LukeGeraghty.com
Life, one story at a time
Blog Carnivals
Aug 27th
Submitting to a blog carnival is a way to generate traffic for your site, make friends in the blogging community and create backlinks. A fledgling blog is unlikely to be able to rely on a steady stream of search engine traffic, so having one (or more) of your blog posts showcased in a blog carnival can help to get visitors viewing your content.
Blog Carnival.com is a one stop shop for blog carnivals. Here’s the heart of the website, where you can sort all the blog carnivals by carnival, category, latest edition and, the most useful in my opinion, next edition. (If anyone knows any other useful blog carnival directories, let me know.)
As a thank you, I’d like to mention some of the hosts of the blog carnivals that I’ve been included in. I realise this is kind of a cop out since I haven’t done the decent thing of leaving a comment on a few of your sites but it’s the best I can do for now – surf and sand is calling.
- U.S. Common Sense - the blog carnival housed here is a weekly round-up of American political news. Ideal for catching up.
- Looking Glass Blog - great social media source with an eye trained on Digg and its current issues. This frequently updated site by Briana is one you need to be checking out. Bonus points for using the Mystique Wordpress theme
- Stump Lane - Insightful. In need of an update, though.
- Dodgeblogium - Andrew hosts many, many blog carnivals and, as a dabbler in graphic design, I worship that header image.
- Gaming My Way – 100 Games I’ve Played Parts 1 through 10. Go! No, seriously.
- Proud Book Nerd - Book review site with a charming design and font choice. Each review is perfectly laid out and easy to follow.
- That Girl is Funny - Cheryl’s musings on how to enjoy life; to smile once in a while. A bright spark in a sea of burned-out bulbs.
- Xamuel.com - I think the 30 Day Workout series is what blogging should be all about: honesty and inspiration. I commend bloggers who document the highs and lows of living and allow people into their lives. Check it out.
- Writing As A Sacred Art – This blog really keeps me grounded and talks a lot about writing and the writing process. Again, one finds honesty and inspiration here.
- The Collected Writings of James Newton – Really like the current design, James. The reviews section is set out perfectly and your review of Girlfriends Forever: Magic Skate had me in stitches.
If you mentioned one of my posts and I’ve missed you out it may be because I never received a trackback. Let me know and I’ll be happy to include you. Adiós!
Summer Dreams Are Made of This
Aug 26th
A familiar feeling: August has sped away, daylight hours grow short and, before you know it, autumn, officially the shortest and weakest of seasons, will renounce its reign for its bully brother winter, a merciless bastard.
Seriously, Hell can’t be a pit of fire because if February isn’t a gift sent from Satan then I don’t know what is. Face-splitting winds? Shards of ice coming at my face? …I’m going back inside.
But sitting on a Mediterranean beach in Spain (¡Viva España!), staring at blue skies and walking on scorching sand, winter is a distant memory. Idle days and nights with the cicada song as a backdrop; pools and reflecting water; brown and freckled skin. Summer dreams are made of this. There’s always that forgotten bowl of melting fruit that you find full of strange bugs and those steps you climb barefoot, an instant reminder of the power of the midday sun. It’s a small price to pay, right?
I can’t really do the siesta thing. When you’re busy, a break from the overbearing heat is essential – no argument there. But a break when I’m already on a break? Definitely some sort of Inception-like level trickery. I don’t want my brain to join the melting fruit just yet.
Might be going to Seville and Granada next week, which is perfect since I’m half culture vulture and half beach bum. For now, it’s all sunscreen and swimming (badly).
I need some memories of this holiday to keep me warm come winter.
Diablo 3 News and What We Know So Far
Aug 10th
Diablo 3 (aka Diablo III) news is here folks. I can stop going on about how perfect Diablo II was now.
Game Director Jay Wilson is holding a press conference at Gamescom 2010, unveiling a new feature and allowing gamers to get a taste of D3 through a demo. Lots of rumours are swirling about whether D3 could possibly come out as early as Q1/Q2 2011 but I think with Blizzard’s track record this is unlikely, though most gamers have probably forgotten the twelve year gap between StarCraft I and II now that the latter is out. Seems like the wait was worth it.
So, what do we know so far about Diablo 3?
Classes
Blizzard has been rolling out information on the classes for a couple of years now. So far, four out of a set of five classes have been revealed. They are currently:
- Barbarian – melee masher and walking slab of meat; only character to return from Diablo II.
- Witch Doctor – part necro, part pestilence-spreading filthmaster with pets.
- Wizard – noted by Blizzard as being similar to the sorcerer/ess.
- Monk – fast, holy warrior with team-friendly skills; not going to be similar to the one from Diablo: Hellfire.
A nice new feature is that characters can now either be male or female. Skills are a bit up in the air currently and Blizzard recently announced they are working on a pool system rather than a tier-by-tier system as in Diablo 3. I don’t think the fifth class will be revealed at Gamescom 2010 as Blizzard are likely to save this piece of information for BlizzCon in October (watch them reveal it at Gamescom and me eat humble pie).
Diablo Wiki has more information on classes, including an abilities list for each class that’s subject to change. All three classes are detailed quite thoroughly bar the monk, who was the last class to be announced. There’s little information on the monk’s abilities right now but, aside from fast melee skills, some sort of aura system akin to the D2 paladin is suspected to be implemented.
Storyline
Information on plot is scarce. Twenty years after the events of Diablo II, the forces of evil have been let loose once again. Oh yeah and Deckard Cain has gotten himself locked up in a cage and it’s up to you, as hero, to help the old codger down – go figure . The game will again take place in Sanctuary and over four acts. Act I is mainly set in Tristram and its Cathedral whereas Act II is set in a dustbowl called Borderlands (if claptraps are present I’m going to go on a killing spree). Basically, Blizzard is a little short on location ideas and Diablo 2’s settings are going to be rehashed but rehashed beautifully.
More information can be found here.
Foes
The axe-wielding goatmen are back and can wield staves. Be scared, be very scared. Seriously though, there’s some Victorian-looking spider beast who “might have a huge role in the storyline” (source currently unavailable for citation) and a Skeleton King who was King Leoric à la Diablo. So: some new; some back from the dead for another beating.
I have some sad news for you: Rakanishu – the lightning-spewing badass guardian of Stony Field’s Circle of Stones – may not be returning. I have lost the source for this and it was likely speculative at best but I thought I’d warn you anyway. Of course, I may have dreamt the whole thing.
Other sources of info
Here is a Twitter account you may spam with messages. Can’t forget the Tyrael-infused main site either, though D3IN.com is easier on the eye and faster loading so I’d recommend that. It is updated more, too.
To the left is an indication of the marketing campaign for Diablo 3. Well, actually it’s some piece of crap I came up with in 5 minutes (read: 5 hours) that might get your mind racing. Tyrael…dead? evil? Hopefully both and in need of our slaying services.
For now, you may have to suffice with a reminder of the trailer. Re-whet your appetite guys – Diablo 3 is coming.
