translate italian to english: 2012

31 Aralık 2012 Pazartesi

E' tempo di mostrare i miei lavori

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To contact us Click HERE
Da quanto eh?
Dalla release della traduzione di Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix ho smesso di svelare i miei piÃƒ¹ grandi lavori, ma credo che Ãƒ¨ tempo di mostrare qualcosa per ricevere vostre opinioni e commenti.
Subito dopo KH2 Final Mix ho cominciato a lavorare a KH1 Final Mix. Ho individuato come il gioco gestisce i testi e i font ed ho sviluppato le basi per visualizzare (quindi nÃƒ© estrarre nÃƒ© modificare) i testi del gioco. Questi sono inseriti nelle mappe e non in file singoli come KH2. Questo rende molto piÃƒ¹ complessa l'operazione di traduzione, dato che ogni mappa ha multiple copie di testi e necessito di individuare l'intero formato della mappa per poter spostare, allargare o diminuire le stringhe. Inoltre mi sono trovato in difficoltÃƒ nel ricompattare l'archivio KINGDOM.IMG, quindi ho deciso di lasciar perdere. Devo essere sincero, ci ho sbattuto per qualche settimana, ma non volevo cimentarmi nuovamente in ideogrammi e test anche perchÃƒ© l'inizio dell'UniversitÃƒ ha tolto molto del mio tempo (questo Ãƒ¨ un annuncio ufficiale per il quale decido di non prendere i lavori per KH1FM). Ho continuato a fare ricerche su KH2FM per trovare il modo di non usare font riadattati e per coincidenza ho trovato un flag che permette di fare lo swap dei tasti O ed X, di abilitare il supporto ai salvataggi della versione americana (peccato che il caricamento fallisce), prova che il motore di gioco Ãƒ¨ basato sulla versione US. Ho continuato a lavorare a spezzoni su OpenKH, un engine che doveva permettere il caricamento di personaggi, mappe ed animazioni che perÃƒ² ho abbandonato per mancanza di conoscenze. Ho comunque una copia del progetto salvata in un server SVN privato, cosÃƒ¬ se qualcuno un giorno ci vorrÃƒ mettere mani potrÃƒ farlo, a patto che mi contatti di persona (via mail possibilmente). Subito dopo ripescai un vecchio editor che sviluppai per Sonic 2. Vidi il codice, ciÃƒ² che avevo combinato... Dopo 5 minuti mi dissi "spazzatura", cosÃƒ¬ cancellai tutto e decisi di riscriverlo da zero. In pochi mesi sono riuscito a sviluppare un editor abbastanza potente che supportasse non solo la mappatura e l'editing dei livelli, ma anche la visualizzazione dei rings, l'editor delle animazioni per palette e qualche piccolo inizio sull'effetto distorsione dello sfondo. Successivamente ho studiato un po di DirectX ed ho cominciato a creare la base per un engine di Sonic the Hedgehog, ma mi sono scontrato su molti problemi e limitazioni dovute all'impossibilitÃƒ di gestire le palette con le nuove schede video. Ho provato a fare il rendering dei livelli ma con un risultato abbastanza scadente:

Ho continuato a lavorarci sopra parallelamente ad un progetto dove sono stato invitato chiamato Sonic 1 HD. Nonostante le grosse limitazioni ho continuato a lavorarci e ad implementare collisioni ed animazioni con risultati piÃƒ¹ che accettabili. Nel frattempo perÃƒ² ho scoperto l'esistenza di un nuovo titolo della Sega: Sonic CD. Affascinato da come il gioco si mostra su pc e smartphone, ho deciso di dare un'occhiata a come Ãƒ¨ stato realizzato. Sono riuscito ad estrarre tutti i dati e a fare qualche modifica, a scoprire bug e limitazioni che mi sono servite a capire come avrei dovuto realizzare meglio il mio motore di gioco. Mi sono alleato con un amico per portare Metal Sonic come personaggio giocabile ed ogni tanto, mentre lui costruisce la spritesheet, io implemento le animazioni e collisioni:

Non ancora contento del lavoro, ho cominciato a smanettare nel codice e a riuscire ad aumentare la risoluzione orizzontale, ottenendo risultati stupefacenti ma anche bug abbastanza imbarazzanti (eventi e boss mal scriptati):

Ho cominciato a giocare a Lunar Silver Star Harmony per PSP e visto che il gioco Ãƒ¨ in inglese ho provato a tradurre qualche dialogo e qualche menu, con la conseguenza dello sviluppo di un estrattore e riassemblatore di file del gioco che rilascerÃƒ² a breve.Recentemente ho anche cominciato ad esplorare la parte tecnica di uno dei giochi che piÃƒ¹ mi ha appassionato: Castlevania Order of Ecclesia. Sono riuscito a sviluppare un programmino che mi visualizza le prime mappe di Ecclesia, anche se con i colori non precisi e fedeli. Sono anche in grado di caricare ogni tipo di sprite o blocchi grafici dei livelli, ma con l'assenza delle palette:

Ho anche avuto il piacere di comprare la PS Vita e di acquistare qualche titolo che mi Ãƒ¨ stato dato in omaggio grazie al pre-order della console. La console Ãƒ¨ fantastica ed Ãƒ¨ ricca di potenza e fantasia nei controlli di input, ma come giochi la vedo ancora un po magra. Rimasto anche molto deluso dai pochi titoli PSP disponibili, dalla promessa non mantenuta del tutto per la connessione remota e l'iterazione tra PSV e PS3 e dall'assenza dei classici PSOne. Inoltre era stato detto ad una vecchia conferenza che la PSV sarebbe stata abbastanza potente da farci girare i classici PS2 e addirittura i titoli PS3 riadattati, ma fin'ora nÃƒ© si Ãƒ¨ visto nÃƒ© Ãƒ¨ stato annunciato niente, staremo a vedere. Il famoso PS Suite, SDK che permetterebbe la programmazione del dispositivo in linguaggio C# era stato annunciato ma dopo quel giorno nessuno ne ha parlato piÃƒ¹, cosa che mi ha deluso molto dato che non vedevo l'ora di mettere le mani su un po di codice.All'UniversitÃƒ , inoltre, Ãƒ¨ cominciato anche il secondo semestre e il nostro nuovo Professore ci ha dato come traccia d'esame la creazione di un videogame da consegnare entro Luglio. Niente di troppo impegnativo, ma soltanto l'idea mi sprona ancora di piÃƒ¹ a scrivere codice e a pensare a nuove soluzioni. Il tempo Ãƒ¨ poco e sembra non bastare mai, anche perchÃƒ© ho molte idee e progetti che vorrei realizzare o continuare. Con l'inizio dell'UniversitÃƒ il tempo si Ãƒ¨ dimezzato piÃƒ¹ del doppio, ma grazie a ciÃƒ² ho conosciuto un nuovo e fantastico mondo che mi accompagnerÃƒ per i prossimi 3 anni!VedrÃƒ² d'ora in poi di scrivere nel mio blog con piÃƒ¹ frequenza, magari questo mi spronerÃƒ ancora di piÃƒ¹ nella creazione di nuova roba :P.

