#hargus

[vigoburrito]

Sketch Page a Day 26: Hargus and Leandre

[terracomets]

k_k0w0's hargu !

[lupinwood-personal-blog]

@vigoburrito

The tortoise investigation committee

[ndconceptarchive]

Adventure Classic Gaming Interview with Megan Gaiser, Carolyn Bickford, and Sheri Hargus

Adventure Classic Gaming was,

"the premiere website dedicated to classic and retro adventure gaming. We seek to be a comprehensive online resource on classic adventure games and interactive fiction. Our site covers all gaming platforms, both computers and consoles. We cover games by both independent and commercial developers."

It appears that it's now defunct seeing as the most recent articles were uploaded in 2014, but you can still access the website even though it appears to be missing a CSS file.

Here is an interview from the website with Megan Gaiser in promotion for Stay Tuned for Danger published on June 12, 2000:

Founded in 1995, Her Interactive has taken a pioneering role in attracting girls to computer technology through attractive role-playing. The mission of this Washington-based publisher is to design, develop, and market intelligent interactive games for girls.

In 1997, the company has obtained a license from Simon & Schuster to develop an interactive mystery game series based on the legendary teen detective Nancy Drew. Its flagship titles, Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill and Nancy Drew: Stay Tuned for Danger, have received high praises from both critics and parents.

In this exclusive interview, Megan Gaiser (President), Carolyn Bickford (VP Sales and Marketing), and Sheri Hargus (Development Manager) speak about the company's unique mission, the popularity of Nancy Drew, and what holds in the future for this interactive series.

Sheri Hargus, Development Manager; Carolyn Bickford, VP Sales and Marketing; Megan Gaiser, President (left to right).

What (or who) is the inspiration behind the idea of taking Nancy Drew onto the computer screen?

Megan Gaiser: There are many reasons why we chose Nancy Drew to star in her own computer game series. History was one. Nancy Drew has fascinated girls for generations. We remembered as girls how eagerly we looked forward to getting our hands on the next Nancy Drew book - and realized that if we could create the same kind of anticipation for our games we would have major hits. Also, Nancy Drew is a powerful role model - she's brilliant, intrepid, and successful.

The Nancy Drew mysteries fit our search for content that was non-violent and that didn't rely on gender stereotypes. And, last but not least, mysteries make a great foundation for intelligent entertainment. Their complex plots provide infinite opportunity for adventure, exploration, and problem solving. There's a ready-made sense of community, as players seek help and advice from characters inside the game, from friends and family, and from online resources. Community is key to our plans to enhance our online presence.

Nancy Drew: Stay Tuned for Danger is developed and published by HerInteractive.com. HerInteractive.com has a unique mandate in developing non-violent games specifically for girls. Can you explain more fully about your company's unique mission? How do you plan to accomplish this mandate?

Megan Gaiser: Indeed, we are the only developer in the U.S. focused exclusively on the girls market, which is rather bizarre. There are more than 70 million girls in our target age range, and they have about $45 billion to spend each year. All of this potential has been largely ignored by the computer game industry, which found it could sell a lot of violent action games targeting the male audience, and has stayed in that rut ever since.

The market penetration for male-targeted games is near the saturation point. But there's still a wide-open opportunity to target the female half of the population. A recent study published by the American Association of University Women found that girls were largely turned off by the violent and repetitive nature of most games. If they're not buying games in large numbers, it's not because they don't like to play games, it's because few developers are designing games that appeal to them.

And those that do tend to rely pretty heavily on pink packaging, boy-talk and clothes. To assume that those are the only things girls are interested in is absurd. Our games don't use gender stereotypes to appeal to girls. Instead, they rely on the intrigue of a good mystery, and a smart, gutsy heroine. We believe that there should be as many types of games as there are types of girls. That creates such an exciting opportunity, and Nancy Drew is just the beginning.

For those readers who are unfamiliar with Nancy Drew, can you tell us a bit about the background of the legendary teen detective?

Megan Gaiser: Nancy Drew has been solving mysteries and inspiring millions of avid fans for 70 years.

