The Overwhelming Magical Card Trick
March 10, 2010
This self working card trick has long been a favorite of magicians of all ages. Since it’s self working, you don’t need to learn any special sleight of hand or use any special gimmicks. Another plus is that you can quickly show kids, even young ones, how to do this trick, and it will still work perfectly.
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.
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Funk in Nature
March 3, 2010
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 is refreshing and sweet, with natural landscapes coming in mind and beautiful sceneries.
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.
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Film transfer, a graphical Art
January 25, 2009
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, 16mm film, 35mm slides and aging videotapes to the original clarity or better.
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.
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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 Elegance of the Art Doug Stahnke is a sculptor. And this is a wonderful exclusive article he wrote for us. The Elegance of the Art Let me begin by first defining some terms as I apply them: talent – I think there is a simple truth here. You were either born with it or you......
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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...... - 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......
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E-commerce, a cultural fact?
November 1, 2008
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 Evolution By Nikhilesh Dholakia is a great book that explains all of this.
Specialists from business and academia present a meticulously researched, compelling examination of the effect that globalization, innovation, and relentless technological competition are having on the development of e-commerce and marketing. The editors offer practical managerial insights, important empirical findings, and new ways to comprehend the intricacies of the fast-morphing world of electronic business.
Another book that really catched me is Cyberpop: Digital Lifestyles and Commodity Culture by Sidney Eve Matrix.
Cyberpop: Digital Lifestyles and Commodity Culture is an analysis of cyberculture and its popular cultural productions. Each chapter focus on a particular cyberfiguration, including Hollywood films (GATTACA, The Matrix), popular literature (William Gibson’s Neuromancer, Scott Westerfeld’s Polymorph), advertising for digital products and services (AT&T’s “mLife” campaign), video games (Tomb Raider). Each close reading illustrates the ways in which representations of digital lifestyles and identities which typically fetishize computers and celebrate a “high tech” aesthetic encourage participation in digital capitalism and commodity cyberculture.
What I’m seeing on Internet and around me is an impressive and crazy explosion of virtual shops, like StreetWear-And-Red.com (also StreetWearAndRed.com). Goal of the shop is providing cool designs for the urban and street fashion along with elegant ideas for the modern gentlemen.
In the same explosion I can put my ebook and also my new CD with Rock and Metal Guitar Solos for Multimedia.
I’ve got just a fear, that all of this is going to result in a soap bubble in the future. How much will we be fascinated by the virtual world and how much can we stay far from reality? (Or virtuality is going to be our new reality?).
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What is Anglo-Welsh Literature and why Should Anyone Care? Ceri Shaw is a former college lecturer from Cardiff, South Wales. Currently he attempts to make a living as a Web Designer and as a freelance writer on a range of topics including Literature. He is a regular contributor to Americymru.com. Ceri wrote this article about Anglo-Welsh literature and its...... -
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......
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Enjoying a World Coin Collection Most people who begin to collect coins actually do so by collecting regional coins from their own mother country. So for example, if you are from the United States, then you may want to collect United States coins first and foremost. This is because you are already familiar with the...... -
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American Music and Vintage Guitars
July 28, 2008
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 more.
American Music and Vintage Guitars
My father was a gunsmith and fastidious in his craft. As a boy I once watched him raise a dent in an antique rifle stock. He had dampened a soft white cloth, folded it over a few times and placed on that blemish in the wood while applying the low heat of an iron. He did this patiently for hours, for days it seemed. Why didn’t he just fill it and do some sanding? I know the answer now. That random few moments when I was the youthful observer may have been the most precious thing he left me. It was really the seed of true craftsmanship and it grew within me despite my natural inclinations. It was not an overnight revelation. Not only did I see a glimpse of patience when the word had no meaning to me I also saw that it was the only way to do it right. Anything less is just that.
Around this time, 1960 or so, I was captured forever by the sound of Traditional American Music and struggling to learn the guitar when guitar players were scarce indeed for an Army brat in Munich, Germany. I thought the Kingston Trio were great until an older mentor loaned me his copy of the Harry Smith Anthology Vol. One. He suggested that I might find it interesting.
Interesting? My life simply changed forever and for the better. A door to another most wonderful world slammed open and has not closed for the last forty- eight years. Yes, interesting. It was a strange and mysterious world that opened like the fabled parallel universe. I truly felt, and still feel, that I found of part of me that had been missing. I loved the wonderful names, Blind Willie Johnson, Buell Kazee, The Masked Marvel, Furry Lewis and all the others. I had to know what they were saying and how they said and played. Griel Marcus calls it the “Old, Weird America”. I know it certainly called me to a lost world. These people were making music because they had no choice. It was in them as deep as breathing and money was not the object. At least, not then.
