doesn't recognize XML-DSIg signatures at all, and will see the document as unsigned. This is unfortunate, but the last service pack for Office 2003 went out a while back. We're going to try very hard to not put you into that situation again.

Q: Mihail Romanov asked: Shelly, how can i use national algorithms, e.g. GOST (national standard in Russia), for digital signatures in Office 2010?

A: This is a bit of a problem. The XML-DSig standard specifies that the algorithm has to be cited as a URI, for example, here's SHA-1:

<DigestMethod Algorithm="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#sha1"/>

The URI's available to us are defined in RFC 4051, and unfortunately GOST isn't one of them. The XML-DSig standard does not specify how to deal with a situation where you have an algorithm that's not listed. I've asked about this, and was told you could put anything in there, but that won't interoperate with other implementers, which isn't the best situation. I would like it if the XML-DSig committee could please clarify this – one suggestion I might make would be for the Algorithm attribute to be either an URI or an algorithm OID – the algorithm OID should be something one could interoperate with. Another suggestion would be to make a DigestMethod element with a more robust way of expressing algorithms. I would personally like to solve this problem, but I don't have a solution at the moment. It is also a bit of a problem that Windows doesn't ship an implementation of GOST, but if we could overcome the URI issue and you had a CNG plug-in for GOST hashing and public key operations, then this could be fixed.

Q: It looks like Office 2010 Beta doesn't support certificates with private keys stored in third-party CSPs on Windows 7 and Vista. Word, Excel, PowerPoint fail to sign documents with such certificates.

A: Yes, there was a bug there. We'll fix that – not sure exactly when the fix will be available. Stay tuned. If it is possible, us a CNG plug-in, which will work fine.

Q: Great to see XAdES being adopted in Office 2010. Disappointed though that looking at the signature produced the content of most of the elements of the XAdES object in the _xmlsignatures\sig1.xml were empty. Is there a beta available with the completed XAdES object?

A: The full release version will take you up to XAdES-X-L. As I noted in my last post, there's a number of the elements that we haven't done anything with yet. Implementing everything possible would be quite a bit of work. If you read the last post, which of the elements that we haven't used yet seem most useful?

Q: Will OneNote 2010 support digital signatures? OneNote would be perfect for a electronic laboratory notebook if only it supported digital signatures for intellectual property purposes.

A: Interesting suggestion. OneNote likes to update notebooks constantly, and might be a challenge to sign. To be very honest, we hadn't thought of that yet. We should look into it. Thanks for the feedback.


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Luke Hoban's Blog

June, 2004

  • LukeH's WebLog

    Intro + C# Express

    Hi, my name’s Luke and I am a program manager on the C# team at Microsoft.  I’ve wanted to start up a blog for awhile now, so here goes...

    I’m pretty new to Microsoft, but since I’ve been here I’ve had a chance to be involved in some really fun work.  I’m on the C# team, and in particular the C# IDE team.  That means I get to work a lot with Cyrus, Anson, Joe, JayBaz, and all the other folks on the IDE team.  It also means I get to work on some really interesting projects.

    The project that I’ve been working on for most of my time at Microsoft is the Visual C# Express Edition.  So as you can probably guess, I’m really excited that the betas of the Express editions are now available for download.  It’s been really great seeing all the feedback we’ve already received on the Express idea after less than 48 hours.  It sounds like people are really excited about the Express products.

    So go grab an Express product, and let us know what you think!

  • LukeH's WebLog

    C# Express RSS Screensaver

    One of the cool projects I’ve worked on as part of working on C# Express is the “starter kit” that we added to the C# Express product.  Dan and Shaykat have both blogged about the starter kit, but I’ll try to go into some more detail about what these starter kits are.

    What is a starter kit?

    This is a question we get all the time.  The answer is that starter kits are like samples, but with better documentation and with clear ideas for extending the application to add new features.  They can be used as just a cool application, as an example of how to use some new language features (generics) and .NET framework APIs (strongly typed resources), or as a starting point for playing around with a small application.  They are also integrated closely into the environment by being added to the File->New->Project… dialog box.

    What is the RSS Screensaver starter kit?

    The starter kit we have in the C# Express beta is an RSS Screensaver.  Dan has some great screenshots here.  The documentation that’s included with the starter kit has lots of information about how it works.  There is also a section at the end with some possible ways to extend the screensaver.

    What is cool about the RSS Screensaver starter kit?

    1)      It’s a fully functional screensaver.  You can set it to be your screen saver so you can always be up to date on the latest C# info!

    2)      You can use the source to learn about C#, the .NET frameworks and how to use the Visual Studio environment.

    3)   You can learn about lots of neat GDI+ tricks, like using transparency and writing formatted text to the screen.