Back in 1905, a writer named Edward Stratemeyer started a company that developed series of books for children. Edward would dream up plots and characters, and hire ghostwriters to write the books under pen names. He created the Hardy Boys in 1927, and just a few years later, he created Nancy Drew. When he died, his daughters ran the company and continued the Nancy Drew tradition.

Edward Stratemeyer's daughters, Harriet Adams and Edna Stratemeyer, made all decisions about what would happen with the Nancy Drew character. This was back in the 1930s when it was highly unusual for women to run a business. Their first ghostwriter for Nancy Drew was a strong, independent woman named Mildred Wirt Benson.

She was an athlete and a journalist, and she wrote Nancy to be just as adventurous as she was. As a matter of fact, at age 94 she's still a journalist, writing for her small town paper. HerInteractive.com sent her a copy of our first title, Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill - and she loved it! "Your computer game does exactly what I did when I was writing the books," she wrote. "It makes girls feel like they ARE Nancy Drew!"

In 1979 the Stratemeyer Syndicate signed a deal with Simon & Schuster to publish new books in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. In 1982 Harriet Adams died, and in 1984 Simon & Schuster purchased the Syndicate, becoming both owner and publisher of Nancy Drew. Pocket Books gave the heroine a new look and updated the setting to appeal to Nancy's most recent generation of readers.

Her loyal girl friends Bess Marvin and George (Georgia) Fayne are still at her side, as is her boyfriend, Ned Nickerson. Nancy Drew's popularity spans the globe — she is currently translated into French, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Dutch, Spanish, German, Brazilian, Portuguese, Czech, Hungarian, Polish and Malaysian. Over the years, she has been featured in movies and on television, and even had her own board game.

The core of the Nancy Drew publishing program, the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, continues to be published six times a year by Pocket Books' Minstrel Book imprint. There are several other Nancy Drew series currently in publication, and a hot market exists for out-of-print copies of the original Nancy Drew books.

In 1998, HerInteractive.com brought Nancy Drew to the computer screen with the publication of Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill, followed in 1999 by Nancy Drew: Stay Tuned for Danger. Our goal is to make sure that the legendary teen detective clicks with a new generation.

Obtaining the license to use Nancy Drew must be a triumphal accomplishment for the company. How did you do it?

Megan Gaiser: We made a strong case to Simon and Schuster, convincing them that we had the talent, and the passion, to faithfully adapt their teen icon to the computer screen. The critical success of our earlier work played a big part. We have a highly qualified development team.

In addition, we demonstrated a clear understanding of what girls were looking for in computer games, based on extensive focus group research and input from our Teen Advisory Board.

Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill and Nancy Drew: Stay Tuned for Danger are two titles from the Nancy Drew: Interactive Mystery Games series. How many titles are planned for the series? At what stages of development are they now?

Megan Gaiser: Nancy Drew: Message in the Haunted Mansion is in development and scheduled for a September release. There are over 140 books in the Nancy Dew series - so we certainly have a wealth of content for future games. We believe that we can create a new generation of Nancy Drew fans who eagerly await each new interactive mystery. And now broadband and the Internet offer Nancy a whole new environment to explore, and we intend to take her there.

How long did it take to develop each game? Are all designing tools developed in-house?

Sheri Hargus: It takes from nine months to one year to develop each game. This is the total time from game conception to shipment. The entire team participates in the design process and we spend a good deal of time up front in developing the plot, characters, environments, puzzles and game flow. We have found that early attention to the entire design allows us to stay on schedule and create a superior product.

The art team uses mostly off-the-shelf tools such as Photoshop and 3D Studio Max. The programming is done in C++ and is built upon a proprietary game engine that has been developed internally. DirectDraw is also used and installed as part of the game installation.

At what age of audience do your games aim? What do you feel are the key attractions of the Nancy Drew Interactive Mystery Games?

Megan Gaiser: Our games are designed for girls ages 10 - 15. We are finding that their appeal is actually much broader than that; younger girls are playing them with their sisters or their moms.