My passion has grown and my playing has improved but I am still drawn to the archaic in all arts. I have learned tunes note for note from these and countless other old recordings. In my later years I have seen that these same tunes are no longer played rote but that I have brought something of my own expression to them. I fear imitation for its’ own sake. Still, I must admit that guitar buddies of mine and I have spent untold hours dissecting each quavering semi-tone of “Dark Was the Night and Cold Was the Ground” by the magnificent Blind Willie Johnson. We do it with love and full knowledge that we will never succeed and rejoice that someone recorded it. To me it’s the most important recording ever made.
My love of vintage guitars and banjoes grew accordingly. ‘Neath beds and in closets they lurk. I am a lover of Martin guitars particularly and was thrilled and honored to illustrate a portrait of Perry Bechtal to used in advertising and as a label inside the guitar itself. Oddly enough it is executed in scratchboard – a technique I learned as a Medical Illustrator.
There came a point when I was hearing my own songs and found the courage to record and release them on my own CD entitled “Farewell to Pony Bob”. We did it in a back room of my house without fear.
I was truly surprised to hear that it is available on PodSafeAudio.com. With thanks to Steve James and Michael Martin bless their souls. Look ‘em up. The visitor to my website, will see that my recent paintings of dogs have included a musical influence. Great care was taken to render the banjo and guitar with accuracy. Those pups deserve the best.
There are times I have been painting or drawing, rendering detail that will read as I want it to, when I happen to notice the time. And it is hours past where I thought it might be. I confess those are moments of pure joy. Time and space went somewhere else for a while. Or maybe I am finally learning to see in the fullest sense of the word. Looking at something becomes not quite enough.
My father knew and I thank him for the lesson.
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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...... -
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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......
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In Tennis, Hewitt Targets an Event in Sydney as His Official Return From Injury Lleyton Hewitt, regarded as a former world number one tennis player in the entire world is planning to make his grand, official return from hip surgery very soon. His intention is to make his grand return from this injury at the Sydney International tennis tournament which is slated to begin...... - Thinkin' about forgiveness and giving up resentment I woke the other morning thinking about forgiveness and asking/praying/thinking about how to give up any resentments that were lurking around...and trying to get a handle on it. I've heard it said that forgiveness is being willing to give up your own idea of retribution and leave it to God.......
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Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life - by Neil Strauss (Review) This book might indeed save your life. Survival schools. Second passports. Urban Escape and Evasion courses. CERT training. Bugging out. How to escape from attack dogs. Offshore asset protection. Perpetual traveling. Using one's credit card as a knife. Killing and skinning your own goat. These are just some of the...... -
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The value of photographic prints
January 22, 2008
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’ I mean not the glamour part of the industry that you see everyday on magazine covers, beautiful and famous people, but rather the nuts and bolts of mass producing press release photos of tired employees, photographs of products for advertising for small business, other time sensitive materials with a short shelf life, created for immediate usage with no value once the deadline has come and gone.
My actual primary concern at the beginning of my career was printing archival black and white photographs for exhibition and professional use, art prints designed to last 100+ years, so the disposable and transient nature of consumer photography amazed me.
Which brings me to the popularity of one-hour photo finishing of snapshots that existed until recently. Everything from birthday parties and Christmases, the latest vacation snaps and spontaneous party photos to out of focus and overexposed close-ups of newborn babies, dog noses and amateur porn.
Everyone seemed to be shooting like crazy and getting prints that ended up in a box or still in the envelope, if they (the prints) were lucky they were put in a photo album or even framed on the wall- or maybe just stuck to the refrigerator with a magnet.
110, 126 and 35mm cameras made it easy and affordable to make photos, fun, quick and relatively cheap. Then came APS, the last gasp of film as a consumer product, and now we have the most insidious of all- the camera built into your cell phone and all types of image capturing devices. These devices are so great because once you have bought one your ongoing expenses theoretically are nothing- but computer time!
A big part of my photo lab duties has always been restoring old photographs. Photographs from 1890, torn and or folded images from the 1950s, photographs that had Dad cut out in the 60s after a bad divorce and the kids want him reinserted in the 90s! I have worked on wallet sized prints that had in fact been in a wallet for 20 years until someone realized it was the ONLY print of that person and now they needed an 8×10 for the wall, for the memorial service… the oldest photograph I ever worked on was from 1849. Plenty of those images I have worked so hard to restore and make like new had started out as ‘happy snaps’ and ended up being the only or last or best photograph of someone beloved and, sadly, now departed.
