VoIP (voice over imp) is another contribution of technology, which has been able to provide incredible services, and has made communications a lot easier and interactive in many ways. Its definition in a scientific language is a transmission protocol that lets voice traffic to travel over IP communications networks such as the internet or packet switched networks.

Traffic on VoIP is transferred by converting them in the form of data packets, and reassembling them as sound at the other end, which is unlike in the traditional pest telephone calls. The foremost benefit of this type of data transmission is the possibility of sending more data, using the same thickness of a wire. The second reason is the transfer of video, and computer data along with the sound.

As per the above mentioned transmission technology, VoIP offers very economical rates on its varied services. Even in some cases, free calls are offered from a VoIP provider between their VoIP customers. It gives a lot of charging options like per second or per thirty second billing. Not only that, services like free minutes can also be easily implemented.

Unlike the old times, when a telephone was used just to listen to the sound of the person on the other line, VoIP has provided various services, which have made the lives of people a lot easier in many ways. Apart from high quality and cheap telephone calls, VoIP offers video conferencing, which is a very important tool, especially in the corporate environment, as it makes representatives, sitting at distant locations, feel as if they are sitting inside the same meeting room.

Besides this, assortments of other constructive services are also obtainable, together with voicemail, which lets you transmit the recipient a voice communication if they are not on hand to pick up your call. Voice blocking service is also presented, which is used to obstruct exasperating, and unnecessary calls. Data transfer and file transfer is yet an additional quite useful application of VoIP, which lets you contribute to significant information without difficulty in an exceedingly modest amount of time.

One of the largely used services is the instant messaging, provided by VoIP in both business, and physical sector. All the way through this service, you can contribute to your undersized messages with just a small number of button presses on your phone. Presence indication is a provision, which informs you if the individual you want to call is accessible or not.

VoIP has proved its usefulness not only in offices but also in our personal lives. Now, you can easily talk to your distant friend or a relative, living in some other corner of the world, with ease and quality.

VOIP service plans are less expensive than traditional phone system costs.

• Putting a value on your vinyl collection This is another article from author Robert Benson. He writes about rock/pop music, vinyl record collecting and operates CollectingVinylRecords.com, where you can pick up a copy of his ebook called "The Fascinating Hobby of Vinyl Record Collecting." Stephen M.H. Braitman Putting a value on your vinyl collection The value of......
• Knights and Film Music Today I publish a new music track, inspired by knights, chivalry, code of honour, battles and dangerous wilderness exploration. This is a demonstration of my talent with orchestral arrangements. Knights and Film Music The Knight is an elite warrior sworn to uphold the values of courage and honour. Knighthood was......
• Reflections on some well loved Poets Ziggy Olivier wrote this article. He met Dylan Thomas and spent some of his youth drinking whisky with him. He said me: "Everything you may have read about him was true." Reflections on some well loved Poets Approaching my own demise, I was delighted this Christmas to receive from......
• The Invictas are back Bruce Atchison is one of my Yahoo Group best members and he wrote this great article. Bruce is a legally blind freelance writer and the author of two books, When a Man Loves a Rabbit (Learning and Living With Bunnies) and Deliverance from Jericho (Six Years in a Blind School).......
• Artwork Displayed in Unusual Places Joyce Boncal wrote this exclusive article for us. Artwork Displayed in Unusual Places If you’re young, budding artist, hoping to be discovered, where can you display your artwork? There is always your own web page but I wouldn't recommend it unless you can afford to advertise that web page. This......

• VoIP Internet Phone Service - An Easy Way to Save $500 a Year How would you like to save an extra $500 a year without making any sacrifices? If you haven't made the switch to VoIP (internet phone service) yet, you could be missing out on a lot of extra savings. For less than the price of a dial tone with traditional......
• Saving Money with your Phone There are a lot of different ways that you can cut down on what you spend in your household budget every month, and one such example is by saving money through how you communicate on the phone. Telephone services are easily capable of costing a typical family as many as......
• How to Increase Traffic to Blog There are a myriad of different ways that you can learn how to increase traffic to blog. Some of them are really straight forward and easy to implement, and others will take time and effort on your behalf. By implementing a number of different techniques for attracting traffic to your......
• VoIP Services: Stay in Touch from Anywhere Most people find it difficult to make a call to their relatives and friends from other countries. One of the main reasons is the high cost of the calls and several communications hurdles.But through the innovation of VoIP, the world has become a smaller place and those hurdles aren't......
• Managed VoIP Service - Improvise Your Voice Over Services Managing VoIP services has become a challenge as the world is now moving rapidly towards IP based telecommunications. The technology has diversified in many respects and so it is necessary to offer managed VoIP services to the customers. The VoIP based services have features and innumerable functionalities that make......

Ways Of Solar Power

Solar energy functions by changing the sun’s rays into heat with the use of solar thermal collectors for warming water, and more specifically it works by changing the sun’s rays into electrical energy with the use of solar panels to supply power to the appliances in your home. Solar panels are an essential part of ensuring that you are able to use the power that the sun provides naturally.

The procedure is relatively simple in that the sunlight hits the solar panels and is then absorbed by semi-conducting materials such as silicone, which the panels are made out of. Electrons are bumped loose from their atoms and this permits them to be able to flow through the material in order to produce electricity. This sounds very complex, but it is knowledge that has been around and used for quite some time now!

Why should we answer the question of how does solar power work? It’s important because solar power is recognized as being the cleanest and most viable form of renewable energy obtainable in the world today. The technology involved with solar power is quickly becoming fabulously common and in fact universal. Solar power is not only more affordable, it is better for the environment so it should appeal to one and all!

How does solar power work around the home? It’s fundamentally up to you how you want to utilise it. Solar power can be used to heat water, your pool, or even with your central heating. You do have to expend some money upfront in order to get the required equipment, but even within as little as a few months after that you will have made your money back and will only be saving money, or even earning money because in some cases you can sell excess power to your electric company!

Solar power has been applied almost from the beginning of man, but only recently has it really become known as being the tremendous resource that it is. Also, by using solar power you will not only be saving yourself as much money as possible but you will also be saving the environment! Now imagine how solar energy will work for you.

Looking to find the best deal on solar systems power, then visit http://historyofsolarpower.com to find the best advice on design solar panel for you.

• Documentary Filmmaking This is a special article written for us by James N. Weber. He has worked on Socially Aware Media, especially documentaries, in South Africa, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, and Mexico, and is currently working on a project on food security in Guatemala. His work and more info can be found......
• The value of photographic prints Stephan R. Lewis is a professional photographer. He accepted to share his knowledge with us, with this exclusive article. The value of photographic prints I have been in the photo industry trenches for a long time and have watched many things come and go in popularity. When I say 'trenches'......
• On Canvas Art Charles Veilleux wrote this exclusive article for us. Charles is the owner of Veilleux Fine Art. On May 31, 2009, Veilleux Fine Art transitions into a private artist studio tour business. Charles has owned and operated contemporary art galleries in Santa Fe since 1993. On Canvas Art Art a term......
• To the audience of music Gunnar Colding is a former professional cellist who for 25 years has been employed by chamber orchestras as well as symphony orchestras of Sweden. This is an exceptional article he wrote for us. To the audience of music There was recently given a concert in New York mainly consisting of......
• Music, Movies and Independent Films In this exclusive interview, Todd Cericola, owner of Clocktower Pictures, talks about his movie studio, about music in movies and about the independent productions world. Manuel Marino: When did you start your movie studio and how did you have the idea? Todd Cericola: Clocktower Pictures was started in February of......

• Edges Of Using Solar Power Energy - Its Environmental, Economic, Tax And Social Benefits There are many edges of using solar power energy, it is categories into environmental, economic, tax and social advantages. If you plan to buy a solar power system to use for your house or your office, then you would be doing as alternative scores of people that are conscious of......
• Why everything should be solar powered. Ok, so maybe not everything. I wouldn't want someone on life support to be dependent on a solar panel on the roof to keep him or her alive. But there are a lot of things in this world that could be powered for no cost at all except for......
• The Big List: 1,019 Different Ways To Save Money. OK, times are tough - We all know it. Right now, you might be worrying about how to pay for groceries or the gasoline in your car, and we can use all the help you can get to stretch each and every dollar. Luckily, I have a few friends that......
• EarthTalk: "Smart grid" Technology For Conserving Energy. Dear EarthTalk: What is the so-called “smart grid” I've been hearing about, and how can it save energy and money? America’s electricity grid is built upon what many consider to be an antiquated principle: Make large amounts of electricity and have it always available to end users whether they need......
• Solar-Powered Camping Products Let's face it: if you're going to be taking an extended trip into the woods, nature doesn't exactly provide power outlets with every tree. The more rustic your camping experience will be, the more you're going to depend on unusual sources for power and energy. Luckily, we have solar technology......

Companies that are large in size will find it pretty simple to rent out large independent spaces to showcase their products and services. On the other hand, companies that are smaller in size will be forced into renting smaller modules that may be crafted specifically to meet their requirements. It makes sense for the trade exhibitors to rent spaces to small companies at attractive charges.

Of course, before you rent space at any trade show you must know all that there is to know about the character, nature as well as purpose of the trade show. Also, you need to be familiar with its location and date as well as about who else is participating and what they are displaying. Plus, you will also do well to find out about any limitations as well.

After determining a particular size for your trade show rental displays you must then look at other factors that include banners and signs and other advertisement forms that will help to make your rental display more attractive and beneficial.

You need to also realize that no two industries will have the same show and in fact each will be specialized so as to ensure making a more dramatic impact on the user and consumer. When it comes to displaying your wares at a specialized trade show you must first collect information about the market and competitors including those from previous trade show. Then you will need to find out how effective the space was and only if you are convinced about the benefits of renting the space, should you rent it.

It is also a good idea to bargain for more attractive rent as well as facilities and so be sure to look for better flexibility in so far as displaying your products go. If many others are also trying to rent out the same space be sure that you check out incoming shows and events so that you have a few other options to choose from.

Rental contracts are indeed very important aspect to choosing trade show rental displays. So, be sure to go over the document with a fin comb and do not sign it until you are convinced that it is good for you. Be sure to check that there are no hidden charges or clauses and also ensure that the contract is watertight and the wording unambiguous.

To set up the display you may want to stick to using designed exhibits that are simple rather than complicated and you should survey the needs of customers and also research the better booth rental companies till you find one that is better than the rest.

Finally, the benefits of picking the right trade show rental displays are many and in fact as long as you are able to pick displays that offer full satisfaction in displaying your wares effectively and properly, there will be much to derive from making use of the display.

Click here for more information on Trade Show Rentals and Rental Exhibits

• Top Ten Sitcoms of All Time 10. Three's Company. Premiered in the 1970s when the show's content was considered shocking. A guy who lived with two girls was taboo. Very much taboo. The Dick Van Dyke Show. Who hasn't heard of this show? And for those fortunate enough to watch it in it's prime. It is......
• Reading for fun This is a nice article from Isaac Marion. Isaac has been running the online textual variety show, BurningBuilding.com, since 2003. He lives in Seattle, Washington, where he works various mundane jobs while trying to make his writing/music/art career take off. Reading for fun Recent studies have shown that across the......
• Music Biz Marcos Marado wrote this exclusive article about Music Biz. Is the situation really so dramatic as he explains? Leave your comments, this could be our first really important debate on ManuelMarino.com. Music Biz I'm, first of all, a passionate for music. My passion for music before I can recall it,......
• The value of photographic prints Stephan R. Lewis is a professional photographer. He accepted to share his knowledge with us, with this exclusive article. The value of photographic prints I have been in the photo industry trenches for a long time and have watched many things come and go in popularity. When I say 'trenches'......
• Creating Clouds Frank Kane job is very particular... he creates clouds! He can do it through his C++ library for real-time sky and 3D cloud rendering, used worldwide by scores of games and visual simulation applications on the Windows platform. Its name is SilverLining. Creating Clouds Manuel Marino: Your sky and clouds......

• Why Big Companies Are Blogging? There are still some old school business people out there that consider the whole idea of blogging for their business rather ridiculous. Unfortunately for these people, they will never understand that the world is changing and blogging is a whole lot more than just a bunch of people in their......
• Venetian Macao books 26 Trade Shows Las Vegas Sands must be on a roll in Macau, first having the largest casino in the world and now ranking up trade shows for its yet to open the Venetian Macao! There are big changes coming along for Macau! See full article at Hotel Travel News - In Macao,......
• Trade Shows Contract to Take Residence at The Venetian Macao . LAS VEGAS, May 10, 2006 - Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) today added to its trade show presence in Asia by announcing that the company has negotiated and signed contracts for five multi-year trade shows that combined represent 13 separate events. The company also said it has......
• How you can make money in trade shows It is just but natural to find ways to make more money if you own a business.And one way you can do this is through marketing.  But one way of marketing that may not be used as much as it should be is trade shows.In this article we are going......
• 5 Mistakes Internet Marketers Make You have probably heard business owners complaining that their Internet marketing strategy is just not working.   And when you ask them what exactly their Internet marketing strategies are, they all tell you a similar story. It's easy to realize that when Internet marketing SEO is concerned, people are making a......

