November 6th, 2011 by admin

Body piercing is a fabulous way of expressing yourself and your personality in an outward fashion. Many individuals choose to pierce one or several parts of their body in order to either make a statement or add a unique aspect to their appearance. However, before you decide to pierce any part of your body, carefully consider the choice since this form of self expression is a bit more permanent than changing a hairstyle, experimenting with cosmetics, or creating your own fashion statement.

Body piercing has been used as an art form for thousands of years. Everyone from ancient cavemen to ancient cultures and civilizations has used body piercing to express a variety of thoughts. Some cultures, including the ancient Aztecs, use body piercing to commune with the gods, whereas other cultures, including those in several African tribes, use body piercings to express beauty, status, or wealth.

Men and women choose to pierce all parts of their bodies for a variety of reasons. The most popular reason given for body piercing is to add a unique feature to the individual. Many people to either want to pierce their body parts or have already pierced different parts of their body wish to break out of the norm that our society has set. Although body piercing is a more permanent way of expressing yourself, it can be done in a subtle and tasteful fashion for those individuals worried about how their personal expression will affect different aspects of their lives, including their public, private, and business lives.
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November 2nd, 2011 by admin

Greeting cards are the best way to express yourself and your emotions. Cards for sending greetings are the ultimate way of telling someone special that you care. A greeting card says much more than a few words for you.

Sending and receiving a greeting card does not require any special occasion. You can send them anytime, anywhere.

These days, online greeting cards are proving a popular choice. People all over the world are exchanging greetings within a few clicks.

The origin of Greeting cards

The tradition of sending greeting cards to friends and family can be traced back to the mid1800s. Initially greeting cards were sent by the elite to share their private messages. They were hand-made cards and were quite expensive. With the introduction of world’s first postage stamp in 1840, greeting cards gained immense popularity. By 1850 printers and manufacturers hired the talented artists and incepted the idea of designing affordable greeting cards for the public.

The world’s oldest greeting card was made in 1400s. It was a Valentine’s Card and is preserved in the British Museum. Until 1700’s Valentine’s greeting cards and New Year greeting cards were the most popular categories of sending these cards. During 1800s Valentine’s greeting cards began printing in factories. A series of different varieties of greeting cards shot up. Greeting cards for St. Patrick’s Day, Halloween, and thanksgiving are to name but a few. Today almost every occasion has its own greeting card following.

By conventional standards, you can classify greeting cards into various categories:

The special occasion of family and friends such as their birthdays and anniversaries welcome a host of greeting cards. These special occasion cards are the popular greeting cards’ category and it can be further categorized into various sub-classes.

Birthday cards get categorized as son, father, mother, brother, sister, grandfather, grandmother, uncle, aunty, daughter, friend, lover and almost for every other human relationship. Birthday cards cover almost all the relationships that are possible on this earth. Birthday greeting cards come with exquisite illustrations. You can get the designer as well as custom made greeting cards in a very wide range for sending birthday wishes.
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October 30th, 2011 by admin

You have most probably seen – till now – at least dozens of stageplays in different theatres. Did you ever think of the way and the process that the play goes through from a bunch of papers to the stage? How do the written words shape themselves and become a play?

Actually the process is like taking simple everyday dough, giving it a shape of bread or cake and putting it in the oven for a certain time. Although the text is written by a playwriter everything else is being shaped and brought to the stage by the director. He or she) is the key factor. He chooses the actors, he guides them starting with their lines to their acting, creates the scenes, movements on the stage, design – together with a professional designer – the whole set, selects the clothing for the actors, makeup, music, lighting.

I was exposed to this unique and outstanding experience some four months ago when I decided that playwriting without taking an integral part in the process of bringing the play to the stage is not complete. It is a must.

In order to fulfill my wish I had to locate a director who was prepared to grant me the privilege to sit through the rehearsals from the first reading of the play to the premier. I had to promise him that I will not miss a rehearsal so that the cast will regard me as one of them and not an audience. I was fortunate to find such a director who gave me the insight in the play creation.

