by MRAM
June 30, 2010
"JUNIPER"
That was the name that my sister had given to this little 2 month old furball that just happened to end up underneath the stairs in our backyard on a December morning in 1993. Somehow, this little dynamo with the familiar tortoise colors of the highly recognizable Calico species managed to infiltrate our pet-free household.
It's funny how this little thing caught the interest of a family that included 3 people that were allergic to pet dander and 1 that despised felines with a passion.
(Ahem. That would of course be Yours Truly.)
Yet, there was something about Juniper. I can't describe it and I doubt that I ever will.
I remember Dad telling us not to feed it because it will never leave.
We continued.
He told us that she could never come inside the house.
She made it through the back porch entrance.
Dad made it clear that Juniper was not allowed past the kitchen area.
Yeah, right.
Finally he said that Junie was not permitted into the living room or near the furniture.
No such luck. She was now part of our family. haha
I was converted from a Cat-Hater, my sister had become her protector, my Mom loved petting her even though she had allergies and my Dad may have shown more affection towards her than me or my sister! lol
For the next 16+ years we watched her grow and she was also witness to many events in our family: Graduations, Relationships, Cancer Scares and L.A. Lakers Championships (hehe) to name but a few.
She kept my sister company during late night study sessions, kept my feet warm on cold nights watching television and she always managed to trick my Mom into feeding her after she had already been fed! =)
Junie had a special bond with each member in this family, but as irony would have it she connected with the one person who didn't want her in the house in the first place.
Dad.
Juniper and my Dad had become best friends. What I will never forget, other than the fact that she loved watching my Dad practice his putting in the living room, is that she would wait for him to come home from work every night by the screen door at 10pm on the dot without fail.
She was a fighter since birth but unfortunately, she did not have enough of that strength to fight on in her twilight years.
In 1993, she found us.
In 2010, we lost her.
Goodbye, Juniper, Junie, Joober, Joogie, Boogie and Baby...
We will miss you and you are forever loved.
"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened."
~Anatole France
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KskOh3EqVmY
THE OBSERVATORY - ENTRY # 0050: GOODBYE LITTLE ONE...
THE OBSERVATORY - ENTRY # 0049: FAIL
by duvalia
June 27, 2010
To me, one of the most disappointing things I can hear is that a series is in jeopardy due to conflict in development. Of course, a few resignations or firings may not indicate that a particular series will be dropped, but for me the original intent/storyline is gone.
Change isn’t always bad, so I suppose the disappointment I feel arises from preparing myself for a new installment that might not quite meet my standards.
One example, is the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare series. CoD4 was the top selling game worldwide in 2007 and MW2 sold over 14 million copies worldwide as of March 2010. I’ve heard varying opinions on the ‘greatness’ of the games, but I honestly love them both. That aside, the Infinity Ward founders were fired, which led to a stream of loyal workers resigning to follow their development leaders.
So… what happens now? From how well the MW series is selling, there’s no way that Activision won’t capitalize on the potential profit of a third game in the series. However, with the majority of the development team gone can we really expect MW3 to remain true to what was originally intended? Especially considering MW2 ended on such a cliffhanger.
Another series is the Dead or Alive fighting franchise. Despite the bouncing breasts fan service, the series had amazing graphics, an intriguing, albeit sometimes vague, storyline and a fresh counter based fighting system. Problems arose with the Tecmo President, which forced the story and character creator to resign. Though rumors of a DoA5 have circled the internet, the 2005 DoA4 remains the last of the main series.
An anime series that continued despite legal disputes with the original character designer is Weiß Kreuz. However, the dramatic changes in designs between the first and second seasons are enough to ask whether the characters are really the same. I’ll admit that sometimes it’s nice to see a character get a makeover, but when it goes as far as not being able to tell if two characters are the same person then we have a problem.
And the movie industry is so full of these disputes, I’m not even going to try. Replacing characters, killing them off early, recasting in the middle of production, the list goes on. Fights and disagreements are bound to happen, but it sucks when the fans have to suffer for it.
THE OBSERVATORY - ENTRY # 0047: HAKUNA MATATA
THE OBSERVATORY - ENTRY # 0046: BACK TO BACK
THE OBSERVATORY - ENTRY # 0045: WHO WINS?
First off, I just want to say that Jet-Li is FREAKIN' CAT- QUICK! I'm a huge fan and I LOVE his fighting style, as well!
The thing is, Bruce Lee is my 'hands-down' pick.
Bruce Lee was a Jeet Kun Do (Martial Arts style) founder AND teacher. Every day he trained himself to be peerless. It has been documented that he would go around the world searching for other martial arts techniques that were popular and would challenge the Dojo. It was also proven that Jeet Kun Do is one of the top systems, if not THE best technique in the world and a hybrid style he developed from studying multiple teachings from various techniques. Bruce Lee also studied and did research on the human body to find its limit of movement and weakness points. He would then test those in competition. We've seen those results.
Jet Li studied Kung Fu and the the Wu Shu practices and just perfected what he was taught. He is definitely a great movie stunt fighter hands down. Again, no disrespect whatsoever to Jet Li. I'm one of his biggest fans. I'm not saying that Bruce Lee is God or taking anything away from Jet Li. It's just my opinion. Any pick would be a good one.
The bottom line is that if they did fight, WE'D all win. =)
