“SHOW & TELL - The Columbus Dispatch” plus 4 more |
- SHOW & TELL - The Columbus Dispatch
- 2009 National Book Award Nominees Announced - The Celebrity Cafe.com
- Bertsch dies at 81, leaving behind numerous written accounts about ... - Mitchellrepublic.com
- Analysis: The People Power of Valkyria Chronicles - Gamasutra
- Collection of note - Columbus Dispatch
| SHOW & TELL - The Columbus Dispatch Posted: 15 Oct 2009 04:31 AM PDT Education in spotlightIn collaboration with the George Lucas Educational Foundation, WBNS-TV (Channel 10) will show a new segment examining successful educational programs nationwide. What Works, hosted by anchorwoman Anietra Hamper, will air at 5:30 p.m. Wednesdays, repeating during the 5 a.m. newscast on Thursdays. What Works is supported by filmmaker George Lucas, who founded the nonprofit foundation in 1991 and publishes Edutopia magazine and the Web site www.edutopia.org. Volunteers soughtMore than 200 volunteers are needed for the family friendly, substance-free First Night Columbus, the New Year's Eve celebration Downtown. Applications can be downloaded from www.firstnight columbus.com. Volunteers will receive an admission button and a T-shirt. For more information, call Lindsey Weiker at 614-299-8628. Circus topic of exhibit"Sawdust and Spectacle: Under the Big Top in Small Town America" -- an exhibit of circus posters, banners, toys, folk art and more devoted to the traveling circus -- will open Saturday in the Southern Ohio Museum in Portsmouth. Jean Robertson, founding director of the museum and an art history professor at Indiana University, will give a free gallery talk at 11 a.m. The exhibit, a celebration of the museum's 30th anniversary, fills the Kricker Gallery. The museum is at 825 Gallia St. For more information, call 740-354-5629 or visit www.somacc.com. Sci-fi series successfulABC has ordered a full season of 25 episodes of FlashForward, according to Broadcasting & Cable. The Thursday drama has performed well in its 8 p.m. time slot, topping Survivor on CBS in the 18-to-49 demographic that advertisers pay a premium to reach. The show is also receiving a boost from DVR playback. The premiere of FlashForward added 2 million viewers in the 18-to-49 age group. ABC executives are hoping the sci-fi thriller can fill the void when Lost finishes its run next year. Last week, the network gave full-season orders to first-year comedies The Middle, Modern Family and Cougar Town. Nominees namedTycoons, evolution and the environment are among the subjects of this year's National Book Award nominees. Marcel Theroux's global-warming novel Far North and T.J. Stiles' The First Tycoon, a biography of Cornelius Vanderbilt, are among the finalists announced yesterday. Two books about evolution, including a story about Charles Darwin, were also nominated. Winners in the four competitive categories of the National Book Awards will be announced Nov. 18 in New York. Concert scheduledSilver & Spruce -- Rodolfo Vazquez on flute, Craig Goodwin on guitar and vocalist Debbie Brennan -- will perform golden oldies during a "No Strings Attached" concert presented by the Chamber Music Society. The program will begin at 3 p.m. Sunday in Covenant Presbyterian Church, 2070 Ridgecliff Rd. Admission is free, but donations are welcome. Call 614-451-6677.
