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Results tagged ' Tulsa Drillers '
Nick Schmidt Interview, June 1, 2012
Before the game yesterday we talked to Tulsa Drillers' starter Nick Schmidt about playing in high profile games like the California League championship game and pitching as part of Team USA.
Shot by: Jarah Wright and Michael Damman
Tyler Johnson Interview, May 31, 2012
We sat down with World Series winner and current Tulsa Drillers reliever Tyler Johnson before the game yesterday to talk about winning the World Series and coming back from an injury to play professional baseball.
Shot by: Michael Damman and Jarah Wright
On The Road: Tulsa and Northwest Arkansas
Texas League travel is renowned in Minor League Baseball circles for the toll it takes on players, coaches, bus drivers and, yes, broadcasters. With airfare too costly for Double-A teams, all of the trips in the TL are via chartered bus rides. Google the route from Corpus Christi, Texas to Springfield, Missouri and you'll get the idea of what sort of monstrosities take place for some teams in our eight-squad circuit. Fortunately for the RoughRiders, Frisco's central location makes our travel somewhat more advantageous than for some of our peer teams, notably those from the South Division.
As far as road trips go, the six-game Tulsa-Northwest Arkansas swing has been one of the more enjoyable of the season, with the travel being one of the reasons why. For most road series, we will leave as a team the day before our first game in a particular city so that the players can salvage as much rest as possible prior to playing. For example, we left at 3:30 p.m. for Corpus Christi (our longest trip at over seven hours) on a Wednesday with the first game of our series on Thursday night at Whataburger Field.
With Tulsa only about four hours north of the Metroplex, we were able to leave the day of the game last Wednesday. However, the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry, which proved to be the case when we arrived in "The 918." Our hotel did not have our rooms ready for the team to check in, meaning that we had to wait up to two hours in the lobby to head to our homes away from home (I drew the lucky straw for getting to his room last, leaving me 15 minutes to unpack, change clothes, gather equipment and catch our bus to the ballpark).
The hotel "in" Tulsa is barely in the city; it's located near the southern edge of its borders, not far from the campus of Oral Roberts University. Generally, we will have two scheduled bus times to take the team to the ballpark when we are on the road: one at 3 p.m. and another at 4 p.m. Most of the team will get on the earlier bus, with that night's starting pitcher taking the other, often by his lonesome self.
The first thing that sticks out about the Drillers' ballpark is its location. ONEOK Field (pronounced "one-oak") is directly adjacent to downtown Tulsa, giving it a terrific view of the skyline over right field and a setting that feels urban, the way it should feel in my opinion. There is a dearth of views like this in the Texas League (Arkansas' vista with downtown Little Rock looming past the Arkansas River, is Tulsa's closest competitor), so it's a treat to look at the cityscape for three nights.
The second appealing aspect of the Tulsa trip is the ballpark itself. Built in 2010, ONEOK Field, named after a natural gas utilities company, is the newest park in the TL and it is impressive. Aside from views it possesses, it boasts a huge clubhouse, a terrific press box and plenty of fan amenities. I thought the name of a group seating section – "The Oil Field" – was particularly clever, given the importance of the oil industry in Tulsa (hence, the nickname of the team). The fans support the Drillers in droves, sending Tulsa to the second-highest average attendance in the league (Frisco leads the way by a large margin). Our final game drew 8,207 fans, making it the largest crowd we have seen at an opposing ballpark this season.
After each game, the players will shower up, have dinner in the clubhouse (as prepared by the visiting clubhouse manager) and load back up onto the bus to head back to the ballpark, typically 45 minutes or an hour after the game ends. This takes a bit longer on the last day of the series, as the team needs to bring all of its equipment and uniforms to whichever city is next on the travel log.
The trip from Tulsa to our next destination, Springdale, Arkansas – the home of the Northwest Arkansas Naturals – is the shortest route between any two cities in the Texas League. After numerous seven-hour bus rides this season, the sub-two hour journey following Friday's game was a welcome trip, especially so because we played a four-hour game against the Drillers in the series finale. We arrived at our hotel at a reasonable 2:15 a.m. with game time less than 18 hours later.
When ONEOK Field opened, it replaced the Naturals' Arvest Ballpark as the newest yard in the league (Arvest is a bank headquartered in nearby Bentonville). Like Tulsa's home park, Northwest Arkansas' is quite nice, though the area around it could not be much different. Instead of the bustling downtown atmosphere you get at the home of the Drillers, Arvest Ballpark is located in a very rural area in the southwest corner of Springdale, a city of close to 70,000 residents. Grazing horses and cows are not an unusual sight when one looks out onto the rolling fields that surround the ballpark.
While this gives the sense that you are located in the middle of nowhere, people from the area don't seem to have a hard time finding Arvest. The park is not far from Interstate 540, the main thoroughfare in the area that runs north to south from Bentonville (the home of Wal-Mart) to Fayetteville (the home of the University of Arkansas). The rationale for calling the team the "Northwest Arkansas Naturals" and not the "Springdale Naturals" is in part so that the other communities in the region feel a connection with the team that is not exclusive to one city (the Texas Rangers can relate).
While the setting couldn't be described as exciting, the brand of baseball through two games in Springdale has been, with Frisco and Northwest Arkansas combining to score 29 runs. The teams have split the first two contests and played a rubber game on Monday afternoon. A RoughRiders win made the five-hour bus ride back to Frisco seem a lot shorter and truly made this a road trip we won't mind experiencing again.
Written by: Alex Vispoli
Photos by: Alex Vispoli
All-'Riders Team: Catcher
2012 marks the RoughRiders' 10th season as a franchise, all as the Rangers' Double-A affiliate. Since 2003, there have been hundreds of talented players come through Dr Pepper Ballpark, but some have stood out more than others. With the help of Michael Damman, the RoughRiders' Director of Statistical Research, we've come up with the All-'Riders Team: the best player at each position in franchise history. Today we start with the RoughRiders' all-time best catcher.
Michael Damman's Take: Part of an extremely talented 2008 Frisco RoughRider's team that won 84 games, Max Ramirez makes the list despite playing just 69 games in Frisco. Still, Ramirez displayed one of the most dominant offensive performances in his short time with the 'Riders.
A .354 hitter while in Frisco, Ramirez connected on 35 extra base hits, including 17 home runs, and drove in 50 runs over the 69 games while scoring 49 runs as well. Ramirez had a .454 on base percentage in addition to a 1.096 OPS in 289 plate appearances for the 'Riders. Also of note, his time with the RoughRiders included more multi hit games (23) than hit-less games (19).
Since leaving Frisco, Ramirez has yet to show the same kind of offensive numbers, although two wrist injuries in 2009 and 2010 clearly affected his power and ability in the field. In 140 plate appearances for the Rangers in 2008 and 2010, Ramirez hit .217 with a .340 OBP and .699 OPS. In 2011, he spent time with the Triple-A clubs of the Houston Astros, Chicago Cubs, and San Francisco Giants. Ramirez began to display some power for the Giants late in the season as he finished with 11 doubles and 10 homeruns in 48 games.
My Take: As you'll see as we continue to release our list of the All-'Riders Team, Damman pretty much covers it all. However, I'll try and chime in a couple of thoughts as well.
In the first nine seasons of 'Riders baseball, there has never been a player with a higher single-season batting average than Ramirez (.354). I love the stat that Michael found stating that Ramirez had more multi-hit games than hit-less games. Think about that for a second. Even over a half-season sample size, that's remarkable.
For comparison sake, take for example Tulsa's Wilin Rosario. The Drillers' catcher entered 2011 as the Rockies' No. 2 prospect and was known not just as a defensive catcher. This past season, Rosario hit .249 overall, .263 in the first half, .235 in the second. Point is, Ramirez hit approximately 100 points higher than Rosario who, despite having what some would term a "down year," is know as catcher who can hit.
You can read more from Michael Damman on his Rangers' minor league blog, Chatter From the Pressbox. You can also follow him on twitter @pressboxchatter.
Up Next: First Base
Rangers Lose Top Minor League Talent
At first glance, he isn't exactly the warm and fuzzy type. To be honest, in my limited time with him, I can't remember seeing him smile. He looks, acts, and talks like someone who has been in baseball his entire life. And it wasn't until I had the chance to sit down and interview him in the RoughRiders' dugout at ONEOK Field in Tulsa, Ok. that I realized how truly valuable Senior Director of Player Development Scott Servias was to the Texas Rangers.
Unfortunately, he's now a valuable addition to the division rival Anaheim Angels.
Right before the weekend, it was announced that new Angels' general manager Jerry Dipoto had luered Servais away from Texas by offering him a multi-year contract as the Halos' assistant general manager overseeing scouting and player development. With Texas, Servais was responsible for the on-field minor league development in addition to instructing the Rangers' Major League catchers. He also made recommendations for potential trades and free-agent signings.
