Valerie

Johannes Hopfner “Soft Night” – acoustic indie folk pop with a twangy European flavor

Acoustic indie folk pop with a twangy European flavor. Johannes Hopfner brings back indie folk pop with great acoustic guitar work in his Soft Night album. Songwriter, composer, and accomplished guitar player; Hopfner has been playing his favorite folk songs ever since he was 15. Soft Night features beautiful guitar work and enthralling often chilling vocal quality from the artist. Although his odd enunciation might annoy some, it works perfectly with each track. Most songs are a nod to the 70s and makes you wish you were in a commune or park somewhere, playing lovely music with your six string.

Celtx – open source media pre-production software for filmmakers

Filmmakers often like things organized. They like to be able to keep track of their media projects like screenplays, documentaries, audio, comics, games etc. With the help of Celtx, you can do all that and so much more. Celtx is a client-server program that provides independent film makers a chance to organize all of their pre-production needs like scheduling, creating reports etc. It is also a great program for scriptwriters since it allows them to attach videos or images to the script to help the filmmaker have an idea of the scene. Currently, the program has an estimated 500,000 users all across the world.

The Legend of Mazzeroth – massive 2D MMORPG

For all those mmorpg fans out there, here's another game that you can add to your growing list of favorite role playing games, The Legend of Mazzeroth. Playing this game will take you to a high quality 2D world where you set on a quest to discover your hidden powers as well as find out why a shift in balance is happening. Despite its typical storyline, The Legend of Mazzeroth provides a fun, high quality environment where you fight off dragons and hone your skills. As of the moment, the game is being developed fully as an offline game and will then be converted into an online game.

The Dada Weatherman – Mind Of Blue

Acoustic rock and folk blues that brings you the flavor of the South. The Dada Weatherman is a blues inspired acoustic folk rock music outfit headed by Jonathan "Zedadawaizeurman" (according to their Facebook account.) With a knack for catchy, blues inspired beats along with simple and poetic lyrics, The Dada Weatherman are simply fun to listen to. If you are looking for an eclectic mix of tracks done in great taste, then you might find it here. Mind of Blue is the band's latest album. Their previous releases includes the simple yet enthralling The Green Waltz and heavily acoustic and piano filled Earthquakes and Failed Mutations.

Mandate of Heaven – The Next Valley Over

Folk indie psychedelic act that mandates YOU listen. Central New York has certainly contributed their fair share of impressive musicians; yet, another band to add to this already long list is Mandate of Heaven. Essentially, the band was founded by Greg Pier, of which, he also serves as lead songwriter and singer. Pier is a multi-instrumentalist that plays almost all instruments in the group's recordings. Their music is a mix of indie folk pop with a touch of psychedelia. The Next Valley Over lumps together 11 acoustic driven melancholic sounds along with Pier's soft gruff vocals.

KeePass Password Safe – open source password safety program

Want something that can protect your precious computer data? Then KeePass is the best one to turn to. It is a free and open source software that allows you to manage your passwords without any problem. The program helps you place all of your passwords in just one master disk and provide it with a master lock and key. All you need to do is remember a single password or use the disk key to have access to them. With technology ever evolving and hackers becoming much smarter, you need something that will help you keep all your sensitive information safe and accessible for you at the same time. KeePass might be the ideal software to help you with that.

Talley Lambert – The Red Line of Hydrogen

Folk rock musician armed with skillful guitar work and emotional vocals. After spending time online looking for info on Lambert, I came up with a page on Jamendo and Last FM, nothing else. It's either this guy appreciates his privacy (frustrating for fans) or he simply dropped off the music scene altogether. If its the latter, then too bad because Talley Lambert can certainly evoke great emotion with his music. The Red Line of Hydrogen is the artists' first album and was recorded back in 1999, supposedly at the age of 17. Lambert is capable of creating modern folk rock music that definitely hits you right on the sweet spot. The Red Line of Hydrogen compiles 10 acoustic and very personal songs by Talley Lambert. Each track is guitar driven and recorded with passionate vocals that seems to resonate with heartbreak, loss or generally a sad reverie. The singer cites Jeff Buckley, Mark Knopfler, The Grateful Dead and Ani Difranco as among his favorites. The Red Line of Hydrogen is the artists' first album and was recorded back in 1999, supposedly at the age of 17. Lambert is capable of creating modern folk rock music that definitely hits you right on the sweet spot.

Hedgewars – free multi-platform game similar to Worms

If you were born in a generation where Worms was considered a near equivalent to Mario, then you might want to check Hedgewars. It's basically the same game except that you are not a worm and it works great in most platforms. Old versions of the Worms game won't work at all on Vista and most of the current systems today. Even though it's essentially a Worms clone, it is awesome. It features really smooth gameplay and graphics are pretty good. Plus, it will definitely give players a great time.

Way of the Mantis (2006) – short animation film

Monk learns a thing or two from a tiny little green critter. Way of the Mantis is a beautiful animation short that showcases the story of a Chinese monk that learns a valuable lesson from a tiny friend. The entire film is rendered in a traditional brushpainted style which sets the mood perfectly. The film was done as a thesis animation by Joe Daniels and Jedidiah Mitchell. It is definitely a nice little animation film to watch; all 6 minutes of it would be worth your time.