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Axelay (Super Nintendo)
Good thing he didn't end up needing his cool space helmet to breathe or anything.
For me, 2017 will be remembered as the year I got into shooter games. The Guardian Legend, MUSHA, Life Force, and now Axelay. I tended to avoid these titles in the past because of their reputation for extreme difficulty and samey premises. "You're a spaceship; shoot all the other spaceships." Yawn. I dismissed the whole genre as simultaneously intimidating and dull.
What a mistake that was! It turns out that there are few things as exhilarating as pulling off a perfect series of pinpoint maneuvers through a hail of enemy bullets and sending a screen-filling boss down in flames. A great shooter is an addictive blend of pattern recognition and quick, precise reactions under pressure. Losing yourself in the flow of a well-designed stage is nothing less than mesmerizing. Yes, I reckon it's pretty great how tastes mature over time.
Axelay is a vertical/horizontal shooter developed and published by Konami in 1992. In many key ways, it can be seen as an unofficial follow-up to their 1986 release Salamander (Life Force). The alternating overhead and side-view perspectives, dynamic stages that change shape around you (and can trap you if you're not careful), and sections where you must blast your own narrow passages through dense destructible material blocking your progress all seem like clear callbacks. You even fight the exact same iconic fire dragon enemies from Salamander in Axelay's fifth level.
Before I go on, though, let's get the whole pronunciation thing out of the way. Is it "axe-lay?" "Axel-ay?" Something else? Well, supposedly the Japanese pronunciation would be something like "ak-su-rei" so…beats me. Whatever you call it, you're probably close enough.
Anyway, the game's story is about as bare bones as you'd expect. The peaceful solar system of Illis is under attack by the relentless Armada of Annihilation. The tiny Illis space fleet has been all but exterminated and only one ship remains: Axelay. There's also some implied backstory and motivation for Axelay's unnamed pilot: He carries a locket with a picture of his wife and kids inside. Who's the Armada of Annihilation and why are they attacking? No idea. I couldn't even tell you if they're supposed to be humans or aliens or what. Good thing you won't have the presence of mind to wonder too much about it while they're attacking you from all sides.
Axelay's graphics, sound, and level design are all first class, but the main way it differentiates itself from the rest of the shooter pack is its weapon system. Unlike in almost every other game in the genre, there are no power-ups to collect during gameplay, unless you count the extra lives earned from high scores. Instead, you select a loadout of three special weapons before starting each stage and can freely cycle between them at any time. Choosing the ideal arsenal for each stage will make things go much smoother. Getting hit by enemy fire will disable your current special weapon and getting hit again after all three have been knocked out will result in your death. This might sound overly forgiving at first, but keep in mind that colliding with an enemy or any part of the level architecture will destroy your ship instantly. Some special enemy projectiles, such as homing missiles, can also take you out in one shot. In practice, I found that I rarely died after losing all of my special weapons. Most of the time, it was kamikaze attacks and crashes that did me in.
One interesting consequence of this system is that you'll often return to the action after losing a life more powerful than you were before, since each new ship comes with a full new compliment of special weapons. This is the polar opposite of most shooters, where death usually strips you of all your accumulated upgrades and leaves you in a very vulnerable position. If you're fully powered down from taking heavy damage and relying on your super weak backup gun, death can almost feel like a relief, provided you have plenty of extra lives in stock.
You'll also unlock a new special weapon to pick from after completing each of the first five levels. You begin with only three weapons and three slots to place them in, which means that no variation is possible initially. If there's one major complaint I have about Axelay's design, it's this lacking early game arsenal. Despite going out of their way to implement a system that allows for customization of your loadout, there's very little variety in how you can approach the first half of the game and some of the late game weapons can only be used in one or two levels. Granted, some of the weapons you unlock later are very powerful and might not be balanced for the easier early stages, but adding in a few more weapons total and giving you five or six to pick from at the very start would have really given this setup much more breathing room, so to speak.
While it's obviously somewhat a matter of taste, Axelay might be the single best looking shooter on the system. Backgrounds are gorgeous and enemies (especially bosses) are drawn and animated extremely well. The visual flourish that the game is best known for has to be the stretching effect used in the background of the vertical scrolling stages to make it appear like you're flying high over the curve of the horizon. While this does look cool, it's ultimately more of a gimmick than anything else. It only affects the gameplay to the extent that it can make maneuvering near the top edge of the screen a little dicey at times. Passing through a narrow gap in a section of wall without crashing as it appears to be stretching and warping, for example, can be a good bit trickier that it would be otherwise.
Sound effects are solid, but it's the score by Taro Kudo (of Super Castlevania IV fame) that really carries the game in the audio department. The theme for the second stage in particular ("Tralieb Colony") has to be one of the best tracks you'll find in any Super Nintendo game. The entire soundtrack perfectly nails the combination of soaring heroism and looming menace that a "lone pilot against an entire fleet" scenario calls for. Don't even get me started on the masterful final boss battle theme, which is spread out over three increasingly eerie and pulse-pounding tracks.
Like a lot of shooters (and classic Konami action games in general), Axelay is fairly short at six levels. On the plus side, it doesn't artificially stretch out the experience by recycling backgrounds and enemies, so the action stays fresh and surprising throughout. Replay value comes mainly from simply trying to make it all the way to the end due to the fact that continues are limited. You can adjust the number available from as many as six to as few as two via the difficulty setting in the options menu. Speaking of which, you should probably also use the options menu to set your missiles and primary gun to the same button. You'll want to blaze away with everything you have all the time anyway, so why not hold down one trigger instead of two?
All-in-all, I had a fantastic time with Axelay. It's truly one of the top tier shooters for the Super Nintendo/Super Famicom. Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Scrambled Valkyrie might have slightly better horizontal stages and Space Megaforce slightly better vertical stages, but Axelay still manages to do a damn fine job blending both into one seamless experience, just like Salamander did years prior. It delivers perfectly paced combat that's fast and frantic with nary a hint of slowdown. The console as a whole will never be as well known for its shooters as its contemporaries, the Genesis and PC Engine, but this one can stand tall with the very best of the best from its era. Some of the talent behind Axelay later left Konami in order to found legendary game development house Treasure and it definitely shows in every aspect of the production here.
So load up those weapon pods and go tear the Armada of Annihilation a new one, who or whatever they are.
Author twentiethcenturygamerPosted on August 30, 2017 May 1, 2019 Categories Review, Super NintendoTags 1992, Konami, shooterLeave a comment on Axelay (Super Nintendo)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES)
April O'Neil's mullet game is fierce indeed!
I've really been looking forward to this one. Not since Zelda II: The Adventure of Link and Battletoads have I taken on such a divisive "love it or hate it" title.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. First, it's background time. TMNT is a single player action-platforming game with exploration elements that was released in 1989 by Konami. Outside Japan, the game was published by a pair of Konami front companies: Ultra and Palcom. This was done in order to get around Nintendo's strict restrictions on the number of games a third party developer could release for the NES in a single year. Strangely enough, the relationship between the two companies was so good during this time that this arrangement had Nintendo's tacit approval, which I'm sure must have sown some serious resentment among other, less favored NES developers.
The Turtles themselves were created in 1984 by independent comic book artist/writers Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird as a parody of the new wave of grim and gritty urban superhero comics by the likes of Frank Miller. Eastman and Laird's wry comics relied on the contrast between the forboding Gothic cityscapes, hardboiled dialogue, and intense violence of those works and the most absurd set of protagonists the writers could imagine: Teenage mutant ninja turtles! The result was pretty great, but its appeal was largely limited to well-read comics fans savvy enough to appreciate the joke. In 1987, one of the defining (and least likely) moments in the history of children's entertainment occured when this obscure niche property had its violent and satirical edges filed off and became a smash hit cartoon series, spawning the terrapin merchandising empire we've all come to know.
I never was much of a Turtles fan as a kid. I think it hit just a little too late for me, since my interest in toys and action figures peaked around ages 5-8 in the era of He-Man, G.I. Joe, and the Thundercats. By the late '80s, I was all about the video games.
This original TMNT title by Konami was not only their first ever appearance in a video game, but also the first piece of Turtles-related media to ever hit Japan. They must have been very confused because this is one strange game and most of the characters you encounter don't seem to have been taken from the comics or the cartoon. In fact, the lack of recognizable enemies is a common point of criticism from dedicated Turtles fans. While I can sympathize to a degree, this "weird random enemies" factor is easy enough to justify as a product of the times; an NES thing. Certainly it didn't prevent me from enjoying Sunsoft's Batman or Capcom's Willow, and I'm more of a fan of those films than I am the TMNT cartoon.
The plot of TMNT is actually pretty dynamic for an action game of the time. In the first stage, you start out looking to rescue your extraordinarily kidnap-prone reporter friend April from mutant baddies Bebop and Rocksteady. After that, she tells you that the Foot Clan is going to blow up a dam and flood the city. Save the dam and you return home to discover that your ninja mentor Splinter has been kidnapped, and so on. It's not exactly profound stuff, but it's more than the single simple goal you're given to last you through most 8-bit games.
Each of TMNT's six stages except the final one consists of two gameplay modes: A overhead view of the city where you travel around on foot or by Turtle Van looking for buildings and sewers to explore and a side view action mode for indoor areas. You can switch between the four turtles at any time in both modes and each has his own supply of health. The golden rule here is that it's always better to switch to a different turtle rather than allowing your current one to run out of health. "Dead" turtles aren't gone forever, since the game states that they've actually been captured by the enemy. Most stages have spots where you can rescue a captured turtle, but it's usually in a difficult part of the stage that's off the main path, so you really want to avoid having to do this if at all possible.
The overhead segments aren't particularly exciting, despite the presence of some simplified combat with a few basic enemy types. They mostly exist to link together the various buildings, sewers, and tunnels where the real action takes place.
Once indoors, your turtles can jump, crouch, and swing their signature ninja weapons straight ahead, up, or down. You can also find various sub-weapons in the form of ninja stars, boomerangs, and the almighty magic scrolls. These will extend your attack range greatly, but have limited shots. As a nice touch, however, your boomerang shots won't decrease if you catch each one on the rebound. Since balance within your party is an issue (one I'll address in more detail below), these sub-weapons are very important for the turtles with weaker primary weapon attacks. One final important pickup is the health restoring pizza. When you find a pizza, make sure to use it well by switching to a turtle with low health before grabbing it. Remember its location, too, since pizzas and other items will replenish when you exit and re-enter an area and "farming" these items as needed makes your quest much easier.
Overall, I really like the action in these side-view portions. They control a lot like those in an earlier Konami title I played recently: The 1987 Japan exclusive Getsu Fūma Den for Famicom. The Turtles walk slower and jump higher than Fūma does in that game, but the overall feel is very similar. This also extends to the large gallery of grotesque enemies that re-spawn readily and often take multiple hits to kill. In fact, you can think of TMNT as a whole as a bit of a spiritual sequel to Getsu Fūma Den, except without the clunky 3D mazes. In other aspects, it also loosely resembles yet another past Konami game: The Goonies II. Some of the building interiors resemble those in Goonies II, the map on the pause screen is similar, and the boomerang weapon handles almost identically.
One thing that takes some getting used to is the jumping controls. A light tap will make your turtle do a short hop and holding the button down will make him go into a somersault and gain much more height at the expense of precision. Once you've mastered doing the right jump in the right situation, the platforming becomes quite manageable, but if you somersault when you should be doing the hop (or vice versa), you're going to have a bad time.
I also really loved the graphics and sound in TMNT. Instead of trying to make it look like the cartoon show, the artists opted for a grittier style that more closely resembles the comics. Nothing in this game is cute, that's for sure. It's quite a difference from the more colorful style adopted for later Turtles games like the well-known arcade beat-'em-ups. They even packed in a lot of nice little details, such as each turtle being a different shade of green. The music is all original, with the exception of a couple second riff on the cartoon's main theme that plays when you defeat a boss. It's excellent stuff and even has a bit of a funky side, much like the tracks in The Adventures of Bayou Billy.
So why is this game so controversial? I already mentioned the lack of callbacks to the cartoon, but the main gameplay-related reason lies in its similarity to yet another earlier title: Blaster Master by Sunsoft. Yes, TMNT has a big world with branching paths and lots of exploration coupled with plenty of deadly enemies and limited lives and continues. Lose all your turtles and you can continue exactly twice from the start of the current stage before you have to start the game over. Thankfully, the same sort of approach that works well in Blaster Master also works in TMNT: Take it slow and methodical while keeping your strength up by farming health and weapons whenever you get low. It definitely works. I got kicked back to the title screen twice during my six hours with the game and I was only able to finally make it through the hell that is the final stretch of the Technodrome and defeat Shredder after spending a good chunk of time loading my whole party to the brim with magic scroll sub-weapons. Still, it's a tough game and this sort of patient and cautious playstyle probably didn't appeal to many young TMNT fans who picked up this game around the time of its release hoping for some lighthearted instant gratification.
I don't believe in holding a game's difficulty against it, however. Some games are harder than others and that's okay. I do have a couple more serious issues with TMNT, though: The party balancing and the boss encounters.
To put it bluntly, Michaelangelo and Raphael are dreadful without a decent sub-weapon. They have almost no reach with their main attacks. Leonardo has more reach at least, though his power is mediocre. Leo's okay. At the other end of the spectrum, Donatello is a veritable reptilian WMD with his bo staff. He has the best power and reach by far. His strikes are the slowest, but even this doesn't matter all that much, since he still kills tough enemies faster overall due to his sheer power. I suppose in MMORPG terms, you'd say he has the best DPS (damage per second) combined with the best range. The only real question I have is why? What was the thinking behind designing Don this way and making Mike's nunchaku both short range and weak? I just don't understand how this could have been seen as good design, even in the abstract. Oh well. Bottom line: Always make sure Mike and Raph have plenty of sub-weapons on hand or you'll regret it.
And the bosses? Well, they're just not very intimidating or fun to fight, with the sole exception of the Technodrome in level five. Shredder himself is one of the easiest final bosses ever and even some of the common enemies in the later levels are significantly more dangerous than he is. It's a missed opportunity to be sure, though at least the stages themselves are long and difficult enough that you still get a nice sense of accomplishment from finishing them.
For me, this just makes TMNT a flawed game, not a generally poor one. In fact, I think it's quite good, with solid action and satisfying challenge coupled with very nice overall presentation. Sales figures and critical reception at the time of release support me on this. TMNT won Nintendo Power magazine's "game of the year" award in 1989 and even became a pack-in game with the NES in Europe, effectively replacing Nintendo's own Mario!
So where did all the hate come from? While I don't doubt that not everyone loved TMNT back in the day, I largely credit one James Rolfe for its current pariah status. Rolfe is a filmmaker and YouTube personality best know for his series The Angry Video Game Nerd, in which he plays the title character. TMNT was the subject of the one of the earliest AVGN episodes back in 2006, in which the Nerd character railed against the game (particularly the second level, the dam, which is actually the shortest and perhaps easiest of them all) and coined the salty catchphrase "Cowabunga? Cowa-fucking piece of dog shit!"
Of course, the Angry Video Game Nerd is a fictional character and Rolfe clearly intends his work to be slapstick entertainment and not formal criticism but, with AVGN being one of the first big YouTube breakout series focusing on retro gaming content, it turns out that even a fictional angry nerd's opinion can be highly influential. The end result of all this is a former game of the year condemned to infamous stinker status. Curse you, Internet Gaming Hive Mind! If only I had a proper flesh and blood archenemy I could shoot ninja scrolls at instead of you.
Author twentiethcenturygamerPosted on August 26, 2017 June 24, 2019 Categories NES, ReviewTags 1989, action platformer, Konami, licensed, Palcom, Ultra Games, underratedLeave a comment on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES)
Jackal (NES)
Smoke 'em if you got 'em, kiddos!
After pouring almost thirty hours into a sprawling epic like Seiken Densetsu 3, I needed to unwind with something a little more…straightforward. So I figured why not go back to the Konami NES well for another short-but-sweet action romp? This time, it's the 1988 port of Jackal.
Jackal started out as a 1986 arcade release called Tokushu Butai Jakkaru ("Special Forces Jackal") in Japan and Top Gunner in North America. In this overhead run-and-gun action title, players control an elite group of Green Berets (including the hilariously named Lieutenant Bob) driving heavily-armed jeeps on a POW rescue mission deep behind enemy lines. Who's the enemy exactly? Probably the Vietnamese based on the time period, although the manual doesn't specify. Now move out, soldier!
Just like in Contra, Life Force, Castlevania, and almost every other Konami action game of the era, you'll fight your way through exactly six levels of tenacious enemies, each culminating in a unique and challenging boss battle. Fortunately, your vehicle is up to the task. One hit from the enemy will do you in, but your ride is remarkably quick and responsive, so any deaths feel like your fault and not the programmer's. You have two weapons at your disposal, both with unlimited ammunition. Pressing B will fire your machine gun straight up toward the top of the screen and the A button launches slower, more powerful hand grenades in whichever direction your jeep is currently pointing. At first, the limitation of only being able to shoot your machine gun upward in a game with eight-directional movement may seem strange or annoying, but it's actually quite helpful, since it allows for a limited form of strafing and lets you fire at foes while moving away from them. You also have have one final offensive option: You can run over foot soldiers with your jeep, smooshing them like bugs. It's pretty awesome. Make sure not to ram into enemy vehicles, though, or you'll lose a life.
What about those POWs? Each level contains numerous small buildings. Targeting these with grenades will allow the prisoners inside to rush out through the hole created. Halt your jeep next to the building long enough for them to climb on board before continuing on your way. You'll eventually reach a helipad area where a chopper is waiting to evacuate your extra passengers. Each POW you successfully extract will earn you major bonus points and you'll want all the points you can get, since they're how you earn those all-important extra lives. You can also rescue special "officer" prisoners that will upgrade your grenade attack to a faster rocket. The rockets can then be upgraded twice by rescuing more officers, increasing their blast radius drastically. At least until you die and go back to the standard grenades. Try not to do that.
Jackal is a challenging game, but not overwhelmingly so. At least not until its real meatgrinder of a final stage. Although lives and continues are limited, I had an easier time with this one than I did with most of the other big Konami NES titles like Contra and Castlevania. You probably won't beat it on your first go, but it should yield with a few hours of dedicated practice. It's a short game and can be finished in thirty minutes or so once mastered. The game will loop after the last level, though, so you can play on to try for a high score if desired.
The music in Jackal supports the bombastic '80s military action movie mood perfectly with rousing heroic melodies over punchy martial percussion. It reminds me of The A-Team theme and that's a very good thing. Graphics are clean and functional, but definitely not as detailed as they are in other games of the period. This is mainly due to the game's zoomed-out overhead perspective combined with the fact that your on-screen avatar represents a vehicle and not a person. In fact, the POWs and enemy infantry fighters you see on the battlefield are only a few pixels tall. Background also don't stand out much and tend to consist of monotonous repeated ground tiles much of the time. On the plus side, everything runs well and slowdown is very limited, even during two-player simultaneous play.
I had a ton of fun with this one. I'd never actually played Jackal before this week and I already love it. It's not my favorite overhead run-and-gun game. That honor goes to SNK's amazing Shock Troopers for the Neo-Geo, but it's likely the best on the NES. Certainly it's miles above the hot garbage that were the NES Ikari Warriors releases. It's too bad we never saw a sequel for any platform. Maybe the standard military theme didn't pack the same wow factor that Contra's military versus aliens one did. Maybe it's because Chuck Norris style "rescue the POWs" movies were starting to become passe right around the time Jackal hit homes.
In any case, I salute you, Jackal. Especially Lieutenant Bob.
Author twentiethcenturygamerPosted on August 22, 2017 June 3, 2019 Categories NES, ReviewTags 1988, arcade port, Konami, run and gunLeave a comment on Jackal (NES)
Seiken Densetsu 3 (Super Famicom)
I finished, but I've only just begun!
It's tough to know where to start with a game as legendary as this one. Released in 1995, Seiken Densetsu 3 is developer/publisher Square's follow-up to their hit 1993 action RPG Secret of Mana. It's also the first of the Seiken Densetsu ("Legend of the Sacred Sword") series to never leave Japan. By 1995, the rise of next generation consoles like the Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn led to Square deciding that investing the necessary time and money required to translate and localize a massive, text-heavy Super Famicom game like SD3 would be a bit of a fool's errand. While this may have made good business sense at the time, it was a minor tragedy for English-speaking RPG fans and cemented SD3's reputation as perhaps the most lamented of the great "lost" 16-bit games. Until 2000, that is, when the first version of the unofficial English fan translation hit the Internet. Does it live up to all the hype? Several times over!
I played SD3 on a reproduction cartridge containing the English version of the game ROM. The label on my copy bears the somewhat misleading title Secret of Mana 2. Many gamers have fond memories of Secret of Mana/Seiken Densetsu 2, but the first game in the series for the Game Boy, released in North America under the title Final Fantasy Adventure in order to piggyback on Square's most popular franchise, is often unjustly forgotten these days. You can bet I'll be showcasing Final Fantasy Adventure someday.
Like its predecessors, SD3 is an action RPG with a very distinctive art style that's cute, colorful, and extremely lush. In fact, you could easily make a strong case for SD3 being the single best looking game ever released for the console. Sprints are sumptuously detailed and sport tons of smooth animation. Even the lowliest generic NPC townspeople in this game show off more visual detail and smoother walk cycles than the main protagonists in most 16-bit RPGs. Many of the backgrounds are positively jaw-dropping and could even be described as painterly. Furthermore, the audio is almost as superb as the visuals. While I enjoyed the compositions in Secret of Mana a little more overall, the tunes here are very catchy indeed and the production quality is top notch. Like Square's other soundtracks from this period, SD3's is about as close to CD quality audio as it's possible to get on the Super Famicom. It's also quite extensive, with over fifty tracks.
This is all probably to be expected, though. Secret of Mana was also noted as one of the most gorgeous console games to date upon its release. Where SD3 really sets itself apart from the rest of the series is in its innovative story structure. The game has six unique protagonists to choose from, each with their own exclusive story elements to experience. There's Angela the sorceres, Carlie the cleric, Duran the swordsman, Hawk the thief, Lise the amazon, and Kevin the werewolf.
The first thing you'll do when starting a new playthrough is select your main character. After that, you'll pick two of the remaining five heroes to serve as support characters for your lead. This means that you can only ever have three of the six playable characters in your party during any single playthrough. Over the course of the game, you'll get to see the entire storyline for your chosen lead, an abbreviated "Cliffs Notes" version for each of the two sidekicks, and the three characters you don't pick at all will only appear in brief walk-on cameo roles as NPCs.
Now, before you get too excited, this isn't really like having six RPGs in one. It's more like one and a half. No matter which characters you pick, the overarching plot and quest structure will always be essentially the same. You'll mostly go to the same places and fight the same monsters and the unique elements of each character's storyline tend to be concentrated at the very beginning and very end of the quest. Still, it's really cool to see the same events play out from multiple perspectives and to get more background and dialogue for each individual hero. Your choice of main character also determines which of the game's three villains will emerge as the primary antagonist.