Installare Mac OS X Lion sull'ASUS U36SD [AGGIORNATA x2]

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To contact us Click HERE
Prerequisiti:
QUESTO archivio
- Un Mac giÃƒ funzionale (va bene sia su hardware reale sia su virtuale)
- L'immagine retail in formato DMG di Lion (scaricabile legalmente dall'App Store)
- Una penna usb, un hard disk esterno o altro che abbia minimo 8GB di memoria, preferibilmente con un attacco 2.0
- Un pizzico di conoscenza e pazienza

Questa Ãƒ¨ la situazione che OSX si ritroverÃƒ a fine guida:
- Intel HD3000 con uscita HDMI e VGA funzionante, risoluzione 1366x768 e accelerazione video QE/CI
- Nvidia GT520M con Optimus non riconosciuta
- Audio funzionante
- Microfono funzionante
- Webcam funzionante, ma girata di 180°
- Scheda Ethernet funzionante
- Scheda Wireless funzionante
- Porta USB 3.0 funzionante
- Lettore schede funzionante
- Riavvio funzionante
- Shutdown NON funzionante (esegue tutte le operazioni all'uscita ma non manda il segnale di shutdown all'ACPI. Causa schermo nero e pc acceso)
- Sleep NON funzionante (il computer non va in standby e si blocca con schermo nero)
- Batteria funzionante
- Gestures trackpad basilari funzionanti
- Aggiornamenti dell'OS funzionanti
- Tasti FN NON funzionanti

Passo A: preparare l'USB storage per l'installazione (la parte piÃƒ¹ lunga e scocciante)
0) [COLOR="DarkRed">ATTENZIONE: Con questa procedura, tutti i dati contenuti nel vostro storage USB andranno perduti![/COLOR]
1) Da un altro computer con OSX giÃƒ installato, collega la tua memoria di massa USB e da Applicazioni\Utility, aprite Disk Utility.
2) Selezionate la vostra penna USB appena collegata, andate su Partizione e selezionate 1 Partizione dal menu a tendina dello Schema Partizioni.
3) Selezionate il bottone Opzioni, selezionate Tabella partizione GUID, assicuratevi che il formato della partizione sia Mac OS Extended e non MS-DOS e date l'ok premendo sul pulsante Applica.
4) Aprire il terminale da Finder/Via/Utility (oppure con SHIFT+SUPER+U), scrivete defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE, confermate con INVIO e riavviate il Finder scrivendo sempre su terminale killall Finder.
4b) Questa operazione vi farÃƒ visualizzare tutti i file nascosti nel vostro Mac. Per nasconderli nuovamente, ripetere il punto 4 con l'unica differenza nello scrivere FALSE al posto di TRUE.
Per far ritornare tutto nella norma, basta sostituire il valore TRUE con FALSE.
5) Localizzate il setup di Lion scaricato dall'Apple Store e montate il file immagine in formato DMG. Aprite dal Finder la nuova partizione che vi Ãƒ¨ appena uscita e cliccate su Mostra contenuto del pacchetto facendo click col pulsante destro (quindi visualizzando il menu contestuale) su Install Mac OS X Lion.app.
6) Nella cartella Contents/SharedSupport, troverete un altro file immagine chiamato InstallESD.dmg: cliccateci due volte per montarlo e come prima, una nuova partizione verrÃƒ resa disponibile dal finder.
7) Aprite la nuova partizione ed andate nell'unitÃƒ chiamata Mac OS X Install ESD, dove al suo interno troverete un file nascosto chiamato BaseSystem.dmg. Montate anche questo e riaprite il Disk Utlity.
8) Nella seconda metÃƒ dell'elenco dei file immagine montati che trovate nella lista a sinistra di Disk Utility, selezionate Mac OS X Base System, andate su Ripristina e trascinate la partizione creata in precedenza nella vostra memoria di massa su Destinazione. Assicuratevi che la vostra partizione creata precedentemente per la vostra penna USB sia settata su Destinazione e che su sorgente non ci sia BaseSystem ma Mac OS X Base System e poi cliccate sul bottone Ripristina, in modo da copiare tutto il contenuto di BaseSystem nella vostra partizione, che verrÃƒ rinominata automaticamente in MAC OS X Base System.
9) A fine processo, smontare (rimuovere, espellere o disattivare Ãƒ¨ la stessa cosa) il vecchio MAC OS X Base System montato in precedenza (lo potete riconoscere dal fatto che quello nella vostra USB key vi dirÃƒ quanto spazio avete ancora a disposizione, l'altro no perchÃƒ© sarÃƒ impossibile modificarne il contenuto) ed accedete all'altro MAC OS X Base System che trovate dall'elenco partizioni (il Base System nella vostra USB key).
10) Entrate nella cartella System/Library, cancellate il collegamento a Packages (ha un'icona bianca con una freccia), copiateci la cartella Package che potete trovare in Mac OS X Install ESD e, a fine processo, smontate il volume Mac OS X Install ESD.
11) Nell'archivio scaricato in questo post (la pswd Ãƒ¨ GuideByXee) installate i tre packages nella cartella USB Setup e ricordatevi di cambiare il percorso di destinazione selezionando Mac OS X Base System (se vi dice che Ãƒ¨ impossibile installare il package in quel percorso, chiudete e riaprite il setup).

Passo B: preinstallare i driver e patchare il setup
1) Copiare il contenuto della cartella Kexts (che troverete allegata nell'archivio di questo post) sul desktop.
2) Dalla cartella Tools lanciate il programma KextBeast e prima di cominciare l'installazione, cambiare come al solito il percorso di destinazione selezionando la vostra pen drive.
3) Aprite dalla cartella Tools il programma MultiBeast e selezionate MacBook Pro 8,1 sotto Customization/System Definitions/MacBookPro e NullCPUPowerManagement sotto Drivers&Bootloaders/Kext&Enablers/Miscellanous.
4) Se volete formattare l'intero drive, andate al punto 4A, se avete un computer con uno schema di partizioni MBR (formato standard per Windows) andare al punto 4B, se invece Ãƒ¨ in formato GPT allora andate al punto 4C.
4A) Avrete due scelte importanti da fare a questo punto: scegliere se utilizzare lo schema di partizioni MBR o GPT. Lo schema di partizioni MBR Ãƒ¨ lo standard per Windows, quindi oltre ad OSX potrete installare anche tutti gli altri sistemi operativi Microsoft e anche le vecchie distribuzioni Linux sul vostro hard disk, perÃƒ² bisognerÃƒ patchare il setup di OSX (nulla di dannoso); in questo caso passate al punto 4B. Se invece scegliete di usare il moderno sistema di partizioni GPT, supportato nativamente da OSX, sappiate che il sistema operativo di casa Apple si avvierÃƒ solo se la partizione del Mac sarÃƒ la prima partizione mai creata nello schema di partizioni, altrimenti si rifiuterÃƒ di partire. Questo costerÃƒ caro nel caso vorrete reinstallare OSX, che vi costerÃƒ la ripartizione dell'intero hard disk, pena perdere tutto o ripristinare l'ultimo backup. Se il vostro BIOS non supporterÃƒ il boot in modalitÃƒ UEFI, sarÃƒ impossibile installare anche Windows. Se siete sicuri di procedere con lo schema di partizioni GPT, allora passate al punto 4C.
4B) Copiate il file OSInstall.mpkg su System/Installation/Packages e il file OSInstall su System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Install.framework/Frameworks/OSInstall.framework/Versions/A/, sostituendo quello giÃƒ esistente. Troverete i due file sotto la cartella MBR Patch nell'archivio scaricabile qui.
4C) Prima di procedere, leggete un attimo il punto 4A. Se avete installato giÃƒ un altro sistema operativo sul vostro hard disk in formato GPT, sappiate che dovrete fare il backup di tutti i vostri dati perchÃƒ© lo schema di partizioni dovrÃƒ essere partizionato come piace ad OSX (-.-). Durante il setup infatti, dovrete reinizializzare l'intero drive altrimenti OSX si rifiuterÃƒ di avviarsi.

