Monday, December 16, 2024

JFK assassination film hoax

https://johncostella.com/jfk/intro/

On November 22, 1963, U.S. President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed while traveling down Elm Street in Dallas, Texas, in an open car in a motorcade. Everyone agrees about that.

Many people think that agencies of the U.S. Government have lied about or covered up details of the assassination.

For two decades, people thought the best proof of foul play was a 27-second home movie of the assassination taken by a Dallas dressmaker, Abraham Zapruder:

This film caused excitement when it was first shown on TV in March 1975, as it shows JFK’s head being blasted back and to his left:

This seems to tell us that the shooter was in front of the car on the right side, on the “grassy knoll” (small hill) next to Elm Street. But the U.S. Government insisted that JFK was shot by just one man hiding in a building far behind the limousine.

Things get even more complicated when we look at the film frame by frame. As the bullet hits, JFK’s head first moves forwards:

This makes things confusing. There seemed to be three possible explanations:

1. He was hit by two bullets at almost the same time (one from behind and then one from the front).
2. He was hit from behind, but a jet of brain matter exploding from the front of his head caused it to instantly recoil backwards.
3. He was hit from behind and some sort of muscle reaction caused his head to instantly fly backwards.

People tried to figure this out for two decades. Instead of clearing up the mystery, Zapruder’s film just made things more confusing.

In the 1990s, researchers started to realize that there was a fourth possible explanation: Zapruder’s film might also be a part of the lies and cover-up that agencies of the U.S. Government had weaved around the JFK assassination!

The Zapruder film was scientifically examined. It was found that, while most of it looks completely genuine, some of the images are impossible. They violate the laws of physics. They could not have come from Zapruder’s home movie camera.

Zapruder’s film is a very good forgery. It is almost perfect. Some mistakes took almost 40 years to find.

It was also scientifically proven that Zapruder’s film could not be just changed a little bit. For any of it to be altered in this way, a whole new film had to be created. The whole film is a fake!

A movie film is just a strip of little photos (“frames”). The fake film was made by using advanced cameras to cut and paste real photos and film frames together to make new frames.

Because the Zapruder film is only 27 seconds long, less than 500 photos needed to be made. The forgers had at least several months to create them. Most were not published until a year after the assassination. This was sophisticated work, but more than possible in 1963 and 1964. People had been creating high quality fake photos since the 1850s!

But what about the people who watched Zapruder’s film in the days after the assassination?

Film experts believe that a real film of the assassination was quickly altered on the evening of the assassination, using machines that could create Hollywood-style special effects (like Mary Poppins, created in 1964). Since the film was not shown on television, no one knows exactly what these people saw. But we do know that they described a film that is different from the film frames published by the U.S. Government in November 1964 as the “Zapruder film”!

In May 2003, scientists and researchers presented their latest findings at a conference in Duluth, Minnesota. This work was published in September 2003 in a book, The Great Zapruder Film Hoax. The entire conference can also be viewed on YouTube.

The pages below describe the best proofs that the Zapruder film is a fake. They describe some of the mistakes that the forgers made.

In the end, you have to decide for yourself what to believe. But don’t just believe what the U.S. Government tells you!

Gaming is Dying, and "GAMERS" are Killing it

So, my last Gaming is Dying Video blew up, I guess the algorithm decided it was time to recommend it. Well, apparently it was recommended to some of the worst "gamers" that plague our hobby. So, enjoy this comment response rant with a continuation of the first video in the second half.

Saturday, December 14, 2024

Now listening to Zapped! by various artists and String Quartet No. 16 by Ludwig van Beethoven...




At the Pacific National Exhibition in Vancouver. Summer of 2018.

The Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) is a nonprofit organization that operates an annual 15-day summer fair, a seasonal amusement park, and indoor arenas in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The PNE fair is held at Hastings Park, beginning in mid-to-late August and ending in early September, usually Labour Day.

The organization was established in 1907 as the Vancouver Exhibition Association, and organized its first fair at Hastings Park in 1910. The organization was renamed to the Pacific National Exhibition in 1946. During the mid-20th century, a number of facilities were built on the PNE grounds, including Pacific Coliseum and the PNE Agrodome. In 1993, the amusement park adjacent to the PNE, Playland, became a division of the PNE.

The Vancouver Exhibition Association (VEA), the predecessor to the Pacific National Exhibition organization was first formed in 1907; although the association was not incorporated until 18 June 1908. The VEA had petitioned Vancouver City Council to host a fair at Hastings Park; although faced early opposition from the city council and the local jockey club that used the park for horse races. However, the city council eventually conceded to the VEA's request and granted the association a 5-year lease to host a fair at Hastings Park in 1909.

The VEA held its first fair at Hastings Park in August 1910. It was opened by then Canadian Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier as the Vancouver Exhibition. The biggest attractions of the two-week fair are its numerous shops, stalls, performances, a nightly fireworks show, and the exhibition's Prize Home. From its beginnings, the exhibition was used as a showcase for the region's agriculture and economy.

In the initial years of the Second World War, the fairgrounds saw an increased military presence. However, the exhibition itself was not cancelled until 1942, after the Canadian declaration of war against Japan was issued. From 1942 to 1946 the exhibition and fair was closed, and like the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto, served as a military training facility for the duration of World War II. During this time, the exhibition barns that were used to house livestock, were used as processing centres for interned Japanese Canadians from all over British Columbia. The interned Japanese Canadians were later shipped away to other internment camps throughout British Columbia, and Alberta. The Momiji (Japanese word for Maple) Gardens on the PNE's grounds serves as a memorial for the event. The barns used for the internment of Japanese Canadians are still used to house livestock during the annual fair, and serve as storage area to house some of the PNE's property the rest of the year.

On 7 February 1946, the Vancouver Exhibition Association changed its name to its current moniker, the Pacific National Exhibition; and later reopened the fair to the public under that name in 1947. The organization was formally reincorporated as the Pacific National Exhibition in 1955.

The highest attendance at the fair was recorded in 1986, with 1.1 million guests visiting the PNE, most likely due to Expo 86 that was occurring at the time. In 1993, the amusement park adjacent to the PNE, Playland, became a division of the PNE organization.

During 1997-1998, the PNE grounds was transformed with the demolition of a number of buildings including the Food Building, Showmart and the Poultry Building. This gave way to the Sanctuary, a parkland setting with a pond. The pond restored part of a stream that once flowed in the park out to the Burrard Inlet. The city restored a large portion of the park. Many old fair buildings have been demolished and replaced by a more natural character. Although land was purchased in Surrey that was to become the fair's new home, the PNE has since transferred ownership from the province to the City of Vancouver and will remain at Hastings Park. The PNE is a registered charity.

Two attractions at the PNE were named as heritage sites by the City of Vancouver in August 2013. The Pacific Coliseum and the Wooden Roller Coaster were added to the list.

In 2020, the fair went on hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, alongside other agricultural and county fairs across Canada, including the Calgary Stampede, the Canadian National Exhibition, and K-Days.

In the early hours of February 20, 2022, a major fire broke out on PNE grounds, where multiple vehicles, tools and equipment, and buildings were destroyed as a result.

The PNE grounds contains several buildings and exhibition halls. The PNE Forum is a 4,200 square metres (45,000 sq ft) exhibition facility that is used for large displays and trade shows. Rollerland is a 1,840 square metres (19,800 sq ft) exhibition, banquet hall and venue for the Terminal City Roller Derby.

Two buildings on the PNE grounds are indoor arenas. The Pacific Coliseum is multi-purpose arena that holds 15,713 permanent seats, with provisions for 2,000 temporary seats for concerts and certain sports. The PNE Agrodome is a smaller indoor arena with 3,000 permanent seats, with provisions to expand up to 5,000 seats. Entertainment facilities includes the Garden Auditorium, a building that features a built-in stage and dance hall. The PNE grounds also feature amphitheatre with bench-style seating for 4,500 visitors.