The rehearsals went on for three months, five hours a day. We sat together for hours discussing the parts and the meanings behind each one of them, the background of the character and what he (or she) brings with him to the stage. The playwriter can write that the play takes place in “a sitting room in an apartment in a modern building in London” but how does such an apartment look like? What kind of furniture? Color and material of upholstery? What kind of objects should be placed in the room and Where? Lighting fixtures? Everything on stage should be coordinated with the type of play and the characters to form a complete and true to the play or the audience will not “live” the play…

In “our ” play several of the actors had to sign as well as have a short fight. Vocal and boxing instructors were brought to the rehearsal. There was no way that the director would accept anything less than professional. One of the actors had to dye his hair because the director decided that the certain character must have red hair in order to create a certain image. A broom in one of the scenes looked too new so it was changed to a used one.
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October 27th, 2011 by admin

All gay people are welcome to explore the free gay dating sites irrespective of sex. If you are gay and looking for your dream partner, a permanent relationship or even one night stands, an ideal place for you may be a free gay dating site.

Free gay dating sites bring many people to a virtual place where men and women get to know each other in a new and a unique way. The revolutionary technology of the web has paved the way for new relationships between individuals – be it love at first site, love at first chat, short-term dating or a brief sexual encounter. Some free gay dating sites have provisions for premium services, such as increased space for photos and multimedia, but you must pay for these. Decide how serious you are about finding someone, and then dive in.
Most free gay dating sites also consider the individual tastes and preferences that might vary from person to person, and their rich data bank of members is cast in a systematic and logical way to help individuals locate the right partner for the right purpose.
Love is something that makes us feel completely alive, heightens our senses, magnifies our emotions and leaves us with everlasting memories. Everyone possesses the penetrating desire to experience love. You know that somewhere in this world exists your perfect soulmate but finding that person can be extremely difficult. Read the rest of this entry »

October 23rd, 2011 by admin

Chinese symbol tattoos are very popular today because they are really beautiful. And because most of us in the Western people cannot read Chinese symbol, Chinese symbol tattoos become an exotic form of expression.

My Name is Yingying and I am a Chinese Tattoo Artist. I have been providing custom Chinese tattoo translation and design service during the past three years.
Western people sometimes ask me some questions when they are planning to get Chinese symbols tattoos.

I have listed some of the most FAQs as below. you may find the answers are very useful information if you are planning to get one soon.

Can anything be translated and written in Chinese symbols?
Yes, anything can be translated and written in Chinese symbols. Chinese has more than 4000 years history. The most ancient Chinese symbols called oracle were written on animal bones. Chinese is a fully developed writing system with over 70,000 symbols (characters), capable of recording all nuances of contemporary language.

What are the differences between kanji and Chinese symbols?
Kanji is the term for Chinese symbols that are used in the Japanese language. Kanji in Japanese are typically characters from the Chinese language that have been adapted to mean Japanese words. The meanings in Chinese and Japanese can be the same but pronounced differently, or they may have entirely different meanings.
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October 19th, 2011 by admin

Bill O’Reilly, host of Fox News Channel’s The O’Reilly Report, was quoted in Talkers Magazine about how he cracked the bestseller list.

“In the beginning, we couldn’t get on Good Morning America, or the Today Show or any of that. Elite newspapers wouldn’t review the book. We had to rely on talk radio,” O’Reily said. “Talk radio has shown a much better return (than our advertising dollars).”

There’s no doubt that talk radio is a great vehicle for authors, because it allows them to give in-depth answers and puts them in direct communication with people who may want to buy their book.

But talk radio is not what it used to be.

The hosts of major-market radio talk shows with great audiences used to bring authors into the studio for long chats. An author could knock off a couple of those interviews and send sales on the way to the top. Those days are gone. Unless an author is a truly big name, the chances of hitting pay dirt with a couple of big radio interviews are history.

The reasons for this are two-fold. First, there are not as many big stations that accept talk show guests – many have gone to a music format or no longer accept guests that have a product or service to sell. Secondly, the amount of time an author will probably be on the air has dwindled. Radio talk shows have found that listeners are more likely to stay tuned if they have 3 10-minute guests on a show than one guest for 30 minutes.

So if you want your book to sell, you now have to pound the pavement and knock on every door.

Fortunately, in radio publicity, quantity works. There are hundreds of radio stations, and book authors shouldn’t thumb their noses at some of them just because they don’t have a hot host or 5,000 watts. Even with a 1000-watt station, you are still reaching an audience. Look at it this way. If a 1000-watt radio station has only 100 listeners, you might say it is not worth the trouble. But what if you could go to an auditorium and talk to 100 people about your book? Would you go? Of course you would. Not only that, but small stations allow you to practice for that big interview down the road.