    3)      It has a set of classes included that can parse RSS feeds.  You can use these as a starting place for writing your own applications that use RSS feeds.

    How do I get the RSS Screensaver starter kit?

    Download the C# Express Beta from here, and look in the File->New->Projects… dialog box.

    How do I report a bug or a suggestion for the starter kit?

    You can use the MSDN Product Feedback Center to report any bugs or suggestions you have.  You can also post your experiences here.  And if you have extended the screen saver in a cool way, tell us about it.

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Compatibility Update with Microsoft SQL Server 2012

Compatibility Update with Microsoft SQL Server 2012

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  • Comments 5

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 was released in March with many new and interesting capabilities. For further information, please take a look at the product information at Microsoft SQL Server.

Over the last few months the Microsoft Dynamics NAV product team has been testing the compatibility and we are now proud to announce that Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 SP1 and Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 R2 are compatible with Microsoft SQL Server 2012!

Please note that this applies to the following editions of Microsoft SQL Server:

  • Express Edition
  • Standard Edition
  • Enterprise Edition
  • Business Intelligence Edition

There are a couple of special cases, where the support will stay on SQL Server 2008. These areas are Business Notification, Business Analytics, and Commerce Gateway.

For further information please look at the System Requirements – Available on PartnerSource.

Leave a Comment
  • Please add 8 and 8 and type the answer here:
  • Post
  • Hi,

    Greeting of the day.

    Will it Support Business Intelligence (BI) Edition of SQL Server 2012 ?

    Ankur Bansal

  • Hi:

    Just wanted to check if NAV 2009 and higher version as well as SQL 2008 is supported on Windows server 2012 ?

  • Have you experienced any performance issue with Nav 2009 SP1 installed on Server 2012 with SQL server 2012. Thank You

  • SQL 2012 was released in March of 2012, and you announced in July of 2012 that Navision 2009 was compatible with it.

    SQL 2014 was released in March of 2014, and now it's July 2014.  What's the word on Navision 2009's compatibility with SQL Server 2014?

  • MS announced that NAV 2009 R2, NAV 2013 and NAV 2013 R2 are compatible with SQL 2014 (they also work with SQL 2012):

Page 1 of 1 (5 items)


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MEEM Graduate Seminar: Using Nonlinear Torsional Vibration Absorbers to Improve Automotive Fuel Economy

Mechanical Engineering – Engineering Mechanics Graduate Seminar: Thurs., April 18 at 4:00 in 112 MEEM. Professor Steven W. Shaw, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Michigan State University
Title: “Using Nonlinear Torsional Vibration Absorbers to Improve Automotive Fuel Economy”

Steve Shaw is a University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Michigan State University. He received an AB in Physics (1978) and an MSE in Applied Mechanics (1979) from the University of Michigan and a PhD in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (1983) from Cornell University. His current research interests are in dynamical systems and mechanical vibrations, including mirco/nano-scale resonators with sensing and signal processing applications, and nonlinear vibration absorbers with automotive applications. He has held visiting appointments at Cornell University, the University of Michigan, Caltech, the University of Minnesota, the University of California-Santa Barbara, and McGill University. Steve currently serves as an Associate Editor for the SIAM Journal on Applied Dynamical Systems, Nonlinear Dynamics, and the ASME Journal of Vibration and Acoustics. His work has been supported without interruption by the US NSF since 1984, and by the US Department of Defense and industrial sources. He is a Fellow of ASME and recipient of several honors, including the SAE Arch T. Colwell Merit Award, the Henry Ford Customer Satisfaction Award, the ASME Henry Hess Award, and he will receive the ASME N. O. Myklestad Award in 2013.

Topic: Using Nonlinear Torsional Vibration Absorbers to Improve Automotive Fuel Economy

A number of approaches used for improving automotive fuel economy result in increased levels of powertrain torsional vibration; these include cylinder deactivation, low-speed boosting, and low-speed torque converter lockup. One can maximize the effectiveness of such strategies by managing torsional vibrations, which allows access to more efficient operating conditions.

Several manufacturers are considering the use of centrifugal pendulum vibration absorbers, which are widely used in light aircraft engines, for this purpose. These absorbers attenuate torsional vibrations at a given engine order, and they are most effective when lightly damped and allowed to operate at large amplitudes of oscillation. Hence, their design requires an understanding of the dynamic response of a multi-degree-of-freedom nonlinear system driven near resonance. Some nonlinear effects can be designed into the absorbers to provide enhanced performance, while others are detrimental to their function. In this work we consider the dynamics and performance of rotors fitted with multiple absorbers, a nonlinear dynamical system with special symmetries that are central to its behavior. We show how one can systematically account for these effects to develop analytical and computational tools for the design of absorber systems that are effective over a wide range of engine torques and speeds. The presentation will describe modeling, predictive analysis, controlled experiments,
automotive engine testing, and outstanding challenges related to these vibration absorbers.