Thankfully, it doesn't seem like there's any way to sabotage yourself by choosing a poor character or combination of characters. The designers did a great job of making sure that all the heroes are strong enough to hold their own and the game never gets so difficult that an optimized party or single strategy is necessary to continue. I went with the scientifically proven method of picking whoever I thought looked the coolest. I ended up with Angela, Hawk, and Lise and I did just great. Very smart design on Square's part.
As if the multiple protagonists angle somehow wasn't enough to make SD3 one of the most replayable RPGs ever made, there's also a branching character class system. Any time after reaching level 18, a character can switch from their default class to either a "light" or "dark" class, each with slightly different abilities. For example, Lise the Amazon can pick the light option and become a Valkyrie or choose dark and become a Rune Maiden. Characters can repeat this process at level 38, so if Lise chose to become a Valkyrie, she can pick the light option again to become a Vanadis (light-light) or the dark option to become a Star Lancer (light-dark). There are thus a total of six additional classes per character, representing light, dark, light-light, light-dark, dark-dark, and dark-light. Once you make your choices, there's no going back, so you would actually need to play through the game four times with a single character if you wanted to experience all six of that character's class options. That seems a bit excessive to me, but the option's there if you really want it.
It should be understood that class changing will never drastically alter a character's role in the party. Using Lise as an example again, she'll always have the same primary function no matter which classes you choose: She's a robust "tank" style character that vanquishes foes with her spear attacks. Going down the light path will grant her "buff" spells that increase your party's stats in combat while the dark path offers "debuff" spells that decrease enemy stats. Ultimately, though, she still remains a fighter type character. Similarly, no class change will ever make Angela the mage into a viable hand-to-hand combatant, but you can tweak her spell selection somewhat. This means that there's really no way to ruin a character by picking a "bad" class, since the class changes only enhance an already competent character's core strengths. They never undermine those strengths. Again, this is very clever design.
The main story of Seiken Densetsu 3 involves a fantasy world where the power of magic (mana) has begun to wane. Only the Mana Sword, a legendary weapon used by a goddess to create the world, can possibly reverse this process but it's sealed away by the power of eight mana stones, each containing the essence of an evil god-beast vanquished by the goddess in primordial times. Three factions of villains send their respective nations to war against their neighbors in an effort to seize all the mana stones, break the seal, and claim the godlike power conferred by the Mana Sword for themselves. To stop them and restore peace, your heroes band together and set out to find the holy sword first. Each hero also has their own individual motives for joining the quest, including getting revenge for a fallen comrade, rescuing a kidnapped relative, and so on. It's not the most unique premise for an RPG (every Seiken Densetsu game revolves around conflict over the titular sword, after all) but it does a serviceable job of pushing your party to every corner of the game's diverse and charming world over the course of around 25 hours or so.
I'm very much pleased to report that SD3's gameplay improves on Secret of Mana's in virtually every way. Secret of Mana is a very beloved title among 16-bit RPG fans, even a bit of a sacred cow, but I've always had major issues with its gameplay. Hit detection felt highly inconsistent, the lengthy charge time on weapon attacks slowed the pace of melee combat to a crawl, and the optimal fighting strategy was usually just to cast the same attack spell over and over again in rapid succession.
Well, SD3's hit detection has been honed, so say goodbye to well-aimed attacks that whiff for no apparent reason. The weapon charge bar has been replaced by a tech meter that builds as you land blows and filling it up allows you to release more powerful attacks without slowing down combat as a whole. Most importantly, the magic system has been tweaked with balance in mind and you can no longer abuse the trick of repeatedly opening the menu and tossing out an endless stream of spells before your helpless enemy can even react. The end result of all this is that combat in SD3 flows much smoother and feels much more engaging and all-around satisfying. It's a real joy to beat up on fluffy little rabites and ducks in army helmets this time around. They even improved the pathfinding abilities of computer-controlled party members so that they get stuck on the scenery less often, although this will still happen on occasion.
Multiplayer gameplay also makes a return. I didn't get a chance to try it out myself, but it seems safe to say that the faster weapon combat and more balanced magic would make for an improved experience.
Is Seiken Densetsu 3 a perfect game? Not quite. I already mentioned that the story a bit on the basic side, despite the promising addition of multiple viewpoints. Not every gamer has a problem with clichéd JRPG plots, characters, and dialogue. For some, an abundance of familiar tropes might even be desirable; a kind of "gaming comfort food." If this is you, you'll adore SD3's simplistic narrative, in which one-dimensional cackling villains just can't wait to reveal their "true forms" and mortally wounded characters exclaim things like "Goodbye, cruel world!" If you don't prefer your RPGs lightweight and corny, though, just be aware going in that this one isn't packed with thought-provoking concepts and big emotional payoffs.
I also wish that the class changing system could have been made available to the player earlier on in the game. Eighteen levels is a long chunk of time to be stuck in each character's relatively boring starter class. After the first class change, there's an even lengthier twenty level gap until the next. By the time you're finally able to unlock each character's final, coolest class at level 38, you'll find that the game is almost over! My party was level 47 when I defeated the final boss and I didn't even feel like I needed to be that strong. My take is that offering class changes at levels 10 and 30 instead would have improved both the early and late game experience significantly.
Seiken Densetsu 3 is still one spectacular action RPG, however, and a drastic improvement on Secret of Mana in virtually every way. It's a huge title with so much going on that I didn't even get around to mentioning some of the major new innovations, like the dynamic day/night cycle that affects enemy encounters and Kevin the werewolf's transformations. If you liked SoM, you'll love SD3. If you loved SoM, SD3 will likely secure a place near the top of your personal "best games of all time" list. It plays like a dream, represents peak audiovisual achievement within the 16-bit console generation, and will have you wanting to play through it all over again before you've even finished your first go-around.
I just feel sorry for all those sweet little rabites.
Author twentiethcenturygamerPosted on August 20, 2017 June 24, 2019 Categories Review, Super FamicomTags 1995, action RPG, fan translation, Japan exclusive, Seiken Densetsu, SquareLeave a comment on Seiken Densetsu 3 (Super Famicom)
Pop'n TwinBee: Rainbow Bell Adventures (Super Famicom)
You can ring my beeeeeeell. Ring my bell.
In 1985, Konami released the first TwinBee game to arcades. As far back as the first entry in the genre, 1962's Space War, shooter video games almost invariably featured science fiction or military themes and tended to be presented in as realistic a fashion as the hardware would allow. TwinBee broke with convention by opting for a cartoon aesthetic, embracing bright pastel colors, adorable little spaceships with white-gloved Mickey Mouse arms, and a whimsical power-up system that involved juggling and collecting colored bells. The game was a huge hit, mainly in Japan, and would inspire numerous direct sequels as well as its own sub-genre of lighthearted shooters ("cute-'em-ups") that includes Sega's Fantasy Zone and Success' Cotton.
By 1994, though, the arcade style shooter's mainstream popularity was on the decline. What was hot? Mascot platformers! Mario and Sonic were raking in cash at an astonishing rate and it seems like everyone wanted in on that action. Since the robot bee ships from TwinBee already had tons of personality, a colorful world to inhabit, and even the requisite limbs needed for platforming, it must have seemed like a natural fit to someone at Konami because they released Pop'n TwinBee: Rainbow Bell Adventures that same year in Japan and Europe.
I played the Japanese version, since I don't have the necessary equipment to run European PAL video format games properly. I understand that the publisher opted to remove all the game's dialogue rather than translating it from Japanese for the international release, however, so at least I'm not missing out on anything in that department.
The story of Rainbow Bell Adventures may leave you with a bit of deja vu. The maniacal Dr. Warumon is attacking with his army of EvilBee robots. His good guy counterpart Dr. Cinnamon must fight off the invasion with his own TwinBee ships, piloted by his youthful assistants Light, Pastel, and Mint. So yeah, it's pretty much Mega Man. Dr. Warumon even looks just like Dr. Wily in a Halloween vampire cape. But it's just an excuse to zip around collecting bells, so I'll give it a pass.
The first thing you'll notice when starting up the game is that it represents the colorful TwinBee style well. The graphics are crisp and bright, the music is bouncy, and everything is just as cute as can be. There are even high-pitched anime style voice clips for your ship. Everything has that impeccable polish you would expect from 1990s Konami. Rainbow Bell Adventures is not a perfect game overall by any means, but I can find no real flaws at all in the art and music.
You start out by picking between three characters. You have TwinBee (the blue one), WinBee (the pink one), and GwinBee (the green one). They're differentiated by two factors: Rocket charge time and punch charge time. Your rocket will launch you forward when fully charged, a mechanic which seems to have been lifted directly from Konami's own Rocket Knight Adventures, and your charged punch takes the form of a projectile attack that will deal huge damage to enemies and is mostly useful against bosses, since common enemies just don't require that much damage to take out. WinBee has a fast rocket charge and a slow punch charge, GwinBee has the inverse, and TwinBee is the default character with equal charge times for both. In practice, I found that WinBee's quick rocket boosts made her the best character for traversing standard stages and GwinBee's fast punches made him a natural boss wrecker. I didn't end up using poor TwinBee much, since he fell into the common "jack of all trades, master of none" category. You're able to change characters each time you die and lives are unlimited, so there's no need to worry about being stuck with a setup that doesn't suit you.
The platforming itself is fairly standard, aside from the rocket dynamic. You can kill most enemies by jumping on them or by punching them. Being a TwinBee game, you still power up by collecting colored bells from defeated foes. These will grant abilities like melee weapons to extend your punch range, a gun for attacking distant targets, temporary invincibility, and more. Your collected bells fly up into the air and scatter whenever you take a hit, but you're able to re-collect a few of them if you're quick about it, similar to how you can recover some of your dropped rings in Sonic the Hedgehog.
Bosses are large and impressive looking, but not too tough to deal with. Just dodging their simple attack patterns and landing four or five charge punches will send even the final boss packing in short order. They're a bit tougher than your standard Mario or Sonic opponents, but not by much at all.
One interesting option is two-player simultaneous play. The bad news here is that it's kind of a mess. The game's camera will only track player one, so player two has to stick close by or do their best to fumble around until they finally find their way back onto the screen or die trying. More fun is the battle mode, which is certainly no replacement for Street Fighter II or Mario Kart in terms of competitive play on the Super Nintendo, but is amusing enough in short bursts.
The goal in each of the main game's 35 stages is either to reach the exit or to defeat a boss. Taking a cue from Super Mario World, many of the levels have multiple exits, each leading to a different stage. Unlike in Mario World, all exits are shown on the map screen that you can access by pausing the game, so these branching paths don't constitute secrets in the traditional sense.
Unfortunately, the design of these levels is really Rainbow Bell Adventures' fatal flaw. They're sprawling, frequently labyrinthine, and wrap around themselves in Pac-Man fashion, so reaching any side of the level boundary will bring you back around to the opposite side. Rather than conveying any true sense of place, they come off as bland abstract mazes composed of the same few background tiles repeated over and over in arbitrary fashion. They're also lacking the big "set piece" moments that levels in other Konami platformers of the period were known for, like the swinging chandeliers and rotating rooms of Super Castlevania IV or Contra III's insane missile riding sequence. There are a few different stage themes (ice, cave, water, and so on), but only a few and each repeats often. To make matters worse, enemy variety is pretty lacking and most enemy types appear in most levels. The end result of all this is that the stages in Rainbow Bell Adventures just sort of blur together into a single inchoate mass with all the flavor of a bowl of cold oatmeal. It looks great and controls acceptably, but it's really tough to recommend a platformer with such weak level design. That's the linchpin of the whole genre, after all!
Rainbow Bell Adventures isn't a truly awful title. Rather, it's a lot like another Super Famicom platformer I played recently that never came out here in North America: Super Back to the Future Part II. Plenty of surface charm masking a thoroughly average game. Konami made a good call by not bringing this one over, since Rainbow Bell Adventures simply isn't up to the nearly superhuman standards of their other 16-bit releases on the Super Nintendo around this time. Or the Sega Genesis, for that matter. If you can get it cheap or you're an obsessive TwinBee superfan, you might as well give Rainbow Bell Adventures a try. General audiences can do much better.
Author twentiethcenturygamerPosted on August 16, 2017 June 24, 2019 Categories Review, Super FamicomTags 1994, Konami, Palcom, platformer, TwinBee, weirdLeave a comment on Pop'n TwinBee: Rainbow Bell Adventures (Super Famicom)
Willow (NES)
Not bad, except for that 8-bit Kevin Pollack. Ew.
Looking back on the NES library, it's kind of remarkable how few games really attempted to copy the formula of Nintendo's 1986's smash hit The Legend of Zelda. There were no shortage of games riding Super Mario's platforming coattails but overhead fantasy action-adventure titles never took the console as a whole by storm. SNK's brilliant 1990 release Crystalis is probably the system's best-known Zelda protégé and FCI's 1986 port of Hydlide is sometimes considered to be a "Zelda clone," but this assessment is very much in error, as Hydlide was originally a 1984 release for Japanese computers and likely a Zelda inspiration itself.
One company that did take up the challenge was Capcom, who unleased their NES version of Willow into the world in 1989. Capcom actually released two games based on Ron Howard and George Lucas' cinematic collaboration, the other being an arcade exclusive action game that played like a more colorful iteration of their Ghosts 'n Goblins series. I remember that this NES release was pretty well hyped over the course of several issues of Nintendo Power magazine at the time, but I'd never actually played it before this week. It was definitely a pleasant experience and I now count this one right alongside Sunsoft's Batman in the elite class of licensed NES games worth a damn.
I always enjoyed Willow as a film. It wasn't until years later that I picked up on the fact that it wasn't exactly a critical darling at the time of its release. The screenplay was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award (a mock prize awarded to "the worst in film") and it was even compared to the infamous Lucas-produced stinker Howard the Duck. Freaking Howard the Duck? Really? That's just low, man. In reality, it's a very fun ride featuring likable leads (Warwick Davis is the man), stellar production, thrilling action sequences, and groundbreaking special effects. It also had those goddamn brownies. Those two were just wretched. Still, it's far from the worst thing going. Oh, well.
The first thing you need to do to enjoy Willow the NES game is forget about all that stuff I just said, because it has basically nothing in common with the movie. Oh, all the main characters are here and your overall goal is still to overthrow the wicked Queen Bavmorda, but the plot as a whole is completely new. It's actually a little surreal if you're familiar with the source material to see all these elements remixed with such reckless abandon. I've seen some speculation that Capcom simply took the Willow license and slapped it onto another, unrelated fantasy game that they were already planning or working on. I haven't seen any concrete confirmation of this, but it wouldn't surprise me one bit. At least they did make the effort of recreating a couple key scenes from the film, such as Willow's multiple failed attempts to transform the sorceress Fin Raziel back into a human from animal form and the bit where Madmartigan is accidentally dosed with a love potion and falls for the villainous Sorsha.
If you've played any overhead action-RPG game before, you'll be able to hit the ground running here. You move Willow around in eight directions with the directional pad, swing your sword with the B button, and activate whatever magic spell you currently have selected with the A button. You also have a shield which works passively to block frontal attacks as long as you're not in the middle of swinging your sword. You'll also find a host of other items that you need to progress the plot, but these work automatically from your inventory and don't need to be manually selected or equipped. Starting out in your home village of Nelwyn, you're given your first sword and spell along with some basic advice and instructed to head north to the next town.
Willow is not a particularly complex game. In fact, I already pretty much covered everything you need to know above. The forests, mountains, and caves of the world have some twisty maze-like sections that might take some wandering to find your way through, but the progression as a whole is very linear, lacking the open world exploration, puzzle solving, and secret finding elements of Zelda. Being told by one NPC that you need to go speak to another in order to get the item you need to move on is about as deep as it goes.
You'll discover new swords and shields to equip along the way. With the exception of one sword that has the special power of being able to harm ghost enemies, though, the only thing that's different about these is that some have better attack and defense ratings than others. The game does make an interesting attempt at an encumbrance system with its weapons, as each sword has a minimum strength rating needed to use it properly and Willow will attack very slowly if he uses a sword that he's too weak for. What this really amounts to is that each sword has minimum character level associated with it. If your new weapon is too slow, just put it away until you gain a level or two and then try it again. I don't know that this adds any actual fun to the proceedings, but it is different at least.
The magic system is pretty well handled. You have the usual handful of utility spells for things like healing, exiting dungeons instantly, and "fast travelling" between towns you've previously visited as well as attack spells that will freeze, damage, or even destroy enemies outright. There's also a couple oddball spells in the mix, including one that transforms Willow into a slime monster for disguise purposes and another that will change strong enemies into weaker ones. Since most enemies can be dispatched by Willow's sword fairly easily, I found myself saving most of my magic points for healing and travel. It is nice to have options, though.
Willow shows off some very impressive graphics and music. The color palette makes fine use of greens and earth tones without becoming too dark or muddy, sprites for Willow and his foes have a lot of detail, and there's even a pretty fabulous effect when fighting enemies outdoors where every tile of the map will "come alive" and start to animate as if everything is blowing around in a windstorm. Very unique. Another visual highlight are the well-drawn facial portraits displayed for every speaking character in the game. Songs loop a lot and more of them would have been nice, but the ones we get are all composed and executed very well, as you would expect from Capcom. The theme from the final dungeon, Nockmaar Castle, is particularly awesome.
In terms of criticism, I do wish that Willow had just a little more going on in it. There are no real branching paths, secrets to discover, or puzzles to unravel during your quest. It's just a linear trek from point A to point Z. It's a fun enough trek, but it could have been so much more. There's also a lot of repetition in terms of scenery, almost as if the developers tried to pad out the game some by just sort of "stretching" the game world as a whole. You'll see a lot of identical screens copied and pasted over and over. There are even occasional instances of the exact same empty screens placed right next to each other. There's no proper justification for something like that.
While Willow might not have depth on its side, it does have accessibility and personality to spare. The mechanics here are very solid and there are no glaring gameplay flaws to speak of. It's a worthy entry in the genre and very much worth playing for action-RPG fans, even if it does play third fiddle to Zelda and Crystalis on the NES. Best of all, you can't actually hear the brownies talk this time.
Author twentiethcenturygamerPosted on August 10, 2017 April 18, 2019 Categories NES, ReviewTags 1989, action RPG, Capcom, licensedLeave a comment on Willow (NES)
Life Force (NES)
It's 2017 and I figure it's about damn time I complete a Gradius game for once. Luckily, I snagged a copy of Life Force at a local game store a couple weeks back, so I can finally make it happen!
Life Force (sadly unrelated to the completely gonzo film of the same name about nude space vampires ravaging Britain) is the NES port of the arcade game Salamander. Salamander was conceived as a spin-off of the established Gradius series of horizontal scrolling shooters that would incorporate a number of new features: Faster gameplay, a new power-up system, simultaneous two-player gameplay, and a mix of horizontal and vertical scrolling.
As a port, Life Force retains some of these features (like the multi-directional scrolling and two-player action), but its slower speed and the return of the traditional Gradius power-up system make it feel less like a spin-off and more like a sequel. It might seem like a strange choice to "Gradius-ify" Salamander like this, but I think it makes sense on a few levels. First off, getting a two-player simultaneous shooter with so many things going on at once running on the NES at all in 1987 was likely something of a programming marvel, so having it also scroll at the same speed as the arcade original may have been an insurmountable technical challenge. In addition, the original Gradius was one of Konami's best-selling titles to date on the system, which would make emphasizing the resemblance between Life Force and it seem quite sound from a business perspective. But I'm just speculating.
In terms of story, it's about what you would expect. A gigantic planet devouring alien named Zelos is headed for the world of Gradius and only you, piloting your super cool Vic Viper space fighter, can infiltrate the hungry colossus and administer some impromptu laser surgery to save the day. Also, in a nifty Ultima reference, player two gets to fly the "Lord British space destroyer." Cool.
Basic stuff, but at least whatever weirdo they enlisted to write the English manual text had fun with their version, which begins: "In a remote quadrant of the universe there was hatched a hideous creature. His proud parents, Ma and Pa Deltoid, named their only son Zelos, which in alien lingo means 'one mean son of a gun.'" Wow.
Gameplay is classic Gradius. Shoot baddies to rack up power-up capsules and points to earn extra lives. Each capsule you collect will highlight one of the choices on your power-up menu. These include speed boosts, missiles, "option" satellites to double your firepower, a force field, and more. When the power-up of your choice is highlighted, simply press the button to cash in your stash of capsules and activate it. Try not to die or you can kiss all those awesome power-ups goodbye, and it turns out that being slow and nearly defenseless is not a particularly great strategy. This is easier said than done, though, since one touch from any enemy or part of the stage background will do you in.
It's a very careful and exacting style of play that demands a mix of steady hands, quick reactions, and lots and lots of stage memorization. This is further emphasized by the limited lives and continues available. This is definitely not for everyone, since you really do need to approach a Gradius game "right" and there's not a lot of room to just mess around and play things fast and loose. Due to its nature as a two-player game, though, most of the stages in Life Force do have forks and branching paths, so there is some variation in how you can approach them.
Life Force has six stages in total, which was sort of the magic number for Konami back then (see Castlevania and Contra) and they are impressively varied. Several are in keeping with the giant space monster theme previously established and feature cool icky details like living flesh walls that "grow" in at you and killer blood cells. Other stages are completely different and vary things up with asteroid fields, walls of erupting fire, and even an inexplicable Egyptian temple. Each level is capped off by a boss. These guys look amazing, but are honestly real pushovers in that they utilize only very basic attack patterns that never vary. After making your way through a brutally difficult stage, fighting these slow, ineffectual bullet sponges will feel like a vacation.
Life Force looks and sounds just as great as its pedigree would imply. Visual highlights include the third level with its towering columns of rushing flame that will wipe out anything in their path, friend or foe, and the huge boss characters. The high-energy music sets the mood perfectly, although it can occasionally cut out a bit when there's a lot of weapons fire going on. Life Force's greatest accomplish is probably how smoothly it manages to run. There is some occasional slowdown, but not nearly as much as you might expect when the screen is filled with animated backgrounds and two players worth of missiles, lasers, and option satellites even before you factor the enemy ships in!
The game isn't totally perfect. I already mentioned the slowdown and the feeble bosses. However, if you have the patience to come to grips with the demanding playstyle that the series is known for, there might be no better way to spend a half hour of gaming time than blasting your way through Life Force. It's a short game, but another triumph of quality over quantity from Konami's Golden Age. Like Contra and Castlevania, it's a finely polished, exquisitely cut gem of a game. And one mean son of a gun.
Author twentiethcenturygamerPosted on August 7, 2017 April 18, 2019 Categories NES, ReviewTags 1987, arcade port, Gradius, Konami, shooterLeave a comment on Life Force (NES)