Here’s how the deception appears to your amazed observers. You have all the cards of the same suit taken out of the deck. So you’ve got all the hearts, or clubs, or whatever. Have them prearranged in order, starting from the ace, and ending with the king. If you are doing this with kids, you can even have them set the deck up for them.

After you’ve got it set up, then you go through the deck once, showing them all that they are definitely in order, beginning from the ace, and ending at the king. If you like you can offer them the short stack and have them confirm for themselves to make sure there is nothing odd going on.

Then clarify the secret to them. You have the stack face down. If they say “deal,” then you take one card off the top, and place it face down on the desk, in a new stack. If they say “double deal” then you take two cards off the top, reverse the order and then place them face down in the same stack. Do this until you’ve gone through all the cards. Tell them that they have to memorize the new order that the cards are in. While they are industriously trying to re calculate the order, you pick up the new stack, and begin to turn each card over one by one. They will be astounded to see that the cards are still in the same order, starting from the ace, up to the king.

Most often, they will ask you to do it again, and again. And the cool part is, since this is a self working trick, they can do it themselves and it will still work. The reason it works should be obvious once you do this a few times. If you take only one card off the top, and place it in the new stack, (deal), or take two cards, and reverse the order, placing them in the new stack (double deal) they still end up in the same order, no matter if you deal or double deal them. To observe how this works, do the trick with all the cards facing up, and you’ll see how it works out.

This is incredible for kids of all ages, and several of them will never estimate how it works even after they do the trick themselves. Of course, you’ll occasionally run into a young academic or natural mathematician who’ll see right through this trick and comprehend how it’s down. Nonetheless, this trick is magnificent for everlasting amounts of amusement, even with adults. Have fun with this easy trick.

To learn the shockingly easy secret of Magic Tricks Revealed, head on over to Miles Sunkest’s Magic Tricks Revealed page now.

• Living as Independent Developer Today we interview Andres Martinez, owner of baKno, a game development studio located in Key Biscayne, Florida. They are a group of video game enthusiasts committed to developing new ways to deliver fun, interactive and challenging software. Living as Independent Developer Manuel Marino: You declare yourself and your team as......
• My personal collection of book trade ephemera Benjamin Clark is the Curator of Education for the Oklahoma Museum of History. Benjamin wrote this exclusive and very interesting article for us. He retains copyright of the first image and the text, of course. The second image is in the public domain. My personal collection of book trade ephemera......
• Comic Art Mike Dominic wrote this article for us. He is a freelance illustrator and comic artist living in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He has produced work for both print and online comics, including his own webcomic, The Journals of Simon Pariah. He has written articles about comics for Sketch magazine and 24......
• Two Words from a Greek Painter Yanna Brouzou is a talented Greek painter. She is also a member of my Yahoo Group. She said me: I am a classical painter (I do sculpture as well) and I am in search of a manager. There is no such thing over here! But that is all I......
• An Artist Portrait (Part Two) This is the Part Two (and final part) of the true life story as artist written by Frank V. Cahoj for our Weblog. (Part One) An Artist Portrait (Part Two) I give an unbelievable amount of credence to these two early periods in my life: one of everlasting creation, one......

• How To Change Your Life: Part 4 – Taking Action Image by SuperFantastic via Flickr This is the fourth post in a series on how to change your life. If you want to start at the beginning of the series, head on over to: How To Change Your Life: Part 1 – Become Clear. Before we talk about taking......
• Archos 5 Internet Media Tablet w/ Android Review Pt 2 (App Overview & Adding/Deleting Icons) www.techreviewonline.co.uk video review. Please join our forums. $299 16gb version, I purchased a 8gb Micro sdhc card to increase the storage capability. Please ask me if you want me to Review a particular android app/game that you want to see on the Archos 5 internet media tablet especially to......
• Gift card adventures I took my son to get something to eat the other day. He had a gift card that he was going to use for part of the cost. The store was empty when we walked in, so he ordered and talked pleasantly with the workers while they fixed the meal.......
• Fancy Watch Update A couple of readers thought that an expensive watch was a waste of money and that a similar looking or similar functioning watch could be had at a fraction of the cost. I totally agree with them. Someone rightly said "Spend money on experiences, not material things". And I don't......
• Consumers Need to Exercise Caution as Credit Card Rates Climb Many consumers are finding that even though they have had the same credit card for years, and have paid the balances off completely every month, their monthly statements are suddenly appearing with a surprise: An interest rate hike by as much as three percentage points. Some consumers are not worried......

A small notebook and a pen are very essential to any aspiring stand up comedian. Always bring these with you whenever you go as you can’t tell the time when an idea will cross your mind. In case it does, make sure to jot it down so you won’t easily forget it.

Write whatever you think is funny, but do not restrict your creativity on writing for a character. When you are on stage just be yourself and let your own character come to life as you deliver your jokes and it will just come out naturally. Never set foot onstage not knowing what to say or where to begin. Remember that in comedy, timing is everything. You will also need to master your ad lib in case you suddenly forget your script. This will make you save yourself from embarrassment. Even your mistakes will be funny.

Before going onstage, know whom you are performing for so that you can come up with an appropriate setting. Do not belittle your audience and do not act superior to them because it is embarrassing if the audience dislikes you.

Keep in mind that even before you start opening your mouth, your audience may already have formed an opinion about you, but don’t let it intimidate you. Approach the crowd with extreme confidence but without appearing showy. Take control of the situation and make your audience feel relaxed and comfortable.

Many professional comedians have fixed schedules on certain venues. If you have to perform several times a week in one given place, come out with new antics and new sets of jokes every time. You have to consider the possibility that you may be performing before the same group of people and they will certainly not want to hear the same jokes again and again. Explore your creativity and try out different styles.

If you are not taking charge of the situation, you will begin to lose your audience’s confidence, and you certainly wouldn’t want that; else you’d just have to consider getting a career change instead.

Pursuing a career as a comedian is not a joke. Practicing and learning how to deliver a joke with the right timing are very significant to a good comedian. You have to be prepared because it is going to be a long way for you to go and the pay sometimes is not as rewarding as the effort. Stay funny and know what makes your audience laugh; then, you will be fulfilling your goals soon.

Hank Evans appreciates you taking the time to read this article. If you enjoyed it, you are invited to visit Hank Evans at Watch NCIS Online and Watch Royal Pains Episodes Online.

• The B52’s, London Roundhouse Wade Crawley is back with a great B52 concert review! If you remember, Wade wrote for us Punk music in the late seventies. Now read his new exclusive article for ManuelMarino.com! The B52’s, London Roundhouse It was on a hot and very sweaty summer night in London’s trendy Camden and......
• Film transfer, a graphical Art Today we talk about film transfer. Indeed, it's a technical process, so where can we find Art in this procedure? Often it is just a conversion of a Super 8 film to DVD or also 8mm to DVD, but sometimes it involves creative skills in restoring fragile 8mm, Super 8,......
• A Beautiful Interview Ceri Shaw suggested me an interview from our friends at Americymru. So here's this beautiful interview with Dr. Karl Jenkins (I include also the link to their ticket giveaway competition for his performance at Carnegie Hall NY on March 6th 2010). A Beautiful Interview Dr. Karl Jenkins is Britain's greatest......
• On Canvas Art Charles Veilleux wrote this exclusive article for us. Charles is the owner of Veilleux Fine Art. On May 31, 2009, Veilleux Fine Art transitions into a private artist studio tour business. Charles has owned and operated contemporary art galleries in Santa Fe since 1993. On Canvas Art Art a term......
• Raymond Thoughts about Games and Arts Today we interview Raymond Jacobs, owner of Ethereal Darkness Interactive. Founded in 2002 Ethereal Darkness Interactive is commited to developing quality indie games with high production values. Raymond talks about his latest project, Morning's Wrath 2, about videogames, Arts and technology. Raymond Thoughts about Games and Arts Manuel Marino: You......

• Our Early Retirement Plan: Motivation, Numbers & Tools, and Conclusion (Part 5) If you are just starting this, I suggest you start at The Introduction - Part 0. Alternatively, you can jump to Our Early Retirement Plan: Where We Are Now (Part 1), Our Early Retirement Plan: My Personal Income (Part 2), Our Early Retirement Plan: My Wife’s Plan (Part 3), or......
• No Punishment I lost my father tragically, and his spirit was very intense and there in the house a long time. In the fullness of a life, the course of a life fully lived, the body fails not from a loss of energy, but from having grown in energy beyond the bodies......
• Four Ways Facebook is Slowly Destroying You [/caption] Good Humor !! Facebook has hundreds of millions of users, and it’s put everyone from basement dwelling mouth breathers all the way to the coolest people you know on equal ground. It’s become a social phenomenon, and it doesn’t appear to be stopping anytime soon. But there could be......
• 6 Easy Preventative Measures for New Tenants Just in Case Unfortunately, not every landlord or property management is honest, and it is sometimes difficult to figure out what you should expect from such a relationship until the point where you become a tenant. Leases and contracts are designed to protect both the owner and the tenant, but there is unfortunately......
• Why do I stay in a relationship when I KNOW it is never going to work? I thank a fellow facebooker who asked me to write a post on this important topic.  As someone who did this in my days of being single, it truly is a topic that is near and dear to my heart.  Not only that, this plays out in abusive or......

All this is formed possible with the help of green screen. An actor can go to worlds that she hasn’t ever been, bringing with them situations and places that you have only dreamed of, which can be done with the strategy of the green screen that’s both convenient and cost reductive. This methodology is very common on television.

One of the best examples where this technique is employed is in the weather forecast section in news. The TV frequently presents a person standing in front of an animated globe, talking about the assorted weather conditions around the globe as clouds and raindrops are conjured up on screen. Actually, there is simply a green screen present and later the animation is added to the background. This technique is followed by pretty much all the television networks.

This technique is simple, all someone needs is a camera, a green screen and video revising software. The person has to make sure that the color is the same through without even a tiny change in the shade. The surface must be even while taping or else it is going to be extraordinarily tough to edit that express segment. Another critical point while using this technique is that the subject should contain a small amount of the same green color. However, one must note that only a minute portion of the topic can be green or in similar shades. When the subject contains a little portion of green, one can hide or minimize the impact of the edges that might appear if the perimeters are uneven or not uniform. The part of the subject coloured in green must be minimal. Else, when it is edited it will seem like there is a hole or an empty space in the subject.

Once the green screen is erected, the very next step is to shoot the topic. To achieve perfection using this technique, the subject should have a well defined outline as it’s going to be better to trace and cut the subject out and superimpose it onto the new background. There should be no loose edges on the topic and the lighting has to be absolutely perfect. The camera should focus on the subject and not on the background. This is critical as the topic may not look clear when it comes time for editing. This method gives the best results when shot in the out of doors.

There are a lot of other websites giving various forms of advice on how to use green screen but a lot of them are not very detailed or concise. Before following these, make sure to check my own articles and reviews on Green Screen and Green Screen , additionally, you can reach me at phillipguye@hotmail.com or 1-323-851-3825

• Ragtime! “Perfessor” Bill Edwards wrote this exclusive writing about his passion, Ragtime! It's a personal and entertaining article as well as enlightening. Ragtime! So Manuel finds me and he asks me to contribute something here in my field of expertise. “Write something about ragtime,” which is passion and profession. Really? Kewl.......
• Freelance journalism Christian Toto is a Denver-based freelance reporter specializing in arts reporting. He can be heard on three US radio stations, as well as occasionally on "The Dennis Miller Show," which airs across the country. He got his first byline as a young boy with his hometown newspaper. He reviewed "Close......
• Punk music in the late seventies Wade Crawley said me "I propose to write an article about the influence of punk and indie music and culture on a young person (myself) coming of age in England in the late seventies and early eighties". I accepted, and Wade wrote this article! I must add also these more......
• Putting a value on your vinyl collection This is another article from author Robert Benson. He writes about rock/pop music, vinyl record collecting and operates CollectingVinylRecords.com, where you can pick up a copy of his ebook called "The Fascinating Hobby of Vinyl Record Collecting." Stephen M.H. Braitman Putting a value on your vinyl collection The value of......
• Music, Movies and Independent Films In this exclusive interview, Todd Cericola, owner of Clocktower Pictures, talks about his movie studio, about music in movies and about the independent productions world. Manuel Marino: When did you start your movie studio and how did you have the idea? Todd Cericola: Clocktower Pictures was started in February of......