And women who grew up devouring every Nancy Drew mystery are eagerly buying the games for themselves. Many computer games portray women in very limited roles - women are too often just the "prize" or the damsel in distress. Nancy Drew breaks many of these molds — she's smart, self-reliant, adventurous — and in the end she is always successful.

In the gaming industry, until recently, girls were never really asked what they wanted in computer games. We asked, and heard they were not satisfied with the status quo of computer gaming: the violence, the lack of storylines, the secret rules. This led us to breakthrough ideas that are a step forward for the gaming industry as a whole. We incorporated all of this knowledge into the Nancy Drew games. And we listen carefully, and then act on, all of the feedback we get from every game.

What is the style of game play in Nancy Drew: Stay Tuned for Danger?

Sheri Hargus: The game is a visually stunning single-person adventure and problem-solving interactive mystery. The player navigates smoothly through different game locations, seeing everything through the eyes of Nancy Drew. Each location has rooms and environments to explore; it's loaded with clues, puzzles and other characters. Interaction with characters is through a dialog box where the player is allowed to select different responses and questions while engaged in conversations with the game characters.

The player has the ability to turn completely around in any node by clicking on the left or right sides of the game window. Player input occurs through mouse clicking on hotspots with occasional keyboard input also needed. The player can fail the game in several ways but it is always possible to restart and try again from the same game position. On the average, it takes 10-20 hours for a player to successfully solve the mystery and complete the game.

Both Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill and Nancy Drew: Stay Tuned for Danger won numerous praises from critics, but what kind of feedback have you got from parents?

Megan Gaiser: We just found out that Nancy Drew: Stay Tuned for Danger is the winner of this year's prestigious Parents' Choice Gold Award for software in the 10 - 18 age group. That reflects the positive reception we've received from so many parents. Our games are cool without cruelty, the perfect answer for parents who would like to give their teen a non-violent game that's not totally lame.

We have heard from moms and daughters who have had a great time solving our interactive mysteries together. It takes on average about 15 hours to crack the case, and two heads are always better than one. Mothers tell us they really like sharing the Nancy they grew up with their daughters. Plus, they have a lot of fun playing the game. We have found that moms (and even dads) are avid participants in many of the online chats about the games - so we know that girls aren't the only people playing our games!

How can we order these games? Are they available only online (rather than retail sales)? If so, why?

Megan Gaiser: The games can be ordered through our own website, http://www.herinteractive.com They are also available through many online retailers, including Amazon (where Nancy Drew Stay Tuned for Danger has been in the Top Ten Children's Titles ever since it's release), eToys and Beyond.com.

Bricks and mortar shelf space has been hard to come by; we're a very small publisher in an emerging category. But we are making progress toward obtaining broader distribution by this Christmas — the critical and online sales successes of our first two titles are starting to open some doors.

What holds in the future for Nancy Drew (i.e. sequels)?

Megan Gaiser: Looking beyond the September release of Nancy Drew: Message in the Haunted Mansion; we have a long list of Nancy Drew stories that would translate into fabulous interactive games. We're also looking at other licenses to expand the game playing options "for girls who aren't afraid of a mouse." There are lots of different types of girls, and there are so many wonderful characters that could star as our next interactive idol!

[countryhixes]

(Written by Hank Mills). Issued as a SINGLE 5491 A and LP "Wanda Jackson Sings Country Songs" (1965). Recorded 12 April 1965 [no. 11895] Columbia Recording Studio, 804 16th Ave. South, Nashville, TN – Grady Martin [gt], Harold Bradley [gt], Lloyd Green [steel], Bob Moore [bass], Buddy Harman [drums], Charlie McCoy [french harp], Hargus Robbins or Floyd Cramer [piano] + Jordanaires. Producer: Ken Nelson.