Why? People forget – photographs are priceless, one-of-a kind records of a specific moment in time, a moment that will never occur again, a method of capturing and preserving memory that mankind has only had for about 160 years.
As small children we go through the family photo albums, laughing at the way people used to dress, marveling at how much someone looks like great-grandpa, examining vintage cars and houses, looking at things and people that no longer exist. History.
Now we have digital photography, images that might never leave the memory card, maybe get stashed in a folder on the desktop, turned into a slide show that can only be seen on that specific computer, at best uploaded to share with friends and family online. Where will these images be in 20 years?
Is the current advent of technology creating an attitude towards photography that is undermining its inherent value as a historical record, thoughtlessly making it too disposable and transient to be appreciated and preserved?
I photograph lots of special events, large groups, and school kids and sales of prints from these sessions are down markedly. After spending 30 minutes setting up a group shot and capturing it with my high-end digital camera, with the intent of selling true photographic prints designed to last 50 or more years, a Mom or kid next to me will hold up their camera phone and grab a shot and figure: “Got it!” and good enough. As a result, they don’t buy a thing.
Then they get home and maybe look at their quickie capture, email it to grandma and forget about it. Ultimately it may be saved under an incomprehensible filename or not at all, put on a hard drive that will inevitably crash, or uploaded to a website that ceases to exist in three years, or even worse- forgotten about altogether!
Let me tell you people- that camera phone image, that image on your computer screen is not a memory preserved for all time! As long as it is not PRINTED, a physical hard copy that can be whipped out years and years later, it only exists for the moment.
Do yourself a favor. Print that photograph and put it in a photo album so your kids, your grandkids, maybe even their children can see what you looked like on your myspace or Yahoo profile in 2008!
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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...... - Beautiful Scenery This is another writing gem, from Jeff Doak, Application Developer for Sprint Nextel. He currently resides in Rome, NY, and has interests in music, nature, lifetime learning, programming. Lives with wife, three kids, cat, hermit crab, and fish. Check his "neglected" website. Beautiful Scenery Fall – my favorite time of......
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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...... - 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......
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The Opposite of Successful Blogging There is an opposite to successful blogging, which is blogging that drives your readers in the wrong direction. Take a look at this list of things that you can do to drive readers away so that you will have a better understanding of what you need to do in order...... - Digital Photography Editing Underway First, before you get stated on editing images you will need a working computer, a software program for manipulating images, and a wing and pray that you follow steps accordingly. Some image-manipulating software's are sophisticated and it will take a bit of time to learn that commands and what they......
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Free Blog Images Help Tell Your Story A blog filled with nothing but text is boring at best. I am always looking for more places to where I can find pictures and graphics for my blogs. As I continue to blog I keep experimenting on different ways to entertain and educate my readers. I find that...... -
Wireless Outdoor Security Cameras Choosing The Best When hearing or reading about security cameras, most people automatically think of the indoor kind. However, these days many home owners and businesses also have a wireless outdoor security camera installed on their premises. There are many reasons for this. For one thing, it allows owners to see what’s going...... -
Buy Collectibles from the Civil War If you are interested in learning what it takes to buy collectibles, one of the types of collectibles that you may consider purchasing is Civil War collectibles. There are plenty of places that you can turn to that will allow you to buy collectibles relating to the Civil war, and......
Ragtime!
January 9, 2008
“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. Although it’s a double-edged situation, since I’m trying to convey that passion and some history, the good part, in a few words to a rather wide audience, the tricky part.
I have to start with what ragtime is and is not, and why it’s important. That will be today’s topic, and will hopefully lead to more.
What ragtime is NOT is hokey music played on out-of-tune pianos in smoky bars full of drunks singing off key. It is also not silent movie background music. Sure, it has been used in these contexts, but it is much different and much more. It is the beginning of popular music in the world as we know it today. Picture a musical funnel, if you will. On the upper end are Western classical music forms of the 18th and 19th centuries, including sonatas, gavottes, waltzes, even some symphony and opera. Coming from Eastern Europe you have marches and mazurkas. From Spain and South America come the Latin-tinged influences, many of which actually correspond directly to African rhythms, including the famous habañera. To spice things up throw in the Negro call and response spirituals of the American south, and the European-based folk songs of the Eastern US.