Passo C: installare OSX Lion
1) Spegnete il notebook, collegate la vostra USB key in una delle due porte USB 2.0, accendete e quando vi apparirÃƒ il logo ASUS, premete una, due o anche tre volte il pulsante ESC, in modo da entrare nel menu dove potrete decidere da quale periferica dovrete fare il boot.
2) Nel menu che vi apparirÃƒ , il primo elemento vi permetterÃƒ di avviare il sistema operativo installato nel vostro hard disk, il secondo dovrebbe essere la vostra pen drive; selezionatela, premete INVIO, nella schermata che vi apparirÃƒ assicuratevi di essere sopra Mac OS X Base System e premete nuovamente INVIO per eseguire il boot del setup.
3) Una volta dentro il setup, selezionate la nostra lingua ed andate avanti; vi apparirÃƒ il solito menu in alto: da li selezionate Disk Utility (o UtilitÃƒ Disco) sotto il menu Utility. Se la schermata del setup non vi dovesse apparire, passate al punto 3a, altrimenti proseguite normalmente verso il punto 4!
3a) Ci possono essere diverse cause che impediscono l'avvio del setup. Eseguite di nuovo il punto 1 e 2, ma prima di selezionate Mac OS X Base System con INVIO, pigiate sulla vostra tastiera i comandi "-v -x -f" (da notare che il trattino Ãƒ¨ possibile scriverlo solo col pulsante per fare l'apice, quello a destra dello zero), e premete INVIO. Se vi darÃƒ nuovamente una schermata di errore (chiamata Kernel Panic) o vi si bloccherÃƒ , provate a ripetere questo punto per altre 2 volte (raramente capita che OSX non vuole partire, un riavvio e funziona di nuovo tutto). Se di nuovo continuerÃƒ a non partire, mi dispiace dirlo ma dovrete ripartire dal passo A (vedrete che la seconda volta che seguirete questa guida, ci metterete la metÃƒ del tempo ;)).
4) A questo punto, dopo aver letto attentamente il punto 4 del passo B e dopo aver capito i rischi, passiamo avanti. Notiamo che selezionando il nostro Hard Disk, ci verrÃƒ mostrato in basso a destra con quale tabella di partizioni lavora (al 95% sarÃƒ Master Boot Record). Se sarÃƒ MBR passate al punto 4a, se avete intenzione di formattare usando GPT passate al punto 4b, se avete giÃƒ GPT (verrÃƒ indicato con Tabella di partizione GUID), allora sapete che dovrete formattare tutto in ogni caso. Personalmente vi consiglio di usare MBR, dato che personalmente ho avuto brutte esperienze con la GPT. Un altro consiglio che vi posso dare Ãƒ¨ di fare il backup di tutto il computer e ripartizionare tutto quanto per fare prima, altrimenti le operazioni successive saranno un po lunghe, noiose ma anche rischiose per i vostri dati.
4a) Se volete mantenere tutti i vostri dati, passate direttamente al punto 4b, altrimenti proseguite. Questa operazione DISTRUGGERA' tutti i vostri dati contenuti nel vostro disco, ma almeno vi assicurerÃƒ di avere un hard disk pronto e pulito per ospitare OSX e volendo anche altri sistemi operativi. Andate su Partizione da Disk Utility, premete il pulsante Opzioni che troverete al centro in basso e selezionate Master Boot Record (o Tabella di partizione GUID, ma vi creerÃƒ grossi problemi nel caso vogliate formattare OSX o vogliate installare un altro sistema operativo), nel menu a tendina dove ci sarÃƒ scritto Attuale, selezionate il numero di partizioni che volete. Personalmente ho creato 4 partizioni, una per Windows da 64GB, una per Mac da 32GB, una per Ubuntu da 16GB ed una partizione condivisa dai 3 sistemi operativi dove metto tutti i miei dati (se vi state chiedendo perchÃƒ© ho 3 sistemi operativi, sappiate che il Mac lo uso solo per usare XCode, Ubuntu come unico sistema operativo che mi permetterebbe di recuperare gli altri 2 o se un giorno volessi programmare per multipiattaforma e Windows per tutto il resto). Formattate tutte le partizioni in MS-DOS FAT tranne la partizione dove dovrete installare OSX, che la formatterete come Mac OS Extended (Journaled) (chiamate la partizione Lion). Applicate le modifiche e passate al punto 5.
4b) *punto solo per utenti un po piÃƒ¹ esperti* Ritornate un attimo su un sistema operativo funzionante (io ho usato Win), scaricate GParted Live ed installatelo con Universal USB Installer su un'altra pen drive libera. Riavviate il vostro notebook, premete di nuovo ESC all'avvio e selezionate la pen drive dove avete installato GParted. Dovrete ridimensionare le vostre partizioni per ricavarne una con minimo 20GB (l'operazione di ridimensionamento potrebbe richiedere molto tempo se ridimensionate una partizione verso destra). Inizializzate lo spazio vuoto come una partizione di tipo HFS+. RICORDATE che la partizione da creare deve essere una partizione primaria, rieseguire il setup del vostro mac come descritto dal punto 1, 2 e 3, su Disk Utility dovrebbe mostrarvi una nuova partizione, dove se sezionata sarÃƒ possibile premere il pulsante nella barra degli strumenti di Disk Utility di colore verde chiamata Abilita Journaled. Una volta premuto passate al punto 5.
5) Uscite da Disk Utility e continuate l'installazione. Selezionate il vostro drive e fate partire (finalmente) l'installazione! Se per caso vi da un certo errore riguardo la partizione GUID, allora non avete eseguito corettamente il punto 4B del passo B.