There are a lot of moving parts involved with the operations and player development in both major and minor league baseball and I'm far from fully understanding it all. Over the course of a season I see and meet coaches, scouts, rovers, coordinators, special assistants, and plenty more. All of them work for the Rangers, and all are trying to help the players here in Frisco become players in Arlington.
What I do know is that Servais had the respect of every RoughRider I talked to. A one-time player himself, the former catcher was taken in the third round of the 1988 First-Year Player Draft by Houston and began his career with the Astros, making his Major League debut on July 12, 1991. His playing days ended in 2002 after batting .245 with 63 home runs and 319 RBIs in 820 Major League games.
I remember talking with former RoughRiders' second baseman Matt Lawson about Servais at one point last year. He was incredibly complimentary of Servias and said that he felt like he really took the time to get to know him. In my interview with Servais in Tulsa, I asked Scott about how important it was for him get to know the players he was developing:
"It's everything. I played for 15 years and I remember how important it was when the brass came into town. Letting [the players] know that they're not just a number or a piece of meat, so to speak. I'm a person, I have a family, I have a background. I hope to build equity with the players so when I have to go to a player and hold them accountable or ask them to make an adjustment, we've built that equity, and they'll buy in and take our suggestions."
This told me a lot about Scott, and I think he really does care about the players. That might sound a little too "Hallmark" for professional baseball, but in my ten minutes with him, I truly felt as though he meant it.
For the Angels, this was a big time acquisition. For the Rangers, it leaves a big time void. Texas general manager Jon Daniels told the Forth Worth Star-Telegram that "[Scott] helped put together an outstanding staff, so we're confident others will step up and we won't miss a beat . . . I'm looking forward to competing against him." Daniels also said that Scott will be missed and that his new opportunity is an exciting one.
No matter what happens, we'll see the fruit of Servais' labor 12 times a year when the RoughRiders take on the Arkansas Travelers.
Texas League Power Rankings
Only 28 games remain for the RoughRiders and the other seven teams in the Texas League. San Antonio and Arkansas already have their ticket punched to the postseason, and almost every other club in the league has a chance to get into the TL's final four.
The 'Riders dropped a place in the standings last night, but could they hold strong in this month's Power Rankings? Those are below, and here are the Power Rankings from May, June and July.
1. San Antonio (76-36, 27-15; Past Rankings: 1, 1, 1)
The Missions have the best record in all of full-season minor league baseball, with the San Jose Giants of the California League (74-38) the only team less than five games away from San Antonio. Not only has San Antonio been great this season, but they added Robbie Erlin and Joe Wieland, who had been with Frisco until the Mike Adams deal at the deadline.
KEY STAT (+200): That's the Missions' run differential this season, which leads the minors and is 160 runs better than the second-best mark in the TL (Frisco at +40). Thanks to Mike Saeger, the Missions play-by-play broadcaster for this stat.
2. Frisco (61-51, 21-21; Past Rankings: 6, 2, 3)
The 'Riders have fallen into a bit of a slump, and Midland has climbed above them in the standings. However, the RockHounds will need to leap over San Antonio in order to make the playoffs and, as a result, deny the RoughRiders of a spot in the playoffs. Midland has been better than the 'Riders over the last two weeks, but Frisco was clearly better for the season's first 100 games. Thus, the 'Riders are here.
KEY STAT (9-2, 3.09): The combined record and earned run average of Erlin and Wieland while they were with the RoughRiders. Now, they are on the team that Frisco would play in the first round of the postseason.
3. Northwest Arkansas (57-52, 22-20; Past Rankings: 4, 3, 6)
The Naturals won the league last year, and they have had plenty of big-time prospects on the roster. Finally, Northwest Arkansas has gone on a bit of a run to assume first place in both the overall and the second half standings. Still, last-place Arkansas is three games back, so this race will go down to the wire.
KEY STAT (2): The Naturals are only two losses away from matching their total from all of last year. Northwest went 86-54 en route to a pair of division crowns and a Texas League championship.
4. Midland (49-63, 22-20; Past Rankings: 3, 7, 5)
Talk about a team that has bounced up and down this season. Right now, Midland is one of the hottest teams in the Texas League and they have jumped into second place in the South. The RockHounds have won eight of ten, including their first series victory over Frisco this season Tuesday through Thursday of last week.
KEY STAT (4): Only four games remain for the RockHounds against the first-place Missions, and those aren't until August 30-September 2 in San Antonio. Midland must win the second-half championship to go to the playoffs, and they are currently five games back.
5. Arkansas (55-54, 19-23; Past Rankings: 7, 6, 2)
The Travelers stunned many and took the first half North Division title by one game over Northwest Arkansas. Right now, Arkansas is in a bit of a rut after going 6-0 to start half two. Since that point, Arkansas is 13-23, but they still have their postseason berth locked up.
KEY STAT (.348): Mike Trout's average since returning to the Travs August 1. The Angels' top prospect, who spent almost a month in the bigs, has hit safely in six of his seven games and has scored seven times since arriving back in North Little Rock.
6. Springfield (52-59, 20-21; Past Rankings: 5, 4, 7)
The Cardinals have been hot lately, which pushes them ahead of Tulsa and Corpus Christi. Springfield has gotten great pitching out of top prospect Shelby Miller, and the squad is right there in second in the second half North standings, just one-and-a-half games back of the Naturals.
KEY STAT (8-2): The Cardinals' record over the last ten games, which has propelled Springfield from last place in the North to second.
7. Tulsa (52-59, 19-22; Past Rankings: 2, 5, 4)
This is the lowest ranking for the Drillers this season, and it comes with the club still very much alive in the second half. Surprisingly, the Drillers have struggled at home this season. They have the worst home record in the TL at 24-30, including an 8-12 mark in the second half.
KEY STAT (20): The number of games that will remain when Drew Pomeranz, the key cog in Colorado's trade with Cleveland for Ubaldo Jimenez, is eligible to officially join the Rockies' system. If he joins the Drillers, Pomeranz would be able to make no more than four starts before the regular season ends.
8. Corpus Christi (42-70, 17-25; Past Rankings: 8, 8, 8)
I've tried to move these poor Hooks up in the rankings, but I just can't do it. Corpus Christi's roster is depleted now because many key pieces have moved up to Triple-A Oklahoma City or Houston.
KEY STAT (23%): The percentage of the Astros' current position players that were with the Hooks a month ago. Jose Altuve, J.D. Martinez and Jimmy Paredes are the Hooks-turned-Astros.
Agree? Disagree? Let us know in the comments!
– Brian
RoughRiders Staying Steady
The month of July is upon us, and the Texas League has been full of surprises. The Missions continue to roll, the Travelers have turned into the power of the North, and the RoughRiders are right there in the conversation for the league's best teams.
Last month, the RoughRiders were ranked second in our Texas League Power Rankings. Can they hold onto that ranking? Find out in this month's Power Rankings (past rankings in order from earliest to most recent).
1. San Antonio (55-23, 6-2; Past Rankings: 1, 1): The Missions have held this title since our first rankings back in April, and there is no reason to lower them now. Since our last ranking when the Missions were 38-18, they have gone 17-5, raising their winning percentage to a ridiculous .705. San Antonio is trying to replicate Northwest Arkansas' dominance in the North last year, when the Naturals won both halves and the league title in September.
HIGH POINT (June 12): San Antonio clinched the first half title on this day with a 6-4 win over Corpus Christi, a last at-bat win that wrapped up a first half title that seemed inevitable after the team's incredible start.
LOW POINT (June 22): This was the day that everyone's records were reset to 0-0, which was a drop from 28 games above .500 to, well, 0. The Missions overcame this adversity with a 5-3 win over the Hooks.
KEY STAT (1st): San Antonio has the best record in all of full-season minor league baseball. No other team has a winning percentage above .700 like the Missions do.
2. Arkansas (42-33, 6-2; Past Rankings: 7, 6): Boy did I mess this one up last time. I had the entire North Division slotted 3-6, and I had the Travelers sixth. I learned my lesson. The Travs may be playing the best baseball in the Texas League over the last two weeks, and they would be first if it weren't for, you know, the best team in all of minor league baseball.
HIGH POINT (June 21): Arkansas clinched its first playoff berth since 2008 with a 17-6 thumping of Springfield at Hammons Field. That victory capped a 13-6 run to end the first half and get that postseason bid.
LOW POINT (June 11): The Travelers lost their second straight game to Northwest Arkansas on that day, 6-4. The Travs finished 7-3 to get that playoff berth.
KEY STAT (+45): That was Arkansas' run differential in June after posting a -1 in April and a -3 in May.
3. Frisco (43-35, 3-5; Past Rankings: 6, 2): The RoughRiders finished second in the Texas League during the first half of the season. It's too bad the 'Riders didn't play in the North. Frisco would have won the division fairly easily. Instead, the 'Riders sit in pretty good position in the playoff chase provided that San Antonio continues to roll. Only a Midland or Corpus Christi second-half crown should keep the club out of the playoffs.
HIGH POINT (June 19): The 'Riders wrapped up a 6-2 road trip with a 9-8, 12-inning victory over Corpus Christi at Whataburger Field. In the month, Frisco went 13-5 away from Dr Pepper Ballpark.