I'm excited to announce that Los Angeles based SMITH + MARA has recently launched a new collection of earring styles and I'm in love!! The last to years my love for earpieces has grown so why not share this collection with you all? I mean, there must be many ear-lovers out there right?
From tiny spiral earrings, to industrial cuff earrings and suspenders.
Known for their innovative earring styles like the Suspender and Spiral, Smith + Mara are no strangers to exploring new real estate on the ear. They launched a Tragus Ear Cuff that doesn't require a piercing, but clips snugly to create the effect of one (so handy!), as well as an Industrial Ear Cuff that also doesn't require any holes, but slides over the top of the ear.
Designers Sara Smith and Mara Rothbart, launched their uniquely beautiful and everyday inspired jewelry collection, SMITH+MARA back in 2012. Their enthusiasm for fine jewelry and creativity has brought a fresh new approach to the jewelry scene. Both Southern California natives, Sara and Mara have always had a strong passion for simplicity, beauty and fashion.
As you can see in today's post, their jewelry is fresh and modern with a touch of delicacy.


After graduation, Vicki moved to Southport NC and practiced dentistry in Brunswick County. Vicki practiced dentistry for a time there before marrying Dr. Kenny Morris, Jr. Upon the birth of their son Vicki decided to join her husband in his practice in Wilmington. Together they have grown a successful dental practice over the years and hope to continue that growth for many more.
Dr. Vicki enjoys spending her time outside of the office playing tennis year round on different seasonal tennis teams. Her summers are spent tending to her home flower gardens, taking in some offshore fishing with her family, and traveling to different destinations.
Family is very important to Dr. Vicki. She and Dr. Kenny have one son who graduated from the University of South Carolina with degrees in International Business and Global Supply Chain & Operations Management. They are Disney Vacation Club members and try, as often as they can , to take advantage of those benefits, by traveling to Disney World at least once or twice a year. After all, everyone needs a place they can go and act like a kid again!