-- From staff and wire reports
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| 2009 National Book Award Nominees Announced - The Celebrity Cafe.com Posted: 15 Oct 2009 06:18 AM PDT |  Home : Features : Books : 2009 National Book Award Nominees Announced  2009 National Book Award Nominees Announced Surprisingly, five books out of the 20 chosen were published by small university presses. One such book is Bonnie Jo Campbell's story collection, "American Salvage," a paperback original released by Wayne State University Press, the publisher's first National Book Award nomination. "We're very pleasantly surprised," said Wayne State Press director Jane Hoehner. "I don't think awards should just go to the big guns. There needs to be a combination, a willingness to look around and find talent." Other fiction nominees include Colum McCann's "Let the Great World Spin," Daniyal Mueenuddin's book of stories "In Other Rooms, Other Wonders" and Jayne Anne Phillips' "Lark & Termite." T.J. Stiles' "The First Tycoon" about the life of Cornelius Vanderbilt, and Greg Grandin's "Fordlandia," about Henry Ford's futile attempt to set up a colony in the Brazilian Amazon, are nonfiction nominees, along with Sean B. Carroll's Remarkable Creatures and Adrienne Mayors The Poison King. Poetry nominees include Ann Lauterbachs Or to Begin Again, Rae Armantrouts Versed and Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanons Open Interval. Young people's literature finalists include Phillip Hoose's Claudette Colvin, David Small's graphic work Stitches and Laini Taylor's Lips Touch. Winners, each receiving $10,000 and a bronze statue, will be announced at the National Book Awards 60th anniversary gala dinner in New York on Nov. 18. This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| Bertsch dies at 81, leaving behind numerous written accounts about ... - Mitchellrepublic.com Posted: 15 Oct 2009 05:28 AM PDT Garvin Bertsch, known to many as Mitchell's historian, died Tuesday at the age of 81. "He's gone," said Lyle Swenson, a longtime friend and president of the Mitchell Area Historical Society. A pharmacist by training, Bertsch moved to Mitchell in 1952 and rapidly warmed to his adopted city and its history. Over the years, he published books on Mitchell's banks and bank presidents, drugstores and pharmacies, hotels and houses and Hitchcock Park. He also wrote various biographies that profiled important Mitchell business leaders. In 2005, Bertsch told The Daily Republic that he never wrote to be published or to make money. His chief aim, he said, was to preserve the history of Mitchell. Bertsch said that finding one missing piece of a history puzzle easily compensated for the inevitable dead ends. He loved the research process. "He went wherever he had to go to research a topic, even if that was Sioux Falls or Pierre," Swenson said. In 2007, the South Dakota State Historical Society presented Bertsch with the Governor's Award for History for his dedication researching and recording the history of Mitchell. "He was a great researcher and a great writer. If he did a project, you know it was done right," said Swenson, adding that Bertsch's books have become mainstay reference materials for other local historians. Swenson said that any project undertaken by Bertsch was marked by a dedication to accuracy and thoroughness that also characterized his pharmacy service. "He was our local druggist," said Swenson. Bertsch's dedication to pharmacy and his community earned him several professional awards. His son Jeff, followed his father's lead and currently works as a pharmacist in Sturgis. Born near Eureka, Bertsch graduated in 1944 from Ashley High School. In 1949, he earned a pharmacy degree from South Dakota State College and briefly worked as a pharmacist in Wessington Springs. In 1950, he left that job for active Army duty. He served as a platoon leader and company commander during the Korean War and received the Purple Heart for wounds received in 1950. He and his wife Marjorie celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2003. He and longtime business partner Wiley Vogt purchased Saterlie Drug in 1960; Bertsch sold his interest to Vogt in 1986. Bertsch began his amateur history projects while he was still a working pharmacist, but really warmed to historical research after retirement, Swenson said. Bertsch had a keen ear for humorous anecdotes and a dry, deadpan delivery, said his friend and fellow Rotarian Don Boyden. Bertsch and his stories usually resulted in gales of laughter at club meetings. "He told us recently that he had one more book to write —on Mitchell lawyers. He said he didn't know if he should make it short book about honest lawyers or a long book about the dishonest ones," laughed Boyden. "We'll miss him," he said. "He was a good friend and good contributor. He just had a passion for history." Bertsch joined the Mitchell Rotary Club in 1961 and wrote the club's authoritative history. He was honored by Rotary's "Commitment to Service" award in 2005. At the time of his death, he was the oldest member of the Mitchell club and had the longest service, Boyden said. He died with the rank of "historian emeritus." "He was a real Rotarian," said Boyden, adding, "You can expect a crowded church." Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Friday at First United Methodist Church in Mitchell. This content has passed through fivefilters.org. | |
| Analysis: The People Power of Valkyria Chronicles - Gamasutra Posted: 15 Oct 2009 06:18 AM PDT [Traveling games journalist Quintin Smith looks at over-the-shoulder strategy in Sega's sleeper PlayStation 3 title Valkyria Chronicles, exploring the title's little-publicized depth and charm.] | A few weeks back an acquaintance of mine who used to work for Edge dropped out of games journalism. You can read his exit letter here, where he expresses his frustration that what he calls the most interesting game of last year, Valkyria Chronicles, got scant coverage. I've got a load of problems with Valkyria Chronicles, but I can put them to one side. This one's for you, dude! A small note for any of you who ignored this game because of what's implied by the anime art direction- Valkyria Chronicles' closest relatives are in fact small-scale strategy games like Jagged Alliance and Freedom Force. You know, that mythical genre that lets everyone have fun asking "Why does nobody make games like that these days?" The only significant difference between Valkyria Chronicles and those classics is that instead of trapping you twenty metres above the action in an isometric camera Valkyria Chronicles prefers to drop you into the thick of things. When you're giving orders to a unit the camera sits behind them in a 3rd person perspective, and you steer them around just like you would in a third person shooter with enemies taking shots at you. When you're done the game zooms back out to a hand-drawn paper map, allowing you to select the next unit. After you've moved all your guys it's then time for the AI to move theirs in the same style, meaning it's time for you to take what's coming to you like a man. Or, you know, time for you to go get a cup of tea while humming loud enough that you can't hear the screams of your troops. If you're thinking that makes Valkyria Chronicles worth playing because it's a really clever hybrid of real-time and turn-based strategy touched by the immersion and excitement that comes from a third person shooter, well, you'd be right. And you'd probably creep me out a bit too since those are the exact words I'd have used. But there's another side to the design of Valkyria Chronicles that I consider far more important than its experimentation with controls, timing and camera angles.