LOW POINT (June 26): T.J. Steele's walk-off, two-run homer gave Corpus Christi a 4-3 victory over the 'Riders, which was the Hooks' third straight against Frisco. That loss dipped the 'Riders' mark in the second half to 1-4.
KEY STAT (11): Frisco is 11 games up on Midland for second place in the overall standings, which means that if San Antonio wins both halves, the RoughRiders are in the driver's seat for the second playoff spot from the South. The team with the second best overall record goes to the playoffs when the same team wins the division in both halves.
4. Tulsa (38-40, 5-3; Past Rankings: 2, 5): The Drillers got off to a great start in the first half before fading and finishing the half in third. So far, so good for Tulsa in the second half. It's hard to believe that a team two games below the break-even mark would be fourth, but that's the set-up in this top-heavy Texas League.
HIGH POINT (June 27): With two down and his club down by two in the top of the 9th, Tim Wheeler hit a three-run home run to give the Drillers a 6-5 lead over the Cardinals that they would not lose. It was Tulsa's third straight win, and it ushered in the All-Star Break in a big way.
LOW POINT (June 19): The Drillers were already out of the chase by this point, but Arkansas delivered a knockout with a 3-1 win over Tulsa, the Travs' third straight win over the Drillers.
KEY STAT (19): Wheeler's home run total, which leads the Texas League by two over Frisco's Mike Bianucci and Springfield's Matt Adams.
5. Midland (32-46, 5-3; Past Rankings: 3, 7): Maybe it is a bit early to call the RockHounds "contenders" in the second half, but they are 5-3 and they rallied for a series split of San Antonio last week. Midland is off to a great start against the three best teams in this league (and the three top teams in this poll).
HIGH POINT (June 27): Midland went into the break with a come-from-behind 2-1 win over San Antonio. The 'Hounds scored one in the seventh to tie and one in the eighth to win.
LOW POINT (June 25): Two days prior, the RockHounds were shutout by the Missions for the second straight day, 2-0. It looked like more of the same for Midland in the second half. The last four games have changed that outlook.
KEY STAT (3.9): That's the average number of runs Midland's opponents have scored in the first eight games of the second half. The RockHounds had the worst ERA in the first half (5.22).
6. Northwest Arkansas (36-39, 1-7; Past Rankings: 4, 3): The next two teams share the biggest drops of the month. I had the Naturals as the favorite in the North in early June, and they finished one game back of Arkansas. The second half, however, has been a struggle. The Naturals have lost seven in a row and sit with the worst record in the Texas League's second half.
HIGH POINT (June 22): It was a modest high point, as the Naturals began the second half with a 6-2 win at Tulsa. At that point, the Naturals were four games above .500.
LOW POINT (July 1): Yesterday, the Naturals dropped their seventh straight, 4-1 at San Antonio. This skid ties a franchise high for most consecutive losses in team history. The only other time a seven-game losing streak has occurred for the Naturals–August of '09.
KEY STAT (41-21): That's the margin of runs for the Naturals' opponents and the Naturals in the second half. Northwest has posted two runs or less in five of the eight games.
7. Springfield (34-44, 2-6; Past Rankings: 5, 4): I was higher on the Cardinals than most in the first half, but Springfield still finished last in the North with a 32-38 mark. So far in the second half, things haven't gotten much better for a team that does have significantly more talent than it had at the beginning of the year.
HIGH POINT (June 15): Shelby Miller, St. Louis' top prospect, tossed eight shutout innings against Arkansas in Springfield's 8-1 win over the first-place Travs to keep the Cardinals alive (barely). Miller scattered four hits and whiffed eight.
LOW POINT (June 30): The Cardinals lost the lead in the eighth inning and fell victim to a RoughRiders walk-off win 7-6. It was the final loss during a four-game skid.
KEY STAT (1.89): Miller's ERA through six Double-A starts. He has been great since his call-up from high-A Palm Beach.
8. Corpus Christi (29-49, 4-4; Past Rankings: 8, 8): The rankings have been consistent at the beginning and the end. The Hooks have been in the basement all year long. However, the Hooks have shown some life in the second half, and players like Jose Altuve, Xavier Cedeno, Jake Goebbert, Dallas Keuchel and J.D. Martinez make it fun to watch Corpus Christi. The Hooks may not be in the hunt, but they will post their fair share of wins in the second half.
HIGH POINT (June 26): T.J. Steele's walk-off, two-run homer gave the Hooks a 4-3 victory over Frisco and a 3-2 record in the second half.
LOW POINT (June 27): The Hooks were three outs away from their first series sweep of the season, but the RoughRiders responded with four runs in the top of the ninth to stun Corpus 6-3.
KEY STAT (.500): The Hooks' winning percentage through eight games in half number two, which is significantly better than the .357 mark they posted in the first half.
How would you rank the Texas League? Let us know. Enjoy our coverage tonight on TXA 21 beginning at 7:00 and on the RoughRiders Baseball Network beginning at 6:35. Hope you are along for the ride!
– Brian


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ANDREW WHITEHEAD visits the graves of games gone by and wonders: "What if...?"
For a lot of people the feeling of playing an MMO with like-minded people is one that has come to define what it means to be a gamer. Generally speaking the most popular MMOs have no real win-state and are driven by personalised avatars living in a persistent world — it's about being one tiny cog in a much bigger machine and affecting change in the virtual world. And while it's these things that make MMOs so appealing they are simultaneously why their deaths hit fans so hard.
"I think it's crazy to shut down an MMO at all," said Scott Brown, co-founder of the now defunct NetDevil. "You can always scale back support, servers, bandwidth, etc., to a point where the game can make more than it costs to operate and still deliver a great experience for your players. And for the players of that game, why take it away?"
As a developer Scott has seen his fair share of MMOs die with three titles that he worked on getting shut down. Jumpgate, LEGO Universe and Auto Assault were all projects he was a big part of before their death and the now President of END Games Entertainment says that each one of them hurt personally when their plug was finally pulled.
"Jumpgate had run for over 10 years and still had players playing every day," said Scott. "And LEGO Universe had fantastic revenue and lots of players, maybe not the World of Warcraft numbers like LEGO wanted, but it was a great product that kids loved and made money. It kills me it's not running to this day. Just this morning my youngest son, who is five, found a LEGO Universe CD and asked to play it, it still hurts to explain to him the game is just not running anymore."
While a developer like Scott has to let go of these games at some point and move on to new projects it's the fans who often refuse to give up on what they see as their digital home. Fans who, long after the player base has dwindled down and the official servers have been shut off, still gather as a group of dedicated exiles and refusing to accept that the past has passed.
Remember Phantasy Star Online from the Dreamcast? What about Ver.2? Remember how there was a GameCube version called Episodes I & II as well as that strange C.A.R.D. variation? Oh and the PC version called Blue Burst? You may not remember all of them, I didn't, but there's an army of Phantasy Star Online fans playing these games right now thanks to the SCHTHACK Private Servers. Operating solely on PayPal donations since 2003 the website has easy to follow instructions on how to connect to their servers as well as moderators that work to keep the cheaters at bay. And it isn't a unique case.
Considered by many to be the father of the modern MMO, Richard Garriott's Ultima Online has a thriving private server community who want to preserve the game as it once was, forgoing the newer expansions that upgraded the graphics and altered the core gameplay.
On the other end of the scale is the lesser known Westwood Studios developed MMO from 2002, Earth & Beyond. Shut down in 2004 the fan community continued to work on emulating the game culminating in the creation of a free-for-everyone server that went online only last year.
However, the cult following these games were able to build up over their lifetimes is a luxury other ill-fated games haven't been able to replicate. Take for instance the role-playing shooter Tabula Rasa, another MMO by Richard Garriott that was born in late 2007 and died in early 2009 with an end of world event that involved the game's two competing factions destroying each other. The fight bled over to the real world with Garriott successfully suing publisher NCSoft for $24million for damages following his termination. Fans of the game rallied for a short time to keep it alive, but a lack of community support meant no fan servers were ever fully realised despite the game's positive reception.
More recently 2004's City of Heroes (and it's standalone expansion City of Villains) had its official support pulled late last year with publisher NCSoft claiming they had "exhausted all options including the selling of the studio and the rights to the City of Heroes intellectual property" in an open letter to fans. Those same fans created a new proposal to keep the game alive in an official capacity by helping to find a buyer, but if history has proven anything it's that the chances of a dead MMO coming back to life is extremely slim. Realistically it's just a matter of time before the fan server community picks up where the publisher left off.
When talking about MMOs in any capacity it's inevitable the conversation will turn to World of Warcraft — and with good reason. Going strong for over eight years it's the king of the MMOs, with around 10 million subscribers as of the end of 2012, and has garnered significant critical praise since its inception and throughout its numerous expansions. It's the benchmark all others are judged by and won't be going anywhere anytime soon. But developer Blizzard also holds another record, being the first studio to win a lawsuit against a private server company to the tune of US$83million.