Passo D: il primo boot di Lion
1) Avviate nuovamente la vostra pen drive e selezionate la vostra partizione di OSX chiamata Lion, premete INVIO e... Se sarÃƒ partito sarete quasi alla fine! Passate al punto 2! Viceversa, allora ci saranno state delle complicazioni (ma no?). Provate a rieseguire il punto 1 per altre 2 volte e, se il problema sarÃƒ sempre lo stesso, continuare a seguire questo punto, altrimenti passate al punto 1a.
1a) Riavviate il vostro notebook, selezionate di avviare la vostra pen drive e, quando vi troverete sopra la partizione Lion, digitate -v -x -f. Se vi restituirÃƒ un Kernel Panic relativo al componente AppleACPIPowerManagement.kext, andate al punto 1b, se apparirÃƒ scritto Still waiting for root device passate al punto 1c, se vi si bloccherÃƒ e basta, provate ad eseguire di nuovo il passo C, se si bloccherÃƒ nuovamente, mi dispiace dirlo ma dovrete rieseguite tutto da capo, a partire dal passo A.
1b) Rifate il boot del setup e stavolta avviate il Terminale invece che il Disk Utility. Scrivete cd /Volumes/Lion/System/Library/Extensions/ dove Lion sarÃƒ il nome della partizione da voi precedentemente creata, poi scrivete cp -rf /Volumes/Mac*/System/Library/Extensions/Null* ./ per copiare NullCPUPowerManagement.kext e fixate i permessi del file scrivendo chmod -R 755 ./Null*. Riavviate, bootate la partizione Lion e se tutto Ãƒ¨ andato a buon fine, passate al punto 2.
1c) Dovrete rieseguire il passo C, provando a ripartizionare tutto il drive (mi raccomando al backup).
2) Inserite tutti i dati a vostro piacimento ed una volta davanti al desktop di OSX, inserite una pen drive con l'archivio scaricato da questo post. Scompattate tutto, prendete il contenuto della cartella Kexts, copiatela sul desktop ed installare Multibeast, esattamente come avete fatto nei primi punti del passo B. Installate anche Chameleon 2.0 RC5 e riavviate, senza avere necessariamente inserita la pen drive usata per il setup.
3) Collegatevi ad internet (preferibilmente via LAN per velocizzare il tutto), andate sul logo della mela in alto a sinistra e fate verificare ad OSX se ci sono nuovi aggiornamenti. Vi proporrÃƒ diversi aggiornamenti, tra cui la versione 10.7.2 del sistema operativo (riaggiornerÃƒ² l'articolo quando usciranno le prossime versioni). Installateli tutti e riavviate.
4) Dal vostro desktop, fate click col pulsante destro del touchpad su VoodooHDA.kext e fate Mostra contenuto pacchetto. Andate su Contents, aprite info.plist e cercate la scritta MixerValues. Modificate i valori di PCM, iGain ed iMix ed impostateli tutti a 100 (questo permetterÃƒ di avere il microfono e la porta di ingresso funzionanti). Cercate anche la stringa Vectorize e modificate il valore da false a true. Chiudete e rieseguite la stessa procedura del punto 2. Fatto questo dovrete avere il sistema operativo perfettamente funzionante, esattamente come un vero e proprio MacBook Pro!

Note finali: Problemi conosciuti, consigli ed altro
Ad ogni aggiornamento ufficiale di OSX, alcuni kexts modificati potrebbero essere sostituiti da nuovi ufficiali della Apple, quindi alcuni driver dovranno essere riapplicati usando MultiBeast. Il Mac non Ãƒ¨ in grado di switchare tra le due schede grafiche, quindi anche se installassimo i driver della GT520, non potremmo comunque usarla; per questo aspettiamo un aggiornamento al kernel da parte dei developer Apple per avere uno switch nativo tra le due schede. Il sistema inoltre, non Ãƒ¨ in grado di effettuare lo shutdown correttamente o di mettersi in standby, perciÃƒ² se arrestate il sistema e il computer rimane acceso ma con lo schermo nero non vi preoccupate, il sistema ora Ãƒ¨ spento ma non Ãƒ¨ stato in grado di inviare al BIOS il segnale di shutdown (problema che si potrebbe aggirare modificando le impostazioni dell'ACPI di OSX). Per lo standby invece, dovrete modificare nelle opzioni del risparmio energetico il fatto che il computer se ne va in blocco dopo un tot di minuti (di default sono 15). Mettete al massimo quel valore finchÃƒ© il sistema vi segnalererÃƒ Mai e potete risolvere questo problema. Il driver audio attuale inoltre non supporta l'accelerazione tramite istruzioni SS2: per farlo andate nella cartella Extra Stuff dell'archivio ed installate Voodoo SS2 Enabler. Ho messo inoltre dei driver generici per abilitare il bluetooth, ma NON GLI HO TESTATI PERSONALMENTE! Vi consiglio anche di scaricare Monolingual, che vi permetterÃƒ di guadagnare oltre 1GB di spazio! L'hardware dell'ASUS U36SD, per quanto possa essere simile all'hardware dei nuovi MacBook Pro, non potrÃƒ mai raggiungere la perfezione, per questo invito gli utenti di questo forum a postare nuove soluzioni ai problemi giÃƒ citati in precedenza per rendere il sistema sempre piÃƒ¹ perfetto.

Dark Cloud's tools

To contact us Click HERE
To contact us Click HERE
Who ever played to a game called Dark Cloud? It was my first game for PS2 and I remember that I found it on a demo-disc. Recently I saw a video that show the beta version of this game, much different from the final version, so I developed an unpacker for this game to see if some old data was keep (and yes, I founded some "old" data) that I want to share.

The files required to use the unpacker are data.dat and data.hd2, and you can get them from the disk/iso. I found a lot of models (in MDS format), another data.hd2 that seems to point an old version of the game, gdata_e3.edt_ that seem a file from the E3 demo, some test files and a setting file from the Map Editor of the game! We can found also some scripts, for example I found the scripts of the boss in export\dun with .cfg extension. Other scripts are located to export\dun\cloth with .clo extension. Also in each folder of export\gedit we can found a lot of scripts in .cfg format, like mapinfo.cfg and sound.cfg. A lot of .img files can be found, a container for TM2 format. Also some files with "_" can be found, like _dunmenu.pak, maybe unused stuff that was left. If someone is interested to the hacking of this game write here, I can give an help :).

Download White Cloud and Light Cloud

Keep your Google Contacts Up-to-date with a Google Script

To contact us Click HERE
To contact us Click HERE

You have several incomplete entries in your Google Contacts. Some entries are missing phone numbers, others don’t have any mailing address associated with them while in the case of close friends and family members, you don’t even have a record of their birthdays. →

How do you get this missing information from contacts and complete your address book?

You can always send them an email or make a phone call and fill-in the missing details manually or there’s a new and better alternative – you can ask your contacts to directly update their own records in your Google Contacts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMxvZgK4BMg

Ask Friends to Update your Google Contacts

It works something like this. Your selected contacts are sent a unique URL that points to a web form. They can fill-in the missing data, press the Submit button and all that information is directly added to your Google Contacts. Simple.

To get started, go to your Google Contacts and create a new group (let’s call it Personal). Now put one or more contacts into this new group – all these group members will get an automatic email from you requesting them to update their own records in Google Contacts.

Next open this Google Script* and follow these steps:

Choose File -> Make a Copy to create a copy of the script into your own Google Drive.
Update the values of NAME and GROUP variables with the actual values.
Go to File -> Manage Versions and Save a new version.
Go to Publish -> Deploy as Web App, choose “Anyone, even Anonymous” under “Who can access the app” and click the Deploy button.
Go to Run -> Initialize to authorize the script. Choose Run -> Initialize to run the script.

[*] If you have trouble accessing the Google script, please download code.zip and copy-paste the content of the three files into script.google.com.

That’s it. All your contacts who are part of that particular Google Contacts group will now receive an email from you (screenshot A). When any of these contacts update their details through the form (screenshot B), you will be notified of the change via email.

Also see: Mail Merge with Gmail and Google Docs

Screenshot A: Your friend gets an email requesting them to update their contact information.

Screenshot B: They can fill the form and their details are added directly into your Google Contacts.