A rookie baseball player doesn’t throw his first pitch against the New York Yankees. In print publicity, an author’s first interview is rarely with The New York Times. But an author who has had an interview with a hometown newspaper and a couple of magazines will be more prepared if The New York Times does call.

The Plus Side of Small-Station Bookings

It is the same thing with radio. It takes at least 10 radio interviews before most authors get comfortable behind the microphone. Small power radio stations allow you to practice how to be a great guest.

Some people seem born to be great communicators but an author’s expertise is in the written word, and it is rare to find a great author who is also a great verbal communicator. First time authors are especially prone to stage fright – yes, even on radio.
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October 15th, 2011 by admin

Want to meet a Duke or a true Prince and Princess? One of the easiest and most convenient places to meet pure royalty is at one of the prestigious hotel casinos. They hang out at many of the following five casinos and, once you are in, you can interact with them, play against them and if you are good enough, even beat them. Wouldn’t you like to boast that you defeated a King? These five hotel casinos give you that chance.

But do not expect an all you can eat buffet or players with baseball caps and cool shades. Come dressed elegantly and only then will you be let in to share a baccarat game with pure-bred European aristocracy.

The European casinos listed here are the largest and the most luxurious casinos in Europe. Their appointed clientele is less the seasonal tourist gambler and more the upper crust. So, if you are looking for a stylish way to spend your latest lottery winning, you can shoot the dice in one of the casinos listed below while your traveling partners lie around the French Riviera beaches or go on wild shopping trips in the streets of London or Moscow.

1) Casino de Monte Carlo, Monaco:
Monte Carlo has been the favorite gaming destination of Europe’s rich and famous for almost 150 years with the first casino that was founded by Prince Charles III of Monaco in 1863. Casino de Monte Carlo is a complex of five posh casinos located by the seashore and decorated in French rococo style with marbled columns, golden ornaments and crystal chandeliers. The overall environment would make you feel like an extra in a French history movie.
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October 12th, 2011 by admin

Si eres un principiante en el juego, o mas bien un experto que se ha dedicado toda la vida a apuestas y partidos de Póquer, aprender las normas de conducta nunca esta de mas. Aquí te presentamos algunas reglas no tan estrictas pero importantes a la hora de demostrar tu estilo y profesionalismo.

En el Póquer:
1) No debes mirar ni intentar leer las cartas de los demás jugadores antes de que ellos mismos expongan las cartas en la mesa. No es considerado apropiado.

2) No debes revelar el contenido de tus cartas antes de terminar ese partido o mano. Si lo haces los demás jugadores sabrán si has mentido o como es tu situación. También podrán saber que otras cartas quedan en las manos de los demás jugadores.

3) No debes comenzar la jugada si todavía no llego tu turno. No lo hagas ni en broma, y si lo haces por error, pide disculpas a los demás jugadores ya que es un acto que no es aceptado en el poquer.

4) No debes amontonar las fichas del partido apiñadamente o desordenadamente. Probablemente va a molestar en la mesa a los demás jugadores, e interferir en el reparto de las cartas.

5) No debes ayudar a demás jugadores ni decir cosas que influyan sus a sus decisiones en el partido. Puede causar problemas entre todos los jugadores. Cada uno deberá tomar sus propias decisiones y equivocarse es parte del juego.
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October 9th, 2011 by admin

This article has been on the shelves in the back of my mind for a while. I was waiting for the time to write it as much as I was waiting for the right words and phraseology to come to the forefront. This is and always will be a sensitive subject so I will attempt to treat it as such. I was further inspired to get it on paper now, by the recent departure of Isaac Hayes from the hit comedy cartoon South Park. Though the story of his departure includes religion and politics, neither one applies to this article. Isaac Hayes was the voice of the character Chef on Comedy Central’s animated series because of who he was and what he sounded like when he spoke. Why he left the show has nothing to do with this article, but his situation while working for the show may have some correlation. It seemed now was just as good a time to write it as any other, with a little national attention being given to a topic in the same family.

So ok already, enough with the justification for writing it. Get on with it…

In several years of learning the ins and outs of the voice over business, I have always wondered if voice over might someday become a great pillar of equality. Something that leveled the playing field for the diverse multicultural society we call America; a business with open doors for all, regardless of where we came from or what color our skin happened to be. As I continue to ponder the possibilities of such a level playing field, the answer to the overall question is a resounding no. It will not be a playing field of equality anytime soon, but maybe not for all of the same old reasons you might suspect.