The legalities of any server emulation are murky at best, but a common theme amongst the majority of operators is that they're doing it for the fans and not as a business. In contrast to this mantra, Scapegaming, who were on the receiving end of Blizzard's legal bashing, had in excess of US$3million in a PayPal account earned from charging for access to their private servers.
To be clear, the fact that the majority of MMO emulation projects out there are hoping to bring their games back for free doesn't make them legal, nor does it mean they're less likely to feel the sharp sting of a publisher's legal department. That aside it's clear that the vast majority of these projects are about bringing back something that was lost while uniting a disenfranchised community and not about the money.
"I take it as a huge compliment that something we poured so much of our lives into for years is really appreciated by someone" said Scott Brown speaking about the attempts to bring back Auto Assault. "It's easy for me to say this of course because I am not the publisher that owns the legal rights to the intellectual property. That is a whole different can of worms."
Of all the intellectual properties to base an MMO on, Star Wars would have to be the safest bet, right? Its enduring popularity and wealth of lore to draw from makes it seem like sure-fire hit. But watching 2011's The Old Republic struggle to keep its head above water proves that in this market there are no guarantees. And while the latest online game based on a galaxy far, far away continues to just get by, its predecessor Star Wars Galaxies stayed alive for over eight years before being switched off on December 15, 2011. But like the fortunate few in the MMO arena, Galaxies had developed its own loyal following, albeit a splintered one after a number of controversial updates.
The details of these updates are too numerous to detail, but the basic story is that the game that died in 2011 was not the same game that launched back in mid-2003. The first major change came in the form of the Combat Upgrade in April 2005 which allowed for more involved fighting for combat professions, while the more controversial New Game Experience upgrade released in November 2005 simplified the game in many ways but also made the hard to obtain Jedi class available from the beginning. In short the empire was divided and remains so even today as two separate projects with different ideologies continue to work on bringing back Galaxies as they see fit.
Project SWG is an ongoing effort to bring the MMO back to life for fans of the New Game Experience version while SWGEmu is all about reawakening the original pre-Combat Upgrade edition.
"I'm a huge Star Wars fan, played pretty much every Star Wars game out there so as soon as I had a stable internet connection I started playing," said Vladimir Djolovic, Lead Moderator of the SWGEmu forums and just one of the 35 active staff members working on getting a Galaxies server back up and running. "It was, and still is, the best MMO role-playing game out there, nothing has even come close so far."
Compared to a lot of other MMO revival projects SWGEmu has a pretty strong following of people hoping to bring this adventure back to life. But there's still a lot of work that needs doing as every line of code being used for this Galaxies server emulator is being written from scratch. In fact the SWGEmu site claims that Sony Online Entertainment has "lost the code entirely" for their own official servers.
"[We want] to develop and maintain a community code base of a vanilla release of a Star Wars Galaxies Server, circa Publish 14.1 for use of anyone who wishes to use it," said Vladimir."[The aim is to] deploy a server (Sun Crusher) that embraces [the original game], yet builds upon it, and strives to show the community a server which has the potential that we all believed Star Wars Galaxies had, but never got the chance to show during its short life span. Most important of all, is to bring back to life the game which people grew to love with such a passion."
Galaxies isn't the only MMO based on a popular franchise to fade away over the last few years. On July 31, 2009, Sony Online Entertainment shut down the The Matrix Online servers as a group of the game's remaining supporters looked on while their digital adventure came to a close.
"Personally, I knew the end was coming sooner or later," said Jason Schrag, community moderator for several The Matrix Online websites. "Once [lead game designer Ben "Rarebit" Chamberlain] left, that was the death knell. From there more and more people jumped ship and my buddy list went from heavily populated throughout any time of day to barren. Before the ending announcement, I'd be lucky to see two or three people online at any given time."
In an attempt to give the game a proper farewell an in-game event was scheduled for the final hours, but nothing went according to plan and thanks to overloaded servers the ending was more of a buggy mess than a touching swan song.
"It was a crappy, laggy party where everyone crammed into Club Hel," said Jason, "which is an area that could only be accessed by running a certain mission for the Merovingian that the developers ported everyone into. And people were given free items like beta gear and not much else. It was anti-climactic and disappointing."
Jason wasn't alone; overall a lot of fans had a similar experience. While some did manage to see the final pop-up dialogue window that simply read "WAKE UP!" a lot of other fans were left without a proper goodbye or any real finality.
"I wasn't really sure what to think of it at first," said Josh Parsons, another dedicated fan who was there at the end, "it took a night before it finally sunk in and I felt pretty depressed about it. Between the massive amounts of lag, special effects constantly going off and lack of story closure, the final event was a joke."
Despite the winding down of the support and the bitter ending that followed Rajko Stojadinovic, yet another long-time fan of The Matrix Online, was already working on a plan to resurrect the game after that infamous end-of-life e-mail from Sony Online Entertainment hit his inbox.
"That's when I knew that if this game was to have a life after that," said Rajko "I had to invest some hard work in its last days, before it's too late."
Two days before the servers shut down Rajko had setup a proxy so that other members could capture packets of their in game actions to be analysed later on, which soon amounted to several gigabytes of data from numerous individual users which then formed the basis for the first version of the emulator.
Now the Lead Developer on The Matrix Online emulation project, Rajko has spent a good chunk of his free-time working on bringing the game back for his fellows fans — but even now there's still a long way to go.
"Just a few days after the shutdown event, I was able to use packet-replaying with proper encryption applied to get a stock avatar into the world and exploring," explains Rajko. "The forum members were ecstatic, but since for any more progress to be made required tons of work they quickly left after having nothing to do — other than running."
And that's the problem — recreating a rudimentary server from packet data is no mean feat in itself but doing it with limited resources and manpower for a game that wasn't on most people's radar for years means there's still a ton of work to be done.
"Unfortunately, I am currently the sole developer on this project," said Rajko. "Since The Matrix Online shutdown, some other members tried to contribute, but apparently, the combination 'skilled programmer/cracker' plus 'has free time' plus 'willing to work for free' plus 'fan of The Matrix Online' is a very rare one."
With so many roadblocks in the way it's hard to not ask the question: is this even possible? There are a lot of fan severs running out there, so there is proof it can be done, but it's easy to underestimate just how hard recreating a persistent virtual world actually is.
"It's pretty tough to do," said Scott Brown, "but it's easier if the MMO is still live so you can try things and see how they compare to the actual game. I used to think nobody could pull this off until I saw the Ultima Online reverse engineered game and it was nearly perfect."
"We had a player, who happened to be an amazing programmer, come work for us because he was so mad Auto Assault got shut down that he wanted to go help us make sure it never happened again."
While the idea of this never happening again is perhaps a little ambitious it's easy to see why MMOs can become so special for groups of gamers and why even the small ones can make such a big impact. It's about more than just the game itself, it's finding a place to belong. For many these are more than mere games: they are communities.
"Fans find their home in these games," said Scott. "Some games hit a bigger market than others but for the people who love the game and enjoy the players they meet in that game it's home."
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Ode to a Doom map: why navigating through hell is an utter joy
Review: Overwatch proves Blizzard can master any genre
What's the deal with Fire Emblem: Fates?
Screens from new mobile game, Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius
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text: Posted March 10, 2014 Trading hardy would be the single dumbest thing we could possibly do. The strength of this team is the d line and we are going to trade a 25 year d stud who led the team in sacks. Not only that but we are going go replace him with Mario Addison or frank Alexander. Gettleman constantly talks about the trenches. The o line and d line. So why would we possibly mess with that? Yes mike Mitchell had a very good year last year and I want him back, but would he have been exposed more if our d line wasn't so dominating? We want to trade hardy and then take that money to brink back Mitchell and captain who proved just how good they were when we got no pressure on the QB for them in the playoffs. I will Take my chances with Hardy 100 out of 100 times and fortunately it looks like Gettleman agrees. Gettleman has no offensive line at all. Not addressing the OL with serious intentions would be the single dumbest thing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


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our mailing list. It's so wizard.
by Pizzo
7 February, 2011@11:43 am
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7 February, 2011@11:43 am
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Created in 2006, this remembrance piece is created as a tribute to the memory and legacy of James "J.Dilla" Yancey. This is a piece designed for his fans and supporters who knew of his accomplishments before February 2006 and those that have grown to appreciate his genius. Here, we gain a greater insight and understanding about our musical icon. J.Dilla is Still Shining. 35 minutes.
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Twitter's bird logo is named Larry, for Larry Bird.
Act now and you can get 15% off the great stuff in the mental_floss store—t-shirts, mugs, books, a Periodic Table Shower Curtain, and more.
My friend Jessica found a great link to a video lampooning the current net neutrality / Google hubbub by asking the question, what if "The Net" had been made in 2010 instead of 1995?
In case you weren't obsessively refreshing mentalfloss.com all week, here's what you
Starting a fight in a bar is a dumb idea.