• 24 Potential Blockbusters and Lackluster Movies in 2010 [/caption] 2009 was a top year for movies, with highlights including Watchmen, UP and District 9. 2010 opens up a whole host of wonderment to bedazzle and entertain. But how to navigate your way through the dizzying array of movies on release in 2010? This list should help identify the......
• ABC's UN-BROKE: Personal Finance For Dummies, or Useful Infotainment? Did you see UN-BROKE: What You Need To Know About Money On ABC Friday night?  Starring Seth Green, Samuel L. Jackson and Christian Slater, the one-time special purports to help educate us (or those who don't know) about personal finance.  We can call it the celebrification of personal finance. I......
• Green Fishing and Boating As the environment becomes a bigger concern, it has never been more important to practice green fishing and boating techniques. There are many ways that you can enjoy your favorite hobbies and still be eco-friendly. It is vital to preserve the state of our waterways and to ensure that there......
• LA Green Screen: What To Look For There are an a variety of benefits you can get by trying LA Green screen in your picture or film production. Firstly, the utilization of green screens is cost reductive, and you can save up a pretty big amount of money by trying this simple technology in your production.......
• Fundamental Seduction Techniques Seduce her with seduction techniques. That is what your guy friends ask you to do after you tell them that you want to pick up this girl that you are attacted to. But how do you do this? According to dating professionals, that there are seduction strategies you can apply to sweep your special lady up......

The Dick Van Dyke Show. Who hasn’t heard of this show? And for those fortunate enough to watch it in it’s prime. It is well deserving of it’s position in this list.

Arrested Development. This show, which revolved around the lives of the Bluth family, was created by none other than Ron Howard. Very funny with absolutely hilarious characters. However, this show only enjoyed a short run on the air.

7. It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia. A very funny show which gives off the same vibe as Seinfeld but with a more adult theme added to it. You will love the characters.

6. I Love Lucy. This show first aired in 1951 and you can still catch the re-runs on the tube. Shows how popular this sitcom was and still is. In fact, you can catch Lucy lovers as there are conventions across America.

5. Curb Your Enthusiasm comes from the creator of Seinfeld. A very funny television show which tends to use some profanity during the episodes. Very funny and packed with sexual innuendos.

Four. The Simpsons. Yes, it’s a cartoon. But a cartoon that has been making us all laugh for 20 odd years.

Three. All In The Family. Not slap stick, laughing and rolling out of your chair funny, but funny just the same and incredibly ground breaking.

Seinfeld. Ensured to become a classic, this television show was hot right out of the gates all the way until the final episode where the final line of the show just happened to be the very first line on the very first episode; these details are what made this show so funny.

The Honeymooners. How funny can 4 characters in a kitchen be? Apparently, very funny. Insanely funny in fact and this show is still being aired on television for that very fact.

This article was written and provided by Wayne Torres; if you got a kick out of it or found in interesting, you can visit Wayne at Watch the Inbetweeners Online and Watch the Sopranos Online.

• E-commerce, a cultural fact? E-commerce, online marketing, shopping, globalization, innovation are all linked together. It is becoming a real huge cultural fact, to be studied, to be understood to comprehend our world and where this world is going to in the near future. E-commerce, a cultural fact? Global E-Commerce and Online Marketing: Watching the......
• Punk music in the late seventies Wade Crawley said me "I propose to write an article about the influence of punk and indie music and culture on a young person (myself) coming of age in England in the late seventies and early eighties". I accepted, and Wade wrote this article! I must add also these more......
• Growing Independent Film Industry in the Southeast Heidi Yost wrote this exclusive article. Heidi (photo) is a talented actress. In this article, she explains Film Industry situation in the southeast, talks about her experience as artist and gives also important hints for the new actors. Growing Independent Film Industry in the Southeast When I returned home to......
• Artists Psychology Here's an interesting exclusive article Roland d’Humières, 56 years old psycho-analyst from Aix en Provence (France) has written for our Weblog. I think it to be a very interesting writing about the artists psychology, or maybe "arts psychology", what's behind an artists mind. Artists Psychology Whatever is his/her Art, painting,......
• Artwork Displayed in Unusual Places Joyce Boncal wrote this exclusive article for us. Artwork Displayed in Unusual Places If you’re young, budding artist, hoping to be discovered, where can you display your artwork? There is always your own web page but I wouldn't recommend it unless you can afford to advertise that web page. This......

• Looney Tunes Cartoons Memorabilia -> Entertainment-Memorabilia -> Movie-Memorabilia While many of us recognize Looney Tunes cartoons from their run on television, they actually ran in movie theaters for 39 years, from 1930 to 1969. They were Warner Bros.'s first theatrical animated series. The term Looney Tunes also refers to the animated cast of......
• Stop Watching Commercials On Television. I no longer watch any television, if I can help it, in real time. LOST may be on at 8pm, but I rarely start watching it until about 8:20 or so. The reason? So I can skip every single commercial. I have my DVR remote programmed to skip 30 seconds......
• Utah's Attorney General, Mark Shurtleff - Hospitalized - Show Postponed print_options We here at OSA wish Attorney General Mark Shurtleff a speedy recovery, Mark Shurtleff underwent emergency surgery last Friday, and we postponed his interview on the CyberHood Watch live radio show that was scheduled for Tuesday July 1st at 1pm mst... hopefully when he is feeling better, he will......
• Buying and Selling Collectible Antiques If you have ever watched a television show like Antiques Road show, where people find out that their family heirlooms or garage sale finds are really worth a fortune, then you probably have a secret hope that you may have some valuable collectible antiques in your possession as well. It......
• Biggest Loser Diet Review Pros - This is a diet that is easy to stick with. This is a diet that has shown to produce quick results. This is a diet that offers easy to prepare meal plans. This is a diet that is easy to follow on a long term basis. This is......

Phat Funky Road

More Funk, I love Funk, yes… why not? seems the new trend of latest years. In Phat Funky Road You’ll find something reminding you Funk Rock, Funk Metal or similar.

Funk Rock is a fusion of Funk and Rock. Many instruments may be incorporated into the music, but the overall sound is defined by a definitive bass or drum beat and electric guitars. The bass and drum rhythms are influenced by Funk music but with more intensity, while the guitar can be Funk or Rock influenced, usually with distortion.

Funk Metal is a subgenre of Funk Rock that fuses elements of Heavy Metal and Funk. Allmusic has claimed that, “Funk Metal evolved in the mid-’80s when alternative bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Fishbone began playing the hybrid with a stronger Funk underpinning than Metal.”

As I said, not exactly my style, but since I like all kinds of music genres I could not refuse the temptation to try, considering also all the positive emails I’m receiving about my Funk experimentation (like Funk in Nature).

Saying more about Funk music, I would like to write few big names that have been able to blend Funk music with harder rhythms, like Rage Against the Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Living Colour but the list is very long so I suggest you to make a deep search about the topic.

• Ragtime! “Perfessor” Bill Edwards wrote this exclusive writing about his passion, Ragtime! It's a personal and entertaining article as well as enlightening. Ragtime! So Manuel finds me and he asks me to contribute something here in my field of expertise. “Write something about ragtime,” which is passion and profession. Really? Kewl.......
• Cereal, a blend of old and new Today we interview Jaques Smit, an incredible man. Just read all his current positions: Managing Director at MindNova Advertising Pty (Ltd), Marketing Director at Inland Kitesurfing Pty (Ltd), CEO at Avonstorm Entertainment, Producer at Avonstorm Pictures Pty (Ltd), Technical Director at Blo-Tant Pty (Ltd). Here is the interview and I......
• History of Music and Current Recording Industry Crisis Roger L. Bagula wrote this exclusive article for ManuelMarino.com. History of Music and Current Recording Industry Crisis In a time when the whole future of how music is distributed is in question, maybe we should look at the history of music for a guide. Many of us find music......
• Knights and Film Music Today I publish a new music track, inspired by knights, chivalry, code of honour, battles and dangerous wilderness exploration. This is a demonstration of my talent with orchestral arrangements. Knights and Film Music The Knight is an elite warrior sworn to uphold the values of courage and honour. Knighthood was......
• How Has the Internet Affected the Music Industry? This article is written by web designer Josh Gutteridge who runs Skyte Media. Skyte Media is based in the Midlands (England) and is a professional web design company that specialises in web design and development. Josh would like to receive comments about this article on his blog. But of course......

• Barlow Girl - Never alone (Official Music Video) (HD) SUBSCRIBE! Comment and rate my videos so that others can see them! ***** Band: BarlowGirl Song. Never alone Album: BarlowGirl Origin Elgin, Illinois, United States Genre(s) Christian rock, Contemporary Christian Music, Alternative rock, Rock music, Adult contemporary, Pop rock, ballad Years: active 2000 - present Label(s): Fervent Records Website......
• Metal Instruments 101 There are a range of different metal percussion instruments that can be found in the modern western orchestra, even though many of them have origins that are not only ancient in nature, but also global as well. The Anvil - The Anvil is a specific type of sound effect that......
• Barlow Girl - Never alone (Official Music Video) (HQ) SUSCRIBE! Comment and rate my videos so that others can see them! ***** Band: BarlowGirl Song. Never alone Album: BarlowGirl Origin Elgin, Illinois, United States Genre(s) Christian rock, Contemporary Christian Music, Alternative rock, Rock music, Adult contemporary, Pop rock, ballad Years: active 2000 - present Label(s): Fervent Records Website......
• barlowgirl - Beautiful Ending (Official Music Video) (HD) Band. barlowgirl Song: Beautiful Ending (Official Music Video) (HD) Album: Love & War (2009) Origin Elgin, Illinois, United States Genre(s) Christian rock, Contemporary Christian Music, Alternative rock, Rock music, Adult contemporary, Pop rock, ballad Years: active 2000 - present Label(s): Fervent Records Website www.barlowgirl.com Members Alyssa Barlow Becca Barlow......
• Sounds like a lively weekend Nottingham has a rich history of live music, with a diverse mix of venues clamouring to showcase the latest local, national and international sounds. From the Trent FM Arena and the city’s purpose-built concert halls to live mic nights at the pokiest of pubs, you’ll find plenty of acts lining......

Funk in Nature

Funk is an American music genre that originated in the late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, soul jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. While Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground, if you want to create a unique blend with modern ideas you have to re-introduce melody someway, and the flute melody is a perfect way to do this, considering how this instrument has been considered a great player in the 70s.

Like much African-inspired music, Funk typically consists of a complex groove with rhythm instruments such as electric guitar, electric bass, Hammond organ, and drums playing interlocking rhythms. Funk bands sometimes have a horn section of several saxophones, trumpets, and in some cases, a trombone, which plays rhythmic “hits”.

In my track I used the well known Clavinet sound, one of the typical Funk instruments, used very much to give a strong rhythmic fingerprint to the recordings.

A Clavinet is an electrophonic keyboard instrument manufactured by the Hohner company. It is essentially an electronically amplified clavichord, analogous to an electric guitar. Its distinctive bright staccato sound has appeared particularly in Funk, Disco, Rock, and Reggae songs.

Talking about the “natural” part of the track, New Age, Nature Music, Easy Listening and Relaxation Music, all are good terms to explain how Funk in Nature develops and distinguish itself from the rest of the piece.

There are many images coming into mind while listening to the music, sweet natural landscapes, beautiful sceneries, green valleys, brilliant rivers and blue skies. You can close your eyes and see all of this, relaxing and enjoying the unique blend of melodies and rhythm.

I can add that there is also some “Celtic flavour” in the blend, making it even more unique.

• Music Biz Marcos Marado wrote this exclusive article about Music Biz. Is the situation really so dramatic as he explains? Leave your comments, this could be our first really important debate on ManuelMarino.com. Music Biz I'm, first of all, a passionate for music. My passion for music before I can recall it,......
• Music Reviews: Wind and Wire Magazine I've been asked why there is no music reviews section. Well, if you search my name on Google.com, you'll find many pages (in English and Italian languages) that talk about my music works or music albums. So, I don't want to put a complete list of the links, but anyway......
• Stop jogging and listen to some new music I'm a big fan of 80s music. Yes, the decade that gave the world the sound of pop, the memorable 80s! I'm talking about Madonna, Michael Jackson, Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper, George Michael and many others. Well, let's focus on Madonna, eleven albums, an impressive career. Stop jogging and listen......
• To the audience of music Gunnar Colding is a former professional cellist who for 25 years has been employed by chamber orchestras as well as symphony orchestras of Sweden. This is an exceptional article he wrote for us. To the audience of music There was recently given a concert in New York mainly consisting of......
• The B52’s, London Roundhouse Wade Crawley is back with a great B52 concert review! If you remember, Wade wrote for us Punk music in the late seventies. Now read his new exclusive article for ManuelMarino.com! The B52’s, London Roundhouse It was on a hot and very sweaty summer night in London’s trendy Camden and......