The project is created using Google Scripts and the entire source code is available online. If you ever wish to disable the Google Contacts form, open the same Google Script in your Google Drive and unpublish the web app (under Publish -> Deploy as web app).

Also, this version of the project request essential contact details like Mailing Address, Mobile Number, Skype ID, etc. but you can easily extend the script /web form to include additional fields like Anniversary date, Company name and so on.

This story, Keep your Google Contacts Up-to-date with a Google Script, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 26/12/2012 under Google Contacts, Internet.

Remotely Send Web Pages to your Mobile Device

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Framote is new tool that helps you share “live” URLs that can be controlled remotely.

To get started, you can specify any website – say cnn.com – and Framote will create a unique URL for that site. You can share that URL with a group of people and everyone will see the same website on their screens. If you update the underlying website at your end, all the other screens are refreshed automatically.

The service is especially useful for testing responsive designs. You can have the main website on your desktop computer and load the corresponding Framote URLs on your tablets and mobile phones. If you open a different page on your desktop, the mobile screens are updated automatically.

Internally, Framote embeds the source website into an IFRAME and makes an AJAX request to check the actual URL every few seconds. If the source URL has been modified, the IFRAME’s source attribute on the client’s screen is updated almost instantly. The Framote dashboard will also show list of IP address and devices that are accessing your unique URL.

This story, Remotely Send Web Pages to your Mobile Device, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on 21/12/2012 under Web Design, Internet.

27 Aralık 2012 Perşembe

AIDAN TURNER AND ROBERT SHEEHAN, YOUNG TALENTS FROM THE EMERALD ISLE

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Will they become as popular and universally acknowledged as Liam Neeson, Colin Farrell, Pierce Brosnan, Gabriel Byrne, Ciaran Hinds and Jonathan Rhys Meyers? All these fascinating men share their talent at acting and their being Irish. All of them made it in the movie industry, getting to a huge popularity. Will Aidan Turner and Robert Sheehan, young, Irish and talented, make it too? I'd say, they've got great chances and , in fact, they are already on their way to stardom. I bet you'll soon hear of them if you haven't yet.

AIDAN TURNER

One of his first important roles was Dante Gabriel Rossetti in Desperate Romantics, a 2010 BBC2 period drama I liked and reviewed HERE. After starring as the charming painter /poet of Italian origin who started the Pre-Raphaelite movement, he was vampire Mitchell for 3 series of Being Human, the BBC3 popular paranormal series now at its fifth season. Mitchell had to be killed off when Aidan received a phone call from Peter Jackson who invited him to Middle Earth. You can have a glimpse at the great time he had there with a fellowship of funny mates going to the cinema these days and watching the just released blockbuster movie, The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey. Remember, he is one of the dwarves sharing the unexpected adventure with the protagonist, the hobbit Bilbo Baggins, and his name is Kili. You may have problems at recognizing him under the heavy costumes, the abundant hair and the prosthetics. Is this the role of a life for handsome Aidan? Or maybe is that yet to come? Meanwhile, Aidan has got another blockbuster movie coming out in August 2013: The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones. He is Luke Garroway, a werewolf this time, in this greatly expected film based on book I of Cassandra Clare 's best selling series , The Mortal Instruments. Who's ready to bet this upcoming thrilling series of movies will replace the just ended Twilight Saga in many mourning hearts? Have a look at the trailer.

ROBERT SHEEHAN

In the same movie, The Mortal Instrument: City of Bones, Robert Sheehan is Simon Lewis he will start as the protagonist's best friend, the friend of a life time for Clary (Lily Collins), who is in love with her but unrequited. Well, at first. I'm sure Clary will notice him sooner or later, looking at his mesmerizing green eyes behind his nerd spectacles (Simon wears glasses).I've happened to enjoy young Robert's talent and cahrms recently, watching him in the funny BBC1 rom-sit-com, Me and Mrs Jones , where he is 24-year-old Billy, swooping into the already messy life of Gemma Jones (Sarah Alexander) as her son's best friend. He is not a presence easy to ignore for Mrs Jones, especially when he starts becoming quite fond of her.
At the same time Robert Sheehan was being sweet, romantic Billy on BBC1, he starred on RTE, one of Ireland's TV channels, as Darren in Love/Hate series 3. The two characters couldn't be more different and, watching the two series, you can't but notice how talented the young actor playing them must be.
Darren is a criminal involved in the world of Dublin's gangland and, especially in the latest series, once he has lost all his redeeming chances, he acts quite ruthlessly. Not that in the first two series he was an angel - well he quite looked liked one when he was not holding his gun to kill someone - but he was torn and hoped to be able to free himself from the yoke of his bosses. However, Robert Sheehan most popular TV role so far has maybe been Nathan Young, one of the protagonists of Channel 4 Misfits (series 1 and 2) . Another incredible tranformation for the young actor, as Nathan was a really bizarre, funny, pestering teenager who discovers to be immortal.
On the silver screen he has recently starred as Kay von Wollenbarth in Season of the Witch with Nicholas Cage (2011) and as Ivan Mac Cormick in Killing Bono (2011) where he plays Ben Barnes's brother. Waiting to see him at the cinema again next summer in The Mortal Instruments, what about having a look at him as Billy Delaney in BBC 1 Me and Mrs Jones?

EIGHT CHRISTMAS QUESTIONS FOR SALLY SMITH O’ROURKE - BOOK GIVEAWAY

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Author Sally Smith O'Rourke is my guest today, ready to share her Christmas favourite things, memories and even recipes! There's a double giveaway of her Christmas novella, too. Enjoy the interview, read the giveaway details and ... good luck, everyone!

1.       What do you like best and what the least of Christmas time?
Gatherings of friends and family most but Ilove the decorations. I decorate every room. Someone once said being in myhouse at Christmas is like stepping into Macy’s windows. I love the smell of alive tree and spicy, sweet smells of cookies baking. Thereare two things about Christmas that I find difficult. Retail; in the ‘olden’days stores would spend Thanksgiving decorating for Christmas so everything wasfestive the next day. Now that day is ‘Black Friday’ and people get hurt in therush to buy stuff. Now, too the decorations go up before Halloween taking muchof the fun and festiveness out of it. I prefer to celebrate one holiday at atime. Themost difficult for me is not having Mike, my late husband, to share it with. Heloved all holidays. I love to cook and he loved to entertain so our house wasalways filled with food, friends and family during the holidays (and not theholidays). I hate that he is no longer here with me.
2. What are your favourite …
a.       Christmas movie The Bishop’s Wife with CaryGrant, Loretta Young and David Niven
b.      Christmas book A Christmas Carol – I have a collection ofvarious editions of the book. Myfavorite film version is the one from 1952 with Alastair Simc.       Christmas song I don’t have a favorite song. I like all of thetraditional ones. I am a bit partial to Mel Torme and Bob Well’s The ChristmasSong and Santa Baby by Eartha Kitt.d.      Christmas decoration I adore the Christmas tree and take aprodigeous deal of care decorating it. But I always have a crÃ¨che (nativityscene) on display. While I love the trappings of the season I like to bereminded why we celebrate it.e.      Christmas traditional dish/food We have a traditional family cookie recipewhich ranks as my favoite holiday food. Lebkuchen is a recipe that mygreat-great grandmother brought with her when they came to the United States in1882 from Germany. It’s not like any other Lebkuchen recipe I’ve seen as it hasno candied fruit. My grandmother’s theory as to why it was so different wasbecause the family came from a part of Germany near the Danish board and theremay be a touch of Danish in the recipe. But no one knows for sure; it ishowever, the way Christmas ought to smell, at least in our house. And seven generations later it still does.The recipe is on my blog if anyone wants to take a look.
3.       When and how did you decide towrite your novel/novella Christmas at Sea Pines Cottage?