[kdo-three]

Patsy Cline - I Fall to Pieces (1961) (Stereo) Hank Cochran / Harlan Howard from: "I Fall to Pieces" / "Lovin' in Vain" (Single) "Patsy Cline" (EP)

Country Music | The Nashville Sound

JukeHostUK (left click = play) (320kbps)

Personnel: Patsy Cline: Lead Vocals Hargus "Pig" Robbins: Piano Hank Garland: Electric Guitar Randy Hughes: Acoustic Guitar Ben Keith: Steel Guitar Bob Moore: Acoustic Bass Harold Bradley: 6-String Electric Bass Doug Kirkham: Drums

Backing Vocals: The Jordanaires Produced by Owen Bradley

Recorded: @ The Decca Records Studios in Nashville, Tennessee USA on November 16, 1960

Released: on January 30, 1961 Decca Records

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

"Down By The River" - Neil Young & The International Harvesters, Pier 84, New York City, September 10, 1985

As I'm sure you've heard, Neil Young will release the third volume of his Archives project in just over a month. Weighing in at 17 discs (plus five blu-rays), it's a ridiculously large collection, with dozens of unreleased tracks. I've heard the whole dang thing via a promo stream and Vol. III will make Neil fanatics very very happy. And yet! It wouldn't be a Neil Young situation if there weren't some very questionable choices made ... As always, I've got quibbles! Quibbles, I say!

For one thing, the International Harvesters era ... Most of what shows up on Vol. III has already been released on A Treasure, well over a decade ago. The additions are great — a gorgeous live version of "Interstate" with a fiery electric solo from Neil and a sweet rendition of "Misfits." But Neil should've added this legendary "Down By The River" to the mix (in fact, he seemed to be considering it). It's a truly insane performance, with Old Black moving unexpectedly into almost Sonic Youth-y zones during the long instrumental sections. Neil duels magnificently with Nashville session pianist Hargus "Pig" Robbins (who you know from classic recordings with Dylan, Lightfoot, Parton and countless others), taking things to unreal heights. Over the rainbow, indeed.

And hey, one good "Down By The River" from the 1980s deserves another, right? Here's Neil and the International Harvesters doing it about a year before Pier 84 down in New Orleans — notable not only for its awesomeness, but also for its rare spoken intro, wherein Neil evocatively sets the scene:

I'd like to sing you a song about a guy who had a lot of trouble controlling himself. He let the dark side come through a little too bright. One afternoon he took a little stroll down through a field and through a forest, till he could hear the water runnin' along there. And he met his woman down there. And he told her she'd been cheatin' on him one time too many. And he reached down in his pocket and he pulled a little revolver out. Said "Honey, I hate to do this but you pushed me too far."

By the time he got back to town he knew he had to answer to somebody pretty quick. He went back to his house, he sat down on the front porch. About two hours later the sheriff's car pulled up out front. It started sinking in on him just what he'd done. The sheriff walked up the sidewalk. He said "Come with me son, I want to ask you a few questions." As he heard the jail door shut behind him he sat down on a little wooden bench — and he looked out of the door through those bars at this kind of wimpy looking sheriff out there. He started getting mad again and he realized what he'd done. There wasn't nothing he could do about it now though. He just sat down and put his head down and started thinking to himself — I'm all by myself here, there's nobody on my side...

Because I care deeply about you, there's another little bonus in the above download, too — a very early "Razor Love," also recorded live with the International Harvesters in 1984. Just wait 'til you hear the synth-pop version included on Vol. III!

[robertwrightart]

New “Hargus Creek” oil on canvas 30”x40”

[randallfranks]

Christmas Music - David Hart interview - In the Heat of the Night.wmv

If you were a spectator in the Christmas Parade that David Hart was featured in back in 1991, you likely heard him singing "Let It Snow" from the back of a festive float to the soundtrack of this recording from oour charity In the Heat of the Night           "Christmas Time's A Comin'" CD. I never asked him how many times he had to sing it through, but I bet it was many times. David as "Parker" could always create a funny out of thin air. We had a lot of fun on and off the set. I so enjoyed producing and arranging his performance of "Let It Snow" which includes Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum Inductee Hargus "Pig" Robbins on piano and Bluegrass Hall of Fame r Jerry Douglas on Dobro. https://youtu.be/aK_6VEoKUzgwww.RandallFranks.com/store

[bottleofbread]

Hi hargu

hiii ^_^

[vigoburrito]

Doodles made with Wigglypaint.