• The Legacy of Jaco Pastorius - Joe Sinaguglia For over twenty years now, the planet has been without the presence of Jaco Pastorius, the revolutionary electric bass player of the 70s. He was a member of the group Weather Report and later led his own bands. Sadly, the lifestyle caught up to him in 1987. Despite his death,......
• Musical Instruments: Drums for Sale The unique thing about drums when it comes to making music is that there are so many different elements that change the sound you create when you play them. The size, shape and composition of the drum will all alter the sound that it creates. Whether you beat on the......
• Acoustic Bass Guitar as a Foundation for the Band It may seem a little backwards if you think about it, but the acoustic bass guitar did not come into existence until after the electric bass guitar had been invented. The reason for this is because the electric bass guitar came to be first, and then people began to wonder......
• Acoustic vs Electric Music Gear There are different categories of musical instrument gear, and a wide range of different musical instruments and supplies, but they can easily be supported into two broad categories, which are acoustic musical gear and electric musical gear. In other words, most musical instrument gear is capable of being classified based......
• Musical Instruments Bass When some people hear the word bass, they immediately think about the bass guitar, a popular instrument in many types of music today. However, there is actually a large number of different instruments that fall under the base category, and the bass guitar is only one of them. Bass instruments......

A Beautiful Interview

Dr. Karl Jenkins is Britain’s greatest and most versatile living composer, the author of an ocean of amazing and exalting music unlimited by genre, style or instrument. He holds a doctorate of musicology from the University of Wales and the Royal Academy of Music London. His many awards include several fellowships at various universities and an OBE (Order of the British Empire) for “services to music.” He has composed for jazz bands, orchestra and voice, for advertising, film, and live performance.

Dr. Jenkins is a native of the village of Penclawdd in the Gower peninsula, where his father was a school teacher and the choirmaster and organist of the Methodist church the family attended.

Two of his most recent works are Stabat Mater (2008), an adaptation of a 13th century Roman Catholic prayer and Stella Notalis (2009), adaptations and compositions of Christmas carols from around the world.

Americymru: You’ll be appearing as guest conductor at Carnegie Hall on March 6th . What are the circumstances and what will you be conducting?

Karl: As part of Welsh Week I’ve been asked to conduct some of my music as the first half of the concert. I have a strong relationship with Jonathan Griffith of DCINY who has arranged the event and who has been fantastic in that he has conducted and supported much of my work in the USA. On Martin Luther King Day 2010 he performed my The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace and my Requiem. On this occasion I shall be conducting Palladio [famous for its use on a TV ad for diamonds], two choral extracts, Benedictus & Ave verum [from the Armed Man & Stabat Mater respectively] and the USA premier of my Concerto for Euphonium & Orchestra played by David Childs for whom it was written Karl Jenkins Conducts “Palladio”

Americymru: You’re a musician, your wife is a musician, your son is a musician, your daughter-in-law is a musician, your father was a musician, has music always been part of your family’s life?

Karl: Well obviously that is the case. My father started the ball rolling really since he was hugely influential with regard to my musical education. He taught me piano from an early age and music was always in the house, both live & recorded. My wife Carol Barrat is a celebrated music educationalist while our son, a percussionist and film composer has just scored a Bollywood movie! His wife Rosie, whom he met in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain is currently playing oboe with the London Symphony Orchetra.

Americymru: You’ve said in other interviews and your biography that your father was the organist and choirmaster at your village’s Methodist chapel, was he the greatest musical influence in your life? Do you think you’ve been the same influence in your son’s life?

Karl: What we’ve done as parents is introduce Jody to music and by default, the musicians life so he’s quite worldly for a young man [he's 28]. We did not force him in any way and having played piano & flute as a child, he asked to play percussion when he was ten. This was his instrument and became principal in the aforementioned NYOGB, won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music [where I had studied 30 years before] and graduated with first class honours. So, he’s been his own man really but I suppose it helps in that we work in different areas. What we do all share as a family is a love of all good music, regardless of categorisation, and in any genre.

Americymru: How would you describe Welsh congregational singing to someone who’s never seen it? Would you say that growing up with that musical experience effected or enriched you as a composer?

Karl: It’s obviously hard to describe music in words but what makes it unique is the rawness of the vocal sound. On the printed page it looks like any other four part hymn but the sound, to me anyway, is hugely atmospheric especially when sung in Welsh. The sound influenced my Adiemus project which had a degree of global success. This was a mix of the ‘classical’ but with voices that were not from the European classical tradition but more “tribal”. The text was my own invented language.

Americymru: You’ve performed and composed a very wide variety of instruments and styles of music and incorporate a great variety in your work, from the 13th century Roman Catholic Stabat Mater to Japanese haiku and African folk – what inspires or directs fitting these styles together in a piece? Where do you start writing music or creating music?

Karl: My musical journey, following academic classical training at Cardiff University & the RAM, has taken in a wide variety of genres and I’ve arrived at what I do now by way of being a musical tourist. Essentially I am a composer who always looks outside the European tradition for influences, texts & instrumentation, particularly percussion. With regard starting a piece, if I’m setting words then I immediately have a peg on which to hang the piece. If it’s instrumental or Adiemus then I’m on my own! The principle is searching around for ideas [usually using a piano] and developing what takes my fancy. A huge amount of intuition is involved, but intuition based on an armoury of acquired musical craft; harmony, counterpoint, orchestration, form et.

Americymru: “Stabat” Mater (2008) is your adaptation of a 13th century Catholic liturgical hymn, in which you included an amazing variety of instruments and material from sources as wide as 13th century Persian poetry and the Epic of Gilgamesh, how did you come to create this, what was your process in expressing this?

Karl: Well the established text is there already. Then much of what I have expressed above came in to play, looking outside Europe to the Middle East/Holy Land for relevant [i.e. concerning grief] ancient text, employing languages that were lingua franca at the time and including indigenous instruments in the orchestration. The eminent Welsh poet [and academic] Grahame Davies [who wrote the words for my recently composed anthem for the National Assembly of Wales] did quite a bit of research for me with regard to the literature.

Americymru: You’ve said in interviews before that you “don’t see any point in being a composer if you don’t communicate with people,” what does that mean to you? Do you feel that response in the audience is important, that response is the “product” or goal of a piece of art or music? What response do you want to create in your audiences?

Karl: I believe music should emotionally connect with an audience; make them cry, laugh, administer ‘goose bumps! I’ve heard far too much music with ‘one man and his dog’ in the audience, the piece never heard again and the event receiving “critical acclaim”.

Americymru: Wales seems to produce a lot of musical artists who would be (or are) described as “crossover”, yourself included – do you think Wales has a musical character or tradition that inspires or tends toward experimentation or something like hybridization, a lack of adherence to artificial limitations of genre?

Karl: I don’t like to use the term cross-over. I’m not sure what it means and I’ve explained what I do above. I don’t think the Welsh like music particularly. What they do like are singers which is not necessarily the same thing. I like to think that what I do is at least individual and at least it’s new. Most albums and repertoire [not just by Welsh artists] are a series of singers singing the same songs, songs that everyone knows. Many such artists are described as opera singers when they have never sang in an opera in their lives. At least good modern ‘pop’ has more integrity since it is newly composed.

Americymru: Did you have particular creative goals as an artist and if you did, have you achieved them? What would you like to look back on at the end of your life and see that you did or created?

Karl: Following my journey, I have come relatively late in life to what I do now, but the corollary is that I would not have arrived at this point without this musical tourism and the influence and skills that have come with it. There is still much to do. I’m setting the Gloria text for a Royal Albert Hall premier in July and there is much more to do.

Americymru: Is there any particular instrument you especially like to compose for? If so, what instrument and why?

Karl: Sounds pompous [which I'm not] but my instrument is the orchestra [& choir] and the rich palette of colours it provides.

Americymru: Is there any one work or piece that you created that you’re particularly proud of or happy to have done? If so, what is it and why?

Karl: The worrying thing is that some of my most popular pieces were kind of written quickly and which I didn’t set great store by. However, I suppose the Armed Man because of it’s impact but I think there is better music in the Requiem.

Americymru: What music do you listen to for pleasure?

Karl: I listen far less than I did, most certainly because I’m always writing and I need a break! Favourites would be Mahler, Strauss, Wagner, Bach, Stravinsky, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Weather Report, Steely Dan…

• Travel Writer This is the beginning of the latest writing by Peter George Mackie. Please contact him if you want to know more about his works. The first chapter of his piece of travel writing "Flowers of Zagreb" can also be downloaded at www.authorsonline.co.uk. Travel Writer Dave was pondering over a map......
• Independent Filmmaking We're back with a new interview, to Actress and Producer Glorinda Marie. We talk about independent filmmaking, filmmakers, actors and movies industry. Here are some interesting links to check, after reading the interview: - Actress Website - imdb - SF Indieclub - Get Bizzzy Acting Coach Manuel Marino: "Glorinda, what......
• Sounds like music and networking Wizzit Magazine interviewed me about Blogging and Social Networking. I have to thank Matti Mattila, the reviewer and open networker. If you remember, Matti wrote A musician story. Here is a short excerpt from the magazine article that you can download here in pdf format. Sounds like music and......
• History of Music and Current Recording Industry Crisis Roger L. Bagula wrote this exclusive article for ManuelMarino.com. History of Music and Current Recording Industry Crisis In a time when the whole future of how music is distributed is in question, maybe we should look at the history of music for a guide. Many of us find music......
• Country Music Star Is Unleashed! Robert Benson (if you remember he wrote An Explosion of Blues Music) this time gave me a review about the next big star in Country Music, Laura Roppe (pronounced ro-pay). She has a Shania Twain-like quality and already is receiving major air play in Europe. Robert said me also that......

• 20 Ways To Prevent Diabetes Diabetes is on the increase, although very few people do know that they actually have it, it is estimated that at the time of writing this that 50,100,100 have now contracted diabetes in the United States of America . I am sure you'll agree that is a phenomenally huge figure......
• Even More Tips for Getting More Fruits and Vegetables Most people are not getting enough fruits and vegetables, despite the fact that there is such a large variety to choose from. Here are some great tips for how you can get pack more healthy fruits and vegetables into your life for a number of added health benefits that will......
• Movie Review: Ghosts of Girlfriends Past starring Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner This is a fabulous contemporary update of the Christmas Carol. Matthew McConaughey is Connor Mead. Connor is the new Mr. Scrooge, except he’s gorgeous, charming, and wealthy. So what’s wrong with the guy? Connor is a miser, just like Scrooge. How? Unlike Scrooge, Connor withholds love/feelings instead of money/possessions. Just......
• On the shoulders of a mother's love [/caption] By Wang Huazhong (China Daily) Unlike most people who connect the image of a loving mother with a smiling face, Xiong Mingqiang visualizes the pair of thin shoulders that have carried him for 35 years. Born with a deformity, Xiong's head is disproportionately large for his small 80-cm tall......
• Law of Attraction Plus the Law of Action Remember the movie The Secret It came out in 2006 and focused on the Law of Attraction and how simply thinking about the things you wanted would help you get them. Dan Clark in his keynote speech in 2009 for Liberty Tax mentioned that the Law of Attraction didn't......

Ok, let’s start then. The first page is the Music Demos page here at ManuelMarino.com.

You can find it also in the top bar, title is of course Listen to Music Online.

In this page I’ve collected the latest tracks I’ve produced in 2009, mainly orchestral and film music, but there is also Astronauts and Funk Music whis is a mix of different styles, from choral to jazz, pop and funk.

You can access also to my Free Mp3 Player.

This Mp3 Player contains mixes from old tracks, mainly 1999 produced tracks, and later years.

These tracks come from my old archive of my CD’s published on Mp3.com in those years but there are also independent demos made just for fun and to show my talent as composer and producer.

After Mp3.com experience, I focused on games soundtracks and you can listen to some of them through my MarinoSounds.com Studio page.

Just check the pages of the multimedia projects listed in the homepage.

Last but not least, MarinoSounds.com has been totally renewed, new graphics and new design. There is also a new logo saying Blasting your mind with unique sounds.