Each profile consists of a picture, a portrait, a brief bio and some known facets of their character, and when you look at profiles in more detail you get a short cutscene of that would-be soldier coming in and introducing themselves to you. This was easily my favourite gaming moment of 2008, just because of the immediate impression that Welkin arrived very, very late to the troop roster. A game hasn't made me laugh so hard in ages. There's Ted Ustinov, who likes making people laugh but is allergic to most metals. There's Wavy, who doesn't have a second name but everyone agrees is very kind. Nancy Dufour is a renowned klutz. Theold's a racist. This guy's a misogynist. That guy can't stand getting his uniform dirty. This guy has a single trait which just reads "Lonely". There's one thing all these personalities have in common though. They signed up to defend their home. Inglorious Nice People This is where the subtleties of the game start to reveal themselves to you. Whether someone's a chatterbox, flirt or has a temper, all of it affects their performance in combat. To get the most out of your Squad 7 you need to get the most out of each individual, and that means getting to know them.
You learn where Oscar got his scar, or that Nadine is penning a novel. Even with Valkyria Chronicles's lightweight writing and family-friendly interpretation of war (and, eventually, its borderline callous treatment of concentration camps) you'll find yourself wrapped up in the personalities of your team (three of which, incidentally, are characters from Skies of Arcadia). The neat twist of this system is that it makes natural at least some of the slow increase in complexity we expect from games. As a squad commander, of course you're going to get to know your men and women better as you lead them from mission to mission. That Valkyria Chronicles demands you take these personalities into account when deciding your next move means the more time you spend with your squad, the more factors you have to take into every decision.
The Big Red One Now, sometimes when you're playing a small-scale strategy game like this there can be a dark, bloodcurdling core to it. I'm talking about permanent character death, the agonising kiss of which anyone who played X-Com or the original Final Fantasy Tactics will be familiar with. I'm all for this system because it makes combat that much more exciting, but it can potentially hurt your devotion to the game so badly that you might never pick it up again. There's always the option to replay the mission and try and best it without losing anybody, but that smacks of tedium and being a sore loser.
The simple fix present here is unique dialogue which has been written and recorded for every single soldier for this eventuality. When you lose somebody you get a small cutscene turning the event from a miserable failure on your part into a full-blown emotional moment that you remember and become touched by, dialogue you'd never have heard otherwise. Through very little effort on the part of the developers an irritation in the game design becomes smoothed into part of the story. Thinking about it, it's staggering that we've been playing strategy games for so long and so few have tried to simulate the human elements of being a squad commander. Lord knows I'd play a game that in between missions gave you the run of wherever you camped that night, expecting you to gauge and improve the morale of your boys, break up fights, predict and counter mutinies, give speeches and punish desertion, with your invisible performance in these segments affecting how each subsequent mission plays out. Until that game, though, there's Valkyria Chronicles, and next year there'll be Valkyria Chronicles 2 on PSP. As much as sequels in Japan have a nasty tendency to play it safe, that might end up being interesting too. It's vying for the Persona buck, with protagonists who are all students at a military academy and have to juggle warfare with their studies. Could be interesting! Could be trite. But after the original game I'll be more than happy to suck it and see. [Quinns is a freelance journalist who has fun working for Eurogamer, contributing to Rock Paper Shotgun and reading Action Button. You can currently find him in the damp Irish city of Galway or at gmail dot com.] This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| Collection of note - Columbus Dispatch Posted: 15 Oct 2009 03:55 AM PDT
If an Ohio writer has published a book, the Ohioana Library has probably stocked it. The library, celebrating its 80th anniversary this year, collects books and papers by and about Buckeye writers and artists. Through the decades, its mission has broadened to include, among other events, an annual book fair and a set of writing awards (to be presented Saturday). "We're unique as the only library in the country dedicated purely to the preservation and fostering of the state's writers, musicians and artists," said Linda Hengst, executive director. "Ohio has so many wonderful writers, from Sherwood Anderson to Toni Morrison, and children's writers like R.L. Stine and Virginia Hamilton." Founded in 1929 by Ohio first lady Martha Kinney Cooper, the collection moved in 2001 from its longtime home in what is now the Ohio Supreme