Other buildings on the PNE grounds includes the Livestock Barns, a large multi-use facility, and the organization's administrative offices.











 

Thursday, December 12, 2024

Now reading Montezuma's Daughter by H. Rider Haggard...


ADHD can be treated by certain supplements with some effectiveness

The legendary Camelot. Although it doesn't look as impressive as it's made out to be in the legend, Camelot is still a grand sight.

My blog has had its largest viewership in 2024 so far. This is something that I didn't expect. My blog's viewership in 2023 was slightly smaller than in 2022, but, for some reason, 2024 became the biggest year for my blog so far. This is odd because I certainly haven't been on a quest to attract as many viewers or followers as possible. I run my blog almost entirely for myself, but, somehow, just about everyone in Vancouver looks at my blog now. How did this happen? Whatever. Who cares? I'm here to announce that I found new helpful supplements for myself. After I realized how detrimental ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) can be for some people, at least when it comes to functioning well in this neurotypical society that we live in, I began to look for supplements or medicine that might be able to help me. I am aware that synthetic drugs do get made for treating ADHD, but I wanted to find natural medicine. Moreover, synthetic drugs can have unpleasant side effects and they get prescribed by doctors or psychiatrists. I don't have a doctor at this time. Finding a doctor has become difficult in the last decade or so in Canada. And finding a doctor doesn't mean that you will immediately get some kind of effective help because neurodevelopmental conditions like ADHD or autism still aren't widely recognized. Effective help is almost non-existent because we don't live in some futuristic society in which there's a good cure for every medical problem and in which people are knowledgeable and capable of understanding one another very well. I mean, even my mother doesn't recognize that I have these conditions. Well, my so-called father is a monster and a psychopath. If you want to see an autistic person who really doesn't have empathy and who tries to keep those around him in fear and in obedience, you can look at him. Of course, there's a simple explanation for why he's like this. This explanation can be reduced to one word, which is autism. Therefore, there's no need to talk about him. Hans Asperger published a definition of "autistic psychopathy" in 1944 that resembled the definition published earlier by Russian neurologist Grunya Sukhareva in 1926. Asperger identified four boys with a pattern of behavior and abilities that included “a lack of empathy, little ability to form friendships, one-sided conversations, intense absorption in a special interest, and clumsy movements”. But at least my mother is neurotypical. She doesn't recognize that my neurodevelopmental conditions have a critical effect on me. She knows almost nothing about neurodevelopmental conditions. This became clear to me the last time I spoke to her. In her view, I am the way that I am simply because I choose to be the way that I am. Well, it's not like I have a high opinion of her or of her knowledge and abilities anyway. I'm just saying that people with neurodevelopmental conditions have to rely almost entirely on themselves to this day. I can't even count how many times my so-called mother insulted me and mocked me during my lifetime. Not only did I have to deal with regular bullying and mistreatment at school and elsewhere, I also had to deal with a certain cruel, sadistic, insecure, childish "man" and an abusive and controlling mother at home. Neurotypicals aren't there to help people with autism. They're there to hurt people with autism. If you get down to it, you can say that the distress that autistics have to endure almost every day is caused entirely by neurotypicals. In the old days, if an autistic person broke down, couldn't control his or her emotions, and began acting out, that person was sent to a mental institution, to a prison, or even killed. Such things happen today too. Anyway, fish oil supplements are the thing that can help a person with ADHD. These supplements contain omega-3 fatty acids. I bought a bottle with ADHD targeted omega-3 liquid. I already made a post in which I praised ashwagandha (withania somnifera). I consume a capsule with ashwagandha powder at dinner time whenever I need to because this herb helps with resistance to stress and increased energy. The effect of ashwagandha is strong and it lasts for a whole day. Therefore, I stopped consuming my probiotic capsules in order to not strain my liver. In the morning, at breakfast time, I consume omega-3 supplements because they help me to think better. A teaspoon of fish oil per day seems to be enough to treat my ADHD. The bottle with fish oil that I bought was made specifically for treating ADHD. But there are also omega-3 bottles for sale with vitamin D and other additives, and they seem to have a similar effect to the fish oil bottle that's targeted for treating ADHD. Moreover, there's another thing that helps me to think and feel better now. I bought tablets with vitamin C and bioflavonoids. I consume them at breakfast time, together with the fish oil, for the best effect. When I bought these vitamin C tablets, I didn't expect them to make me feel better. I only expected them to be a source of vitamin C for me. But it seems that these tablets have an effect that's almost as significant as the effect of the fish oil. That's pretty much it. Nowadays, I consume a teaspoon of fish oil and a vitamin C tablet with bioflavonoids every day at breakfast time. At dinner time, if I need to, I consume a capsule filled with ashwagandha powder and a melatonin tablet. The melatonin helps with sleep support. Without these herbs and supplements, I would have continued to feel pretty bad. The ashwagandha powder that I received from my mother hasn't gone to waste. I fill my supply of empty clear capsules with this powder because it's still almost as effective as the ashwagandha supplements that I bought myself.