text:
Ledger earns top honor from Tennessee Press Association
Friday, July 20, 2018, Vol. 42, No. 29
Associate Publisher and Executive Editor Lyle Graves accepts the General Excellence plaque from David Golden, UT's executive assistant to the president.
-- Submitted
The Nashville Ledger won top honors for its division recently at the annual University of Tennessee/Tennessee Press Association awards in Franklin.
In addition to the award for General Excellence, the 8-year-old paper, competing in its first year of eligibility, also took top honors in Division III – newspapers with combined weekly circulation of 15,001-50,000 – for:
• Best Graphics and/or Illustrations, Leigh Singleton. Judges stated: "The scoring doesn't tell the whole story, here. Nashville Ledger was head and shoulders above the rest in graphics. This stuff is absolutely great."
• Best Feature Photo, by Michelle Morrow, A cover portrait of Fisk University student and community activist Justin Jones.
• Best Education Reporting: Joe Morris, "Is law school worth it?," Kathy Carlson, "Haslam backs WGU despite critical audit" and "Can free school lunches survive conservative shift?," Jeannie Naujeck: "Good communications make good neighbors"
In addition, the Nashville Ledger was awarded second place for Headline Writing, Editorials, Local Features, Public Service Reporting and Business Coverage. It took third place in Makeup and Appearance.
The Ledger's sister publications, the Knoxville Ledger and Hamilton County Herald, also performed well, winning two first place awards each.
The Herald won for:
• Best Business Coverage, David Laprad
• Best Feature Photograph, Alex McMahon, for his cover photo of UT Chattanooga student Warda Kahlot
It also took second place in Community Lifestyles and Local Features and third in Best Special Issue of Section, Make-up and Appearance, Public Service and Best News Photograph.
The Knoxville Ledger won for:
• Local Features, Mike Blackerby, "Knox Makers leaving mark" and "One man's quest to preserve Appalachia's artifacts"
• Best Business Coverage, Mike Blackerby, "Makeoverville" and "Knoxville's real estate dilemma"; Hollie Deese, "Healthcare Conundrum"
It also took second for Headline Writing, Public Service, Best Sports Coverage, Best Sports Writing and Best Single Feature.
"We have a great crew, headed by Cindy Smith and Leigh Singleton, and are honored to have many of the best writers and photographers in the state contributing to our publications," says Lyle Graves, associate publisher and executive editor of the three newspapers. "It's so gratifying to see them get the recognition they so richly deserve.
"These were highly competitive categories, and we congratulate all the award winners. Great work."
General Excellence winners in the other four categories include The Tennessean, Bristol Herald Courier, the Standard Banner (Jefferson County) and the Independent Herald (Oneida).