In no other business would it be acceptable, or for that matter legal, to post a job opportunity or listing with criteria or parameters such as “Wanted, African American male or female.” or “looking for north American Caucasian male for this job.”; job postings that in their limits not so subtly say, “No others need apply.”

But in the voice over industry, the ability to pick and choose between male or female, black, white or Hispanic is not only an every day occurrence, it is the way business is done. Producers and casting directors are at liberty to be as finite as they like in their pursuit of the perfect match for their part. Does this make them evil, horrible people? No. But there is no shortage of talking points when it comes to how equally opportunities are spread among performers in the movie and television industry. Imagine the front doors of a large American corporation covered in posters to this effect: “wanted, computer programmer must be black female with a slight urban tinge to her voice.” The idea should be so far from the realm of possibility as to be laughable, at least in this day and age. But in the voice over industry there are daily postings that don’t imply or infer this. They come right out and say it.

No one will ever be able to tell the true intentions behind the people hiring for the project, and for our own sanity we might as well assume their intentions are good and with merit. With all of the attention and criticism Mel Gibson received for his hand in The Passion of the Christ, I don’t think the thought of a black male lead ever crossed the minds of the people in the casting department, and oh what a ruckus there would have been had that been the direction they decided to take that movie in. Did they cast a white male lead actor for the part of Jesus in order to preserve the accuracy of the story? If so, there are many in this country and the rest of the world that question that accuracy.

Wait a minute… I can feel this article spiraling… Apply breaks, return to original intention, and get back to the topic…

Ok, I think I got it.

Suffice it to say, that people’s true intent is generally buried so deep it is pointless to begin looking for it. If we want to move beyond the possibilities of prejudice and exception in this business, we will have to find a way to fool the directors and casting people. A way to beat the system that may or may not be in place. A way to overcome, so to speak, an obstacle that to this point remains faceless and so illusive it may never be tackled. We wont know what we are fighting, or if we are fighting anything at all. Not a very bright prospect.

Breaking Down Barriers.

When I have the opportunity to coach voice over talent with ethnic backgrounds different from my own, my mind opens to the fascination of the unknown. I am peering into a crevasse so deep and different from my own, that my receptors are on high alert. Inside that crevasse are many things I haven’t ever seen, culture I may have never witnessed, beliefs and experiences that I may have never considered. Many are portions of human existence that I have never encountered, and as they have shaped this person, might shape me a little as well. I must witness them, learn from them, feel them and hear them in order to better mold my approach to teaching this craft. That is usually much easier said than done. Many times I encounter actors or broadcast talent who have fought so hard to suppress their regionalism, ethnicity or nationality that getting them to lower the wall they have been at times forced to create, is not an easy task.

Much of my ability to break down these barriers is simply a developmental approach to building trust. You may ask why I would try to break these walls down at all; why not just leave them be and skim over them? Probably for the same reason when I speak to someone I want them to look me in the eye. As a coach, it is my job to dig as deep as I can to find the raw talent. Then I need to bring that talent to the surface where it can breathe, grow and flourish. This is a performance art, a human business, an art form that requires people be their true selves. I am trying to teach voice actors how to create characters, not teach one character how to become another. I need to be able to see the real person. It is there I will find the voice I am trying to coach. I cannot coach the person adorned with a shallow façade. I need to talk to the real person behind the wall.

Reality dictates that societal pressures and socioeconomic status along with cultural background will be the strongest influences governing how a person presents themselves to others. In the far from Utopian community of commercial voice over talent, producers, and companies that hire freelance talent outright, if the above mentioned factors lead you to speak anything but “The Kings English” (along with his accent) the world of opportunity in voice over will be forever very small for you. The way we speak, our intonation and the regional artifacts in our sound play a huge role in whether or not we see any success in this industry.

Becoming better versions of ourselves.

So many people pursuing voice over or broadcasting careers are forced by some unwritten word of law to mold their sound into something considered more user friendly. Who makes those laws or sets that policy is unknown to me, as well as the rest of us, but more often than not it dictates that: Urban accents and dialects are eliminated or suppressed. Culture is lost and regional flavor is buried. What is left over is a completely manufactured sound which in turn becomes the person’s permanent public or professional voice. Many times it sounds forced, which in turn makes it sound fake. When it sounds forced or fake the announcer sound starts to creep through. Forced, fake announcer style reads are not at the top of the hit list in the voice over business.