Passing by Camelot recently caused me to pick up a book in which there's a chapter about Camelot. What am I talking about? Well, if you want to visit Camelot, the address is 1605 St. Georges Avenue, North Vancouver, British Columbia, V7L3J6, though I've got to say that Camelot looks slightly less impressive in real life than in the legend. The book that I'm talking about is titled 'The Atlas of Legendary Places' (1987) by Jennifer Westwood and James Harpur. I already mentioned it in an earlier post after I finished reading it, though I can't praise it enough because it features many superb photographs and chapters about some of the most interesting places in the world. The chapter about Camelot is in the section about eternal realms. It begins as follows. "In the tales of medieval poets and other writers, Camelot was the capital of the realm of King Arthur, the British hero who reigned at the heart of a dazzling court. Here the king lived, surrounded by his Knights of the Round Table - Gawain, Perceval, Lancelot, Galahad and the rest. It is first named as the seat of Arthur's court by the French poet Chretien de Troyes in the second half of the twelfth century. During the thirteenth, it became prominent in French Romance and from then on was the place where the famous Round Table was housed. This poets' Camelot lies in a timeless land of enchanted forests and mysterious castles, where marvels and magic abound. Here Arthur, with his queen Guinevere beside him, resides at the head of a chivalric order based on that of early medieval France. Meanwhile, Arthur's knights set out on quests, do battle with monsters, rescue damsels from the clutches of evil wizards, or become embroiled with seductive ladies who turn out to be fairies. They run the gauntlet of physical and supernatural dangers, and at the beginning and end of every adventure stands Camelot, the hub of their universe. The description of this Camelot of Romance is that of a medieval castle with a town below it, though its location is never quite made clear. Sir Thomas Malory, writing in the fifteenth century, identified it with the town of Winchester in southern England, because this was the capital of the Saxon kings from the time of Alfred the Great (849-899) to the Norman Conquest (1066). But even Malory is inconsistent, and once places it beyond Carlisle, in the north of England. Camelot is nowhere and everywhere, less a historical place than an idealized city. It became a symbol from the Middle Ages of order amid chaos, of the ideal state versus anarchy, of civilization versus barbarism. It began and ended with Arthur - no one reigned there before him and some medieval authors say that, after his death, King Mark of Cornwall destroyed it. Yet, like Arthur himself, it is imperishable." The next chapter is about Avalon, and it begins as follows. "A paradise where it was always spring and no one grew old; where there was everlasting peace; and where no toil was needed because the land remained ever fruitful: this was Avalon. As well as resembling other mythical realms, such as Atlantis, where the inhabitants enjoyed a Golden Age existence, Avalon became known as the place to which the British hero King Arthur was carried to be healed of his wounds after his last battle of Camlann. The twelfth-century English writer Geoffrey of Monmouth was the man who popularized the connection of Arthur with Avalon in his imaginative History of the Kings of Britain. The book became a medieval bestseller, establishing Avalon as the name of Arthur's last known destination. In a later book, the Life of Merlin, Geoffrey describes Avalon as an island: "It is called the Fortunate Isle.... Grain and grapes are produced without tending, and apple trees grown in the woods from the close-clipped grass. The earth of its own accord brings forth... all things in superabundance...." The island was inhabited by nine sorceresses and ruled by their leader Morgen (Morgan le Fay), who undertook to heal Arthur if he stayed there. In 1191, at a time when the legends of King Arthur were widely popular, the question of what had happened to him thereafter took a new turn. The monks of Glastonbury, a town in the west of England, announced that they had exhumed his remains from the graveyard of their ancient Abbey, together with a leaden cross which proclaimed in Latin, "Here lies entombed the renowned King Arthur with Guinevere his second wife in the Isle of Avalon. Geoffrey's Avalon follows the tradition of the paradisal islands that in mythology lay somewhere to the west. These include Atlantis; the Garden of the Hesperides with their golden apples and the Fortunate Islands of the Greeks; and St Brendan's Isle, described in the ninth-century Voyage of St Brendan, which was covered in apple trees. By calling Avalon the Fortunate Isle, Geoffrey was connecting it with mythical islands associated with apples, probably because they were the fruit of immortality in Celtic and other mythologies. If Henry II really tried to eradicate the belief in Arthur's survival, he failed. In 1190 the English poet Layamon wrote: "The Britons believe yet that he (Arthur) is alive, and dwelleth in Avalun with the fairest of all elves." The related belief that Arthur slept in a cave or under a hill, surrounded by his knights, is known to have survived in Britain as late as the nineteenth century. Like Camelot, Avalon is everywhere and nowhere - it is contrary to its spirit to try to pin it down. It lies in the dimension of myth, where truth is manifold. The historical Arthur may have been buried at Glastonbury; but the real Arthur waits in that place where "healing does not fail" - the place which Geoffrey called Avalon." The following quotation is from the chapter about Tikal, which is in the section about sacred wonders. "The vast stretches of raw jungle and marshlands that cover more than 14,000 square miles of the Peten District of Guatemala seem an unlikely place for a sophisticated and colourful civilization to have flourished. Jaguars, ocelots, pumas and wild pigs, though depleted in numbers, still patrol the tangled pathways of the forest. Giant trees - ceiba, mahogany, sapote, Spanish cedar, palm - soar up to a height of 130 feet, spreading their branches into a dense emerald canopy. During the day, iridescent hummingbirds and gaudily painted parrots and motmots provide flashes of brilliance amid the welter of green foliage. But as night closes in, the jungle world returns to a primordial darkness punctuated by the unearthly roars of howler monkeys. Yet during the nineteenth century, explorers began to discover within this rich, ungovernable terrain the extraordinary jungle-covered monuments and buildings of a highly developed civilization. In 1848 Colonel Modesto Mendez and Ambrosio Tut, respectively chief magistrate and governor of Flores in northern Guatemala, found dramatic ruins just to the northwest of the town. It was an astonishing sight: beneath the green of trees, lianas, moss, lichen and fern lay towering pyramids, one more than 200 feet high, multi-levelled palace complexes, temples, plazas and stelae - upright slabs of limestone carved and painted with grotesque figures and enigmatic hieroglyphs. The two men had discovered Tikal, the largest and grandest city of the Maya people, which had flourished between 100 B.C. and the end of the ninth century A.D. At a time when the Dark Ages had descended on the western world, this huge urban centre rose from the depths of the jungle, as did other great Maya cities, such as Copan and Palenque. Tikal became the hub of life for tens of thousands of people. Theirs was a highly organized and cultured society where painting, sculpture, writing, and astronomy flourished, and their architecture was the wonder of ancient America. When Tikal was first rediscovered it had been in the clutches of the jungle for some 900 years. Mendez and Tut left the place more or less as they found it; and later visitors, such as the Swiss botanist Dr Gustave Bernouilli in 1877, Alfred Maudslay in 1881 and 1882, and Teobert Maler in 1904, made little impression on the overgrown monuments. It was only in 1956 that the University of Pennsylvania Museum began a 14-year project to excavate and restore six square miles of the city. In fact the actual area occupied by Tikal was 25 square miles or more. Until recently, the city was thought to have been merely a vast religious centre, but scholars now believe it was a densely populated metropolis embracing the various aspects of a developed culture. The population at the city's peak may have reached 50,000; and to support these numbers Maya farmers worked hard to produce enough food, including maize, tomatoes, gourds, beans and pumpkins. The pyramid-temples were the supreme architectural achievement of the Maya, who worked without the help of metal knives, axes, the wheel or beasts of burden. Gangs of workers had to drag enormous quantities of rubble and rock for each pyramid's construction. Tiers were raised by packing the rectangular space between four stone walls with a rough filling of stones which were then plastered to create a smooth, flat finish. Work on the next tier could then begin. As the structure rose, masons used finely cut limestone to face the outside walls. Others heated up stone in kilns to obtain lime to make plaster, mortar and stucco, which was spread on the pyramid's exterior. The British Mayanist Sir Eric Thompson saw the craft of the Maya plasterer to stunning effect preserved in a pyramid excavated under the shell of one built over it - a common Maya practice: "The whole surface of the pyramid is covered with a thick layer of light cream stucco, dazzlingly bright. ...One of the most impressive and touching sights I have ever seen was this pyramid, bathed in the light of a full moon...." The great city of Tikal flourished for about 1,000 years before mysteriously collapsing at the end of the ninth century A.D., along with the other great Maya cities. Suddenly, for reasons scholars still do not fully understand, these urban centres were deserted by their inhabitants. There may have been severe crop failures owing to soil exhaustion, a dramatic climatic change, an epidemic, or a popular uprising by the peasants against an increasingly oppressive ruling class. Whatever the reason, or reasons, thousands of Maya returned to the forests."

Tuesday, December 10, 2024

Israeli warplanes conduct multiple strikes across Syria

https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/12/08/738740/Palestine-Israel-Damascus-Syria-Kafr-Sousa-al-Mazzeh-

Israel military warplanes have carried out a new wave of aerial attacks on Damascus and several other parts of Syria hours after President Bashar al-Assad’s government collapsed.

Security sources said Israeli aircraft targeted the al-Mazzeh military base in Damascus and Khalkhalah in the southern al-Suweida part of the country on Sunday.

The warplanes also hit a major security complex in the Kafr Sousa district of Damascus and bombed several residential areas on the outskirts of the capital.

Loud explosions were reportedly heard following the airstrikes in Damascus.

Attacks were also reported in rural areas of Daraa in the south. The targets included alleged weapon depots, air defense batteries and missile manufacturing facilities.

The Israeli forces earlier launched a foray into Syrian soil and entered the southwestern city of Quneitra near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights after militant groups took control of the Arab country.

The regime’s media also reported the entry of Israeli tanks into Khan Arnabeh, which is to the northeast of Quneitra and five kilometers from the border of the occupied Golan.

The occupation forces were reported to be digging a large trench on the Syrian border and have destroyed what they claim are weapons depots.

The Israeli regime's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he ordered Israeli forces to grab a buffer zone in the Golan Heights established by a 1974 ceasefire agreement with Syria.

He further said the 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria has collapsed.

Earlier in the day, the Syrian militant groups raided the capital Damascus and took control of the city’s radio and television station as well as major military and security centers.

The armed groups, led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) militants, announced that they had fully captured the Syrian capital and confirmed reports of the fall of the Assad government.