There are a million great/horrible action movies out there, all of them chock-full of ridiculous one liners, most delivered either right before or right after the hero delivers a fatal blow.
It's Friday the 13th, so I hope all of you _flossers are keeping an eye out for black cats and ladders. Fittingly, it's also Alfred Hitchcock's birthday.
Dancing Pigeons - Ritalin from Blink on Vimeo.
MTV may not play them anymore, but don't say that music videos are dead.
If you were a scuba diver and your dog got upset whenever you went on dives, what would you do?
Because the definition of left-handedness varies so much from study to study, it has been estimated that anywhere from 7 to 30 percent of the population is left handed.
Looking for a good time? Follow @mental_floss on Twitter. We promise that not all amazing facts involve presidential
Director Jonathan Burhop produced this very short film featuring Howard Weamer. From Burhop's description:
Winters of My Life is a portrait of Howard Weamer.
Every Friday, I post a series of unrelated questions meant to spark conversation in the comments. Answer one, answer all, respond to someone else's reply, whatever you want. Very casual.
Larry was a manager working out of a freight office near Atlanta.


text:
The solutions to the review of projects are at the heart of the work processes in Building Information Modeling (BIM). In architecture, building services engineering and plant construction are the Autodesk NavisWorks solutions are the key to coordinated real-time visualization and therefore the validation, simulation and analysis of 3D projects. The Autodesk NavisWorks product line project review functions for 3D coordination, 4D planning, photorealistic visualization, dynamic simulation and analysis. Planning and execution data can be integrated into an overall project model, which also supports complex data from building information modeling (BIM), Digital Prototyping (DP) and the plant design. The cooperation, coordination and communication in your projects more so much more efficient, so problems during planning and implementation can be excluded at an early stage.
I am expecting some more information from the members.


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Average price by trim:
Easy Car to Migrate to from an Older Big Sedan - It's quiet, it's comfortable, no repairs and for me the high MPG is great (and it's entertaining to try to maximize mileage, the dash gives a lot of h...Read Full Review
Average price by trim:
|Overall Front Crash
|Front Crash Driver Side
|Front Crash Passenger Side
|Overall Side Crash
|Side Crash Driver Side
|Side Crash Passenger Side
|Side Pole Crash
|Number of Recalls
|Number of Complaints
|Number of Investigations
LemonFree has found some important recall information regarding 2011 Lincoln MKZ vehicles2011 Lincoln MKZ (6/2/2015)
Campaign Number: 15V340000
Component Name: STEERING:ELECTRIC POWER ASSIST SYSTEM
Manufacturer: Ford Motor Company
Description: Ford Moor Company (Ford) is recalling certain model year 2011-2012 Ford Fusion vehicles without a 3.5L engine and Lincoln MKZ hybrid electric vehicles, 2011 Mercury Milan vehicles, 2011-2012 Ford Taurus, Ford Flex, Lincoln MKS, and Lincoln MKT vehicles equipped with a 3.5L GTDI engine and 2013 Ford Taurus, Ford Flex, Lincoln MKS, and Lincoln MKT vehicles equipped with any available engine. The affected vehicles have electric power steering assist systems that may shut down as a result of a steering motor sensor fault.
Defect: If the vehicle experiences a loss of power steering assist, extra steering effort will be required at lower speeds, increasing the risk of a vehicle crash.
Corrective Action: Ford will notify owners, and dealers will check the Power Steering Control Module (PSCM) for Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTC). If dealers find any loss of steering assist DTCs, the steering gear will be replaced, free of charge. If, no codes are found during the PSCM inspection, the PSCM software will be updated, free of charge. The recall began on July 21, 2015. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 15S18.
Campaign Number: 14E028000
Component Name: EQUIPMENT
Manufacturer: Ford Motor Company
Description: Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain all weather driver side accessory floor mats sold for use in model year 2006-2011 Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan, 2006 Lincoln Zephyr, and 2007-2011 Lincoln MKZ vehicles manufactured November 9, 2007, through October 31, 2010. The affected floor mats may move and possibly interfere with the accelerator pedal.
Defect: The floor mat could shift such that it could interfere with the accelerator pedal, preventing its return to an idle position, which could result in unintended vehicle speeds, increasing the risk of a crash.
Corrective Action: Ford will notify owners, and dealers will install new replacement mats, free of charge. The recall began in July 2014. Owners may contact Ford's customer service at 1-800-392-3673. Ford's number for this recall is 14S07. NOTE: Vehicles built after October 31, 2010, while potentially equipped with the same floor mats, are equipped with a Brake Over Accelerator (BOA) feature that prevents simultaneous accelerator and brake application, allowing the vehicle to be safely stopped by pressing firmly and steadily on the brake pedal.
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Bad enough I get crap from drivers on my short commutes,
now I'm even getting lame jibes from pedestrians!
9:00AM Sunday making a left into a shopping strip, I startled an overweight,
backpacking, older fellow crossing the street. I stopped and told him to pass on by,
that I wasn't going anywhere in any hurry. He continued on and said,
"That's not a very good idea to ride there." Looking over my shoulder as I made my
left turn I said, "You're crossing against the light, so what are YOU talking about?"
He just uttered a loud, heh-heh, which pretty much summed it all up.


text:
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* Best when still slightly warm but delicious any time.
* You can frost these cookies with any creamy frosting, sprinkle with colored sugar or other decorations, or put ice cream or Cool Whip between two cookies and serve as cookie sandwiches, but best of all is to put your favorite jelly and a little more peanut butter between two cookies for the ultimate PB&J sandwich or top one cookie with Cool Whip and banana slices for an awesome PB&banana dessert (Elvis would have drooled over this one!).
* Leftover dough can be refrigerated for several days or frozen for 2 weeks (thaw completely and stir well before baking leftover dough).
I was very doubtful when I started these cookies, but they were great. I found that using a fork to flatten them out was causing the fork to stick to the peanut butter, so I ended up using my fingers to pat flatten them out.
My husband and son loved them, and the aroma of peanut butter filled the air.
Amazingly good for having no flour, but as soon as I took a finger of dough, I was assured of their great taste. Did have to bake for 3 extra minutes though.


text:
Syracuse focused on journey to Final 4
The former associate head coach was fired after being accused by two former ball boys of sexual abuse more than two decades ago but was never charged.
There also were academic issues that forced Southerland to miss six games this season.
In the regional semifinals, Syracuse had 12 steals and 10 blocks in a convincing 61-50 beatdown of Indiana, the lowest offensive output of the season for a team that was averaging 80 points. Then, with a berth in the Final Four at stake against Marquette, which eliminated Syracuse in the NCAA tournament two years ago and beat the Orange 74-71 during the season, Syracuse won 55-39.
The Golden Eagles' 39 points were a record low for a team in an NCAA tournament regional final since the shot clock was introduced in 1986. Carter-Williams, a sophomore in his first full season and likely bound for the NBA in the near future, finished with 12 points, six assists, one turnover, five steals, one block, and eight rebounds, and was voted the East Regional MVP.
"He's even picked up his play. Leadership, getting the ball to people, still being able to score when we need him to because we need him to score," Boeheim said. "He had a great year, but he's had an even better tournament. That's hard to do sometimes for a young player.
"He's really been good in terms of helping his teammates be better. He had eight defensive rebounds against Marquette. I've never had a guard get that many defensive rebounds. I'm not sure that there's been many times that any guard, anywhere, has gotten eight defensive rebounds."
Syracuse's octopus-like defense has covered every inch of the court, eliminating passing lanes, consistently depriving opponents of easy baskets down low, and defending the perimeter with abandon. Its four tournament opponents shot just under 29 percent from the field (61 of 211) and a minuscule 15.4 percent (14 of 91) from behind the arc.
"This is the best that we've played it," Boeheim said. "But Michigan presents more problems than anybody in the tournament. They're the best offensive team in the tournament. We've played some really good teams, but we haven't played anybody as good offensively as Michigan."
It's been a decade since a freshman named Carmelo Anthony led Syracuse to its only national championship. It's such a big deal to the university - and a city that bleeds Orange - that the school has a continuous looping video replay on a television monitor of that 81-78 win over Kansas.
The TV monitor sits along one wall of the Carmelo K. Anthony Basketball Center where the team practices, and smack dab in the middle of that wall is the national championship trophy.
Finding room for another shouldn't be a problem.
"I think getting to the Final Four is a great thing for the fans and the city," Boeheim said. "Non-basketball people get involved when we get to the Final Four. Of course, winning the championship is pretty big."
Follow Kekis on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Greek1947
The Associated Press


text:
- 36Promote
Art Print
Profile of a Catby Charlene McCoy
Collect your choice of gallery quality Giclée, or fine art prints custom trimmed by hand in a variety of sizes with a white border for framing.
Cat Collection
:: cat kitten photography photo image animal pet lover case tote shirt bag print art background cards black white pillow laptop skin sticker decal case iphone samsung home decor ::
More -
photography website: www.charlenemccoyphotography.com
blog: www.turnweststudio.com
Thanks Nicklas :)
good shot!