Producers and even regular people who might be casting voice talent are looking for the voice and/or feeling of real people; the guy or girl from the coffee shop, a person they met at the bank, the people who provide their daycare services, the people at the deli’s and small shops they frequent. In essence, people they choose to interact with during the normal course of business. When many voice over jobs are cast, it is the feeling we get when we see a familiar face or hear a familiar voice that producers and casting people are trying to recreate.

When we see a familiar face, or hear a familiar voice and it is one we want to see or hear, it is generally comforting. When something is foreign to us, or strange and unrecognized, we are usually anything but comfortable. That in a nutshell is why we don’t want our voices to be strange, unrecognizable or foreign to the general audience. Our ability as voice actors to create the desired imagery with our voices is what gets us hired and lands us jobs. What gets us overlooked if not pigeon-holed completely is not being able to deliver these voices without some sort of regional, urban or ethnic affect. When a voice actor auditions with any of the above artifacts in their voice for a job that does not expressly require or request them, they most likely will not get the job, and the person hiring for that job, by making a discriminate judgment, will have in essence discriminated against them because of the sound of their voice.

Understanding the brisance of the word “discrimination” I ask that you please entertain all definitions of that word before going off the deep end over my use of the word. It is not at all meant to imply the producers in the world are directly discriminating against anyone who sounds as if they are anything but white. That was not the intention of the comment, but the reality of that idea, is we will never know if they are or not. The only way to remove it as a possibility is to subvert it by becoming a better, more versatile voice over talent and learning to speak with or without our regional or ethnic affect. Essentially through training and practice becoming better versions of ourselves.

Embracing our natural character.

I can think of nothing more hurtful, insidious or nefarious than telling a person of any color, culture, race, nationality or creed that the way they were born into this world isn’t good enough to participate in and prosper from its harvest. However, that is the message received daily by people of various cultures from directions and sources that are too many to name. There are some who may conclude by my simply writing this article, I have become one of those sources. I beg to differ, but at this time decline to argue. Once again, I will not allow this article to spin out of control. My only comment is this: The longer we go on without talking about these issues, the longer we will ultimately end up talking about them.
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October 6th, 2011 by admin

In the literary world, there are few villains and monsters as sympathetic and as “human” as Erik, the Phantom of the Opera. The man behind the monster has been labeled as the villain of Gaston Leroux’s novel just as often as he has been named a misunderstood protagonist. He was the ghost that haunted the halls of the Opera Populaire, terrorizing the diva Carlotta and several other performers who were housed there, as they clashed with his artistic sensibilities. In almost all incarnations of the character outside of the novel, there is almost always only a small measure of sympathy accorded to the deformed and persecuted Erik. The focus had always been on the horrifying visage he presents before the public, and less on “Angel of Music” persona he bore when he trained the young ingénue, Christine Daae.

However, behind the mask was, ultimately, a man. Erik was not the overwhelming force of evil that people had portrayed him to be. Indeed, along with many of his contemporaries, Erik shared traits and attributes that were all too human. He needed to feel loved by the ones he believed he loved… he craved for recognition for his achievements… and desperately needed to interact with the world without having to strike terror in the hearts of those who see him. In this way, he echoes earlier figures of horror, such as Quasimodo of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and the Frankenstein’s Monster from “Frankenstein.” His quest to love and to be loved, as well as his aristocratic demeanor, also mirror the nobler qualities of an earlier literary figure, Bram Stoker’s Dracula. In the end, like all of the above literary icons, Erik was more than the “Phantom of the Opera.” Erik was, underneath the mask, a human being, albeit one with a number of issues, including social anxiety and paranoia. Andrew Lloyd Weber’s musical, despite having taken a number of liberties with the story, has lyrics that echo the various complex emotions that Erik had to endure in his lifetime.

This face that earned
A mother’s fear and loathing
A mask my first
Unfeeling scrap of clothing

From an early age, Erik instilled fear and anxiety in the people around him because of his deformed face. The interpretations and versions of the story vary in the details, but in the original novel, he was described to have looked like a living corpse. From Leroux’s description, one could deduce that his face was deformed such that it appeared more like a skull than a normal face. His mother, feeling overwhelming fear and anxiety over her son’s monstrous appearance, eventually abandoned him. He managed to make an early living in a carnival, where he inspired mockery rather than fear and anxiety. That mockery would eventually evolve into a total dislike of society and people in general, morphing into a twisted form of social anxiety.
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