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Getting a good deal on flowers this Valentine's Day requires that you not linger too long when you stop to smell the roses.
Valentine's Day is the biggest holiday for fresh flower sales, accounting for 40 percent of annual revenue, according to the Society of American Florists, a trade group. Prices can easily top $60 for a bouquet of a dozen long-stemmed roses, with fancier arrangements well above $100.
But wait much beyond the start of February to order, and you can expect to pay a premium. Many florists and other companies that sell flowers use complex algorithms based on their supply and demand gauged from early orders to set pricing, says Jon Strom, the vice president of floral and lifestyle merchandising of the Price Chopper Supermarket chain based in Schenectady, N.Y., who has also worked on the wholesale and online sides of the floral industry. As the holiday approaches, they may offer sales on arrangements that haven't sold well, and pump up prices on those popular bouquets with dwindling supply.
A cold snap in Colombia, which supplies many out-of-season roses sold commercially, may also affect pricing this year. "It didn't damage anything, but it slowed production down," says John Dole, a professor of horticultural science at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C. The Colombian Association of Flower Producers estimates it may have lost as much as 30 percent of the crops in affected areas near Bogota. If florists must compete for last-minute supply, consumers who procrastinate on ordering could face heftier-than-normal premiums.
Valentine's Day falls on a Sunday this year, and if you want the flowers to arrive during that weekend, expect to pay a premium. Delivery on Friday or earlier in the week will be far cheaper because it allows florists to spread out the work, says Jennifer Sparks, a spokeswoman for the Society of American Florists. At Proflowers, standard delivery costs $5 to $10, depending on where you live. Have your order delivered on Friday, Feb. 12, and you'll pay an extra $5. On Saturday (Feb. 13) and Sunday (Feb. 14), you'll pay and extra $10 or $15, respectively.
"Usually, the longer the stem, the more expensive [the rose]," says Janice Cutler, the owner of North Raleigh Florist in Raleigh, N.C. Arrangements in a shorter vase or bowl let florists start out with stems of shorter lengths, and so cost less. For example, a dozen long-stemmed red roses from the shop delivered on Valentine's Day would cost $98; slightly shorter stems, $85.
Or any other color that isn't red. It's the most in-demand color, and so can command a premium, Strom says. At FTD.com, a dozen long-stemmed red roses are $80. The same quality bouquet of white or yellow roses costs $75. Lavender roses are even cheaper on the site, at $50 — but there's a catch. Growers haven't yet figured out how to breed those blooms for longevity, so the bouquet won't last as long, Strom says. On the upside, that also means purple roses are more fragrant than those of other colors.
It's a hard sell for customers, but limiting the number of roses in your bouquet can cut costs significantly, Dole says. Roses are out of season and in high demand, which keeps prices high. Everything else is cheap in comparison. His picks: tulips, Oriental lilies and carnations. "They're in season, and they're gorgeous," he says. At Teleflora, 10 red tulips in a ribbon-tied vase cost $42.
In times of high demand, not all flower sellers are created equal, says Scott Testa, an assistant professor of business administration at Cabrini College in Radnor, Pa. Before you order, read both recent consumer reviews and ones from Valentine's Day last year. If you're buying online, be sure to check the fine print to see if the bouquet will come pre-arranged by a local florist or shipped in a box from the grower, he says. The latter can be cheaper, but it usually entails do-it-yourself arranging and may not include a vase.
There are plenty out there at sites like RetailMeNot.com and CouponShack.com, although deals start disappearing in early February. At FTD.com, code COUPONCABIN20 from CouponCabin.com gets you 20 percent off at checkout through February. Shoppers linking to Proflowers through PayPal get 20 percent off and a free glass vase through Valentine's Day.
You'll pay just $3 to $5 for a single, long-stemmed rose, Strom says. It's a romantic and economical gesture that leaves you plenty of room in your budget for a fancy dinner out or more long-lasting gift.