Thanks Lauren!
Superb pic!
Thanks Fimbis :)
Wow beautiful!
superb photo! Very like my own cat Frisky...
Thanks for the wonderful comments Kent & Maureen! We have two tabby cats Maureen. :) This ones name is Sheldon.
wonderful capture
What a pretty face!
Thank you Pearls & Prose/Carole and Roger!
Love this!
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The Meet of Champions will be held tomorrow (6/3) at Frank Jost Field in South Plainfield. Address is 199 Michael St, South Plainfield, NJ 07080. Both field and running events will start at 2:30pm.
Toms River South and Coach Eddie Baynes will have two athletes competing in the meet. Senior Chelsea Smith is seeded 5th in the 800 meters in a time of 2:12.70 and Junior Alexsus Vuocolo is seeded 18th overall in the mile with a time of 5:02.74.
Hope to see some Indian alumni to give our support in the final meet of the season.
Girls performance list: http://cache.milesplit.com/user_files/369316/15_girls_moc_performance_list.pdf
Boys performance list: http://cache.milesplit.com/user_files/369316/15_boys_moc_performance_list.pdf


text:
David Schroeder wrote:
Hi Chris,I am experiencing the same problem on RHEL 5 and I have a support request in with RedHat.
Hi David, As you have already found, the problem is caused by the bug below: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=246623in short: ping segmentation faults, which then returns a generic error. This causes cluster suite to wrongly think that the IP is unreachable so relocates/restarts the service. There's nothing wrong with the IP address, the network, or cluster suite.
You could possible modify /usr/share/cluster/ip.sh so that you workaround the problem (ie, check for return code 139 and if you get it try the ping again), or recompile the iputils package without the -pie flag - both are ugly hacks thou.


text:
$15.90 Sale: $13.51
Item Discontinued
DH isn't to fond of the beach, (unlike the rest of the fam) but he was a good sport when we spent a few days in San Diego. He can cry all he wants about how he hates the beach, but I know he had a good time playing with Shawn! TFL and hope everyone has a wonderful week!!
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Ziiiro Watches 2015 Campaign
Client: Ziiiro, GermanyAdvertising, Fashion, Photography2015
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Client: Museo de la Evolución Humana, MEH (Burgos, Spain)
Agency: Kukuxumuxu-Bermer
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"Tan lejos, tan cerca" hairdressing collection.
Client: Edurne Senosiain, Spain
www.edurnesenosiain.comFashion, MakeUp Arts (MUA), Photography2015
2015 bimonthly calendar for Berlys bread company
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Bubble Shooter
Personal fashion project inspired in retro videogame Bubble Shooter.Fashion, Photography2013
Architectural landscapes in Benidorm, Spain
This is the portrait of an atypical city, especially for its architecture. Considered as one of the European cities with more skyscrapers (more than 20 buildings exceeding 100m), Benidorm leaves no one indifferent. It is loved by few and hated by many, although in recent years it has opened an interesting debate regarding the improving on environmental sustainability issues that achieve this type of cities, especially on the coast. Contrary to what happens in housing complexes and isolated or detached houses, in which a large expense and energy is needed to meet the demand of a few (plus a lot of ground), in skyscrapers everything is centralized for a large population, so that the overall energy consumption is much lower, and therefore more sustainable.
Benidorm (and Spain in general) has failed to use this argument to sell a better image of the tacky Mediterranean city in decline that most have in mind (at least spanish people). The main reason for this could be found in the Spanish urban development from the 60s and 70s decades, with low budgets and the desire to accommodate as many people as possible. The results were highly variable in design and quality, usually bad, but with honorable exceptions. However, in recent years have been built very interesting buildings. As I recently read, if we would have 10 Benidorm on the Mediterranean coast, the rest would be unspoiled coastline… but it's too late. Private housing developments, golf courses very expensive to maintain, and half-finished constructions, suddenly stopped by the crisis, punctuate our coast from north to south.
Benidorm has crappy buildings and very interesting buildings, at least from an architectural point of view. In the photographs I intend to show the spatiality of the city, its architecture and the feelings that those things caused in me while touring the city for several days. The light was everywhere, and I had a leaden and alienating feeling when walked its streets, which also showed on the faces of the people I passed, probably caused by the stifling heat. The sky seemed to descend to my eyes, a warm and motionless atmosphere, as if sewn by the scattered skyscrapers around the city.
Architecture, Photography2012
Le Désert B
Personal fashion project, a tribute to french comic artist Jean Giraud (Moebius).Fashion, Photography2013
2014 Calendar for Berlys bread company
Client: Berlys, SpainDigital Art, Photography2012
Architectural landscapes in Los Angeles, USA
Personal project, 2009
Los Angeles and the generic city.
When I tell you "I'm married", all you say is "I do".
When I say "don't get hurt" you hear "flirt harder".
- Sandra Beasley, Love Poem for Los Angeles, excerpt -
Fragmented and homogeneous at a time, playfully presented, but strangely incomprehensible. Apparently outward but steadily pushing for partitioning, confine, imprison. Everything imaginable seems to be available anywhere, but "real" places are hard to find, because everything is fictional. Its spaces do not allow an effective cognitive map, the pastiche of surface reflections baffle and submit us. Man-made spaces expanding, free of past and guilt. Generic City.
The pictures are taken at intersections, which to me represent the paradigm of urban life. They are spaces of confluence, and the ones in which we stop and observe the environment inside our car. They are also places that always gives the feeling that is about to happen something, because the tense calm before the traffic dynamism when the disk turns green. This has a double meaning here, as all locations presented have hosted Hollywood filming, pretending that the calm of the pictures is the prelude to a film frenzy, as if to press the shutter I say, action! and the whole city starts to act. In some locations such as Chinatown, in fact they were getting everything ready for an imminent filming. Los Angeles is a territory that ranges between fiction and reality, and does not know where one ends and the other begins.
With the stitching technique I have obtained large-format negatives, and referring back to ultra-HD and the hyperrealism of modern film, I've reframed them to fit the standard format used in the industry, creating panoramas. I have also removed all indications of place, street names or typefaces, leaving only the background colors of the posters and signs, underlining the postmodern, generic and global character (or characterless) of its spaces and architecture.
Fine Arts, Photography2013
Bilbao Arena
Architects: Javier Pérez & Nicolás Espinosa @ ACXT-Idom
"Building of the year" 2011 in sports architecture @ ArchDailyArchitecture, Photography2014
Cattay Exclusive
Client: Cattay, Spain
Agency: Gap'sJewelry Design, Photography2012
"Ardoi" Residential Complex
Cizur Mayor, Spain
Architect: A. AlzugarayArchitecture, Photography2013
Jeu Poitrine, FW/2013
Client: Jeu Poitrine, SpainFashion, Photography2014
Shaping the city: an architectural vision
Since I started at photography ten years ago, I've done several works in one of my favorite areas of photography: architecture. It is the discipline that led me to photography, and in which I feel more comfortable. In my spare moments of childhood and adolescence I used to draw imaginary cities, simple drawings with conical oblique or frontal perspective in which (unknowingly) I represented the buildings and the city exactly as it does a technical camera. That served me to know in advance the basic principles of the representation of space in architectural photography: perspective corrections and spatial organization inside a closed frame. First I did it in paper sheets, and now I do it in the viewfinder of the camera. These works have been mainly commissioned works from architecture studios that need a photographic archive of their built projects, but also I have developed a broader and more personal view of architecture and urban space. My two previous studies on this topic were in color ("Benidorm, architectural landscapes" and "Los Angeles and the generic city"), but this is in black and white. The project consists in 100 pictures, only three of them previously shown.
Quoting poet Adam Zagajewski, "cities are places unable to express themselves, but we always try to give them a voice". With this series I try to give voice to some spaces that have seduced me, sometimes for its careful architecture and human scale, others by the stark contrast between buildings of different styles, periods and budgets, and all of them because I find some kind of beauty within the frame. Voice to the suburbs, because its importance on the social context and excessive speculation and many times disorganized expansion that have place in them, and voice to the center, by the vital substance and nerve that brings to the city itself. Always with the same physical and mental point of view, I've been discovering and collecting spaces from cities like Bilbao, Berlin, La Habana, Lisboa and others. A debtor point of view from the Canaletto's "vedute" (seventeenth century exquisite representations of the city in which architecture had a major role in paintings and prints), as also from the painters and photographers of the twentieth century that have remained a kind of "orderly" view of the city along with a documentary spirit, carefully composing landscapes without diverting the camera an inch of horizontal and vertical axis (from Edward Hopper to William Eggleston through Eugene Atget, Lee Friedlander, Robert Adams, George Tice, Stephen Shore or Gabriele Basilico). I do not care specially about spectacular or iconic buildings (although sometimes the result is close to that), nor even the most architecturally important ones, but the contrast of volumes, textures and meanings within a small habitat which is inside another bigger one, the city. It can be an intersection, a backyard or a mall. It's when the urban elements are organized so harmonious when that place, however humble, makes visual sense and is better understood. Waiting for the right moment, I settle these places as if they were architectural renderings where nothing is left to chance, but with the patina of time on the skin of the city. By using large files and processing the result in black and white I want to highlight the materiality of the city. Removing the information that gives us the color, volumes, textures and edges of the image grab all the attention, not the ads, flashy clothes or blue skies. Black and white also makes a "screen" that fades time. Shadows take on real meaning when shooting in black and white, because they reveals buildings and urban elements that are not showed on the frame, but cast its shadows on those that are inside, expanding the image beyond the frame. Cars, people, garbage containers, lamps and electrical cables are part of the city and have the same importance as buildings, at least in the abstract level of the image, but buildings are always the main characters in my photographs, because they are the immutable History witnesses and if we ask them, they will always tell us the truth about a place. They never lie.