• Astronauts and Funk Music Today I create a new category, named 2009 Music Demos, where I'll publish totally new music tracks made with the latest gears but with the same talent behind: myself :) These tracks are demonstrations of my skills and creative ideas and in each post I'll explain the inspiration that moves......
• American Music and Vintage Guitars Mark Weakley is an impressive artist; sculptor, painter, musician. He plays guitar, banjo and harmonica, and has recently recorded a CD of his original compositions. In this exclusive article he talks about himself, about his passions, about his father, about traditional american music, about vintage guitars and banjoes, and much......
• Stop jogging and listen to some new music I'm a big fan of 80s music. Yes, the decade that gave the world the sound of pop, the memorable 80s! I'm talking about Madonna, Michael Jackson, Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper, George Michael and many others. Well, let's focus on Madonna, eleven albums, an impressive career. Stop jogging and listen......
• Game Engine Dr. Roberto Dillon has written this article about his Music-Emotion Driven Game Engine. I think this idea to really have potential. Game Engine In the fast developing world of videogames, sound has traditionally played a less important role than other features, such as graphics. Nonetheless, recently, due to the latest......
• Music Biz Marcos Marado wrote this exclusive article about Music Biz. Is the situation really so dramatic as he explains? Leave your comments, this could be our first really important debate on ManuelMarino.com. Music Biz I'm, first of all, a passionate for music. My passion for music before I can recall it,......

• Middleman Beware: The Internet is Making You Obsolete I'm not an expert in business trends by any means, but it really seems like the disintermediation opportunities the Internet provides is beginning to replace, well... almost everything. Think about this for a moment. Where do you check the morning news? Where do you get your music? Manage your money?......
• Top 100 Tools and Resources for YouTube [/caption] YouTube is still the undisputed king of video sharing on the web, so it only makes sense that there would be a slew of tricks and tools for it. From Adobe AIR applications that let you download videos to Firefox extensions that protect you from RickRolls, and much more,......
• New Flash Arcade Site PorkchopGames.com Check out http://porkchopgames.com an arcade site created by me.  All the games are free and load fast, earn points when you sign up and play and new games will be added daily. You can also copy the code and add them to you're own site, facebook, anywhere. I created the......
• Checkout BillEater.com There are a lot of personal finance sites out on the web, some of which have been around just a few weeks and others that have been around for several years. Normally I don't toot other blogger's horns too much, but I've found another financial web-log that's definitely worth checking......
• Network flaw causes scary Web error [/caption] SAN FRANCISCO (AP) —A Georgia mother and her two daughters logged onto Facebook from mobile phones last weekend and wound up in a startling place: strangers' accounts with full access to troves of private information. The glitch -- the result of a routing problem at the family's wireless carrier,......

On Canvas Art

Art a term that is used so broadly, not to mention Modern Art comes with varied opinions, revised histories finally noting the women artists of history, and many categories. So, were do we begin?

Having worked in the gallery world for 28 years and being an artist myself I am sure that my views are varied further to say the least.

Contemporary Art, also have many definitions, it can quite simply mean living artists. It has also become a term that catches art that usually is not representational. It also can mean artists that push media to the limits presenting them in a new and contemporary way.

So, art in the modern time encompasses so many things which are exciting, challenging, and controversial at times. This art is a deep expression of the artists creating in a world that for lack of a better word currently dwells on the negative which is often the exact opposite of most artists’ works. It is true that many art images are a direct reflection of the times with images that cry out for social change, this can also be noted throughout history during times of war, and crimes against man and nature.

Living and working in the Santa Fe, the second largest art market in the United States, I tend to look at art as beauty, uplifting and inspiring.

With that said, you can see almost anything in Santa Fe; from the roots of the Native American and Spanish history so very rich in the culture here to everything else. Having the only Museum dedicated to a woman artist, Georgia O’Keeffe, to the NM Museum of Art, and the International Folk Art Museum, and the Native American Museum to name just a few of many.

Along side of the museums are over 200 art galleries making Santa Fe an art center of the southwest. We have the pioneer galleries that brought contemporary art to Santa Fe before it was popular here to now having a very large selection of contemporary galleries including Veilleux Fine Art.

Often times I am asked about how to invest in art, or why to collect a certain artist, of do I think it will match the sofa? All good and important questions as you are selecting something very personal for your home or office.

My response is that you should buy art because you love it. All the other factors will work themselves out. If you collect what you love it will go with the sofa and the artist may be a noted artist in history one day. Of course it is always good to know what level an artist is currently, which is often reflected in the pricing of an artist.

Then there is always the current trend in art which seems to be Asian at the moment, so you will see serge of art in American galleries and museums. I often wonder why everyone hops on the band wagon with trendy art. With that said, there is room for all art as it is the creative expression of the artist weather we appreciate it or not. If art provokes emotion that it truly has done its job.

• Social Networking and the Left Coast Eisteddfod 2009 Ceri Shaw is a Web Designer and freelance writer. If you remember, he wrote What is Anglo-Welsh Literature and why Should Anyone Care?. Ceri is a former college lecturer from Cardiff, South Wales. He wrote this article for us. Social Networking and the Left Coast Eisteddfod 2009 There is an......
• Raymond Thoughts about Games and Arts Today we interview Raymond Jacobs, owner of Ethereal Darkness Interactive. Founded in 2002 Ethereal Darkness Interactive is commited to developing quality indie games with high production values. Raymond talks about his latest project, Morning's Wrath 2, about videogames, Arts and technology. Raymond Thoughts about Games and Arts Manuel Marino: You......
• Two Words from a Greek Painter Yanna Brouzou is a talented Greek painter. She is also a member of my Yahoo Group. She said me: I am a classical painter (I do sculpture as well) and I am in search of a manager. There is no such thing over here! But that is all I......
• Inspired by nature Artist Robert Tucker talks about himself and his artist experience in this exclusive article. Inspired by nature The glorious portal of a new year is again upon me. My mind has wondered since the start of 2008 as to which direction my creative self will take. For me a......
• The Emperor's New Clothes Ananda Sukarlan is an Indonesian composer and pianist living in Spain. This is an article he wrote for a magazine which has been published a few years ago in Spanish. We are very proud to have the original in English which has never been published anywhere, so this is......

• Art Stroll in Celebration Art Stroll in Celebration November 6; 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. Lakeside Park The first ever Art Stroll in Celebration is on November 6 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Come meet our talented artists. They will have their easels and tables set up and be in the creative process painting, drawing and more......
• Martial Artist: When Is It The Right Time To Kill Your Opponent? For martial artist and people who know a lot about it....when is it the right time to kill your opponent...like what circumstances or dangers must you or others be in that you must kill your opponent?....Basicly, when is it the right time to kill as a martial artist? I'm writing......
• Connoisseurs' Marketplace Menlo Park : aka Menlo Park Street Fair This year will be the year to top all years before! the Menlo Park Chamber of Commerce has outdone themselves, yet again, in organizing an amazing event for everyone in the SF Bay Area! On Saturday July 19th and Sunday July 20th, Santa Cruz Avenue in downtown Menlo Park......
• Native American Pottery Collecting Collecting Native American pottery is enjoyable and rewarding. Learn what to look for when collecting Native American pottery.nn...
• Japanese Art Collectibles -> Cultures-Ethnicities -> Asian Japanese art is a type of art that has a very distinctive look. If a painting, a vase, a sculpture or some other type of art is Japanese, particularly if it’s antique art, it usually only takes a quick look for you to recognize the......

Knights and Film Music

The Knight is an elite warrior sworn to uphold the values of courage and honour.

Knighthood was characterized by two elements, feudalism and service as a mounted combatant. Both arose under the reign of the Frankish emperor Charlemagne, from which the knighthood of the Middle Ages can be seen to have had its genesis.

Knights were trained in hunting, fighting, and riding. They were also trained to practise courteous, honorable behaviour, which was extremely important.

This behaviour was a Code of Honour, made of solemn oaths, like to protect the people and to live by honour and for glory.

Danger was part of a Knight’s life, and you can feel dangerous surroundings in this orchestral demo.

Part of the track is from the music soundtrack I’m composing and producing for the Nintendo DS videogame Baalzebul. It is an innovative fantasy role play game. The first playable demo will be completed soon.

• Listen to Music Online Many asked me to write a post about the Music Pages I've got in my websites, so you can easily Listen to Music Online :) Ok, let's start then. The first page is the Music Demos page here at ManuelMarino.com. You can find it also in the top bar, title......
• Music Arts, Orchestra Music, Music Compositions... Music Arts, Orchestra Music, Music Compositions... being Artists, Fine Arts, Poetry... In few words: Music, Arts, People and Ideas. What links all these words together? It’s not difficult. But first let’s begin studying the term “artist”. It means “One, such as a painter, sculptor, or writer, who is able by......
• Game Dev Famous Game Dev Vince Desi writes for our Weblog! He will write a series of articles, and this is the Part One of an article about being successful in Independent VideoGame Developer Art! Become a famous Game Dev now! Game Dev (Part One) Part 1. The 3 Essential Elements: I......
• Funk in Nature Funk Music is still very popular, after all these years. This song is a great tribute to this genre. While I composed it having in mind Funk Music and its variations, I created a blend with other styles and modern ideas. The cocktail of music notes resulting of this blend......
• Music Biz Marcos Marado wrote this exclusive article about Music Biz. Is the situation really so dramatic as he explains? Leave your comments, this could be our first really important debate on ManuelMarino.com. Music Biz I'm, first of all, a passionate for music. My passion for music before I can recall it,......

• Renewing the Folk Music Movement with Acoustic Musical Instruments Seth Lakeman, a folk music star that is nominated for a Mercury Prize has been talking about the acoustic of folk music and acoustic musical instruments. For example, Lily Allen's new single is featuring a banjo solo, which would not have happened in years past but now apparently seems to......
• shifting tastes What makes someone who loved "Louder Than Bombs" by the Smiths in the 80s listen to Madeleine Peyroux in 2007?  Here is a proposal:  there are three types of music lovers.  One loves music in general, and their tastes evolve with the times.  Another loves a specific type of......
• The Role of Media in Music Teaching Media and arts influence our society in ways we are often not aware of. Growing up surrounded by television, radio, and movies, we often take the images and information they present for granted. Do you ever stop to think about how your interests have been shaped by what you see......
• 55 Academy Award Achievements [/caption] With the Oscars right around the corner I thought it would be fun to put together an Academy Award list. Because there are so many Oscar lists out there I wanted to do a unique list in a hopefully fun and entertaining format. This bottom to top list (10......
• Dominion Cast 23 - Anime-zing Classics Marcel, Heaven, myself and Hunin discuss Anime of the ages. We contemplate it's influence on our own home grown Americanime (Hunin's term), discuss our views on hentai and debate if Japan is bigger than Manhattan. Dominion Cast 23 download (46 mins. 43MB) Music from demo by fonetik Dr. Tran New......

These tracks are demonstrations of my skills and creative ideas and in each post I’ll explain the inspiration that moves them, the images I would like you to see while listening to them and the feelings.

Astronauts and Funk Music

This first post is dedicated to big 80s space operas, movies, novels and sci-fi culture. This is also a trip to old good 80s with their catchy rhythms, synths and guitars.

This first demo starts with a space choir, an opening orchestra and choir theme, I can say epic and grand, that creates images of galaxies, shuttles, astronauts and the infinity of the universe.

The choir evolves into a rock instrumental piece, with 80s synth effects that add a spacey feel to the entire track. I can name it “space rock”.

The next style is jazz, a universal style that will never end to please our ears, today, and in the next centuries.

Synths are back in an 80s pop mix, while a really catching funk part ends the demonstration, making us really uplifting and excited.

I dedicate this music work to Richard Garriott, Lord British in Ultima and significant figure in the video game industry.

On October 12, 2008, Garriott launched aboard Soyuz TMA-13 to the International Space Station as a self-funded tourist, returning safely 12 days later aboard Soyuz TMA-12.