text:
During 8–9 March 2023, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) carried out a massacre in the village of Mukondi in North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Background
The ADF is a Ugandan Islamist group who in 1996 began their insurgency, including a massacre in 1998 in Kabarole District in the Western Region, Uganda. They later spread to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing thousands of civilians, including a massacre in Beni in 2016. Since the late 2010s, the ADF are aligned with Islamic State. In North Kivu, in the northeast of the DRC, in January 2023, the ADF carried out massacres in Kasindi and Makugwe.

Massacre
During the night of 8–9 March 2023, the ADF used machetes to carry out a massacre in Mukondi, a village in North Kivu. Locals claimed that the attackers "came in a group, like visitors", until they began attacking people with machetes. The assailants attacked while villagers were celebrating International Women's Day, using machetes to kill over 30 people in Mukondi before killing several others in the nearby village of Mausa. The ADF also set fire to 15 houses and a clinic. Seventeen people were taken to hospital. Initially, the provincial governor of Kivu region Carly Nsanzu Kasivita gave a death toll of 36, while local sources put it at 44.

According to local officials, the death toll rose to over 39 killed in the following days, with a large amount injured. Some residents of Mukondi returned after the attack. Congolese army spokesman Anthony Mualushayi stated that the Mukondi attack was carried out in reprisal to a Congolese operation arresting 22 ADF militants and pharmacies allegedly supplying them with bomb-making chemicals.

The Islamic State, which the ADF is a part of, released a statement claiming responsibility for the attacking and claiming it killed "Christians". Mukondi chief Deogratias Kasereka claimed that per modus operandi of the ADF, no guns were used in the attack.

See also
2020 Democratic Republic of the Congo attacks
2021–2022 Democratic Republic of the Congo attacks
Kivu conflict

References

2023 murders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Allied Democratic Forces
March 2023 crimes
March 2023 events in Africa
Massacres in 2023
Massacres in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
North Kivu

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


They did not shame her for having a child late in life, nor were they embarrassed, but they were glad for her. She brought a boy into the world who would in turn introduce Someone else into the world, and the world has never been the same since.
How do you view newborns?
How do you view women who have children late in life?
This entry was posted in Email Devotionals, Luke and tagged Luke 1.57-58. Bookmark the permalink.


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America's Universities Educate the World
America's highly selective universities, including the Ivy League universities, are designed to educate the world's citizens. They are designed to educate citizens of South Africa and Peru, Zimbabwe and Canada just as they are designed to educate American citizens from New York, New York to Tunica, Mississippi to Red Lodge, Montana. Indeed the overarching goal of all of America's elite universities is to educate these young people, these change agents, so they can then return to where they are from and make their neck of the woods better for all. Yet this spirit, under the outgoing Trump administration, has been under attack. The Trump administration, through its "America First" policy, essentially put forward the assertion that America's highly selective universities should educate Americans and only Americans. It's why the Trump administration's policies have been so inhospitable over these last four years to international students — at one point even going so far as to threaten to kick them out of the country. But, as Bob Dylan sang it, the times they are a-changin'.
America's Universities Showcase American Ingenuity
There's a terrific editorial in Foreign Affairs on the importance of international students at America's universities.
Perhaps former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said it best when she wrote in a piece for Foreign Affairs entitled "The Can-Do Power," "One of the best ways to showcase the United States' ingenuity and know-how is to again make its universities the most attractive in the world to foreign talent…American universities have a special place in the global imagination, and lowering the visa hurdles for study in the United States while creating better, more accessible pathways for international students to work in the United States after graduation can pay both short- and long-term dividends in expanding U.S. influence. Before Trump's presidency, initiatives to attract international students to the United States would not have been controversial. For many decades, the United States has been the leading destination for foreign students."
International Students Are A Boon to the American Economy
As importantly, international students studying at American universities are a boon to our economy. It cannot be understated that this is a huge source of income for America's universities, income that helps subsidize the educations of many low-income American students who otherwise wouldn't be able to attend these institutions. And, finally, as Ambassador Power writes, "More than 20 percent of current African leaders studied in the United States, including those at the helm in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia." The young people we educate, well, they end up ruling the world. So why would we not wish to instill in them the beauty of American democracy? It could well be a key ingredient in our future diplomacy with nations around the world.
Categories: International Students
Tags: International Applicants, International College Applicants, International Students, International University Applicants, Ivy League Schools Educate the World
International Student Enrollment Recovers
International Applicants to US Universities
International Applicant Numbers