Israel had been the principal supporter of terrorist groups that opposed the government of President Assad since the foreign-backed militancy erupted in Syria.

Alice Liddell (1860) and Xie Kitchin As Penelope Boothby (1876) by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson.




Sunday, December 8, 2024

Эрмитаж. Искусство Италии XIV - XVI веков (1980)

Год производства: 1980

Из 24-серийного цикла "Эрмитаж".

Фильм о коллекции итальянского искусства эпохи Возрождения XIV - XVI веков. Один из крупнейших представителей Высокого Возрождения, итальянский художник и ученый Леонардо да Винчи в своем "Трактате о живописи" писал: "Живописец спорит и соревнуется с природой". А мы, зрители, можем наслаждаться результатами этого соревнования - картинами "Мадонна Литта" и "Мадонна Бенуа" Леонардо да Винчи, "Мадонна Конестабиле" и "Святое семейство" Рафаэля, "Юдифь" Джорджоне, "Святой Себастьян" и "Кающаяся Мария Магдалина" Тициана и другими шедеврами из эрмитажной коллекции. Вступительное слово директора Государственного Эрмитажа, действительного члена Академии наук СССР Бориса Пиотровского.

The Great War – On The Idle Hill Of Summer

https://rutube.ru/video/7235fa3b7c322047ce7c360eb5673dae/

In 1914, the world was on the brink of enormous change. Worried by increasing German militarism, the French and the British entered into the Entente Cordiale against Germany and her allies, splitting Europe into opposing sides. Two shots would ignite the powder keg.

The Great War is a 26-episode documentary series from 1964 on the First World War. The documentary was a co-production of the Imperial War Museum, the British Broadcasting Corporation, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the Australian Broadcasting Commission. The narrator was Michael Redgrave, with readings by Marius Goring, Ralph Richardson, Cyril Luckham, Sebastian Shaw and Emlyn Williams. Each episode is c. 40 minutes long.

Friday, December 6, 2024

Dholavira: a Harappan City

https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1645

The ancient city of Dholavira, the southern centre of the Harappan Civilization, is sited on the arid island of Khadir in the State of Gujarat. Occupied between ca. 3000-1500 BCE, the archaeological site, one of the best preserved urban settlements from the period in Southeast Asia, comprises a fortified city and a cemetery. Two seasonal streams provided water, a scarce resource in the region, to the walled city which comprises a heavily fortified castle and ceremonial ground as well as streets and houses of different proportion quality which testify to a stratified social order. A sophisticated water management system demonstrates the ingenuity of the Dholavira people in their struggle to survive and thrive in a harsh environment. The site includes a large cemetery with cenotaphs of six types testifying to the Harappan’s unique view of death. Bead processing workshops and artifacts of various kinds such as copper, shell, stone, jewellery of semi-precious stones, terracotta, gold, ivory and other materials have been found during archaeological excavations of the site, exhibiting the culture’s artistic and technological achievements. Evidence for inter-regional trade with other Harappan cities, as well as with cities in the Mesopotamia region and the Oman peninsula have also been discovered.

Brief synthesis

Dholavira: a Harappan city, is one of the very few well preserved urban settlements in South Asia dating from the 3rd to mid-2nd millennium BCE. Being the 6th largest of more than 1,000 Harappan sites discovered so far, and occupied for over 1,500 years, Dholavira not only witnesses the entire trajectory of the rise and fall of this early civilization of humankind, but also demonstrates its multifaceted achievements in terms of urban planning, construction techniques, water management, social governance and development, art, manufacturing, trading, and belief system. With extremely rich artefacts, the well-preserved urban settlement of Dholavira depicts a vivid picture of a regional centre with its distinct characteristics, that also contributes significantly to the existing knowledge of Harappan Civilization as a whole.  

The property comprises two parts: a walled city and a cemetery to the west of the city. The walled city consists of a fortified Castle with attached fortified Bailey and Ceremonial Ground, and a fortified Middle Town and a Lower Town. A series of reservoirs are found to the east and south of the Citadel. The great majority of the burials in the Cemetery are memorial in nature.

The configuration of the city of Dholavira, during its heyday, is an outstanding example of planned city with planned and segregated urban residential areas based on possibly differential occupational activities, and a stratified society. Technological advancements in water harnessing systems, water drainage systems as well architecturally and technologically developed features are reflected in the design, execution, and effective harnessing of local materials. Unlike other Harappan antecedent towns normally located near to rivers and perennial sources of water, the location of Dholavira in the island of Khadir was strategic to harness different mineral and raw material sources (copper, shell, agate-carnelian, steatite, lead, banded limestone, among others) and to facilitate internal as well as external trade to the Magan (modern Oman peninsula) and Mesopotamian regions.

Criterion (iii): Dholavira is an exceptional example of a proto-historic Bronze Age urban settlement pertaining to the Harappan Civilization (early, mature and late Harappan phases) and bears evidence of a multi-cultural and stratified society during the 3rd and 2nd millennia BCE. The earliest evidence can be traced back to 3000 BCE during the early Harappan phase of the Harappan Civilization. This city flourished for nearly 1,500 years, representing a long continuous habitation. The excavated remains clearly indicate the origin of the settlement, its growth, zenith and the subsequent decline in the form of continuous changes in the configuration of the city, architectural elements and various other attributes.

Criterion (iv): Dholavira is an outstanding example of Harappan urban planning, with its preconceived city planning, multi-layered fortifications, sophisticated water reservoirs and drainage system, and the extensive use of stone as a building material. These characteristics reflect the unique position Dholavira held in the entire gamut of Harappan Civilization.

Integrity

The ancient Harappan city of Dholavira was discovered in 1968 and excavated for 13 field seasons between 1989 and 2005. The unearthed excavations were simultaneously preserved and conserved, and display all physical attributes contributing to the Outstanding Universal Value of the property, that is to say the proto-historic systems of urban planning, water management systems, architectural elements and design, traditional knowledge of art and technology preserved in situ. All the attributes that convey the Outstanding Universal Value of the property are located in the property area. Physical evidence of the entire 1,500 years of inhabitation are spanning from pre-Harappan to post-Harappan stages. The excavated remains at Dholavira, to a large extent, illustrate attributes associated with industrial activities (e.g. bead manufacturing) and are indicative of the sophisticated life and exploitation of natural resources for nearly 1,500 years, trade, interregional relations and exchanges, the physical manifestations of these are largely found in situ. Conservation measures and consolidation of few areas have been carried out to prevent deterioration and have also been stabilized for ensuring preservation of its physical attributes. Guidelines for development and conservation need should be developed in the extended buffer zone.

Authenticity

The archaeological remains of the city of Dholavira include fortifications, gateways, water reservoirs, ceremonial ground, residential units, workshop areas, and cemetery complex, all clearly representing the Harappan culture and its various manifestations. The urban planning is evident from the in situ remains of the city that demonstrate systematic planning. The authenticity of the archaeological site is preserved through minimum interventions and scientific conservation principles and methods and in maintaining the exposed structures in their original configurations and in situ conditions and no additions or alterations have been made to the structural remains.

The excavated remains bear testimony to the style of construction, contextual evidence for architectural elements, and layout of a bead manufacturing workshop, that have been retained in situ to preserve their authenticity. The evidence of the configuration of the city, which has been well documented and preserved during excavation works, also bears testimony of the extensive planning, understanding of ratios and proportions and principles, alignment of the entire city in relation to cardinal directions, water harvesting, storm water drains, craftsmanship. These features are preserved extensively due to their construction in stone masonry with mud brick cores, and architectural features are in a good state of conservation.