Michael O’Rourke and I spent almost three decadestogether as friends, partners, soul mates, as well as husband and wife. Ourlife together was the ultimate collaboration, and out of that and our love camemany projects, including The Man Who Loved Jane Austen, TheMaidenstone Lighthouse and Christmasat Sea Pines Cottage.
Christmas at Sea Pines Cottage is a very special story and holds a singular place in my heart. Meteor’sTale, as it was originally titled, was created not only out of our love for eachother but also for the love of our grandson, Nicholas. Nicky wanted a “big” doglike a Golden Retriever, but his mom, Kelly, felt that since she would be doingthe bulk of the care a smaller, more manageable pet would be better. So Nickyhad to settle for a stuffed Golden Retriever and Jenna, a larger-sizedPomeranian. A very cute Pomeranian.Butout of Nicky’s desire for a big dog and my curiosity about the kind of man whowould choose to maintain a lighthouse alone, came Meteor’s Tale. It’s the storyof a loving family told through the eyes of the family’s pet Golden Retriever.Only Mike would have thought of an idea like that, to tell a dog’s story in thefirst person.
Afterwe completed the original story, we discussed turning it into a Christmasstory, an evergreen project, he called it. Unfortunately, I lost him before wewere able to carry out the ideas we had to make it a holiday tale. Mike’samazing talent and gifted writing were silenced in 2001. Like The Man Who LovedJane Austen, I didn’t want this story to die with him. My publisher liked thestory but wasn’t sure what to do with it so I told them about our Christmasidea, they liked that too and Meteor’sTale became Christmas at Sea Pines Cottage.
4. How would you present it to our readers?A Golden Retriever puppynamed Meteor was bred to be a hunting dog. Unable to stand to a gun after achildish prank perpetrated by his breeder’s teenageson, Meteor is given, as a pet, to a reclusive war hero. Whilenursing his injuries…physical and mental, Robert has taken up residence at SeaPines Cottage and is the keeper of the local lighthouse. Meteor, the GoldenRetriever, tells the story of Robert’s bravery in saving a young woman floatingon a plank in a storm. After putting her on a helicopter, Robet tries to forgether however, Laura comes back to Sea Pines Cottage in search of him to thankhim for saving her life. A romance blossoms and they marry on Christmas Day. Ayear later a baby, Nicholas, is born on Chrtistmas day. Meteor tells the restof the story.
5. What did you like the best while writing it?Working with Mike on the original storywas the best part, then turning it into the Christmas story we envisioned wasfun as well, it was almost as if Mike was doing it with me.

6.       Let’s go back to your Christmas. What’s one of your favourite memories fromthe past ?Christmas 1987, Mike and Ilived at Lake Tahoe with Mike’s daughter, Kelly. My sister, brother-in-law andtheir four children, my parents and grandmother celebrated Christmas on the26th at our home overlooking the pristine lake and the snow covered SierraNevada Mountains. Since everyone had done the traditional dinners the nightbefore, I did Irish stew, oyster stew (my dad and husband’s favorite), potatoleek soup, salad and homemade bread. As a hobbiest baker there were more thanenough cookies to go with coffee and tea. Presents were done the day before aswell so it was what Christmas ought to be, family gathering, good food, goodcompany. It was wonderful. Last year at his home, my nephew said it was hisfondest childhood Christmas memory. A good time was had by all.
7.       The best Christmas present you’ve ever received? My parents believed that Christmas wasa time for family and friends, cooking and relatively small gifts. Birthdayswere meant to be special for us so big gifts were not under the tree. We wouldgo shopping for gifts but that included buying something we would really liketo have and give it to the US Marine Corp’s Toys for Tots. Mike and I continuedthat tradition. Don’t get me wrong, we exchanged presents but the big memorablegifts waited for our birthdays.
Forexample, one Christmas I got very nice winter clothes that included awater-proof jumpsuit, sweaters, gloves, hats; the whole nine yards. We lived inthe mountains so it wasn’t unusual to get things like that, all useful winterwear. On my birthday 2 months later I got baby blue figure skates with fur trimto replace the used hockey skates I had for my skating lessons. The clotheswere all for ice skating, I just didn’t know it unil my birthday.
The samething happened a few years later when for Christmas I got a sewing basketfilled with findings, a pair of tailor’s shears and pinking shears. My birthdaygift two months later was a sewing machine, the same machine I still have anduse today. So my most memorable gifts were actually for my birthday.

8.      How will you celebrate the upcoming festivities?
I’ve lost most of my immediatefamily. My parents, sister and husband are all gone so I spend holidays withtwo of my sister’s children who live locally and their families. I’ll bake andmake candy to add to the festivities. I’m considering a cheese cake this year.
THEBOOK

A Golden Retriever puppy named Meteor was bredto be a hunting dog. Unable to stand to a gun after a childish prankperpetrated by his breeder’s teenage son, Meteor is given,as a pet, to a reclusive war hero. While nursing his injuries…physical andmental Robert has taken up residence at Sea Pines Cottage and is the keeper ofthe local lighthouse.
Christmas at Sea Pines Cottage is available as
Paperback ~ Kindle ~ Nook

THE GIVEAWAY CONTEST

International readers can win 1e-book copy of Christmas at Sea Pines Cottage, while US readers will beentered for 1 paperback copy. Leave your comment below this post, add youre-mail address, the country you are writing from. If you live in the US butprefer the e-book version, just say it in your comment. This contest will be closedon December 30th.
WATCH THE BOOK TRAILER

READ AN EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK
Christmas at Sea Pines Cottage
PROLOGUE