Worship with us on Christmas Eve!
Click here to view the Bulletin Announcements for December 23, 2012.
View the article "A merrier Christmas for less fortunate" from the Norfolk Daily News.
Click here for a message from Bishop Brian Maas in regards to the tragic events in Newtown, CT, this past week.
St. John's will offer three Christmas Eve Worship Services, all candlelight and Holy Communion. Services are at 4 PM, 6 PM, and 8 PM. If you have provided a poinsettia for the sanctuary, please feel free to take your poinsettia home with you after the worship service you attend. Merry Christmas!
Everyone is invited to join us in worship this weekend as we spotlight our Majesty Choir during their Christmas Cantata "I Have Seen the Light" under the direction of Dr. Ron Lofgren and accompanied by Steve Reinke.
Click here to view the Bulletin Announcements for December 16, 2012.
Click here to view the Bulletin Announcements for December 9, 2012.
What a great weekend coming up for St. John's and the Norfolk community!
At 9:30 am, a Breakfast Fundraiser for the Sullivan family will begin serving egg casserole, bagels, muffins, juice and coffee for a free-will donation. All proceeds will help Keagan Sullivan, who has been hospitalized since birth with lung complications.
At 4 PM, the children of St. John's will celebrate the Christmas Season with their Sunday School Christmas Program "His Name is Jesus". Everyone is invited to stay after the program for cookies and fellowship as the church transforms into the streets of Bethlehem for "A Night in Bethlehem", a living nativity. The marketplace of Bethlehem will be indoors in our Fellowship Hall and the stable outdoors on our front lawn.
We look forward to having you all join us this weekend as we gather to celebrate Christ among us!
Click here to view the Bulletin Announcements for 12.02.2012.
#GivingTuesday is today and aims to show that holiday shopping can be about both giving and giving back. People everywhere including retailers, charities, online organizations, community centers, individuals, families and more are coming together with one common purpose… to help others and incentivize ways to give more, give smarter, and celebrate the great American spirit of contribution.
Please join us on Wednesday, November 21, for Thanksgiving Worship. Service begins at 7 PM.
Hanging of the Greens -- looking for volunteers to help! Watch for a date and time.
Be sure to attend the Special Congregational Meeting scheduled for Sunday, November 11, at 9:45 am in the Fellowship Hall of St. John's. We will gather at that time to vote for proposed changes to the constitution by-laws. Plan to attend this very important meeting.
This class is for those wanting to know more about St. John's and prospective membership. Join us for the final class on Sunday, November 11, at 7 PM in the library.
Click here to view Pastor Ed's Letter to the Congregation for November 4, 2012.
St. John's has a new monthly newsletter for children & youth called Youth Connect.
Click here to check out the October 2012 Youth Connect.
Sunday, November 4, is All Saints Day -- a day when the church remembers all those who have been called to their heavenly home in the past year. We invite you to join us at any of our services November 3 - 4 as we rejoice in all the saints: those who have died and now rest in Christ, those who live now, and those yet to come.
Click here to view Pastor Ed's Letter to the Congregation for October 21, 2012.
A benefit is being organized for Friday, October 26, to help defray the cost of medical bills for Julie Phillips who suffered an aneurysm in August. Plans include a free-will offering spaghetti dinner, silent auction, bake sale and a raffle. The event begins at 6 PM in the Norfolk Veteran's Home recreation room.
Pam Carlson, Julie's mother, is seeking help in two areas: folks to help with the bake sale and additional Thrivent members to participate to qualify for matching funds. If you can help in any of these ways, please contact Pam at Daycos, Inc., 800-366-1440, ext. 116.
Click here to view Pastor Ed's Pastoral Letter for October 7, 2012.
Click here to view the Bulletin Announcements for October 7, 2012.
St. John's will have a Congregational Forum on Sunday, October 7, between services (9:45am).
The forum is for questions pertaining to the recommendations of proposed changes to the Benefaction Board bylaws.
Click here to view Pastor Edgar's Letter to the Congregation for September 30, 2012.
Click here to view the Bulletin Announcements for September 30, 2012.
What a wonderful Sunday afternoon here at St. John's! The 2nd Annual Folks & Forks was a huge success with great entertainment from UNL's Bathtub Dogs. After the concert, everyone moved to the Fellowship Hall for pie and ice cream via a walk through the many baskets for silent auction. At this time, food, baskets and concert have raised over $5,700 with donations still being received.
Check out all of our Rally Day pictures on our facebook page!
Click here to view the Bulletin Announcements for Labor Day Weekend, September 1-2, 2012.
Do It All in Jesus' Name!
Stephen Ministers bring distinctively Christian care to those in need. They use both words and deeds to express Christ's care for others--listening and comforting, calling on the training they have received and employing the tools of faith. If this job description fits your personal goals for ministry, consider becoming a Stephen Minister. A training class is starting soon. For more information, contact Pastor Schambach or Betty, 402-371-1985, or Karen Widhalm, 402-694-9031.
September is St. John's opportunity to serve the Norfolk community at the Food Pantry. There are approximately 275 families in our surrounding area who look to our local pantry for something to eat. St. John's gives support by donating non-perishable food and/or monetary gifts to purchase perishable items. We also give of our time to help sack groceries and work on the computer for 2 hours weekday mornings.
Boxes will be available in the church to drop off your donations of food items. Monetary gifts (in an envelope designated "Food Pantry") may be placed in offering or left at the church office. To give of your time, mark the Registration Slip in the back of your worship bulletin.
Anyway you choose to support this local mission for September is very much appreciated by many people in the Norfolk community!
Click here to view Pastor Edgar's letter to the congregation for August 19, 2012.
Click here to view the Bulletin Announcements for August 19, 2012.
This weekend, Aug. 18-19, Stephen Ministry Leaders Linda Walter, Joette Hardin and Karen Widhalm will be commissioned at all three worship services. If you are interested in becoming a Stephen Minister, please stop by the church office and pick up an application and training schedule.
On Monday, August 20, we will be welcoming St. John's new Office Manager, Gail Volquardsen. Please be sure to stop by the office when you're in the building and introduce yourself to Gail. She has the task of learning a new job and all of us, too!
Nebraska Lutheran Campus Ministry in Norfolk is looking for your help with Sunday Suppers this upcoming fall semester! Here are the dates for which we would love to have congregations, small groups, families, and/or individuals sign up to provide Sunday Suppers for Northeast Community College & UNMC College of Nursing Northern Division students.
Click here to view Pastor Edgar's Letter to the Congregation for August 5, 2012.
Vacation Bible School began Sunday night, and continues through Thursday evening. See what you missed out on Sunday night! There's still room around the lighthouse, so be sure to come and join us Monday night at 6:30 p.m.!Check out the VBS Photo Album on facebook!
Click here to view the announcements for July 15, 2012.
Join with St. John's Lutheran Church as we celebrate Tracy Nerem's 25th Anniversary of Youth Ministry and Christian Education. A reception is planned for Sunday, July 29 at 11:30 am in the Fellowship Hall at St. John's. We look forward to seeing you there!
Garage Sale items will be collected at St. John's on Wednesday & Thursday, July 18-19, from 3-7 PM. The sale begins at 9 AM on Friday, July 20! All proceeds will support Bright Horizons of Norfolk.
Do you want to get a taste of the ELCA Youth Gathering from the comfort of your Internet streaming device? You can! The ELCA Youth Gathering evening program will be streamed each night, July 18-21, from 7-8:30 p.m. Central Time, as well as worship on Sunday, July 22, 9:30 - 11:30 a.m. Central time.
There will also be streaming from the Convention Center during the day, but no particular schedule is set for these video feeds.
Celebrate with Betty Schambach as she makes her oblation as a Missionary Benedictine Oblate this Sunday, July 8, at a special Vespers Service at Immaculata Monastery. Oblates are an extended part of the monastic community which includes daily prayer, the practice of virtues such as hospitality and serving others.
ROCKY POINT LIGHTHOUSE VBS: WHERE KIDS SHINE GOD'S LIGHT!
St. John's, July 29th-Aug. 1st 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Click here to view the Bulletin Announcements for June 3, 2012. There will be no Pastoral Letter this week while Pastor Ed is away at Synod Assembly. Our prayers are with the Assembly, Pastors Ed and Justin, Betty, and our congregational delegates: Dave & Linda Walter and Danny & Lori Olson.
Click here to view the week's announcements for May 27,. 2012.
ELCA Youth Gathering BAKE SALE!
Buy some home-baked goodies and support our youth!
Make sure to mark your calendar -- this weekend, May 27, the 11 am worship service arrives earlier for the summer -- 10:15 am until Labor Day Weekend.
On Sunday, May 20, our 2012 graduates were recognized during worship and at a celebration during coffee. Congratulations to you all!
On Memorial Day weekend, the Sunday Celebration worship service at 11 AM will move to 10:15 AM for the summer months. Be sure to mark your calendar!
DO YOU HAVE EXTRA BIBLES AT HOME?
If you have Bibles you're not using because they are worn out (hooray!) or you just have too many for your shelves (hooray!) our DAYCAMP students know just what to do!
Click here to view the Bulletin Announcements for May , 2012.
Have you ever considered helping out during worship at St. John's by running the sound board, but wondered what it would all involve? Justice Boersma & Pastor Justin Wiese have put together three short instructional videos to show you the basics of how it works.
Graduating Seniors of the Class of 2012 are invited to participate in Graduate Recognition Sunday, May 20th, at the 8:30 worship service. Please meet in Fellowship Hall by 8:20 a.m. (wear your gown!) and be prepared to sit with your class during the service.
Following worship, a brief reception will be held in Fellowship Hall to honor you. Bring your family and share what you're planning to do after graduation!
Deadline to submit your photo for the graduate PowerPoint slide show is noon, Thursday, May 15th. Please bring your photo to the church office for scanning or e-mail it to midgehe@cableone.net if you would like it to be included in the show.
Click here to view Pastor Edgar's Letter to the Congregation forApril 29, 2012.
Click here to view the Bulletin Announcements for April 28-29, 2012.
Four youth and two adult sponsors from St. John's Lutheran Church in Norfolk will be attending the 2012 ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans, Louisiana, July 18-22, 2012.
Needing to acquire nearly $6000 for the cost of the entire trip, St. John's Director of Christian Education Tracy Nerem shares that only $450 is left to raise for the remainder of the cost to the six participants.
"Fundraising efforts have gone well over the past several months," tells Tracy. "We hope that continued financial support from our prayer partners and members of St. John's will help us achieve our goal."
This coming weekend, 15 Faith Leaders and 4 teachers will gather at the Benedictine Peace Center in Yankton for their spring retreat. The spring retreat marks the conclusion of a special journey that began last September. For our Faith Leaders, the spring retreat is a great celebration, but it is also bitter-sweet, because it marks the end of a very special time in their life.
One of my purest joys in ministry as pastor is leading Faith Leader. This year's class marks my fourth class at St. John's and my seventh year of leading Faith Leader since introducing this program to the Nebraska Synod.
Faith Leader is a unique faith formation program for adults. It invites people to discover their souls and experience God's presence in new ways. One of the nice things about Faith Leader is that it does not matter how much you know or do no know about God or the Bible. Everyone has the opportunity to take that journey inward and dig more deeply into such fundamental, lifelong questions. Questions like...God, who am I in you? God, who are you in me? God, what is it that you seek in my life?
What makes Faith Leader such a joy for me is that I witness people change and grow in remarkable ways through the Faith Leader journey. Often the spiritual transformation I witness is profound, but this is no surprise, since this is the way of God in our life. Faith Leaders experience the presence of God in their everyday life in ways they had not experienced before. Their everyday life and their spiritual life merge more fully into one. A deep spiritual hunger for something more when it comes to God and the Church is satisfied.
Please remember in prayer our Faith Leaders this weekend. Soon they will share with you their stories. I invite you to speak to our Faith Leaders from this year and the past to learn more about how this journey can be your journey.
Hi Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth graders & their families! Did you get the letter from Pastor Justin (me) & Tracy in the mail about going to camp June 3-8? One registration has been turned in. Fourteen open spots remain. Who will be next to sign up?
St. John's Garden Club will be gardening at the church each Tuesday and Thursday at 5 PM (weather permitting). Please join us at your schedule permits.
Be sure to join us this weekend at all worship services when the St. John's Majesty Choir presents the spring cantata "The Love of Jesus". Worship is on Saturdays at 6 PM and Sundays at 8:30 & 11 AM.
Click here to view the Bulletin Announcements for February 26, 2012.
Click here to view the Bulletin Announcements for February 19, 2012.
A Special Congregation Meeting has been scheduled for March 4, 2012, at which time St. John's congregation will vote to extend a call to Pastor Justin Wiese. Pastor Justin will be our guest pastor for the weekend, sharing his message with us at all services. The congregational meeting will be preceded by a Potluck Dinner at 12:15 PM. Everyone is invited to bring something to share. Please plan on attending!
Lenten services will begin with Ash Wednesday, February 22, with services at 12 Noon and 7 PM. We will be following the lenten series "The Trials of Jesus: Voices of the Prosecution." The first voice heard? Satan -- as Jesus faces the tempter in the wilderness. Dinner will be served in the Fellowship Hall at 5:30 PM. Be sure to join us!
It's time to return your Palm Sunday branches to St. John's. We will collect all returned branches in a basket in the west hallway until Sunday, February 19. At that time, the branches will be prepared for Ash Wednesday services on February 22. Worship Services will be at 12 Noon and 7 PM.
Join together with other NECC & UNMC students on Sunday evening for FREE FOOD! Each Sunday we gather in the Bethany Room of St. John's for an evening meal and fellowship. All students welcome! This Sunday, Feb. 12 -- Vegetable Beef Soup!
Click here to view Pastor Edgar's Letter to the Congregation for February 5, 2012.
Click here to view the Bulletin Announcements for February 5, 2012.
Join us in worship at all services this weekend when our special guest, Bishop David deFreese, will be sharing his message with us.
St. John's Annual Meeting was held last weekend, January 29, 2012, at which time new Church Council and Benefaction Board members were elected. New members to the Council are: Brett Simonsen, Kayla Mertz, and Linda Downs. David Merritt will return for a second term and serve as Council President. Carol Waggoner was elected to serve on the Benefaction Board.
Are you on a personal spiritual journey? Because of an increasing desire among leaders for spiritual formation and retreats, the Nebraska Synod offers Spiritual Direction Formation through Seeking the Spirit Within. Consider exploring your call to such ministry and learn how you might enter the program of certification and what is required.
When: Wed., April 11 (5 PM) and Thurs., April 12 (3 PM).
Where: Swanson Center, Carol Joy Holling, Ashland, NE.
Who is this for: Adults 35 and up who feel a call to serve the church.
Cost: $85 double occupancy. Registration deadline is March 28.
Keep up with the students at NECC and UNMC! Join us!
Sunday Supper at St. John's is at 5:30 PM. Food and fellowship - share a meal with other students. This week: chili and cinnamon rolls!
Monday meetings on campus at 8 PM. Weekly club meeting with student -led worship and Bible study. Closer to God -- closer to each other! This Monday we dig into unit 3 of "Seeing Through the Scriptures."
Faith Talk, Thursdays on campus from 11:30 am - 1:30 pm. Come and go as your schedule allows. Faith and values in the context of current events.
A time change was approved at the first meeting of the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University. Classes will now meet at 6 PM on Sunday evenings at St. John's Lutheran Church. It's still not too late to join us!
Click here to view the Bulletin Announcements for January 22, 2012.
Click here to read Pastor Edgar's Letter to the Congregation for January 22, 2012.
The Annual Meeting is scheduled for Sunday, January 29, at 1 PM. Join us for a potluck lunch immediately following the 11 AM service. Everyone is asked to bring an entree along with a salad or vegetable to share. Drinks and table service will be provided. This coming weekend on Sunday, January 22, the congregation will gather for the Financial Forum between services at 9:45 AM.
Click here to read Pastor Ed's Letter to the Congregation for January 15, 2012.
Click here to view the Bulletin Announcements for January 15, 2012.
Classes for the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University begin this Sunday, January 15 at 6:30 PM. If you would like to join us for the first session, it's FREE! You can still sign up for the class after the first class concludes. See you there!
Click here to view the Bulletin Announcements for January 8, 2012.
There will be a Special Congregational Meeting on Sunday, January 15, at 9:45 AM to discuss and amend our updated constitution. All members are encouraged to attend this very important meeting.