Court building to 274 E. 1st Ave. Its space in the old Jeffrey Manufacturing building -- renovated in a classic Shaker style -- includes 5,500 climate-controlled square feet that houses the works (available to the public only by guided tour) as well as offices and a public reading room with comfortable cherry-stained furniture. The collection numbers more than 45,000 books, including novels, poetry, biographies, nonfiction, children's literature, genre fiction, Westerns and science fiction. Also on hand: 10,000 pieces of sheet music along with biographical files on more than 25,000 Ohio writers, musicians, artists and others of cultural note. "We're not a public library because the collection doesn't circulate," Hengst said. "Martha wanted us to be more than a repository of books, so we reach out and do new things." The Ohioana literary awards started in 1942; Ohioana Quarterly has been published since 1958; the Ohioana Book Fair, a spring gathering, began in 2007. More than 900 authors and other figures in the arts and humanities have been recognized through the awards, and more than 10,000 books have been reviewed in the quarterly. "It's a wonderful organization," said Susanne Jaffe, executive director of the Thurber House, which participates in the book festival. "They're very supportive of literature across the board and contribute a lot to Ohio's cultural history as a permanent repository." The nonprofit library keeps costs down by requesting donations of books. About 480 books were added last year to the collection, with almost all given by authors or publishers. "Most are willing to donate books because they are considered for review in Ohioana Quarterly and our annual awards," said Hengst, who has led the organization since 1988. The first book, according to an essay by development director David E. Weaver and former staff librarian Barbara Meister that will be published in the fall quarterly, was received from Harriet Taylor Upton, who sent an autographed copy of her History of the Western Reserve. "From that moment on, a continual stream of publishers' ink has flowed our way," Meister and Weaver write. The library has a Web site, which includes an Ohio literary map, that attracted about 22,500 visitors last year. The library itself, Hengst said, hosted about 3,000 people. "What the National Center for the Book does for the country, through the Library of Congress, Ohioana does in terms of the state celebrating its authors." • The Ohioana Awards luncheon will start at 11:30 a.m. Saturday in the Statehouse Atrium. Tickets cost $50; reservations are required by today. • The Ohioana Library is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays at 274 E. 1st Ave. Call 614-466-3831 or visit or www. ohioanabookfestival.org. Some gemsAmong the treasures at the Ohioana Library: • Paul Laurence Dunbar books: a collection of more than 20 first editions of works by the black American poet (right) • Papermaking by Hand in America : one of the 210 existing copies of the 1950 book by Dard Hunter, with handmade paper and steel-punched type • Ohioana : an acrylic painting by Lorain native Stevan Dohanos, best-known for his Saturday Evening Post covers and his designs of 46 U.S. stamps • Billy Ireland cartoons : four 1918 editorial cartoons in support of women's suffrage • Frank Crumit sheet music: 55 pieces by the Jackson native, who worked in vaudeville, on Broadway and in radio This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
You first encounter it after the tutorial missions, when botanist protagonist Welkin Gunther finally finds himself captaining your rag-tag militia squad. Welkin's called into the office of his superior officer, given a sheaf of personal profiles and told to pick out who's going to be in Squad 7.
Aside from this being a really fun system it consciously pushes what's often everyone's favourite aspect of this genre- getting emotionally attached to your soldiers. Not only do the characters in your squad have a ton of colour to start off with, as they cut their teeth in battle they gain more and more traits for you to keep in mind, and as you use specific people over and over their biographies become fleshed out in the game's menu. 
The other achievement here is how overwhelmingly human and engaging this system makes strategy. Say you're controlling famed ladies man Hermes Kissinger (though you've recently found out he's actually bisexual). If Hermes achieves something incredible, some snap shot or mission-winning dodge, you become that much more fascinated by him. Whereas in most RTS games that emotional response would have been applied to luck or yourself and quickly dissipated, in Valkyria Chronicles it's harnessed and applied to the character, sucking you into the game and the action further.
The developers at Sega Wow have come up with a way around this, and it's simple enough that I'm comfortable calling it genius. So, on rare occasions you can lose people in Valkyria Chronicles. It happens if one of your troops gets put down and you fail to get another soldier over to them in time to call for a medic. | You are subscribed to email updates from Biographies - Bing News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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