• Vinyl Collection Today we interview Robert Benson, who wrote the ebook called "The Fascinating Hobby Of Vinyl Record Collecting". Vinyl Collection MM: Robert, when did you have the idea to write a book about Vinyl Record Collecting? It is an unusual (but also very fascinating) topic. RB: The ebook started out as......
• Music Biz Marcos Marado wrote this exclusive article about Music Biz. Is the situation really so dramatic as he explains? Leave your comments, this could be our first really important debate on ManuelMarino.com. Music Biz I'm, first of all, a passionate for music. My passion for music before I can recall it,......
• Putting a value on your vinyl collection This is another article from author Robert Benson. He writes about rock/pop music, vinyl record collecting and operates CollectingVinylRecords.com, where you can pick up a copy of his ebook called "The Fascinating Hobby of Vinyl Record Collecting." Stephen M.H. Braitman Putting a value on your vinyl collection The value of......
• How Has the Internet Affected the Music Industry? This article is written by web designer Josh Gutteridge who runs Skyte Media. Skyte Media is based in the Midlands (England) and is a professional web design company that specialises in web design and development. Josh would like to receive comments about this article on his blog. But of course......
• Knights and Film Music Today I publish a new music track, inspired by knights, chivalry, code of honour, battles and dangerous wilderness exploration. This is a demonstration of my talent with orchestral arrangements. Knights and Film Music The Knight is an elite warrior sworn to uphold the values of courage and honour. Knighthood was......

• Bob Marley Heirs Try To Sink Pirates Jamaican reggae music icon, the late Bob Marley, is experiencing record sales of his music and merchandise since his death from brain cancer in 1981. Only trouble is, from the estimated $600 million annually his sounds and likeness earn, a paltry $4 million is from legally licensed products. So,......
• Golf industry experts optimistic that Tiger Woods's absence will have limited economic impact [/caption] By Rick Lipsey, Writer-Reporter, Sports Illustrated (Golf Plus) There have been a lot of gloomy predictions about the impact the Tiger Woods scandal, and his self-imposed hiatus, might have on America's annual $75 billion golf economy. Many industry experts say that fears are overblown, however, and they are optimistic......
• 500 More Useless Facts [/caption] Most American car horns honk in the key of F. The name Wendy was made up for the book "Peter Pan." Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts. Every time you lick a stamp, you consume 1/10 of a calorie. The average person falls asleep in seven minutes. Studies......
• Lake Pillsbury    Lake Pillsbury   Lake Pillsbury is located in: Upper Lake, CA Phone: (707) 275-2361 About the Lake: Lake Pillsbury has 2003 surface acres in water and a shoreline that stretches out over 65 miles. It is a very popular destination in the Mendocino Forest and the fishing here is......
• We’re In Debt: $150,679 In Debt, To Be Exact This article was originally posted by Chris, a contributor at Your Money Relationship, in July. We are reposting it here so that you can learn his family's story. Chris will be contributing to Frugal Dad on a weekly basis sharing his struggles with debt. Let me introduce myself. My name......

To the audience of music

There was recently given a concert in New York mainly consisting of works by Mozart. When a soprano afterwards would perform some songs by Webern (music soon a hundred years old but Atonal) the audience BOOED her out! OPUS, the leading musical magazine of Sweden, therefore put the question, why Swedes don’t boo at concerts.

The short answer is simple. They are brought up not to, and whoever violates the pattern therefore risks “making a fool of himself”. The longer answer is somewhat more complicated, but still logic to those who have the energy to look a little deeper into the crystal ball.

All avant-gardists who have advanced to some level live in some kind of symbiosis with the culture knowledgeables of the media. Together they form a hype and a trademark. This trademark is in most cases equivalent to the personal name of “the artist”. After a number of times in the limelight they are suddenly celebrities.

Then it’s especially important to remember, that this celebrity status has only been reached by “State sponsorship” and clever (culture) lobbyists who all pull in the same direction tonally. All this, however, has been done over the heads of the audience, which, at a first night, has no choice but to join in the collective ritual of applauses.

The only alternative would be to boo or to refuse to applaud, that is civil disobedience, which most people lack the civil courage to carry through in for instance a direct transmission. If the audience would be disinterested, it wouldn’t come to a first night at the town concert hall? Oh yes, it certainly would.

The programme committees always place the new work together with great acknowledged music on the same concert. So the audience gets force-fed in the same way as by water chlorination. The audience has no possibility to drop the newwritten piece by going home in advance, although they would want to. For then they would miss also the rest of the repertoire for which they bought an expensive subscription!

Certainly there are many who are curious about “novelties”, but how many would return, if the work is given a second or a third time, to a separate concert, without tickets paid for in advance? If in spite of all the audience would hear this novelty one more time, it would for sure be allocated by quotas by some State financed institution or commission, for instance the music radio channel, only acclaimed by the Modern Music Ghetto people themselves.

Just look at for instance the statistics of the radio Concerts by Request for the last 30 years. In this sole instance, where the audience decides the programme, yours truly can not recall one single Atonal work, although it must have occurred in later years, as a particular exception…

European and especially Swedish musical audiences have thus become reduced to a kind of “cattle voice”, the acclaim of which seldom marks the quality of a piece. The applauses have become more concerned about the celebrated soloist, conductor or symphony orchestra and their performances!

To complete the hypocrisy, all reviewers then write about “standing ovations” and “the critically acclaimed work” etc. etc. Do you think they ever disclose, that the “voluntary” demand in the record shops by the audience is completely absent? All contemporary known composers have lobbyists and pushers everywhere in every single musical institution. Together with the media they constitute today a formidably heavy group.

They have succeeded in the trick of forcing commissioners to also view the matter as an issue of equality between Atonal and Tonal music! At the same time the audience is indirectly accused of being rigid and to have prejudices that have to be broken. So, all natural processes of selection have been eliminated, just like they are in the world of the wars between the sexes by quota allocation.

By this system and evolutionary science, nothing will then be created fit for life. Men and women do have most in common in their constitution and are therefore of equal value as human beings. This is so to say scientifically proved. But it is equally scientifically proved, that the language of the Atonal music has nothing in common with its Tonal counterpart!

Atonal music lacks a grammar understandable to the ear. Therefore everything sounds like undefinable dissonances with no possibility of memorization. Tonal music (pop and classical) on the other hand has a very well defined grammar consisting of major and minor keys, which can be perceived by anyone except the deaf.

In that kind of music both consonance and dissonance are intermixed according to an accepted grammar. In a study from ”Brain – A Journal of Neurology” the researchers even arrived at the conclusion that only brain-damaged people could have preferences for music mainly consisting of dissonances.

Contrary to what avant-gardists with interpretation monopolies advocate, the Tonal music language is neither culturally nor socially determined. Preferences to Tonal music have, hark well, a purely biological explanation in the brain.

This has been easily proved by studies in babies and animals, after which a highly merited fundamental researcher in psychology (Diana Deutsch, USA) proved already in 1983, that not even normal, grown-up musicians’ brains could ”process” Atonal music.

Therefore I hereby nominate the modern “Atonal sect” to one of the most arrogant groups ever within culture.

All necessary research, analysis and background to these claims are presented in the book “Reverse Polka, or, Cheated of the Music”. (Yet only published in Sweden: “Baklängespolkan går eller Blåst på musiken”)

The painful thing is, that even without pressure groups, the works of the dead Tonal composers remain a hundredfold more alive than the works of their modern “colleagues”.
Classical music has only diverse “Societies” that run a sort of internal activity of meeting and sharing mutual interests.

That music has no other “pushers” than Unorganized private consumers without “votes”, commonly called the audience. My question to the modern State quota people: For whose benefit are you working? For the benefit of the audience or for the benefit of all potentially unemployed “composers”? I already know the answer. You only work by instructions “from above” as they vaguely call it…

• Ragtime! “Perfessor” Bill Edwards wrote this exclusive writing about his passion, Ragtime! It's a personal and entertaining article as well as enlightening. Ragtime! So Manuel finds me and he asks me to contribute something here in my field of expertise. “Write something about ragtime,” which is passion and profession. Really? Kewl.......
• Independent Filmmaking We're back with a new interview, to Actress and Producer Glorinda Marie. We talk about independent filmmaking, filmmakers, actors and movies industry. Here are some interesting links to check, after reading the interview: - Actress Website - imdb - SF Indieclub - Get Bizzzy Acting Coach Manuel Marino: "Glorinda, what......
• A Beautiful Interview Ceri Shaw suggested me an interview from our friends at Americymru. So here's this beautiful interview with Dr. Karl Jenkins (I include also the link to their ticket giveaway competition for his performance at Carnegie Hall NY on March 6th 2010). A Beautiful Interview Dr. Karl Jenkins is Britain's greatest......
• An Explosion Of Blues Music Author of this article is Robert Benson. He writes about rock and pop music, vinyl record collecting and operates CollectingVinylRecords.com, where you can pick up a copy of his ebook called "The Fascinating Hobby Of Vinyl Record Collecting." You can have your vinyl records appraised at VinylRecordAppraisals.com. An Explosion Of......
• Astronauts and Funk Music Today I create a new category, named 2009 Music Demos, where I'll publish totally new music tracks made with the latest gears but with the same talent behind: myself :) These tracks are demonstrations of my skills and creative ideas and in each post I'll explain the inspiration that moves......

• A History of Drums and Tribal Music Different styles of drums all have their own unique histories. African tribal music and the drums associated with it are completely unique to the other drum types that have been developed throughout the world. One example of an African tribal drum is the Djembe, a drum that has an extraordinary......
• Macau International Music Festival. 9 Oct - 8 Nov 09 The Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macau SAR Government presents the 23rd Macau International Music Festival (MIMF) from October 9th to November 8th, 2009. Each year the Macau International Music Festival brings internationally renowned artists from all over the world to Macau. Over the course of its decades-long history, it......
• Music & Emotions: Can Music Really Make You a Happier Person? How many times have you turned to music to uplift you even further in happy times, or sought the comfort of music when melancholy strikes? Music affects us all. But only in recent times have scientists sought to explain and quantify the way music impacts us at an emotional level.......
• Why Personal Debt Is At Its Highest Level Ever Ask any financial expert in the country what the biggest problem facing the people of this nation is today and they will say that it is the high level of personal debt that many of the people across the nation are carrying.  Since this century has begun, many people have......
• Acoustic vs Electric Music Gear There are different categories of musical instrument gear, and a wide range of different musical instruments and supplies, but they can easily be supported into two broad categories, which are acoustic musical gear and electric musical gear. In other words, most musical instrument gear is capable of being classified based......

Surveying the Land of Scape

Making a film sucks. It’s hard. Really hard. When it’s finished, and people sit in darkness, silently watching in a matter of minutes what may have cumulatively taken years of work, it’s worth it. But really, the process couldn’t be harder. Start with the fact that an alarmingly high number of people will look at you in utter pity when you mention you’re making a feature film. Mix in some healthy doses of family doubt, maybe a pinch or two of high school friends making ten times more money than you in a real job, and that’s just the beginning. But don’t get me wrong, I’m an optimist.

Maybe it’s my optimism that continues to lead me, often blindly, toward my goal of becoming a professional (see definition of professional: paid) director. Having directed a ninety-five minute feature film already, you might be wondering if the guy writing this article enjoys pain. Sure, maybe a little. But with experience at my fingertips, my second feature had to be easier, right? No. Not a chance. The following is a chronicle of my pain experience, and some of the many problems that arose.

I spent six months writing the script and raised a budget mainly by begging investors (see definition of investors: family) for money. The sum of which was not very much. Just enough to pay a skeleton crew of ex-students, get a deal with the acting union SAG and rent some camera equipment. The law of filmmaking says this: the closer one gets to filming, the more will go wrong. One week before filming and things were really getting dicey. I was still converting my script to a series of shots that I wanted to film, rehearsing with actors, coordinating logistics and dealing with problems. That’s what filmmaking really is, by the way, problem solving.

Problem A: the actor in your opening scene, the scene that is the most important save for the ending scene, tells you a week before filming that he doesn’t own a car and the filming location is 300 miles away. Problem B: the costume rental house will not accept insurance, so you must charge 4 times the value of the clothes on your credit card as insurance. And it’s a period piece movie, so there’s a lot of expensive clothes. And the total charge is so much you don’t have enough credit cards to put the charges on. Scratch that, there’s a credit card you never use in your chest of drawers at home. So you max out your credit cards, hope to hell no one damages or loses or steals the clothes, buy your actor an Amtrak ticket and make a note to pick up a very large bottle of antacids at Costco to help stave off ulcers that you know are on their way. Yes, this is all true.

Even now, I dread looking at a FICO score. Four days before we were to leave from Los Angeles for Santa Cruz, disaster struck. A quarter mile from the sixty-acre horse ranch we were going to film on, a fire started. I had no backup locations. Half the budget for the film had already been paid out. I couldn’t get it back. We had to film. I checked the fire report hourly, popped antacid tablets and realized that we’d film in some random forest even if it meant getting arrested for trespassing or filming without a permit.