Protection and management requirements

The archaeological site of Dholavira is protected and managed by the Archaeological Survey of India, an attached office and organization under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. The property is protected by national level laws that is to say the Ancient Monument and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act 1958 (AMASR), amended therein in 2010; Ancient Monument and Archaeological Sites and Remains Rules of 1959; Ancient Monument and Archaeological Sites and Remains Rules of 2011 and The Antiquities and Art Treasures Act 1972 and Rules 1973. Decisions pertaining to its conservation, maintenance and management are governed by the National Conservation Policy for Monuments, Archaeological Sites and Remains 2014. Being designated as an “ancient monument” of national importance, the ancient site of Dholavira is protected by a Prohibited Area measuring 100 meters in all directions from the limits of the protected monument, and further beyond it, a Regulated Area of 200 meters in all directions, from the limits of the Prohibited Area. All activities in the areas adjacent to the ancient site of Dholavira remain subject to prohibition and regulation in the respect prohibited and regulated areas as per provisions of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Rules 2011. The buffer zone covers the entire west strip of the Khadir Island, which ensures the protection of the wider setting of the property. The buffer zone, of which parts cover thee Prohibited and Regulated Areas, overlaps with Kachchh (Kutch) Desert Wildlife Sanctuary which is protected by Forest Act (Wildlife Protection Act 1972). The Government of India is in the process of listing the ancient quarry sites in the buffer zone as of national importance.

The property area and buffer zone are managed by the Regional Apex Committee and Local Level Committee, with major stakeholders as the member. This participatory mechanism ensures the dialogue among different interest groups. The Site Management Plan has been approved and implemented by the Archaeological Survey of India.

Final Fantasy Retrospective - Part V

Final Fantasy VII for the Playstation.

Thursday, December 5, 2024

Foundation by Isaac Asimov – SFFWorld

https://www.sffworld.com/2016/04/foundation-by-isaac-asimov/

Ah, Foundation. For me, returning to this novel is like spending time with an old friend. Often generally regarded as ‘one of the best’*, if not one of the most important SF novels of all time, I personally have reread this one – well, a few times. I consider myself very lucky to own a signed copy, at considerable expense, admittedly. It is one of the first books that I borrowed from my Dad’s bookshelf in the 1970’s and was a formative influence in generating my lifelong love of SF. So much so that on the wall above where I’m typing this I have a signed print of the iconic Chris Foss cover that was on my Dad’s paperback covers (see below).

So, I guess that this may be a word of caution. This review may not be totally balanced. I must say though that 40+ years on, there’s a lot I can see wrong with it. (Others have said so, often and frequently. Io9, for example, in July 2015 put it on a list of Books That You Pretend to Have Read But Haven’t) Some have been quite blunt about its failings. And yet, despite all of its faults, I still find it a ‘go-to read’. I will try and explain why in this review.

First though, a degree of context. For many years, and certainly when I first read it, Foundation was the first book in ‘The Foundation Trilogy”, and so it was until Asimov added extra novels in the 1980’s and 90’s. However this is the first of a number of contradictions, for even in its original trilogy novel format, published 1951-53, it was not really a trilogy. Instead it was rather a series of nine stories and novellas, mostly published in sections between 1942 and 1944 and mainly in John W. Campbell’s Astounding Science Fiction Magazine. Foundation is the first four of these already-published-though-revised stories, with an additional section, The Psychohistorians, written to begin the novel and set out the tale. This was common practice in the 1950’s as SF became marketable in hardback rather than just in those old pulp magazines. Just to confuse things a little further, an abridged version was also published as an Ace Double paperback named ‘The 1000 Year Plan’ in 1955.

So, just to be clear, I am going to review the first novel only here, made up of five parts. But the context is important, as I will explain later.

The origin of the series has been written about on more than one occasion, and even by Asimov himself. It was at a meeting on the 1st August 1941 with John W Campbell, regarded as ‘the’ SF magazine editor at the time, and Asimov, a mere 21-year-old, that led to the development of this idea that became Foundation. Inspired by Gibbons’ Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Asimov ambitiously wanted to tell a tale, vast in time and scale, of the existence and collapse of a Galactic Empire. Campbell encouraged this and Asimov went away to write what eventually became the second part of the novel, The Encyclopaedists, published in Astounding in May 1942 as Foundation.

The book is therefore five stories. The first, The Psychohistorians, was specifically written to fix up the novel and introduces us to mathematician Gaal Dornick, who has arrived on the planet of Trantor, the capital of the Galactic Empire, to work for eminent psychohistorian Hari Seldon. When Seldon and Dornick are arrested and put to trial, Seldon reveals his great secret, and tells of  his solution – he believes that the Galactic Empire is doomed to collapse in less than three hundred years and will enter a Dark Ages that will last thirty thousand years. His suggestion is that by using psychohistory Seldon hopes to guide society in the future and reduce this time of anarchy and chaos. Seldon is exiled to Terminus and there sets up a Plan that will be guided by him even after his death, to help civilisation.

The next four parts show us how the Empire survives crisis after crisis following Seldon’s death. In part two, The Encyclopaedists, the story moves to Terminus, where the capital city’s first mayor, Salvor Hardin, has to deal with the first ‘Seldon Crisis’ – that Terminus being is about to be invaded and colonised by The Four Kingdoms, who wish to take over the planet, and there is the suggestion of a coup d’etat. At the end of the story Hari Seldon’s true purpose is revealed.

In The Mayors, set 80 years after The Psychohistorians, we find that the decline of science away from Terminus has led to the creation of a religion around nuclear power, which the Foundation on Terminus still have. Salvor Hardin, having being re-elected as mayor of Terminus City, now has to deal with a new potential Seldon Crisis. One of the Four Kingdoms, the Kingdom of Anacreon, plans to overthrow the Foundation’s influence upon the succession of their young Prince Regent Wienis by using an old Imperial Space Cruiser refitted for war.  At the same time on Terminus we have a threat to the Mayor with the rise of the Actionist Party, who wish to take direct action against The Anacreonians.

In The Traders, fifty-five years after The Mayors, the Foundation has expanded to such an extent that traders now travel between those planets who have technology and those who don’t. Trader Linmar Ponyets is asked to intervene on behalf of the Foundation when Master Trader Eskel Gorov is arrested and sentenced to death for attempting to sell atomics on the planets of Askone, a world which forbids the sale of ancient technology.

Finally, in The Merchant Princes, the main plot is about three Federation spaceships disappearing in the Republic of Korell. Master Trader Hober Mallow is assigned to find the missing ships, deal with Korell and also to investigate their technological developments. Those who have assigned this mission to Mallow, Foreign Secretary Publius Manlio and Mayoral Secretary Jorane Sutt, believe that another Seldon Crisis is about to begin, because they fear that domestic tensions caused by the autonomy given to Traders and the fragile foreign relations may give rise to a nuclear conflict involving the Foundation. Mallow is arrested and tried for murder after being involved in the possible death of a priest, the Reverend Jord Parma of Anacreon. In the end there is a grand reveal that suggests that not all is quite what we expected.

And all told in about 250 pages.

OK: lets deal with the criticism first. First of all, this is a book that is very ‘talky’. For those expecting fleets of battleships blasting planets, a la EE ‘Doc’ Smith or Edmond Hamilton, are going to be disappointed.

The downside of this is that there are passages – whole pages, almost – of characters ‘talking’ rather than ‘doing’. There are enormous info-dumps, and places where characters and dialogue are clearly manoeuvred into revealing great lumps of rather purple exposition.

What strikes me most, though, is that this talking is because of the nature of the book. It is deliberately an intellectual examination, a setting out on paper of quite radical ideas. The book sets up problems and then examines many aspects before solving them. (Signs that Asimov liked mysteries as much as his SF.) And that is not for everyone. Some of the solutions shown here are quite simple and tame for a contemporary readership. However, reading in the context of what else was out there at the time, this is something quite different, a case of the genre upping its game. Unlike many of the stories’ contemporaries, Foundation is not a cosmic tale of ‘Cowboys and Indians’, but something slower and more measured.