All of these forms mix into the mouth of this funnel to create a hybrid – the march form with the classical development and Afro/Latin-rhythms with folk melodies that are syncopated. That was the basic origin of ragtime in the 1890s. It was the first music truly indigenous to the United States. By 1905, at least in the US, almost all music written here had something to do with ragtime. Even the intermezzos and waltzes were syncopated to a degree.
Now picture a string next to the funnel. That is a form that co-developed with ragtime and mixed in with it, yet remained on its own. The name of this form is the blues, a unique 12-bar development (sometimes 8 or 16) that permeated ragtime, and even the verses of many ragtime songs. Frankie and Johnnie, although it is ragtime, is also a blues number.
Spewing out of this funnel you have forms that comprise most popular music in the Western world today. Ragtime is the direct ancestor of … [deep breath]
Country music and bluegrass (ragtime guitar picking), jazz (improvised ragtime and blues), popular song (syncopated pieces that started in the early 1900s), swing (blues again), rock and roll (again blues with syncopation), and rap.
“RAP” you cry? Yes. A black colleague of mine has come to the same conclusion. Rap is an asymmetric form of lyrical poetry that is highly syncopated and urban. Many of the lyrics of the so-called “coon” songs of the ragtime era, as unfortunate as some of them are, can readily be recited as rap and pass in today’s pop world with little modification. Even lyrics written to Scott Joplin’s famous Maple Leaf Rag talk about razor blades and fights and attitude: “Oh go way man, I can hypnotize dis nation, I can shake de earth’s foundation wid de Maple Leaf Rag! Oh go ‘way man just hold you breath a minit, For there’s not a stunt thats in it wid de Maple Leaf Rag.” I also have a rap soundtrack I use for this song during school presentations, so it remains current and relevant.
What is ragtime? Any music that is syncopated over a steady beat. In the North America and most of Europe and Australia, that’s almost ANYTHING.
Being a historian is a bit like what the CSI people do. You have a result or a conclusion, but you want to find out how that result or conclusion was reached. Some people ask “where did I come from?” I do the same for music as an advocate. Before ragtime the pieces that were popular were mostly actually kind of tragic. Think of how many songs you can write about orphaned children, shamed women, sinking ships, death, despair, etc. Those were the big hits of the 1890s. The music was somewhat tepid too, with reiterations of waltzes, marches, galops, etc. that did not resonate with many in the public. Then ragtime appears, and it’s the original Rock and Roll. Really.
Let me prove this, and keep in mind trends in our lifetime, be they Stray Cats, Nirvana, The Who, Elvis or Chuck Berry:
It was largely a music developed in the black community.
Kids loved it and parents hated it – “Turn that damn piano down”
It was more urban and less genteel, causing people to move their bodies in shocking manners.
It was banned by the musician’s union in 1902, and vilified by religious establishments.
Not convinced? OK. Most music written to that time in the US could be played on piano, organ, guitar, etc., and was generic in performance. Ragtime was the first US-based music specifically composed for piano. A typical upright piano is around 350 pounds. Of that, perhaps 190 is the cast iron plate. Add in another 50 for metal strings, 10 for tuning pins, and 20 for assorted screws, connectors, weights, etc. and you have only 80 pounds of wood and over 270 of metal. Therefore, ragtime was America’s first Heavy Metal Music.
That’s fact, and you can’t have opinions about fact, right?
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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...... - 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......
- 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......
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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...... -
A Finnish music story Musician Matti Mattila wrote his story for us, a Finnish music story! Please read also his Finnish blog and check his page at LinkedIn. I named this article "A Finnish music story" because through Matti words we can know an exclusive tale about late 70's and 80's of Finnish music.......
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Love Like a Geek: Princess and Toad The following video is the ultimate expression of love not only in gaming but from one geek to another. Not only is the song cute, so is our singer BlinkTwice4Y. He's 26 years old and lives in the Bay Area of California. One day he'd like to be a professional...... -
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Learning Photography
November 19, 2007
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 reflex camera. Before this moment, I took shots with digital cameras (‘compact cameras’) using them with automatic settings. These cameras are very small and their portability is good for a lot of situations (vacations, birthday, etc.) but it’s difficult to take night shots, speedy events and so on. With my reflex, now, I can take shots of a lot of kinds I never thought before.Practice and technical documents are basilar in everything and photography isn’t an exception. Try, try and try again to find what you want, not what is beautiful. This is just my opinion but is my choice in photography.
Some days ago, I bought a webspace and I built and published my personal website dedicated to the digital photography. You can find classical shots but there a lot of uncommon photos. It’s a kind of diary where I can share with all you my preferred shots, not the best because everyone has a different opinion about the same photo. Every photo has an own history.