All ten of us drove up to a summer rental house and crammed ourselves into our tiny, modest hovel. Later that day the fire dissipated, the police barricades came down, and we found out our location had been saved. Now came the fun stuff. Filming. I had a total of 12 days to film 76 pages. A Hollywood film typically shoots about 3 pages per day. Do the math on my movie. Yeah, we had a lot to film in a really short amount of time. The first shot of the first day took place in a colony for the diseased. We had ten extras to help make the colony feel real. Five actually showed up on a very cold morning. Three actually got back into their cars thirty minutes before filming and left. And these were people who were going to get paid! We had two extras to make a colony feel like a colony. Equipment wasn’t working right. Light was changing fast. And as always, there were lots of things to think about. Those antacids became like Pez to me. I put myself and most of the crew in early nineteenth century clothes and we started filming. Problem solved. Kind of.

Every second on set sends a problem the director’s way. People have questions. People want to know what you think about fill-in-the-blank. It is a director’s medium, for his better or worse. Throughout the twelve days, we had more problems than grains of sand on every beach in the world. I had arguments with the crew. A production assistant got bored four days in and left. Not good when your production assistant is also your makeup artist, wardrobe and caterer. The main prop for the film, a mask the villain wears, showed up very very late into filming via mail.

And on top of all of that, our opening scene became a disaster. If you can’t hook people in the first five minutes of your film, what’s to keep them from continuing to watch? No pressure. The opening included two horses. Not a problem when shooting on a horse ranch, right? The ranch would only give us one horse, and told us this fact an hour before filming. Next problem, it was an Appalachian horse. And it kicked my actor off several times. I was near tears. The scene was definitely not working. The actor who came up via Amtrak for the day had come in vain. And he was going to leave for Los Angeles the next morning. And I had four days of filming left. I was not going to cover the number of pages I needed to finish the film. And on top of that, I now needed to write a new opening scene after a very difficult and very long 12-hour day.

Every morning, after 6 hours of sleep, I would get up, figure out what scenes we were shooting and prepare for each scene. We’d spend the entire day and sometimes nights filming. We’d usually get back to the house around 8pm, eat dinner, watch the footage we shot during the day, transfer the footage and sound to hard drives, go to sleep and start the process over. Now, with only 4 days left, I also had to come up with a new opening. I wrote something and we filmed it on our last day. Having already cut 8 pages from the script while we were filming, I wasn’t too happy about filming a scene twice.

But the new opening scene has cut together incredibly well. In fact, the film is my finest work to date. If a filmmaker’s problem solving skills are his tools to building the film, then problems are the essence of filmmaking. Without these problems, creativity stagnates and the product is awful. I’m convinced that Scape wouldn’t be as good as it is without the stomach-churning dilemmas that appeared throughout the process. Now, as I finish writing this, I’m preparing to write my next screenplay. You’re probably wondering if I read what I just wrote. I know, I don’t make sense. Oh well, you have to do what you love. I wonder if the person who coined that phrase did?

• An Artist Portrait (Part Two) This is the Part Two (and final part) of the true life story as artist written by Frank V. Cahoj for our Weblog. (Part One) An Artist Portrait (Part Two) I give an unbelievable amount of credence to these two early periods in my life: one of everlasting creation, one......
• Living as Independent Developer Today we interview Andres Martinez, owner of baKno, a game development studio located in Key Biscayne, Florida. They are a group of video game enthusiasts committed to developing new ways to deliver fun, interactive and challenging software. Living as Independent Developer Manuel Marino: You declare yourself and your team as......
• Punk music in the late seventies Wade Crawley said me "I propose to write an article about the influence of punk and indie music and culture on a young person (myself) coming of age in England in the late seventies and early eighties". I accepted, and Wade wrote this article! I must add also these more......
• Game Dev Famous Game Dev Vince Desi writes for our Weblog! He will write a series of articles, and this is the Part One of an article about being successful in Independent VideoGame Developer Art! Become a famous Game Dev now! Game Dev (Part One) Part 1. The 3 Essential Elements: I......
• Sounds like music and networking Wizzit Magazine interviewed me about Blogging and Social Networking. I have to thank Matti Mattila, the reviewer and open networker. If you remember, Matti wrote A musician story. Here is a short excerpt from the magazine article that you can download here in pdf format. Sounds like music and......

• Get into Bed with Sharon Lathan (Author Interview) Sharon Lathan Q&A Mr. & Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy ~ Two Shall Become One LRP: Would you say your versions of Darcy and Elizabeth match closer to the actors' portrayal of the characters in the 2005 movie of Pride and Prejudice or to their personalities in Austen's original writing? Sharon:......
• Cash On The Net Cash on the net. Hi, if you remember in my previous articles I illustrated the issue of making mini websites for affiliated marketing. Mini sites are extremely popular tools of electronic commerce especially for those guys who are just making their first steps in this complicated money making field. It......
• The Business of Reality Shows Reality shows are an amazing phenomenon.  Who knew you could take a bunch of talentless idiots with a desire to be on TV, put them together with a camera, and make TV magic?  Oh yeah, I guess Aaron Spelling knew that. But reality is different.  Reality shows don’t have......
• Our Journey To Debt Freedom: Cresting The Hill The climb to debt freedom is just about complete in the Frugal household, and soon we'll be enjoying the thrill of living free of the burdens of debt. While I recognize that roller coasters are an overused metaphor for life's ups and downs, I can't think of any other feeling......
• Fairy Tale Lessons: What I Learned from Writing A Fairy Tale for Gwyn by Linda Poitevin, guest blogger and author of A Fairy Tale for Gwyn. By the time I wrote A Fairy Tale for Gwyn (AFTFG), I had been writing “seriously” (aiming for publication) for about nine years. In that time, and in between various other life events, I had completed......

Living as Independent Developer

Manuel Marino: You declare yourself and your team as “video game enthusiasts”. How much being a “videogames fan” is important in creating games?

Andres Martinez: All companies have their own stories, but in our case, developing and self-publishing our games has been difficult, with low sales during several months at our beginnings, and still low if they get compared to a regular studio. The only reason we have been able to survive is our passion for the art of game creation.

Can we say that the old games of the past were “better”? What can we say to the nostalgic gamers?

20 to 30 years ago the video game space was totally different. Accessibility to video games was very low, the product itself was like an experiment and the assumed audience was reduced, fortunately for us, we fell into that target, and we enjoyed every bit of Space Invaders, Galaga, Pac-Man, etc.

Some may say that it was better for game developers at that time because it was easier to create totally new and different IPs (Intellectual Properties). But the reality is that, they created myriads of games and only a few stood up to catch the public’s attention. Additionally, they were tremendously limited by technology and market penetration.

So, to answer your question, I don’t think old games were better or worst. But I think that our judgement is usually biased by the emotional attachment we have to those old great experiences.

How is the Independent developers world?

If we can name our day to day activities at baKno a “world”, then it is great!. Being able to make a living out of our own game creations is a wonderful feeling. None of us worked in this industry before and we don’t know how it is to distribute games through an experienced third party, maybe sales are much higher, but I suspect that for those particular jobs your independence is quite compromised.

What’s the difference between being “indy” and being “in the industry”?

We don’t consider baKno to be an industry player yet, we are independents as explained before, but it does not excludes the possibility of being an influent member of the gaming industry at the same time.

Videogames are more a “work of art” or a “industry product”?

All baKno games are a “work of art” built upon an “industry product” foundation. This foundation provides a minimum quality, design and support standards, and it becomes the canvas where the artist paint his game creation.

What can be done to make modern games better and innovative?

Creating better games is not that difficult, just use your common sense to take advantage of the ever-growing processing capacity, graphics and audio capabilities and internet bandwidth. As an example, you can enhance a simple old-school cards game with better graphics and effects, and maybe adding a multiplayer option with audio chat capability. Creating quality innovative games is an art, and for that there is no recipe or guideline to follow.

Why is it that I find games from independent developers being more innovative?

Innovation is weapon that cuts both ways. The more you innovate in a game, the higher the chance of being a great hit or a great failure. Established studios have serious economic responsibilities like payroll or rent, and they cannot afford to risk the company viability in a single game. On the other hand, and usually not even knowing about it, independent developers working from home are the risky creators of real innovative game experiences.

Internet can be of help?

Sure. In general, for casual games Internet has been the medium to reach massive audiences by offering free-to-try downloads, something that would have been impossible (very expensive) by mailing free CDs. In particular, baKno relies heavily on the Internet not only as a distribution medium but also as an effective way to communicate with our customers, and also to enhance the game experience with additional online features.

What are your next projects?

We are working now the online gaming for Billiards. We want to create a subscription service before mid-year. And by the end of the year we want to create a game with 100% pure baKno IP.

How do you see the future of videogaming?

As an interesting mixture of platforms, game genres and players’ demographics. Internet is going to be the default distribution medium, there won’t be a single dominant gaming platform, more and more people will embrace video games as an entertainment alternative, and most important: the general public will recognize the cognitive development value provided by video games (most of them).

• Self-realization and meditation (yoga for the mind) Peter Cajander allowed us to publish this part from his book Fragments of Reality. It talks about life from a personal perspective covering areas ranging from self-realization, meditation, stress, happiness, death, and everyday living. Peter is a writer, philosophical thinker, entrepreneur, strategy consultant, business executive, and author to name a......
• Learning Photography Massimo Mestichelli is an Italian photographer who discovered this Art recenty. We can read his new emotions and feelings in this exclusive "diary" he wrote for us. Diary of an Italian Photographer Less than one year ago, I introduced myself in the wondering world of photography buying my first digital......
• Listen to Music Online Many asked me to write a post about the Music Pages I've got in my websites, so you can easily Listen to Music Online :) Ok, let's start then. The first page is the Music Demos page here at ManuelMarino.com. You can find it also in the top bar, title......
• Creating Clouds Frank Kane job is very particular... he creates clouds! He can do it through his C++ library for real-time sky and 3D cloud rendering, used worldwide by scores of games and visual simulation applications on the Windows platform. Its name is SilverLining. Creating Clouds Manuel Marino: Your sky and clouds......
• Music, Movies and Independent Films In this exclusive interview, Todd Cericola, owner of Clocktower Pictures, talks about his movie studio, about music in movies and about the independent productions world. Manuel Marino: When did you start your movie studio and how did you have the idea? Todd Cericola: Clocktower Pictures was started in February of......

• ZULTYS RECEIVES INTERNET TELEHONY MAGAZINE'S® TWELTH ANNUAL PRODUCT OF THE YEAR AWAR - Zultys Unified Communications Solution Recognized for Outstanding Innovation- SUNNYVALE, California, February 17, 2010 – Zultys Inc., a leading provider of Unified Communications and VoIP Business Phone Systems since 2001, announced today that Technology Marketing Corporation’s (TMC®) INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine has named the Zultys end-to-end Unified Communications solution for SMBs......
• What is Intuition? Intuition is an ill defined faculty. There is a lot of debate whether it is real at all. But from my own experience, intuition is what is suppose to motivate science but doesn’t anymore. There is a type of internal dialogue that isn’t really lingual, not verbal. It seems to......
• Using a Home Improvement Video to Guide Your Project Home improvement handymen these days get a lot of their information from the internet. There is nothing wrong with this as there are many sites just like this one that exists to provide people with useful information on the different aspects of home improvement. However, one thing that you need......
• Networking: A Great Way to Motivate Yourself As an entrepreneur you may hear a lot about networking and wonder what all the hubbub is about. Networking, both online and off, is a wonderful way to build connections in your industry. It’s a great way to increase awareness for your business and to build your customer base and......
• VoIP Technology VoIP technology seems to be great! But confused about how to go about it? That's the common refrain of people wanting to graduate from a dial-up connection on to VoIP. The applications of VoIP technology are so surreal, so amazing that this dilemma is not exactly uncalled for. But before......

Social Networking and the Left Coast Eisteddfod 2009

There is an art to constructing social networks. Anyone can join Facebook, start a group, give it a catchy title and invite everyone on their contacts list. But building a true online “community” involves a lot more than that. My preferred tool for this job is the “Ning” platform.

One such project that I am involved in at the moment is Americymru. The site itself is an American Welsh heritage site and it welcomes members from anywhere in the world who are either Welsh, of Welsh ancestry or who have a love of Wales ( Cymruphiles? ) for whatever reason. The site has proved highly popular and is rapidly approaching the 1000 member mark.

The question is, of course, what purpose should such a site serve? Should we all vie with one another in forum discussions for the distinction of being the most enthusiastic supporter of Welsh culture? Should we all devote ourselves to learning the Welsh language? ( not a bad idea ) Or perhaps we should all exchange holiday snaps of our most recent visits to Snowdonia? Of course Americymru is a social network and so it is used for all of the above purposes and a host more besides.