Some readers have complained that the book has little continuity, due to the episodic nature of each section. Though there have been fix-ups, it is worth pointing out, as James Gunn did in my Easton Press copy, that each section was originally written without the need or desire to connect them together. They were written for the pulps, months and even years apart. Asimov himself has said that there was not (at first, anyway) a grand unifying scheme planned from the outset, which has led to some difficulties in connecting the dots a little. Whilst I accept this as a weakness, it is an understandable one, and not an unsurmountable one. As my recent reading of Allen Steele’s Arkwright has shown, there is still life in the multi-part story yet.

This also makes me realise of course that Asimov also effectively painted himself into a corner with each part, creating a situation where the background for the story was known but the actual ‘how-do-I-get-myself-out-of-here?’ plot wasn’t. It is only later, connected together, that the whole thing can be examined, but it does create an element of weakness that later novellas and novels, being conceived as a coherent part, do not have.

On the upside though is the rather appealing point that not just global war but intergalactic war can be avoided by discussion and diplomacy, where intelligent manoeuvring is required. The solution is often not to go in all guns blazing, but to outwit your opponent. Brains beats brawn, so to speak. And to many this idea will be very attractive. It is here, after all, that the oft-quoted maxim ‘Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent’ appears, a view very different, and perhaps very brave to make at a time when there was a World War raging.

To me, at the time of first reading this was very appealing and I suspect it lies at the heart of Foundation’s popularity. These days, looking at the twenty-first century actions of global bodies such as the United Nations, such views seem rather simplistic, or at least idealistic.

Other criticisms of Foundation are the usual problems of Space Opera – the improbably huge size of the spaceships, the vast number of planets held together impossibly by some sort of Galactic Order and the physical impracticalities of communication and travel. Many essays and books have been published on such matters (and to my mind best satirised in books such as Harry Harrison’s Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers.) I think I would argue there that although such things are part of the fabric of Foundation, they are not the centre of its raison d’etre.

I have no problem personally with buying into such things, as part of my suspension of disbelief, without questioning their viability. My teenage-self accepted that in SF such things happened without question and though they are merely part of the setting. Amusingly, these days, my grumpier post-fifty persona wants such things to be part of my SF experience. In other words, “Damn it, I want – no, demand – it in my SF, even though I know that it is impossible.” And there is a great deal of comfort in that.

To my young pre-teenage brain, I liked the idea that it was a story that turned a Galactic Order into chaos, that all things must change. After all, History has shown it to be true – it has happened before, as part of the Roman Empire of 27 BC to c.400 AD. My Dad was also a bit of a History buff, and I think that this aspect of Foundation appealed to him nearly as much as the Science Fiction – Empires rise and fall, just at different times and at different scales. Throughout Foundation we know that things are going to fail – it’s who causes it and how it happens that is the hook here. It seems almost inevitable and there is a surprisingly comforting and worrying feeling that we know where it will lead.

But most of all, for me the attraction of Foundation was (and still is) its ‘Epicness’ – the sheer size, the scale, the timespan. This first novel is a tale that, although focused on the actions of individuals, is set in a backdrop that is undeniably much, much bigger.  Whilst we read of Gaal and Hari and Linmar and Hober, we know that big things are happening elsewhere, off-stage. And although we don’t always actually see it, the imaginative setting and our own imagination fills in the gaps for us. In the end what becomes important is the psychohistory – that although the future is steered by individuals it is the overall process, of mob actions, that cause the change. Sometimes it’s the things we don’t see that are the most inspiring. And for me, at least in this first book, it is often that which I remember. It is this combination of intellectualism and vast scope and scale that to my mind has ensured the endurance of the books and inspired many other writers since.

There are reasons why, despite all of its faults, that this series is still known in SF (even if, according to io9, not everyone has read it.) George Lucas is clearly influenced by it (For Coruscant, think Trantor) as too many other authors. Greg Bear, Greg Benford and David Brin were so inspired that they wrote their own books set in the Foundation universe, acknowledging the importance of the books in their own formative years. I would also personally recommend Donald Kingsbury’s much underrated Psychohistorical Crisis as well. Its influence, even today, is justly and regularly recognised.

Foundation is not the best of the original trilogy, but it sets up a wonderful and imaginative scenario that still awes and inspires. With hindsight, and on rereading, it is not always the easiest or the most exciting of reads. But it is thoughtful, intelligent and inspiring, coming from a time that looked forward to the end of war and then stretching out into a vast future.  And that is why I still read and reread it.

Wednesday, December 4, 2024

The Greatest Games of All Time - Final Fantasy Tactics

https://web.archive.org/web/20121103183917/http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/all/greatestgames/p-16.html

If Shakespeare Made a Game
Final Fantasy Tactics
Platform: PlayStation | Genre: Role-Playing
Publisher: SCEA | Developer: Square | Released: 1997

Not only is Final Fantasy Tactics one of the greatest games of all time, but it also features one of the greatest Easter eggs of all time: Cloud Strife, the hero of Square's remarkably popular Final Fantasy VII, is a hidden, playable character. He comes equipped with his trademark buster sword and limit break special moves from FFVII. Finding Cloud, and getting him to join you, was a convoluted process, to say the least, but word of his presence in the game quickly spread--even as many fans of Final Fantasy Tactics continued to believe that this hidden character was a hoax. For good measure, and as part of the process of getting Cloud to join your party, Ramza has a run-in with a girl who looks identical to Final Fantasy VII's Aeris. These cameo appearances helped solidify Final Fantasy Tactics' reputation as a genuine Final Fantasy game, since everything else about it is so different from the series' conventions.

 Possibly the greatest installment of Square's long-running and extremely popular Final Fantasy series of role-playing games isn't even part of the series proper. In many ways, 1997's Final Fantasy Tactics is a game that's difficult to learn, difficult to understand, and far less accessible than other games in the franchise. That's because, as the name suggests, combat in Final Fantasy Tactics is a highly complex affair--though the game's entire presentation is decidedly unorthodox. Though not the first strategy RPG, Final Fantasy Tactics remains one of the most involved, serious, and intricate of all such games, so, despite being more than 6 years old, it remains as playable and enthralling as ever--which is the sure sign of a true classic.

Moreover, Final Fantasy Tactics is notable for its incredible storyline--a storyline that is certainly one of the best, if not singularly the best, in the Final Fantasy series. This carries considerable weight, considering how well-known Final Fantasy is for its high-quality stories. The hero of the tale is named Ramza Beoulve. Ramza is a young noble, fresh from the military academy, who is embroiled in a terrible, bloody conflict with a rival nation. The story is truly epic, in the purest sense, as it spans many years (in fact, Ramza noticeably ages over the course of the game) and features a cast of dozens of characters. Final Fantasy Tactics tells such a sweeping, poignant story that few games could possibly ever compete. Especially jarring is the game's presentation, which uses a distinctive art style that makes all the characters appear doll- or childlike. The game's grim, and often tragic, storyline, finds characters routinely betraying and often brutally killing one another. This sharply contrasts with the seemingly lighthearted look of Final Fantasy Tactics. As if all that's not enough, the story is presented through the eyes of a historian who has discovered Ramza's story long after the fact. It is this historian who willingly divulges the truth behind certain historical events, knowing that in doing so he is committing heresy against the current ruling powers.

The gameplay itself is just as outstanding, though in many ways it's just as strange. Unlike console RPGs, where combat can be tedious and usually presents itself as a roadblock between one story sequence and the next, the combat really is the star of Final Fantasy Tactics. The game features a complex "job" system, first introduced in Final Fantasy V, which allows characters in your squad to readily switch classes. Characters may shift from such class designations as squires, knights, and mages, to samurai, ninjas, chemists, mediators, and more. These classes aren't necessarily well balanced; however, there are so many unusual skills each character can learn, and there are so many viable and interesting combinations, that Final Fantasy Tactics ends up offering tremendous variety and replay value. In addition, the game is incredibly challenging at times. This forces players to think carefully about each move, to plan well-ahead in a battle, and to bring the best possible strategies and tactics to bear against many cunning opponents.