The big yellowschool bus eased to a stop amid the squeal of air brakes. By the time the youngboy jumped down from the bottommost step, the puppies were already at the gatejumping and yipping their collective greeting.The child unlatched the gate and as he stepped throughwas besieged by seven wiggly pups. He fell giggling to the ground as his faceand neck were thoroughly licked and nuzzled.The sound of his name brought him to his feet with thepuppies scurrying around him vying for a free hand to receive his pets.The older boy stood outside the gate. “Mom wants youto go in and rest or you won’t be able to go trick or treating tonight.”The small boy ruffled the ears of each of the sevenpuppies and then left, skipping alongside his brother.The older brother, with some distain said, “Justbecause dad breeds dogs doesn’t mean the puppies are yours.”Without responding, as young children are wont to do,he asked his big brother, “Are you taking me trick or treating or is mom?”Shaking his head at the unheeded warning he conceded,“I am. Mom thinks I’m too old, the only way she’d let me go was by my agreeingto take you. So Jimmy, Bobby and their pesky little brothers are coming overand we’re all going together.”Getting excited, “Are you going to dress up, too?”Grabbing his little brother up and pretending to carryhim off, “Yeah, I’m going to be a pirate. Argh.”The little boy giggled with pleasure and expectation. Night fell and the only sound was the wind rustlingthe trees that surrounded the kennels.Snuggly warm in the embrace of his siblings, the youngpup suddenly raised his head, his acute hearing discerning a sound other thanthe wind. He sniffed the air, his sensitive nose recognizing the older of thetwo boys who had visited them earlier in the day.The puppy got up and trotted to the gate inanticipation of a treat or ear rub. The other puppies roused by his movementfollowed. They waited at the gate sniffing the air and milling around thelocked gate.Suddenly three human forms darted out of the darkness,causing the motion controlled lights to come on. As they ran past the puppies’enclosure, one of them tossed something into the center of the yard.Expecting some tasty treat, the puppies rushed towhere the object lay. One pup nudged the thing with his nose, in spite of thestrange hissing noise it made and yelped when a small spark singed the fur ofhis muzzle. The other puppies stood back away from the thing as it continued tohiss and spark.The light at the end of it grew brighter as it startedto spin in a circle. As the puppies drew farther away from it, theobjectionable thing started exploding, one small explosion quickly followedanother. The animals running helter, skelter to get away from the horrid noiseand find safety; piling into the deepestcorner of the kennel. After what seemed an interminable time the loud poppingfinally stopped.The puppies sensitive ears were still ringing when thethree human boys rushed in through the gate and picked up the offending object.The boy the pup recognized said, “Gotta get this outof here. My dad will kill me if he finds out about this.”Another boy said as they locked the gate and walkedaway, “Yeah, but did you see they way they all scattered and whined?

Visit Sally Smith O'Rourke 's site to discover more about her work

KELLY ORAM, "V IS FOR VIRGIN" BLOG TOUR + GIVEAWAY

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This Year’s Sexiest ManAlive!

Sure his voice is like honey and his smile could cause cardiacarrest, but it’s his confidence and determination that have earned KyleHamilton the title of this year’s Sexiest Man Alive.
“It’s as simple as knowing what you want and not stopping untilyou get it,” Kyle told us when asked we asked what the secret of his successwas. Well, there’s no arguing with that when he led his band to platinum statusat just seventeen.
And if his passion for his music isn’t enough to make you swoon,the closet romantic also loves to funnel all of that ambition into matters ofthe heart. On the subject of his notorious pursuit of “Virgin” Val Jensen hehad only one thing to say, “Faint heart never won fair maiden!” Kelly OramThe author

Kelly Oram wrote her first novel at age fifteen–a fan fiction about her favorite music group, The Backstreet Boys, for which family and friends still tease her. She's obsessed with reading, talks way too much, and loves to eat frosting by the spoonful. She lives outside of Phoenix, Arizona with her husband and four children.

Links Blog: http://www.kellyoram.com/Twitter: https://twitter.com/kellyoramFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelly-Oram/167476866620455Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3203095.Kelly_Oram

The book

When Val Jensen gets dumped for her decision to stay a virgin until marriage, the nasty breakup goes viral on YouTube, making her the latest internet sensation.

After days of ridicule from her peers, Val starts a school-wide campaign to rally support for her cause. She meant to make a statement, but she never dreamed the entire nation would get caught up in the controversy.

As if becoming nationally recognized as “Virgin Val” isn’t enough, Val’s already hectic life starts to spin wildly out of control when bad boy Kyle Hamilton, lead singer for the hit rock band Tralse, decides to take her abstinence as a personal challenge.

How can a girl stay true to herself when this year’s Sexiest Man Alive is doing everything in his power to win her over?

V is for Virgin was released on December 11, 2012.
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THE LADIES' PARADISE BY EMILE ZOLA - BOOK REVIEW

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The Ladies' Paradise is a compelling story of ambition and love set against the backdrop of the spectacular rise of the department store in 1860s Paris. Octave Mouret is a business genius who transforms a modest draper's shop into a hugely successful retail enterprise, masterfully exploiting the desires of his female customers and ruining small competitors along the way. Through the eyes of trainee salesgirl Denise we see the inner workings of the store and the relations and intrigues among the staff, human dramas played out alongside the relentless pursuit of commercial supremacy.
My review
(beware of spoilers! ) I came to read this book after watching the BBC adaptation, The Paradise, which gave the story a British setting. The series scriptwriters worked many changes on the original text, which usually disturb people fond of literary classics, but not me and not in this case. I think they quite improved both plot and characterization, instead.
Zola's text aims to depict the department store, The Ladies' Paradise, as an ambiguous symbol of progress:

"It helped women to establish themselves historically in the public sphere, and it may appear to have increased the customer's power and autonomy; but, as Zola shows, the new codes of social behaviour and social discourses which it entailed for the shopper simultaneously organized a powerful network of constraints, providing a mere illusion of freedom and fulfilment. The department store, in its embodiment of consumer culture, was - and is - a giant, precision-made dream-machine" (Brian Nelson)

The department store is a model of the new capitalism, designed to seduce more than to supply. The mechanisms of seduction described in the text are numerous: the policy of free entry, the establishment of fixed prices, the system of returns, the seduction of the eye with an almost "orgiastic" display. To create the need, to awake new desires is the main philosophy at The Ladies' Paradise.

Emun Elliott as John Moray in the BBC series, The Paradise

The master of seduction is Octave Mouret, who manages his business as an emperor rules his kingdom. Women in general are his preys, both as lovers and as customers. He is a great seducer, maybe not as cynical as Don Juan, but wordly and rather unscrupulous, bold and enterprising.

"He was tall, with fair skin and a carefully trimmed beard; and his eyes, the colour of old gold, and as soft as velvet..." (p. 31)

Less serious-minded than his close friend Bourdoncle (both started as shop assistants when the Paradise was just a small shop), who is now his right-hand man in the business, Mouret is distracted in many ways, even thoughtless. He has a series of love affairs which the narrator defines disquieting.

"Mouret , on the contrary , affected to go into raptures over women; he was entranced and affectionate in their presence, and was always being carried away by new love affairs; and his amorous adventures were a kind of advertisement for his business: it seemed as if he enveloped all the women in the same caress, the better to bewilder them and hold them at his mercy" (p.33)

Octave Mouret is a young widower. He married Madame HÃ©douin but she died in an accident while the department store was being built: starting from her own father's shop and with her money, Mouret has now built his own empire.

"Since her death Octave remembered her with affection, and he was grateful to her memory for the fortune she had showered in him when she married him. And so, before setting about signing the bills which had been placed on his blotter, he gave the portrait the smaile of a happy man. After all, when his escapades as a young widower were over, when he left the bedchambers where he was led astray by the need for pleasure, didn't he always come back to work in her presence?" ( p. 32)

Mouret insatiable greed for pleasure, money and power is counterparted by Bourdoncle's steadiness, uprightness. His friend obstinately tries to suggest him a more moderate life style, especially with women, otherwise, he fears "They'll have their revenge. There'll be one who'll avenge the others, there's sure to be." (p.34)

Bourdoncle doesn't recognize the avenger when she comes. Is it instead that, at least unconsciously, he feels Denise Baudu might be that woman? Because he starts disliking her immediately.