How much better though to put these networks to a novel and creative purpose. In Wales the “Eisteddfod” tradition ( which is basically a talent competition ) dates back to the 12th century. Here is how the Wikipedia defines it:-

‘An eisteddfod is a Welsh festival of literature, music and performance. The tradition of such a meeting of Welsh artists dates back to at least the 12th century, when a festival of poetry and music was held by Rhys ap Gruffydd of Deheubarth at his court in Cardigan in 1176 but, with the decline of the bardic tradition, it fell into abeyance. The present-day format owes much to an eighteenth-century revival arising out of a number of informal eisteddfodau. The word eisteddfod is derived from the Welsh word eistedd, meaning “sit”.’

We decided to use Americymru to organise an international “online” Eisteddfod.

We have departed from the traditional formula in several significant respects. There are Welsh Pirate Lookalike and Tom Jones Impersonators competitions along side the standard literary and poetic categories. We feel that these features will enhance the appeal of the “event” and give it a more contemporary feel

All the competitions are open to everyone. Neither Americymru membership nor Welsh origin are requirements.

The poetry and short story competitions are already starting to attract some talented entrants and judges Lloyd Jones ( short stories ) and Peter Thabit Jones and John Good ( poetry ) will have some hard choices to make.

The online Eisteddfod will culminate in a live event in Portland in August 2009. It is here that winners will be announced and prizes awarded. It is also our intention to hold a series of concerts featuring major Welsh and American Welsh artists and performers. In short the “Left Coast Eisteddfod” will be a celebration of all things Welsh and in particular of the American Welsh heritage which has so enriched the history of the American nation. It will also introduce this tradition to a whole new audience and seek to involve the widest possible participation.

It is also possible to build a “constellation” of supporting blogs around your social networking “event”. In our own case we have been fortunate to enjoy the support of artists such as David Western who is probably the worlds finest carver of traditional Welsh lovespoons. He explains the reasons and the means of his supoport for the event in the following quote from his “David Western’s Portland Eisteddfod Lovespoon” blog:-

“To support the development of the Left Coast Eisteddfod next year, I am donating a handcrafted, one-of-a-kind Welsh lovespoon which Americymru will raffle off to help raise needed funds.

I’m proud to be able to contribute to the creation of the Eisteddfod and to help highlight Welsh people and their culture here in North America. Everyone knows the Scottish and Irish and it is through events like the Eisteddfod that people will come to know the Welsh.”

David’s blog has already encouraged others to try their hands at this ancient craft and his work in general is vital in order to ensure that this art form continues and thrives into the 21st century.

It is my belief that the potential for social networks to drive artistic creation and collaboration is immense and I am very excited to be a part of a project which is exploring this potential.

In closing I would urge you check out the online Eisteddfod ( linked and accessible from the home page of Americymru ), consider entering one of the competitions and above all, think of novel ways to utilise your own social networks so that they can become a real spur to human creativity and not merely glorified “chat” rooms.

• A Beautiful Interview Ceri Shaw suggested me an interview from our friends at Americymru. So here's this beautiful interview with Dr. Karl Jenkins (I include also the link to their ticket giveaway competition for his performance at Carnegie Hall NY on March 6th 2010). A Beautiful Interview Dr. Karl Jenkins is Britain's greatest......
• E-commerce, a cultural fact? E-commerce, online marketing, shopping, globalization, innovation are all linked together. It is becoming a real huge cultural fact, to be studied, to be understood to comprehend our world and where this world is going to in the near future. E-commerce, a cultural fact? Global E-Commerce and Online Marketing: Watching the......
• Comic Art Mike Dominic wrote this article for us. He is a freelance illustrator and comic artist living in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He has produced work for both print and online comics, including his own webcomic, The Journals of Simon Pariah. He has written articles about comics for Sketch magazine and 24......
• Freelance journalism Christian Toto is a Denver-based freelance reporter specializing in arts reporting. He can be heard on three US radio stations, as well as occasionally on "The Dennis Miller Show," which airs across the country. He got his first byline as a young boy with his hometown newspaper. He reviewed "Close......
• An Artist Portrait (Part One) This is a fantastic article written exclusively for my Weblog by Frank V. Cahoj. Please feel free to comment here or send him emails. He'll be happy of this. An Artist Portrait (Part One) My name is Frank Cahoj and I have been an artist since I was born. I can......

• internet job boards - wasted effort? I have tried, over the years, to post my resume to job boards for both traditional jobs and contract positions. I've also tried to get hourly consulting work through various boards, too.  I have landed jobs through the (now) unlikely source of monster.com, for example.  In 2000 I got......
• The Best Social Media Strategy For Internet Marketers and Four Social Media Sites to Begin With The Best Social Media Strategy For Internet Marketers and Four Social Media Sites to Begin With By David Singhiser "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven." -Ecclesiastes 3:1 The top social media sites I recommend are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Better......
• How To Get Free Music Slacker Offers free streaming music to your desktop or hand-held slacker device. Quite a large of music and no annoying ads interspersed between tracks unlike Yahoo!'s Launch player. You can also add your favorite artists to your station and customize to your tastes. Spiralfrog.com Spiralfrog offers free music downloads from......
• A Way To Promote Your Website Search Engine Optimization, in internet world has proven to be the most profitable and powerful process to promote business in last few years. Every one wants to create a good fame among other and today through online SEO technology just forward the fuel for high growth. But visibility is the......
• Social Media and Your Corporate Blog Do you want to utilize social media to the best of its capabilities with your corporate blog? Here are ten secrets that the best social media users are utilizing in order to boost the capabilities of their blogs and other websites. 1 - Do your research! Why? Because every single......

Film transfer, a graphical Art

Badly faded slides or prints can be rescued once they have been digitised. You can use a simple scanner, but you will get the best results using a proper film scanner.

Once you have the slides digitised then a lot can be done with the images, increasing image density by using blending modes and levels adjustment layers, cloning to remove blemishes, dust, mould and texture renewal.

All of this is done using professional graphic software, not so easy to use without a training.

About the creative skills involved in the procedure, the technician artist has to choose between different solutions, like colors or brightness. Choosing also a specific procedure instead of another involves a creative idea. So a blend of different skills, creative and technical are necessary in restoring old films.

Of course, the most important movies to restore are about unforgettable moments, like your wedding. But think also about other moments, like a graduation, a significant accomplishment, a sentimental place, the honeymoon, golden anniversaries.

They are unique memories worth preserving for remembering today and for generations to come.

• The value of photographic prints Stephan R. Lewis is a professional photographer. He accepted to share his knowledge with us, with this exclusive article. The value of photographic prints I have been in the photo industry trenches for a long time and have watched many things come and go in popularity. When I say 'trenches'......
• An Artist Portrait (Part Two) This is the Part Two (and final part) of the true life story as artist written by Frank V. Cahoj for our Weblog. (Part One) An Artist Portrait (Part Two) I give an unbelievable amount of credence to these two early periods in my life: one of everlasting creation, one......
• Raymond Thoughts about Games and Arts Today we interview Raymond Jacobs, owner of Ethereal Darkness Interactive. Founded in 2002 Ethereal Darkness Interactive is commited to developing quality indie games with high production values. Raymond talks about his latest project, Morning's Wrath 2, about videogames, Arts and technology. Raymond Thoughts about Games and Arts Manuel Marino: You......
• Surveying the Land of Scape Taegen Carter is a movie director. He is also the owner of Mythmaker Entertainment, a company that produces shorts and features in the genres of adventure, sci-fi, thriller and drama. Taegen tells us about the production of Scape, that should be completed around June of ’09. Let's read his words,......
• On Canvas Art Charles Veilleux wrote this exclusive article for us. Charles is the owner of Veilleux Fine Art. On May 31, 2009, Veilleux Fine Art transitions into a private artist studio tour business. Charles has owned and operated contemporary art galleries in Santa Fe since 1993. On Canvas Art Art a term......

• The Art of Solving Problems You likely use problem solving everyday. It is often taken for granted. People do not realize just how wonderful and important problem solving is. Most people do not even recognize it as a skill.  In fact, most of the time problem solving is juts second nature. Problem solving can actually......
• Start up Business Ideas - Some Low Budget Start up Business Ideas These days almost every one is looking for start up business ideas for variant budgets. The reason behind this is very simple: people want to increase their earnings.There could be various start up business ideas. The real art is choosing from so many of them. There are different categories of......
• Inserting a Diagram All SmartArt diagrams start out the same way—you insert them on the slide as you can any other slide object. That means you can either use a diagram placeholder on a slide layout or you can insert the diagram manually. To use a placeholder, start with a slide that contains......
• Where Can I Find A Website Designer In My Area? Website Design is a combination of art, social science and technology. If you are to compete then you cannot ignore the web. Website designers used to love using frames, until they discovered that they cripple a website's marketing potential. Insist that your site developer not use frames when giving you......
• Benefits of Technology in the Classroom Nowadays, technology has become so pervasive, so essential, so advanced in society that its integration into classroom instruction is imperative. Of course, there have been past instances of the integration of technology with education, but these were limited to tutorials, drills, and practices using the personal computer. Not anymore.......

Sounds like music and networking

Matti Mattila: About blogging, you have an active blog, when did you start writing it?

Manuel Marino: I started ManuelMarino.com in October 2007.

What inspired you to first start blogging?

First of all the idea to freely surf and read everything about anything always fascinated me. I think this is why people love to have many blog feeds to read daily.

Next to this idea is the one to freely write interesting articles for the Internet community. Both gives a kind of freedom that I never felt before.

What is your blog about?

ManuelMarino.com is about music, arts, philosophy, poetry, independent artists, humanities and freedom. I invite experts and sincere professionals and artists to write articles.

I believe very much in freedom, honesty, sincerity and I’m able to feel these when I meet people. There are many good persons in the world, but sometimes we are too much obsessed by everyday life to understand this and find this.

How much time do you spend blogging every week?

Probably I spend too much. I love blogging, read other people’s blogs, surf and find interesting news.

What inspires you to write an entry to your blog?

Usually my ideas about news, culture and art, sometimes my intuition. We need more intuition, people tend to forget the importance of it and uses too much their left brain.

• Documentary Filmmaking This is a special article written for us by James N. Weber. He has worked on Socially Aware Media, especially documentaries, in South Africa, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, and Mexico, and is currently working on a project on food security in Guatemala. His work and more info can be found......
• Mobile Games and Technologies Federico Elinger, owner of Pocketsol Games, wrote this exclusive article for us. Pocketsol Games creates high quality mobile games for the mobile phone based java platform (J2ME). The development studio is in Argentina where fun and addictive games are created for most of the actual mobile phones. Mobile Games and......
• Music Geek Robin Mookerjee is a songwriter obsessed with music. Is this a good thing? Or a bad thing? I can say he is a real music geek! Read his story and check his website. Music Geek I’m really a fan as much as a songwriter, but a lot of songwriters say......
• Putting a value on your vinyl collection This is another article from author Robert Benson. He writes about rock/pop music, vinyl record collecting and operates CollectingVinylRecords.com, where you can pick up a copy of his ebook called "The Fascinating Hobby of Vinyl Record Collecting." Stephen M.H. Braitman Putting a value on your vinyl collection The value of......
• The Emperor's New Clothes Ananda Sukarlan is an Indonesian composer and pianist living in Spain. This is an article he wrote for a magazine which has been published a few years ago in Spanish. We are very proud to have the original in English which has never been published anywhere, so this is......

• Tips for Blog Visitor Retention Today, having a blog on the internet is just about as common as having an e-mail address. E-mailing and blogging actually share a number of the same purposes, such as that they are allowed to spread ideas, provide people with information and to promote online businesses. Blogs originally served, however,......
• Writing Roundup, February 12 Whew. This has been a week of technology troubles for me, but my laptop is on the mend. So, I'm back with some of the great writing posts from around the blogosphere. (It pains me to use such a cliched word, but I don't know of any word to describe......
• Investing in... Websites? Every now and again, traffic growth on Lazy Man and Money hits a plateau. I'm not overly concerned about that for two reasons: I rarely try to write for traffic. Okay, every now and again I try to write a sensational title for fun and amusement. However, in general I......
• Creating a Blog Video Online About two years ago, blogging hit a surge that allowed its way into the mainstream, and now everybody is blogging for a wide variety of different reasons. Blogs resemble web-based public diaries of sorts, where the creator can record their thoughts, their opinions, questions and answers and essentially anything else......
• Generating Topic Ideas Consistently: 3 Step Process Do you struggle to come up with new and interesting topics to write about for your blog? If so, I have a process for coming up with new ideas consistently that you can adapt and use for yourself. If you do, you’ll never have to sweat it out again, promise.......