Final Fantasy Tactics is simply a one-of-a-kind game. Many games, since its time, have attempted to copy and improve on its formula, but none have managed to do so with the same dramatic flair and unusual style. The game does have its flaws, not the least of which is an English translation from the original Japanese that is frequently nonsensical. However, over time these qualities have just added to the game's unique style and appeal. The game may still be found on store shelves as part of Sony's Greatest Hits collection for the PlayStation, though, for a number of years following its release, it was very difficult to find.

Final Fantasy Tactics is my personal favorite game bearing the "Final Fantasy" name. I remember being appalled by the English translation when the game first hit Western shores, especially since I was a fan of the Japanese version of the game and was hoping for a translation on par with the game's extremely high quality. But looking back, I realize that the bizarre English dialogue fits right in with all the other highly unlikely aspects about the game. I still go back and play Final Fantasy Tactics from time to time, as it's one of those games that's equal parts labor of love and equal parts sheer skill and artistry.

ASMR 🩺 Classic Ear Exam & Cleaning 👂 | Soft Spoken Medical RP

There's something special about the simple roleplays with basic equipment from years past. I remember when I first started in ASMR several years ago, the 3Dio was the Rolls-Royce of microphones while the Blue Yeti was standard. The biggest videos were ear cleanings or haircuts or massages. Nowadays, the 3Dio is one of the first audio one goes to when they start an ASMR channel, and videos are so varied and sophisticated. I wanted to do something that felt more reminiscent of when I started, while using my own 3Dio - a gradual beginning, lots of writing, some simple triggers, not too much over-engineering. Just something simple & satisfying. Hope y'all enjoy :)

Introduction ~ 00:00 – 01:48
Taking Your Symptom/Medical History ~ 01:48 – 05:46
Inspecting & Palpating Your Right Ear ~ 05:46 – 08:02
Inspecting & Palpation Your Left Ear ~ 08:02 – 10:09
Bilateral Palpation of Your Ears ~ 10:09 – 11:56
Looking Inside Your Left Ear with Otoscope ~ 11:56 – 13:55
Looking Inside Your Right Ear with Otoscope ~ 13:55 – 15:39
Discussing the Insides of Your Ears ~ 15:39 – 17:47
Getting Ready for Your Ear Cleaning ~ 17:47 – 19:07
Starting the Cleaning on Left Ear ~ 19:07 – 23:50
Cleaning Your Right Ear ~ 23:50 – 29:39
Using Hydrogen Peroxide to Clean Your Left Ear ~ 29:39 – 31:35
Using Peroxide on Right Ear ~ 31:35 – 32:50
Double-Checking Your Ears with Otoscope ~ 32:50 – 33:44
Cleaning Outer Ears with Tissue ~ 33:44 – 36:18
Using Cotton Bud to Clean & Dry Outer Ears ~ 36:18 – 39:08
Drying Your Outer Ears with Tissue ~ 39:08 – 41:48
Writing Down & Reviewing Your Visit ~ 41:48 – 45:24
Final Bits ~ 45:24 - 46:44

Tuesday, December 3, 2024

Now reading Lewis Carroll: An Illustrated Biography by Derek Hudson...


Gears of War

https://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/gears-of-war

There’s little doubt that Gears of War has been the most anticipated game to launch on the Xbox 360. Obviously every serious Xbox gamer is still waiting with baited breath for Halo 3, but pretty much everyone who saw the screenshots of GoW prior to the Xbox 360’s launch was blown away. Even though there wasn’t much information on the gameplay at the time, I was already desperate to get my paws on this game. Then when I saw Gears of War demonstrated at E3, I was completely hooked and started counting down the days.

Let’s get the obvious stuff out of the way first. Gears of War looks absolutely stunning! There simply isn’t another console based game that can even come close to the visuals offered by GoW. To be honest, even on the PC I can’t think of anything that looks better than Gears, although Crysis and Alan Wake are set to redefine PC gaming visuals in the not too distant future, so that glory is potentially short lived. But as things stand, Gears of War hasn’t so much raised the graphics bar for console gaming, it has sent it into the stratosphere.

Never before on a console have I seen such rich textures, such atmospheric lighting and such immersive environmental effects. Graphically Gears of War gets everything just about perfect. There are dark and dingy buildings, debris filled streets, underground caverns and even the odd moving train to fight your way through. The locations are varied enough not to feel like you’re trudging over the same ground over and over – something that spoiled the otherwise excellent F.E.A.R. when I played it through.

Despite the fact that much of the game is played in semi-darkness, Epic has thrown in some of the best lighting I’ve ever seen in a game. Whereas many games these days go overboard with HDR lighting effects just to throw eye candy into the equation, GoW is far more restrained. Although some of the lighting is breathtaking, it’s not “in your face”, just like in the real world. Instead it just adds atmosphere to the proceedings and makes the locations look that bit more convincing. Yes there are some bloom effects thrown in here and there, but they’re not overdone, and when they are used it’s because the locale calls for it.

The character models are also first rate, no scratch that, they’re better than first rate. And I don’t just mean the way they look, although the detail in each and every character in the game is staggering, but more about how they move. You’ll be blown away once you’ve got the hang of the controls and you make Marcus Fenix duck from one area of cover to the next, taking the odd pot shot as he goes, while all the time the rest of the squad are negotiating the same environment and also engaging the enemy. I’ve never seen such fluid movement in a game. But for me one of the best effect is the sprint option. Hold the A button and Marcus will run – when running the camera angle drops down low and the environment takes on a slight motion blur effect. The result is a real feeling of urgency that adds to the already unparalleled atmosphere.

The superb character movement brings me onto one of the most important features in Gears of War, cover. Unlike many action games, GoW doesn’t lend itself to players who like to steam into the action with guns blazing – of course you can try this technique, but you probably won’t last very long. Instead you’re encouraged to take cover behind concrete blocks, doorways, burned out cars or even sofas. Then from the relative safety of your cover position you can lean out and take shots at the evil locusts, then duck back behind your cover. Of course many other games have implemented a cover feature, but none have pulled it off as well as Gears – cover isn’t an afterthought, it’s imperative to progressing in the game.

But the real beauty of cover is that you can make your way across a map jumping, ducking and diving from one area of cover to the next. Once behind cover you have a number of options on how you wish to proceed. If it’s a concrete block you can leap over it or dive to the left or right. If you’re behind a doorway, you can spin around it into the room, switch to the other side to get a clearer shot at the other side of the room, or just dive into a forward roll. Once you get the hang of cover you can advance on enemies while taking only minimal damage – something that’s pretty important if you’re trying to flank a locust stronghold.

There are no health packs in Gears of War. The damage system works in a similar manner to Call of Duty 2 – if you take some damage, duck behind some cover and in a few seconds you’ll be good as new. OK, so it’s not particularly realistic, but then neither is patching up multiple gunshot wounds with a first aid kit. It’s this method of damage/healing that makes a more strategic approach the key to succeeding in Gears.

The one downside to the superb cover feature in GoW is that the environments sometimes feel very contrived. No matter where you go, there will always be concrete blocks, furniture, burned out cars or sand bags strewn around. However, even in the real world there is generally always something to hide behind – this is urban warfare after all, rather than a pitched battle in a field. According to the story, the war against the locusts has been raging for 14 years, so it’s not surprising that there is no shortage of shattered buildings and wrecked cars to dive behind. The cars are particularly cool, since you can push them along while hiding behind them. Don’t get too comfy when you’re behind cover though, since it’s only a matter of time before a locust lobs a grenade in and blows you to bits.

