![]() ![]() ![]() The Best Modern Epic Fantasy Series, no contest. Otherwise, I would not be caught dead listening to another of his performances.ĭid A Clash of Kings inspire you to do anything? I will, but *only* because his is the only available narration of these books. Would you be willing to try another one of Roy Dotrice’s performances? Martin understands the kind of society he's mimicking, and as such he manages to write what is mostly a political novel with fantasy elements, rather than a fantasy novel with politics. Often, the books read more like a novelized, fictionalized history of Scotland or England, and that's a compliment. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, Heinlein's works and essentially all other rote fantasy material is not fundamentally comparable. More important, I think, are the books I would not compare it to. What other book might you compare A Clash of Kings to and why? I would recommend this recording of this book, but be aware of what you're getting yourself into beforehand. Nonetheless, the writing is strong enough that a careful listener can work around the narration. With Hodor the failure is less distracting, since he only says one word anyway, but Yoren is consistently annoying and hard on the ear in every scene. Also worth mention are his terrible performances as Hodor the stableboy and Yoren the black brother. Dotrice and an absolute failure to grasp the character. His most distracting and consistent failures come with two of the most important characters, Tyrion Lannister (who is given to sound like a shamefully caricatured leprechaun) and Lord Varys, whose sloppy annunciation and unmstakeable lisp are a shame to Mr. He miserably fails at voicing literally every female character in the book, especially Brienne of Tarth and Mellisandre, and he manages to butcher most of the younger characters, including Theon Greyjoy and Bran Stark. ![]() That being said, the list of characters who are nearly destroyed by his flamboyant voicing is long and unfortunate. Similarly, the voice he uses to narrate the general text itself is deliberate and clear. Some characters, mainly the older male characters, are given excellent voices. That being said, Dotrice's narration is, to say the least, a mixed bag. Nonetheless, if you're here for more of what you got in "A Game of Thrones", you'll find plenty. His use of different perspectives to tell the story is refreshing, but there are certain characters that it seems should be added to that list who remain absent, while some characters can grow simply tiresome at times. The writing is strong, but the pace of the story is at once somehow quick, drawing the ear to the next page, and painfully slow. Martin's series is grand and ambitious in its scope, and that is simultaneously its blessing and its curse. What did you like best about A Clash of Kings? What did you like least? ![]() I'm excited about the series and will be more than ready to move on after book 3. Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting? Then he snaps you out of it like being awakened from a sleep by a power saw in your bedroom. You find yourself lost in the story till it comes time to narrate a female part. His voice is excellent for reading the back story. That said Roy has the perfect amount of drama. It's getting quite old and it's very disappointing. The remainder of male characters sound like grumpy Leprechauns. But! his females all sound like toothless old crones in pirate movies. Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Roy Dotrice? Will he stay humble? It seems like a question Tyrion would ask himeself. He's coming up in the world and doing big things. Obvious underdog, bullied his whole life. Would you listen to A Clash of Kings again? Why? ![]()
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![]() There you discover all sorts of intrigues, corruption, abusing the natives, and besides the fact that magic is part of your way of life, there is at least one island deity, that you have to contend with.Ĭhoices- I’ve only played through once, but choices seem to matter throughout the game, as far as who you side with, because there is constant conflict between the colonialists, the different factions, and the natives.Ĭompanions- You’ll have 5 companions, you can romance one of them, but don’t expect too much. Your character is a representative of the Merchant Congregation (one of 4 factions), who travels to the Island of Teer Fradee to represent your congregation in it's settlement. The Story- It’s a colonials vs the natives story, plus magic. It’s an immersive setting, the graphics and environment, along with the music (of limited variety) is very atmospheric and I became vested in the story. Greedfall is a good game, with interesting quests, wrapped around an intriguing story line and overall, decent combat, with the caveat that early on, you might feel frustrated with your first boss. Some of the reviews of this game call it boring, too much walking So now I’m acclimated and vested in the story, let’s see how the second boss fight goes. I started over, switched to swords and was unhappy with that, and ended up, going for a Battle Mage build, using primarily hammers which really put dents in armor, with magic backup, using Stasis which both freezes and damages targets. The Magic class is described as weak at first, but strong at the end, and how dependent do you want to be on potions? Note, magic disregards armor and always damages the target, but I was constantly running out of mana. Of note, if you did not choose wisely, at the end of the first boss fight, you’ll receive a memory crystal that allows you to respec.