You can check out Wigglypaint on Itch.io here -- https://internet-janitor.itch.io/wigglypaint

[brookstonalmanac]

Birthdays 1.18

Beer Birthdays

Samuel Whitbread II (1764)

Jamie Emmerson (1963)

Jeff Alworth (1967)

Chris Cohen (1974)

Jeff Moakler (1985)

Five Favorite Birthdays

Jacob Bronowski; mathematician, historian, physicist, poet (1908)

Cary Grant; actor (1904)

A.A. Milne; writer, "Winnie the Pooh" (1842)

Peter Mark Roget; lexicographer, "Roget's Thesaurus" (1779)

Robert Anton Wilson; science fiction writer (1932)

Famous Birthdays

Dave Attell; comedian (1965)

Dave Bautista; wrestler, mixed martial artist, and actor (1969)

David Bellamy; English botanist (1933)

John Boorman; film director (1933)

Raymond Briggs; cartoonist, "The Snowman" (1934)

Randolph Bromery; geologist (1926)

Kevin Costner; actor (1955)

Jonathan Davis; singer-songwriter (1971)

Henry Austin Dobson; English poet and author (1840)

Ray Dolby; inventor (1933)

C. M. Eddy Jr.; author (1896)

Curt Flood; baseball player (1938)

Paul Freeman; English actor (1943)

Bobby Goldsboro; pop singer (1941)

Jorge Guillén; Spanish poet (1893)

Oliver Hardy; actor, comedian (1892)

Jane Horrocks; actor (1964)

Danny Kaye; actor (1913)

Sharon Mitchell; porn star (156)

Baron de Montesquieu; French philosopher (1689)

Peter Moon; Australian comedian and actor (1953)

Yoichiro Nambu; Japanese-American physicist (1921)

Joanna Newsom; pop musician (1982)

Sylvia Panhurst; English suffragist (1882)

Julius Peppers; Carolina Panthers DE (1980)

Hargus "Pig" Robbins; session keyboard and piano player (1938)

David Ruffin; pop singer (1941)

Mark Rylance; English actor, director, and playwright (1960)

Louis Claude de Saint-Martin; French mystic and philosopher (1743)

Arno Schmidt; German author (1914)

Jason Segel; actor (1980)

Thomas Sopworth; British aviation pioneer (1888)

Jon Stallworthy; English poet (1935)

Vassilis Tsitsanis; Greek bouzouki player (1915)

Thomas A. Watson; assistant to Alexander Graham Bell (1854)

Daniel Webster; politician, writer (1782)

Charlie Wilson; businessman and politician (1943)

Vitomil Zupan; Slovene author, poet, and playwright (1914)

[armiaochima]

*just Hug tight not wanting to hargue more just needed confort*

*coming running happilly* red !!^^ *see thé door open* ...guys ? ...*enter carefully*

*the house was dark and a little messy and there were some scratches on the wall*

[13mtm80-designs]

Photo of Hargus Lake in Circleville, Ohio during sunrise. September 2018.

For more art & photography, find me here:

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Stores:

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[kdo-three]

George Jones - He Stopped Loving Her Today (1980) Bobby Braddock / Curly Putman from: "He Stopped Loving Her Today" / "A Hard Act to Follow" (Single) "I Am What I Am" (LP)

Country | Ballad

JukeHostUK (left click = play) (320kbps)

Personnel: George Jones: Lead Vocals Charlie McCoy: Harmonica Hargus “Pig” Robbins: Piano Pete Drake: Pedal Steel Guitar Billy R. Sanford: Guitar Pete Wade: Guitar Phil Baught: Guitar Bob Moore: Bass Bob Wray: Bass Jerry Carrigan: Drums

Millie Kirkham: Backing Vocals The Jordanaires: Backing Vocals (Gordon Stoker / Neal Matthews / Hoyt Hawkins / Ray Walker)

Strings Arrangement by Bill McElhiney Produced by Billy Sherrill

Recorded: @ Columbia Recording Studio B in Nashville, Tennessee USA on February 6, 1980

Single Released: on April 14, 1980

Album Released: on September 8, 1980

Epic Records