You’re never alone in your fight against the locust horde. Throughout the campaign mode you’ve always got at least one squad member with you – usually your buddy Dom, who kindly breaks you out of prison at the beginning of the game. Why was Marcus in prison? I’m afraid you never find out! But I’m sure that Epic will expand on this storyline in the inevitable sequel. Like the random grunts in Halo and Halo 2, your squad members can occasionally be useful, but on the whole they’re just good for drawing enemy fire while you flank the strongholds. If any of your squad get “downed” you can revive them ad infinitum – unfortunately none of them seem able to do the same for you though.

One thing that I did find incredibly frustrating is the fact that on certain chapters you fail your objective if a colleague dies. The first time you encounter a berserker is such an instance. Just when I was getting ready to take the berserker down, Dom would go and get himself killed and I’d have to start the whole chapter all over again. To be fair, this isn’t a problem that’s isolated to GoW, and anyone who’s played Halo will remember the unbearable frustration of the level where you have to keep Captain Keys alive. It’s one thing keeping yourself in one piece, but when you have to protect an NPC with a complete lack of self preservation instinct, things don’t just get difficult, they get downright annoying. Thankfully these instances are very few and far between in GoW, and as soon as you move onto the next spectacular environment, they’re easily forgiven.

At its essence, Gears of War is a third person shooter, and as such it brings with it the usual problems of weapon selection. You have four weapon slots at your disposal, but two of those are reserved for a pistol and grenades, leaving you two full size slots to balance up. Your main weapon is an assault rifle called a Lancer – this is a solid bit of kit and you’re probably going to hang onto it for the whole game. As well as a high rate of fire, the Lancer is also powerful enough to knock most locusts down after a few well placed hits. But the Lancer’s trump card is the chainsaw bayonet! Melee combat has never been so gruesome or satisfying – there’s nothing quite like getting up close and personal with a bug before you turn him into a mass of entrails. Just remember that the chainsaw needs a bit of revving up before it’s ready for some killing.

Most of the other weapons are pretty standard fare. There’s a shotgun, an SMG, a sniper rifle and a grenade launcher on the menu. There are a couple of more interesting additions though. The Torque Bow is a fearsome beast that fires exploding arrows that attach themselves to walls, cars, sandbags or even enemies. But the coolest weapon at your disposal is the Hammer of Dawn. Unlike most weapons, the Hammer of Dawn doesn’t do damage itself, instead it targets an enemy so that satellites orbiting the earth can send down a massive beam of energy to decimate the target on the surface. Someone at Epic is obviously a fan of the Anime classic Akira, since the Hammer of Dawn is a near exact copy of the Satellite Orbital Laser (SOL) that’s used against Tetsuo during the film’s climax. There are certain locusts that can only be destroyed with the Hammer of Dawn, but you need to have a clear line of sight to the sky for it to function. Luckily you don’t need to worry about using up an inventory slot for the Hammer of Dawn, since whenever you need it, you’ll conveniently find it lying around on the ground.

One nice touch in GoW is the reload function. Rather than just hitting a reload button, you can expediate the process by manually timing your reload. When you hit the reload button you can either wait for your next round to hit the chamber, or you can press the reload button again as the reload marker hits a set point. If you get this right, not only will you get back in the fight faster, but your new rounds will also have a damage bonus. If however you mis-time the active reload your gun will jam and you’ll have to wait even longer for your next magazine to slot into place. The art of the perfect reload is actually an important part of the game – getting the next round into the chamber as quickly as possible could be the difference between life and death! The importance of the active reload is reflected in the fact that you can unlock achievements for pulling off a number of concurrent perfect reloads.

The pacing in the campaign mode is more or less perfect. You encounter new environments and new enemies as you push on through the game and the level of difficulty scales well. The campaign mode is long enough to feel satisfying when you finish it, and there isn’t any pointless padding thrown in to increase longevity. If there’s one criticism of the campaign mode, it’s that it doesn’t really tell enough of the story. There are hints and references thrown in here and there, but important questions never seem to be asked, let alone answered. The ending leaves you in no doubt that a sequel is coming, so hopefully we’ll get a few more answers in the second instalment. That said, if Halo 2 is anything to go by, we could just end up with more questions.

I played all the way through the campaign mode in a couple of sittings and never got bored, but I can imagine that some gamers may find the gameplay somewhat repetitive after a while. To be fair though, that could be said for almost any shooter game, whether first or third person – you either like this type of gameplay or you don’t, and GoW does it so very well. However, Epic is keen to keep players interested and to keep coming back for more, so there are some very good multiplayer co-op options. Obviously there’s split screen, so you and a mate can play Marcus and Dom on the same screen, but you can also do the same over system link, if you happen to have two consoles and two TVs handy. But the best bit is that you can play through the entire campaign in co-op mode over Xbox Live! This adds a whole new twist to the game, allowing you to work as a team. It makes a big difference when Dom is actually taking out locusts and flanking entrenched defensive points rather than just being canon fodder.

The multiplayer goodness doesn’t stop with co-op play either, there’s an awesome team based multiplayer experience to be explored. There’s simply no doubt that Gears of War offers the best console based online multiplayer experience out there. Of course there will be lots of hardcore PC gamers that will whinge and moan about the fact that there have been great online gaming options on the PC for years, and they’re right, but they’re also missing the point. There are masses of console gamers that don’t play PC games, and for them the GoW multiplayer experience is earth shatteringly good.

As is always the case with Xbox Live, finding a game to join is as simple as pie – something that can’t always be said for PC gaming. You can filter the type of game you want to play, the type of map and whether you want to join a ranked or unranked server. I found the online experience to be smooth as silk, without the slightest hint of lag. The best part about GoW online is that it encourages team play even on a public server – again something that’s woefully rare on PC games. Because of the excellent cover system, and the fact that your damage regenerates with a few seconds of hiding, you can’t win a round by taking a position and trying to take out the enemy when they pop their head up – basically, as soon as they get hit a few times they will duck back and regenerate, as will you. So the key is getting some of your team to pin down the enemy while you flank them and take them out from behind. Of course, while you’re attempting to flank the enemy you’ll find yourself out in the open and vulnerable – just like in real urban warfare. Just like your squad members in the campaign mode, players can be downed with a few shots – they can then be revived by a comrade, or stomped to death by an enemy.

There’s no doubt that Gears of War has been hyped up beyond belief, but in so many ways it lives up to, and even surpasses that hype. No matter what I tell you about the visuals in this game, nothing will prepare you for the spectacle that you’ll be treated to when you fire it up on a decent high definition TV. The sound effects don’t let the party down either and having a decent sound system adds to the already immersive environment. If I worked for Sony, Gears of War would have me worried, because I’ve seen nothing on the PS3 that can match the impact of Epic’s, err, epic.

Gears of War has changed the face of console gaming. If you were wondering if it was worth buying a high definition TV to go with your Xbox 360, take a look at GoW running on a decent screen and you’ll be digging your credit card out in no time. Not only is this the best looking console game I have ever seen, the control method, the gameplay, the animation, the sound effects and the atmosphere are all straight out of the top drawer. I’m sure that some people will find the fire/cover routine dull after a while, but if you really get into the fluid movement, the swift reloads and the general carnage that’s constantly surrounding you, I guarantee that hours will fly by before you know it.

Throw in a superb multiplayer experience, both in co-op or team battle modes, and it’s clear that Epic has got all the right boxes ticked. Some dodgy AI, an absence of a coherent storyline and a few other niggles stop Gears of War from being perfect, but what you do have is stunning example of what next generation console gaming should be. Epic has pushed the envelope with Gears of War, and I doubt if we’ll see a better looking or more immersive game hit the 360 until Halo 3 rears its head.