New face for a videogame heroine

Do you recognise this face?
The uncompromising expression is certainly familiar. The lady concerned is plainly in the throes of some sort of action too, judging by the funky flyway hair and her mud-splattered face.
Actually, this is Lara Croft – the star of a brand new Tomb Raider game for 2011 that the developers have decided to call “Tomb Raider”.
Fortunately, there’s no such lack of imagination where our heroine is concerned. This radical makeover portrays Lara as a much younger and inexperienced version of her former self. In the new Tomb Raider she’s just finding her feet as an up n’ coming action-adventurer and she’s doing whatever is necessary to survive – which perhaps explains her dirty mug and the bow she’s carrying. We can only wonder what dangers those stormy skies and that shipwreck hold, but can’t wait to find out!


Tomb Raider already sounds very promising, and we certainly like what we’re seeing of the new Lara Croft – fresher-faced, funkier of haircut and less overtly fetishised than the Lara of old. Moreover this is the most realistic Lara Croft yet. Squint and you’d swear you were looking at a photograph of a real person.
We guess that’s entirely the point. But do we detect a smidgen of Hollywood A-List glamour lurking beneath all that dirt? Jessica Alba’s pout, perhaps. And where have we seen those moody eyes before...?

help birds

Around the Home

• Put up a bird house (with proper ventilation) in your yard. More than two dozen different bird species including the purple martin, house wren, and eastern bluebird will nest in bird houses. As more and more habitat disappears every year, birds have fewer places to nest each spring.
• Put abird bath in your yard to provide a year-round clean drinking and bathing water source for birds. Use a heater in winter where appropriate.
• Erect bird feeders and nectar feeders in proper distances from windows or places where birds can't be ambushed by predators. Use appropriate seed and other foods.
• Limit the use of lawn chemicals and pesticides in your garden, which are harmful not only to birds, but to a variety of wildlife and to household pets.
• Hang cutout silhouettes of birds, such as hawks, in large windows to prevent birds from colliding with the windows of your home.
• Plant native fruit and berry-bearing bushes and trees on your property. Also, maintain ground vegetation and shrubs adjacent to water.
• At night, turn off the lights or close the blinds of your high-rise offices or apartment buildings, and spread the word to your co-workers. Thousands of migratory songbirds, which are attracted by lights, are killed each year by colliding with lighted buildings at night.

Out and About

• When hiking, biking, going to the beach, or camping, stay on the trails and respect restricted sections of sensitive natural areas, especially during nesting season. Also, keep dogs on leashes.
• Purchase shade-grown “bird-friendly” coffee. Shade-grown coffee plantations support tremendously higher numbers of bird species than full sun (deforested) coffee plantations. Forested, shade-grown coffee plantations also benefit other wildlife and the people who live there.
• Learn to identify the common birds of your neighborhood, and teach local young people the value of birds and other wildlife.
• Cooperate with your local nature preserve or park to improve wildlife habitat.
• Get involved in local and backyard bird monitoring projects and clubs