Joanna Vanderham as Denise

When she arrives in Paris with her two brothers, hoping to receive some help after their parents death from their uncle's family, she is just a girl, skinny, shy, afraid of everything and everyone. Since her uncle and his family can't help them, being themselves through a period of crisis in their own business, Denise ends working for the man who is the reason of his uncle's troubles: she applies for a position at The Ladies' Paradise and starts working for Mr Mouret.

"Usually he never interfered in the engagement of personnel, as the heads of departments were responsible for their own staff. But , with his sensitive flair for women, he felt a hidden charm in this girl, a quality of grace and tenderness of which she herself was unaware." (p. 55)

Denise is not particularly smart nor strong, she is not surprising talented nor so charming at other people's eyes. If she has qualities, they are resistance, acceptance and selflessness, She is rather weak and passive, but her moral uprightness will be her strength, she will win over all the others. Treated in the most ill-mannered, if not ruthless, ways, target of derision and contempt, false rumours and wickedness, she resists and goes on for her brothers' sake. She must go on and earn money for their living.
Mouret is immediately attracted by the girl, as a little cute pet to protect at first then little by little as a desirable woman. His interest turns into an irrepressible passion. He wants to have that young woman, no matter what.

Denise has always felt uncomfortable and frightened under his stares, uneasy at his interest in her. In her naivety, she has interpreted that upsetting feeling in his presence as fear. She'll later on discover that what she feels is not fear but sexual attraction.
Mouret uncontrollable passion for Denise turns him into a rather ridiculous figure: he begs, he cries, he offers money and grants promotions, but thus doing he loses all his the charm he might have had on the reader. In these scenes in which the young inexperienced salesgirl, even once she has been promoted by Mouret responsible of a department in the store, still obstinately rejects to fall her master's prey and turns him down, make her a heroine and him just a parody of the seducer.
Denise is the only girl who refuses to be seduced by Octave Mouret, she refuses to be "commodified". She will be the avenger Bourdoncle so much has feared to come.

Denise with her ordinary skills and extraordinary goodness seems to humanize the store. The gossips around her must stop, she will be respected at last.

Beyond the happy ending, the romance plot has been read by feminist critics as an allegory of feminization and female revenge, the domestication of Mouret and of his machine as an idealization of the bourgeois family. Academic interpretations apart, Zola's portrait of modenity and its dehumanizing risks, is in his intent obtained through an objective photography of the reality, as ugly and merciless as it looks.

Octave Mouret is not the torn romantic widower coping with a sense of guilt for his wife's death nor the human master concerned for his employees and their needs the BBC series proposed in the alluring performance by Emun Elliott . We find him in two novels by Zola: Mouret the ambitious filanderer in Pot-Bouille is showing making his fortune from women in The Ladies' Paradise, the effective sequel to Pot-Bouille. In none of the two novels Mouret comes out as a model hero, he is shallow, greedy, and on the whole an undeserving self-made man. His success is built on women and thanks to his natural appeal on them more than on a nose for business, managing skills or hard - work.

Denise is not at all the smart, ingenious, resourceful young woman who seduces her master with her ambition and creative talent, we saw in the performance of Joanna Vanderham .

All the other characters in the book are mean and selfish, rather flat, even Denise's elder brother, Jean. Their pettiness makes Denise extraordinary . She finds no real friends, except for Deloche, a young man from the province like her, helplessly in love with her since the moment they met outside the Paradise, and as fragile as her in that wild and bitter micro-world.

Did I like this book? It was interesting in many ways but I found really difficult to relate to the characters and to the story. I can honestly say I liked the adaptation much more than the original story. Welcome to all the cuts and changes the scriptwriters decided to make adpting the novel.

AUTHOR GUEST POST: MARILYN BRANT, MEMORIES AND HOLIDAY CELEBRATIONS + GIVEAWAY

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Marilyn Brant's newest novel is out and she's visiting to share her memories of past holidays. Read her enjoyable piece and take your chance to win a copy of her previously published romances. The giveaway details are at the end of the post. Good luck and happy holidays, everyone.

I love holidays and special celebrations! Before my son was born, I used to be an elementary school teacher who loved nothing more than traveling and learning about new cultures. (Anyone who read my last women's fiction book, A Summer in Europe, already knows how much that's true, especially when it comes to traveling in beautiful Italy!! *waving to Maria Grazia*)

Well, as the teacher of my classes, I would lead my students through social studies units on topics like “communities” or “cultures," which always led to discussions -- especially during the holidays -- about “celebrations around the world.” And, since I was also really fond of films like Bing Crosby's and Fred Astaire's "Holiday Inn" (one of the inspirations for my newest novel, Holiday Man, which is a contemporary romance that takes place over a year of holidays), I couldn't imagine what could be more fun than the idea of creating and celebrating holidays!These days, I might find myself chuckling about the goofy paper mache projects and plates filled with international appetizers my students and I made, but the truth is that always really loved teaching these units. They were so enjoyable. And, above all, my classes not only loved them, but they always learned a lot in the process.

One of my favorite activities was the reading of Byrd Baylor and Peter Parnall’s children’s book, I’m in Charge of Celebrations. The girl narrating the story has a deep love for her desert environment, and she’s come up with a number of special personal celebrations based her experiences living there. There’s “Dust Devil Day” and “The Time of the Falling Stars” and a bunch of other interesting and clever events that she uses to mark her year. Basically, she’s created days no one would ever find on a standard calendar, but she’s highlighted those singular moments of joyful celebration.I always made my students come up with their own special celebration as an accompanying class project, but that was as much for me as it was for them. I still think back on days from my childhood and teen years that were memorable enough to warrant their own special "holiday" in my world. And, as an adult, I have a number of them, too. Special dates that I’m certain no one but me celebrates -- at least not for the reasons I’m pausing to honor them. But that doesn’t make them any less important to me than other favorite holidays, like my son’s birthday or Christmas or (because I think the Bill Murray film is hilarious and have to watch it every year) Groundhog’s Day.What about you? Do you have personal celebrations in addition to the national holidays and traditional birthdays or anniversaries? Or, if you could make up a day of celebration, what would it be for?
Marilyn Branthttp://www.marilynbrant.comA Summer in Europe~Out Now from Kensington Books!

HOLIDAY MAN , Marilyn Brant's new book is out now!

Get caught up in a modern romance that -- like the famous Bing Crosby & Fred Astaire film, "Holiday Inn" -- takes place over a year of holidays... Shannon Quinn is the small-town girl who runs "Holiday Quinn" -- a holiday-themed inn based in scenic Door County, Wisconsin.One winter evening, wealthy Minneapolis businessman, Bram Hartwick, blows into town along with the fast-falling snow. The sparks Bram and Shannon create succeed in heating up the chilly Midwestern night, not to mention plenty of holiday weekends in the year that follows...But is their relationship only for special occasions, or might it be the elusive everyday love that neither thought could be found?

Available digitally for just $2.99 at:AmazonB&NKoboSmashwordsApple/iTunes
(Coming soon to Sony, All Romance eBooks & more!)
GIVEAWAY
Win an e-book copy of Marylin Brant's romances! Open internationally, you can win either On Any Given Sundae or Double Dipping . Check them out and choose your favourite, then leave a comment answering Marilyn's questions at the end of her post, and finally add your e-mail address This giveaway ends December 30th.

20 Aralık 2012 Perşembe

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