įor this game, I’ve found that building your character to your liking requires some research. ![]() ![]() This is also where you’ll notice how you like the class you started. I’ll admit that I came close to killing it on normal difficulty, but fatigued, ended up switching normal to easy to get through it, and almost quit the game at this point. Until you get used to it, it feels awkward in the mobility department, half assed dodging, you can’t roll to avoid sweeping attacks from a large tree critter that bursts out of a ship. The first real test is the first boss fight, at a low level of development, you may feel like a gimped, cripple. Much depends on how fast you are watching your health drain away. But as you progress, combat will feel more manageable. Getting used to the controls takes more work than I’d like. Combat is not perfect, not even good at first, with a learning curve, at least it feels that way to me. One thing about this game, when you are in combat, in over your head, it lets you know usually with a quick death. I’m finding the premise and dynamics of these stories to be more engaging than in Horizon Zero Dawn which has an intriguing concept, but the quests are relatively mundane in comparison. When you go to the new island, you’ll find corruption in the City Guard on multiple levels. My understanding at this point is to see to their quests, engage them, and you might end up in bed with them. And several of these companions are romance-able. ![]() You get to choose how honest you want to be with notible people you interact with.Īnd there are the natives that you are trying to forge a peace with between the various factions that have invaded their lands. You are more or less responsible for faction relations, one of those factions are religious zealots, so there are opportunities to run into religious persecution. You are a person of authority who often finds themselves in a position where force is necessary, because it is forced on you. Your position in this games is an emissary with the ear of your cousin, the Governor. It’s not terribly complicated, one tip, don’t sell your gear, recycle it for upgrade components. And you get to craft not for just yourself, but for 5 companions. There is magic, crafting, and potion making. I’m really liking the open world RPG Greedfall (purchased on sale at Steam), the atmosphere, the landscape, the countryside, the characters, and the quests are interesting. ![]() ![]() ![]() While TMLT only provides coverage in Texas, Lone Star Alliance RRG provides flexible coverage to physicians and surgeons across the country. Texas Medical Liability Trust (TMLT) has been a major malpractice insurer in Texas since 1979, covering more than 20,0000 policyholders. Physicians Insurance and MedChoice RRG are rated “A-“ (Excellent) by AM Best. Physicians Insurance operates MedChoice RRG to serve doctors, groups, and hospitals across the country. Founded in 1981, the company now serves more than 8,500 members in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming. Physicians Insurance – A Mutual Company is based in Seattle, WA and is the largest malpractice insurance carrier in Washington. Admiral is rated “A+” (Superior) by AM Best. Admiral helps doctors whose unique risk profile – due to claims or other factors – are outside of underwriting guidelines for admitted carriers. Admiral provides medical malpractice insurance to physicians and medical practices on a non-admitted basis is most states. Berkley Corporation and has been in operation since 1974. Admiral Insurance Company is a member of W.R. ![]() These Constellation companies are rated “A” (Excellent) by AM Best. Constellation Insurance Companies is comprised of MMIC in the Midwest, UMIA in the Mountain States, and Arkansas Mutual. With a trial win rate of 92% and an AM Best rating of “A-” (Excellent), ISMIE is a compelling option for physicians. With more than $1.4 Billion in assets, ISMIE provides malpractice protection to doctors, hospital systems, and healthcare facilities in all 50 states, DC and the US Virgin Islands. ![]() ISMIE was founded by doctors during the professional liability insurance crisis in 1976 and has dominated the Illinois medical liability market for over 40 years. ISMIE is a physician-led medical malpractice insurance carrier based in Chicago, IL. Curi insures more than 12,000 physicians and has an AM Best rating of “A” (Excellent) by AM Best. Curi is the new name for Medical Mutual Insurance Company of North Carolina, which writes in North Carolina as well 45 other states. ProAssurance Corporation holds approximately $4.8 billion in assets and is rated “A” (Excellent) by A.M. ProAssurance insures doctors and surgeons of all specialties has developed a program specifically for Ob-Gyns: Ob-Gyn Risk Alliance. NORCAL was previously a top-ten malpractice insurance carrier prior to the merger, with a rich history in CA and national footprint with its acquisitions of Medicus and PMSLIC. ![]() In 2020, ProAssurance announced it would acquire Norcal Mutual Insurance Company. ProAssurance Group ProAssurance Group, based in Birmingham, AL, has a long record of being among the most financially strong healthcare liability providers in the business. Coverys is the leading medical malpractice insurance carrier in Michigan, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, and writes medical professional liability insurance in most states. Coverys