Once we left Cartagena we both felt a load off of our shoulders. From this point on, our trip could be at whatever pace we wanted so long as we were in Sao Paulo by late January. After spending too much time in the cities to this point, we were ready to power sight-see and move as we saw fit.
While I used to use Kayak to do my searches, I now use Booking.com, an aggregate site which pulls both hotels and hostels as well as Hostelworld, a site which pulls in hostels. Both Booking.com and Hostelworld have reviews of the properties split out by cleanliness, location, etc. This makes it much easier for us to narrow down what is most important to us.
When searching in Medellin, the Geo Hostel had great reviews with particularly high scores for cleanliness and location, my top priorities. I emailed them directly to make my reservation, something I do whenever possible to avoid these small businesses from paying any booking fees.
I tried to make a 3 night reservation, but the hostel only had availability for 2 nights. This ended up working perfectly for us as the 3rd night we stayed in Guatape, a city 2 hours away.
We booked a GeoSuite room. Once we got to our room we were very happy with how clean everything was. While the room was very minimalist and could have used some artwork on the walls, it was still great.
Our room faced the street which was nice, but at night the restaurant across the street would play quite loud music. Spending the night before on a bus, we could have slept through anything. The bed itself was pretty comfortable and the fleece blanket on the bed gave us the right amount of warmth to sleep very well.
The bathroom was really new and modern. While it was small, we had everything that we needed. Plus the shower had decently hot water, something that is a pretty big plus in South America.
Funny enough, we ended up staying a 3rd night at the GeoHostel after we were unable to book a bus from Medellin to Bogota the evening that we wanted to go. Even though there were no double rooms available, the hostel gave us a 4 person room for a 2 person price. We were thrilled that we didn't have to go all over town looking for a place to stay. The only negative about our new room was that we had no hot water for showers the next morning, which was disappointing.
The area right around the hostel is great. There are restaurants, bars and shops all over the place. It reminded me of the Lincoln Park and Lakeview neighborhoods in Chicago – the demographic was young and the types of shops were very similar.
We never felt unsafe when we were in the neighborhood. There were police officers all over the place, something that we became accustomed to during our time in Colombia. While you think that seeing cops everywhere may make you feel less safe (wondering why there are cops everywhere), it was the opposite – they were making sure that everything was orderly and there was no trouble.
If you are going anywhere else in town, it is a 15 minute walk to the metro station. We took quite a few trips to the train station throughout our time in Medellin, preferring to go to the train station which was a downhill walk, not going back to the hostel where it was uphill the entire way.
The staff was great at helping us out whenever we needed anything. While the morning shift guy was not nearly as friendly as the afternoon or night shift guy, I think it was just his personality.
Our room had a number pad to access it instead of a traditional key. This was quite nice as we didn't have to worry about forgetting or losing our key.
Whenever we get breakfast included in our room rate we get quite excited. It helps us save a few bucks and not have to decide where to go out to eat. The first morning we got a ham sandwich with juice which was quite odd to both of us. The second morning we had a much more traditional breakfast – scrambled eggs with an arepa and cheese. Even though our breakfast was ok, it didn't quite live up to the reviews that some guests were giving about the quality of the breakfast.
While we didn't cook when we were in Medellin there was a pretty nice kitchen. The kitchen had all of the essentials and even had a spice rack that people could use. It's one of the small things that really makes it easier for travelers to cook up something delicious.
My favorite part of the kitchen was the filtered water spout on the fridge. After paying for bottled water all over town, it was nice to have filtered water available to us for free.
Since we planned to go to Guatape, we left our large backpacks at the GeoHostel, taking only our smaller bags for the 2 night trip. The hostel was great and stored our bags in a locked room until we returned.
If we return to Medellin, I would absolutely stay at the GeoHostel again. The location is amazing, the price is great and everything is extremely clean.


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Plot No-726 & 727, Opp. Gandhi Ashram & Dandi Bridge, Ashram Road, Juna Wadaj, Ahmedabad-380027.
SilverCloud Hotel & Banquet is a luxury hotel situated on Sabarmati Riverfront, just opposite to historic Mahatma Gandhi Ashram and very near to Domestic and International Airport. Hotel offers free Airport Transfer. Hotel is designed to cater leisure and business needs and classified Four Star by India Tourism,Govt. of India.
Historic Mahatma Gandhi Ashram ,Dandi Pool and Sabamati Riverfront as well as Riverfront Garden are in walking vicinity of the Hotel.