The city is one of the biggest contradictions of human being. We have made our home an uncomfortable place in which almost no one feels free, even inside our cave/home (or perhaps we have never been), but there is nowhere else with more cultural richness than a big city. There emerge the new things and brightness is given to the old ones, everything is mixed without complex and all crazy ideas have their place. Especially when it comes to urban planning.
Pamplona, 2015Architecture, Photography2015
"El Niño de Campillo"
Advertising images for Bodegas Campillo
Client: Bodegas Campillo, Alava, Spain
Agency: FranziskaAdvertising, Photography2014
"Burka Curfew"
SS/2012 Collection by Charlie le Mindu
Styling by Charlie le Mindu for Hairdreams
Client: Hairdreams Hairextensions, AustriaFashion, Photography2012
Eduardo Zubiria, sculptor
Client: Eduardo Zubiria, SpainPhotography, Sculpting2013
Dzá-Dzá! hairdressing collection, inspired in the Balkan women.
Client: Edurne Senosiain for L'OrealFashion, Photography2008
Dating is a joke
Personal fashion project, 2013Fashion, Photography2012
"Outraged" hairdressing collection
Client: Edurne Senosiain for L'OrêalFashion, Photography2011
"Take Five" men's hairdressing collection
Client: Marco PM, Spain
Winner collection in Club Figaro Awards 2014Fashion, Photography2014
Abstraction and equivalence landscapes in Santorini, Greece.
Personal Project, 2013
Write if you can on your last shell
the day, the place, the name,
and fling it into the sea so that it sinks.
George Seferis, The Naked Child (excerpt)Landscape Design, Photography2012
Semiems, 2013 Calendar
Client: Semiems Wardrobes, SpainPhotography2013
Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, Campaña "Cajas"
Client: Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, Spain
Agency: Gap'sPhotography2014
MACBA, Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona
Barcelona, Spain
Architect: Richard MeierArchitecture, Photography2014
Lenag Nazeki SS/2015
"Until 3113" Collection
Photo + Catalogue Design
Client: Lenag Nazeki, SpainFashion, Photography2014
"Teddy Boy" hairdressing collection
Client: Ramiro Mata ArtStudio for L'OrealMakeUp Arts (MUA), Photography2014
All works © Mikel Muruzabal 2014
Please do not reproduce without the expressed written consent of Mikel Muruzabal
Please do not reproduce without the expressed written consent of Mikel Muruzabal


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Now that students are back in school, officials are counting the number of kids in class.
How many students attend each school affects class size and the amount of money that school districts get from the state to pay teachers, aides and principals. The trend — whether classes are growing faster, slower or as expected — also influences whether schools adjust school boundaries or have to plan building projects.
So far, the Center Grove and Clark-Pleasant school districts both have more students than they did last fall, which they anticipated. Franklin schools, which has had fewer students over the past six years and was expecting that trend to continue, also has more students this fall.
More than 25,600 students are attending public school in Johnson County, up about 14 percent from 10 years ago.
Another 1,700 students attend Greenwood Christian Academy, SS. Francis and Clare Catholic School, St. Rose of Lima Catholic School and Our Lady of the Greenwood Catholic School, which are all private schools accredited by the state.
Next month, public schools will report the number of students attending their schools to the state, and those numbers will help decide how much state money the school districts receive. Locally, area school districts typically get between $5,000 and $6,000 per student.
This week, Center Grove, Clark-Pleasant and Franklin school districts all had between 40 and 60 more students enrolled compared to count day last fall. Edinburgh had 11 more students, school officials said.
Enrollment at Greenwood and Nineveh-Hensley-Jackson schools were down slightly this week, but how many children enroll could change. School officials at Center Grove, Clark-Pleasant and Franklin said the number of students they have now should be similar to the number of students they'll have next month, but Greenwood Superintendent Kent DeKoninck expects more students to show up.
While school officials welcome the added funding that can come with new students, they also have to be sure they have enough classroom space for all of the students.
This school year, officials at Center Grove and Clark-Pleasant, which both added more than 100 students last school year, will consider how to handle the current students and the new students expected to enroll during the next decade. Those options could include moving students to different schools or adding on to buildings, school officials have said.
Center Grove added eight new teaching positions this fall at its elementary and middle schools to help deal with the growth and reduce class sizes.
Franklin has had fewer students attending its schools since 2008 when the city flooded and cut 18 teaching positions last school year, but it was able to add one new teaching job, school officials said.
"If you have to do that, you have to do that," Franklin executive director of finance Jeff Mercer said. "And additional students would allow you the latitude to do that, with additional funding. We just don't have a lot of latitude."
Franklin cut the teaching positions to help offset what the school district was losing from property tax caps, which limit the amount Franklin can collect to repay its debt, purchase buses and maintain its buildings. Mercer said Franklin has made enough cuts to compensate for the tax caps, but that also means the school district can't afford to add staff that school officials aren't absolutely sure they need.
Still, the school district's first priority is to be sure that students get the kind of individual attention they need in class.
After last year's teacher cuts, some of the classrooms at Creekside Elementary, Webb Elementary and Union Elementary had close to 30 students, and Franklin added the teaching position this year to help stop the class sizes from growing too quickly, Mercer said. School officials say ideal class size is
20 to 25 students.
Last school year some of the classes at Center Grove's two middle schools also had more than 30 students, and this year the school district added two sixth-grade teachers, one for each middle school. Center Grove also added six other teachers who are working throughout Center Grove's five elementary schools, Superintendent Richard Arkanoff said.
Center Grove expects to see more students attending its schools, especially in the central and southern parts of the school district. That's why a construction project at Center Grove Elementary includes adding four classrooms, but the school district may need to consider other options.
Maple Grove Elementary is at capacity with 563 students, and school officials will need to talk with the community this school year about how to handle the growth, Arkanoff said. That could involve moving a number of students from one school to another, he said.
Clark-Pleasant also expects growth, especially at its intermediate, middle and high schools.
An enrollment study conducted last year showed that Clark-Pleasant could have more than 7,400 students within the next 10 years, which is a roughly 19 percent increase. School officials were expecting about 50 more students this school year. At one time, Clark-Pleasant was one of the state's fastest-growing public school districts and the fastest-growing school district in Johnson County.
"It's always good when what you plan for actually happens," curriculum instruction specialist Cameron Rains said.
Still, Clark-Pleasant officials will need to start planning later this school year to see what changes need to be made to handle the growth.
Superintendent Patrick Spray plans to review all of the schools to see how much space is available for students. It's been at least five years since a similar review was done, and school officials need to know if there's any space available for classrooms that wasn't open before, Rains said.
After that, school officials can consider whether any students need to be moved from one school to another or whether additions are needed at any buildings.


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Image Copyright: Hull FC Super League Ltd.
By Matt Holden | 14/11/2012
Having confirmed his retirement from rugby league at the age of 24 due to a long-standing back injury, Mike Burnett has today spoken to
to reflect on his career at the Black and Whites.
The prop or second row forward has been battling throughout 2012 to recover from two prolapsed discs in his lower back and has been forced to make the difficult decision to hang up his boots on medical grounds and the advice of doctors.
A product of the club's academy system, Burnett returned to the KC Stadium following a season-long loan at Harlequins in 2011 but was unable to take to the field for the Black and Whites during Super League XVII despite impressing in the early stages of his career with the club.
Speaking to
, Burnett said, "I spoke to the specialist last week and he told me that's it. It's not nice to hear that sort of news its gutting but it's part of the game we play, it could happen to anyone.
"It's been a really tough year for me and I've had three operations in nine months. It's a slow process with having to speak to so many specialists. The injury's really interfering with my everyday life and I'm struggling to do normal things let alone start any rehab.
"It's pretty bad at the moment, but I'm staying in close contact with the medical staff at Hull FC and hopefully over the next year or so I'll start to see some signs of improvement.
"I'm not sure whether I'll stay involved in the sport or look for something outside of rugby league yet but I'm a big believer in that as one door closes, another one opens."
A strong-running forward with an eye for a gap, Burnett was one of Hull's stand-out performers as a junior and played a crucial role in the under-21s Grand Final win in 2007 alongside Danny Houghton, with whom he played alongside at amateur club East Hull as a junior.