is group of carriers including ProSelect Insurance Company, ProMutual Group Inc, Preferred Professional Insurance Company, Medical Professional Mutual Insurance Company, Healthcare Underwriters Group, Inc., Coverys Specialty Insurance Company, and Coverys, RRG, Inc. AM Best rates the MedPro Group companies as “A++ (Superior).” MedPro is the leading medical malpractice insurance carrier in Texas, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and other states. Additional subsidiaries and affiliates of the Fort Wayne, IN based carrier are MedPro Risk Retention Group (MedPro RRG) and National Fire and Marine Insurance Company (NF&M). MedPro Group has acquired other malpractice insurance carriers over the last decade: Princeton Insurance Company (NJ) in 2012, and PLICO (OK) in 2015. Berkshire Hathaway/MedPro acquired Medical Liability Mutual Insurance Company (MLMIC), New York’s largest carrier, in 2018. The Medical Protective Company is the oldest and largest malpractice insurance carrier, insuring the healthcare community since 1899. MedPro Group is owned by Berkshire Hathaway, which is notorious for financial strength and prudent investing. TDC is the leading medical malpractice insurance carrier in California, Florida, Virginia, and ranks highly in dozens of states. The Doctors Company is rated “A” Excellent by AM Best, and offers its members a loyalty program called The Tribute Plan. TDC Group acquired a major malpractice insurance carrier in New York, Hospital Insurance Company (HIC) as well as FOJP, in 2019 growing its membership to over 82,000 members and over $4.5 Billion in assets. The Doctors Company is a great choice for doctors in most states. The company’s mission is clear: To advance, protect, and reward the practice of good medicine. The Doctors Company is the largest physician-owned malpractice insurance carrier, founded during the California medical malpractice insurance crisis of the 1970s. ![]() ![]() ![]() While at first it was not certain how these pieces ought to be assembled, as more pieces were discovered we were able to fill in the blanks. digging through the files and assets of the game), before solving the mystery the intended way.Īfter several glyphs had been discovered, it became clear that each of them was a fragment, intended to be joined together to form a larger puzzle. In certain cases, the glyph was first recovered using data-mining strategies (i.e. While the sigil itself was easily visible (even though been in vague places or displayed after very specific actions), seeing the second image required completing some challenge or figuring out some devious puzzle planted in the game. In each game where the sigil is present, it is accompanied by a second, hidden circular glyph with little circles, squares, and triangles on concentric arcs. By a combination of astute observation and dumb luck, the image, coined the "eye sigil" (the word "sigil" came from the resource names used in the games), now tied half a dozen games together. Shortly afterward, users came forward and claimed that they had seen similar markings in other games, including Sokobond and Kingdom of Loathing. Then, on, a user discovered yet another similar marking in a game called Mini Metro. The image was behind an airlock and had a similar sigil depicted on it, shortly after the game's release in June 2015. No clear answers about the images emerged for some time.Īround the same time, a similar image was found by players of the game " The Magic Circle" that also consisted of circles and arcs. In May 2015, a strange image was found in the SteamApp root directory of the game " Crypt of the Necrodancer." The purpose of the image remained unknown until another glyph was obtained, by snooping through the original image using a hex editor. ![]() ![]() ![]() Now you have one place for all your photos, whether they were taken with a mobile device or a regular camera and stored on your computer, they are now ALL in the cloud – in your Google Account.Ī while back Google bought a photo editing product called Snapseed (by Nik software) and it became a Google product. Then, all the photos on your computer are uploaded to your Google Account as well. What about the pictures that are stored on your computer? Ones that were not taken with your smartphone or tablet? You can install the Auto Backup app for your Mac or Windows computer as well. So, Google Photos is online photo management for your mobile devices. Then, you can view them online with any device or computer browser. ![]() From now on, every picture you take with that device will be uploaded to your Google Account. Simply download the Android or Apple iOS Google Photos App and turn on the setting for Backup and Sync. Google Photos gives smartphone and tablet users a way to store all their pictures, in almost full-resolution 16 Megapixels, in their Google account online. Computer software like Picasa just isn’t sexy any more. Google is living in a world devoted to mobile devices and the Internet. Google owns Picasa and Google changes stuff constantly! So what’s the deal? They are clearly neglecting Picasa. What makes us Picasa users nervous is the fact that Picasa has not changed in several years. Millions of people praise Picasa for being easy to use and allowing them to do things with their pictures that they never thought possible all with a click of a button or a drag of a slider. It’s freely available at and, once you have it, it is yours to keep. Picasa is software on your computer for working with the photos on your computer. ![]() |