This line of research has been carried out jointly with Professors Brian Feeny and Alan Haddow and several graduate students at MSU, Dr. Bruce Geist at Chrysler Group LLC, and Jeff Chottiner, John Brevick, and Victor Borowski at Ford Motor Company. Financial support has been provided by NSF, Chrysler, and Ford.


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Redskins give RB Johnson a three-year, $12M deal

Free-agent RB Larry Johnson has agreed to a three-year contract worth up to $12 million with the Redskins, according to a league source.

Johnson began last season as the Chiefs’ starter, but he was released after seven games following a falling out with coach Todd Haley. Johnson finished the season with the Bengals, with whom he backed up starter Cedric Benson and gained 204 yards on 46 attempts.

The Redskins were looking for depth behind starter Clinton Portis, whose 2009 season was cut short by a concussion.

UPDATE: The Redskins later announced that they had signed Johnson, but they didn’t provide terms of the deal.

Guidelines: Fan feedback should be within the guidelines for the NFL community. These guidelines will be used to identify those comments that will be removed from display on the site. Please keep your comments relevant to the topic, not abusive or combatant towards other fans, and don’t share any personal details. Use the “Report” link to help keep the community at its best.

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By Felix Salmon
December 4, 2010

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Groupon/Google Talks End — AllThingsD

Craig Gurian vs the NYT’s coverage of the US political economy — Remapping Debate

4 Million Americans Set To Lose Unemployment Benefits Even If Congress Passes Extension — HuffPo

Anybody who says they’re not scared when they get a subpoena from the FBI is lying. Why is John Kinnucan lying? — TBI

Rebecca Dana set to run the new Newsweek’s front of the book section — Observer

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Tigers at Cardinals: Anatomy of a Beatdown

Categories: Cardinals
Sunday night, the Cardinals played the Cleveland Indians on ESPN and were dominated. Not just beaten, but absolutely humiliated by the sinister wizardry of one Clifford Lee. Last night, that same Cardinal squad blew Justin Verlander right off the field, with five runs in a mere four innings. I think it's fair to ask the question: just what was so different?

Well, first off, and I cannot stress this enough: Justin Verlander isn't left-handed, and that seems to make an awful lot of difference to the Cards' chances. But that can't possibly be the only reason, so what else is there?

The answer, quite honestly, is very simple. The Cardinals finally did what they should have been doing all along last night: they stopped hacking. Against Lee, Cardinal hitters swung early, swung often, and kept right on swinging all the way back to the dugout.

In the second inning of Sunday night's game, Cardinal hitters saw exactly four pitches. Yadier Molina grounded out on the first pitch. Colby Rasmus flew out on the first pitch. And Tyler Greene, doing his very best to ensure that Chris Carpenter had a few moments to rest, bunted back to the pitcher on the second pitch. In the third, Lee threw twelve pitches, but only because Brendan Ryan battled him for seven. In the following innings, Nick Stavinoha made an out on the first pitch, as did Skip Schumaker. Molina grounded out on two pitches. Brendan Ryan did the same. In the seventh inning, the game still well within reach if they could just get Lee out of the game, the Cardinals failed miserably. Albert led off the inning and fouled out to Shin Soo Choo, but at least worked four pitches out of it. Ryan Ludwick grounded out on the first offering he saw. Nick Stavinoha then only saw two pitches as he grounded out to end the inning.

Compare that to last night's game. In the first inning alone, the Cards saw 33 pitches, and they didn't let up from there. In the second, they only saw thirteen, which isn't a very good total, but still over three times as many as in the second inning of Sunday's fiasco.

In the third inning, the Cardinals only saw ten pitches, but to be fair, it was the very bottom of the order up, and the shortness of the inning really had more to do with the awful baserunning than the awful pitch selection. In the fourth, the Cards forced Verlander to throw sixteen pitches while scoring another run off of the Tigers' ace, and that was it for him.

The difference in Sunday night's loss and Tuesday night's win was pitch selection, no more and no less. Against Lee, the Cardinals went up just hacking away at the first thing they saw. Against Verlander, the Cards waited him out, fouling off pitches they couldn't handle, and hitting what they could.

Will the lesson stick with the Cardinal hitters, not to mention the coaching staff? Who knows. But to anyone who was paying even the slightest bit of attention, the lesson should have been obvious. If this team wants to get back to scoring anywhere near the way they did in April, they're going to have to go back to approaching at-bats the way they did in April.

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