A former England Academy international, Burnett would go on to make 37 appearances in his career at the Black and Whites, scoring four tries, while he also bagged a try while making 21 Super League and Challenge Cup appearances for the Quins last year.
And looking back on his Super League career, he said he would be retiring with many fond memories of his time in the sport and knowing he had made some lifelong friends.
"I've loved every minute of it, the highlights for me have been to just even make it as a Super League player. It's tough to get there and just to make it was an achievement I can be proud of," he said.
"Looking back at my career, a game that stands out for me was when I made my first start for Hull FC. It came in the first game of the 2009 season at home to Wigan and we managed to pick up the win that day which was a bonus.
"I'll never forget that feeling of running out in front of almost 15,000 fans at the KC Stadium on a Friday night, it's something that will stay with me forever."
He added, "I've made some great friends while playing for Hull FC and I'll be keeping in touch with them. Danny Houghton is somebody I've played with since I was 12. We came through the ranks together so it's great to see him doing so well at the club.
"The other people who stand out from my time in the sport are Craig Fitzgibbon, Willie Manu and Lee Radford. Fitzy's arrival at the club was massive for me, he played the same position as me and he helped me out a lot on and off the field. To this day, I still follow his example on diet and nutrition and he was a top bloke.
"As for Willie, I could go to him every day asking for advice and he was always happy to help, while Radders has been a huge help to me during my career right from the start so I'd like to say thank you to them for that."
And as for his current teammates at the Black and Whites, Burnett said he would be keeping a close eye on their progress during 2013 and would continue to be a fan of the club he supported as a youngster.
He said, "I'd just like to say a huge thank you to everybody who has been involved and helped me over the years. A special thank you to my grandad for everything he's done for me and my girlfriend Lucy for putting up with me.
"As for the rest of the lads and everybody else at the club, I want to say good luck for next year and the future. They've got some big years ahead of them, hopefully some successful ones individually and as a team, I'd like to wish them the best of luck."
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Alexis D
Joined on Oct 20, 2012
War is officially declared by Samsung against DSLRs (APSC) and this swap is the first shot fired.
The FZ200 was well known for its noisy images and often called a sunny day camera. After these years, we now have the same sensor on the FZ300. Sigh.
Imakefoto4U: Does the review get updated to include these features?
It would be great to schedule this. If any company has kept releasing updates and provided what seem like significant improvements, it deserves an updated review to look at what changed IMO. Besides, it would also be a great service to members if they can read about features and performance that they are actually going to get when buying a camera. Of course this depends on how much updating the camera maker has provided. This seems like a case when some updates to DPR's review would be greatly appreciated.
Sergey Borachev: About time there is some improvement in IQ for M43 after more than 3 years, but will these sensors provide that?
I see no point to upgrade until there is.
DPR is entitled to its opinion, but to go out of its way to publish a separate article with such a title and such a claim seems extraordinary, especially when there is apparently little experience with the product. Even the provided specs (which are what the claim was apparently based on) show very little reason for it to be called a great "convergence" pioneering product or "a big deal" at this time. For example, a 12 MP 1-inch sensor is nothing to trumpet about or to show how much stills capability this product has, and therefore not so convincing in its contribution to "convergence". I suspect this is actually going to do the opposite of what may be intended, i.e. raise so much expectationin the product and therefore so much frustrated readers when they found out it really is no big deal.
DPR should have someone like a newspaper editor to read what it is publishing. The content and the language do read like something poorly paraphrased from Canon material. Unprofessional.
Sergey Borachev: Er, sorry, I still fail to see what's the big deal.
Big deal to DPR because it's made by Canon. ;-)
Canon's latest mirrorless finally looking decent enough in the essential features to consider buying as a basic camera, assuming its AF problems are fixed. It is however still catching up to the others and probably will be for a few more years, due to the lack lenses and also the fancier features like IBIS (necessary for old lenses), video, build and weather proofing, control dials and buttons, response and upgrade choices. It's probably a good thing to just sell to the Europeans and Asians first for the next two years, while it develops this to become a better solution for its DSLRs who wants a more compact and more digitised camera to switch to.
RedFox88: So its the smallest and also the slowest 18-50something zoom too!
Olympus 12-50mm f/3.5-6.3 is longer but thinner, and therefore roughly the same in terms of volume. It is however much wider in its FOV range.
white shadow: Good news for those who are new comers to the system. Bad news for existing owners as their second value has just dropped.
For me, I have moved on to Zeiss lenses in Canon mount. If you can work with manual focus, there is no comparison when it comes to image quality. Try them to find out especially if you are serious in photography.
Canon is probably about to release its own serious mirrorless cameras and it knows that EF is not the future.
Sell, Sell, Sell!
Another compact camera with nothing special. Just wait 9 months and it will be sold for $499 with 2 kit lenses.
Olympus is so dumb not to issue a compact with built-in EVF and built-in flash. This E-PL7 will go down fast, just like their last mistake, the E-P5.
A few people are saying this Nikon is justified for sports and action. I wonder how it compares with the Sony A77 II, which costs the same.
Thank you Nikon for these "1" cameras. Big sigh of relief for Olympus, Panasonic, Sony and Fuji each time Canikon release their sub par mirrorless cameras. These small makers are given more time to establish a stronger base and better chance of survival. Viva la competition, et aussi la diversité!
Ha, ha. While I am ready to believe that this lens is exceptional, I have some doubts however about DXO's findings. I will wait for more reviews before I will believe the speculation mentioned here that the Otus is actually better.
Sigma has proven many times that a high price tag and/or a luxury nametag does not necessarily mean the best, though obviously excellent.
Alexis D: People need to realize that this is a take anywhere travelzooom and so a small size is more important than a big sensor.
A 5-axis IBIS that works with 60p video is nice.
Next time, let's have a more advanced one, ie a fixed lens camera with 1 inch or M43 size sensor, EVF, and also this IBIS, 20MP, 12-45mm f/2 lens. It will be quite a bit bigger though, like a G1X or G16.
People need to realize that this is a take anywhere travelzooom and so a small size is more important than a big sensor.
A 5-axis IBIS that works with 60p video is nice.
Dylthedog: Come on then Olympus - now give us the same anti-shock update for the PEN cameras with the same issue - E-P5 & E-PL5.
Especially E-P5, if it is possible.
Sergey Borachev: So, Olympus, this is admission that there is a shutter shock problem with the E-M1?
Good to know that there is a solution for the E-M1. Could it not be used to fix the E-P5, which is by all account ruined by a more severe shutter shock problem. And, shouldn't it be used for the E-M5 and also all future OM-D cameras, if not all Olympus cameras?
Let us have the firmware updates for the other cameras, Olympus.
I think Olympus is changing. Lens hoods for the 12-40mm and then the 25mm f/1.8 lenses. Firmware updates that actually provide additional features in the E-M5 and E-M1. Bravo, Olympus. Keep it up.
Sometimes camera makers do not make sense, but as mentioned already, Olympus seems to have decided to do the right things now.
Really nice phone but there is a fatal flaw. FATAL!
So stubborn, using that failed 4 "uber" pixel camera again!
Companies that do not listen to consumers die. This is just like Nokia when it continued to stick with Symbian when nobody wanted that OS, and then with Windows to make sure the suicide worked.
The great Beats audio performance will not save it, just like the great camera on Nokia cameras did not save it. You can't have fatal flaws, no matter how great some other features are. HTC will probably never catch up to the top players again.
Who cares? It's still not an Android phone, and it definitely is not an iPhone. So?


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do you do art for tshirt designs?
this's really lovely picture
I like how you painted forest
I like how you painted forest
This is really pretty. If I had money and this was a print, I'd buy it.
Thank you so much. X"D But I think for the traditional media works I would like to buy the original, since it will be different from the scan. But it's just my opinion. XD
It's lovely~ the colors are beautiful!
có cảm giác chỗ màu xanh lá nhìn nó khác hẳn vậy, màu mượt đẹp hơn hẳn : ((((((((((((
Chắc ghi ra bạn biết chỗ nào màu nào thì có cảm giác vậy thôi, nhưng đúng là so với chỗ màu tím thì trong hơn thật. =]] Mình thấy chỗ màu đỏ lên cũng đẹp. :">
This is so pretty!!! Love the colors!
your arts are really beautiful ;w; this drawing is very pretty as well
I hope to see more arts from you
I hope to see more arts from you
Thanks so much. ^o^) Now I don't have much time for painting stuffs but I will try my best. ;w;


text:
The Rift Valley Institute's Great Lakes Course
Saturday 22 - Friday 28 June
The fourth Great Lakes Course will be held in Jinja, Uganda, from 22 to 28 June 2013. It covers Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and the border zone with Uganda.
The 2013 course examines the current crisis in the Kivus, the prospects of institutional reform in the DRC, regional resource issues, and political developments in Burundi and Rwanda, and is intended for journalists, diplomats, aid officials, civil society activists and local leaders.[view whole blog post ]
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