I relax myself when I put the camera in the bag, drive my car and stop it wherever my mind feel an emotion. Turn on the camera and i find to take the best emotional shots.
Many times, my friends told me their opinions about some photos that they like for the colors, the subject but are estetic sensations…mine are deep emotions because I lived the moment, I choose the moment, I materialized an emotion…great!
I imagine that visitors of my site can’t ‘live’ my diary at the same mode of mine, but I hope that I can give you some frames of my emotions.
- 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......
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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...... - Digital Painting Jeremy White wrote this article exclusively for us. Jeremy is currently in the throngs of several projects and sub projects in digital art (2d here, 3d there), computer programming, and some hobby-level music production. Actually, all of it is hobby level, but... who cares? I consider Jeremy a real artist......
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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......
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Top 10 Tips for Buying the Right Camera [/caption] Brought to you by Sony You're ready to buy a camera. You've got your money in hand and you're ready to start shopping. Before going off to purchase the most gleaming model you can afford, prepare yourself with the following essential buying tips. Know yourself and why you need...... -
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Vinyl Collection
November 5, 2007
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 a five page “report” about the subject and just grew from there. There is so much detail that is involved in collecting vinyl, and I just wanted to cover the topic in the best way possible, hence the ebook. And, I have made it very affordable at $4.99 a copy and certainly am not getting rich selling it, but rather I get a keen sense of satisfaction in detailing and explaining the hobby to others. But, the beauty of a digital product like this is that I can add information, interviews and updated material anytime, in fact just six months ago the ebook was at 40 pages, it is now over 70 pages. I wanted to delve into why people collect, the thrill and passion, that not only do I get from collecting, but what other collectors and dealers feel about the hobby. I have over 10,000 records and love adding to my collection, the thrill of the hunt is special to me (and as I found out, to others as well). I do not sell my records, rather, I think that they will be passed on to my family and continue to appreciate in value.
Many people argue about Vinyl and the “old good quality”, are they right? We lost something with digital media?
Oh, yes, there is a “sound fingerprint” that is lost when music is “compressed” into digital format. I call it “binary sound” and the human ear hears music in analogue sound and that is why music on vinyl sounds so much better. In fact, ask any musician (many of who are vinyl record collectors) and they can tell you what compressing the music into digital sound does to the music; that “sound fingerprint” is lost. As for my opinion, music wasn’t meant to be heard as a bunch of 1’s and 0’s compressed together to form the sound, and vinyl records have been around since sound reproduction began; and quite frankly, aren’t going anywhere (remember the reel to reel tapes, eight-tracks and cassettes? vinyl withstood those sound formats for a reason, the sound quality)
What can you tell us about the new media trends and their future?
I had to chuckle when I read about this marketing ploy-they have combined a CD and vinyl into one product. One side is the music in CD format and the other side is a 3 minute vinyl record. Now, I don’t think this is the answer, but I would assume if you can get a hold of one of these, do so, I would think they may be highly collectible once the dust settles.
I have also taken a keen interest in what the band Radiohead has done with their latest release, in fact I have an article on my blog about it.
I am also writing band biographies and reviews about new independent bands for an Internet radio station and I feel that, although a lot of bands still release their product via vinyl or CD, the distribution methods are changing, which to me, is a good thing; a music lover can get to hear so much more music that they may have otherwise not have heard. Many bands are releasing their music independent of the record labels (i.e. Radiohead) and going to MySpace or CD Baby to get their music heard. But, bands will continue to release music on vinyl, because that is what the consumer is looking for.
What about your next projects?
I am currently working on another ebook about “bird” and “animal” names and groups in rock and roll (a daunting task!) and I am having a blast doing this. I also write for www.gemm.com, which is one of the largest vinyl retailers on the Internet (I do band bios and articles). I am also busy working up a couple of more web sites, which I hope to go “live” very soon. I am also involved with a wonderful organization headed by Gary Freiberg called Vinyl Record Day, which helps educate the public about the cultural and social impact that the vinyl record has had on our society. Vinyl Record Day also helps promote and preserve the wonderful art work that has been created throughout the years. I also answer emails that people have about vinyl as well as pursue my fascinating hobby of collecting vinyl records.
On a personal note, I want to thank you for your time and the opportunity to discuss my ebook and hope that you got as much enjoyment out of reading it, as I did putting it all together.
And I thank you, Robert, I wish you big success, your ebook is really charming.
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The Djinn Chronicles Today we add a new Category: Writings, where we'll publish exclusive short stories, novels or poems available on ManuelMarino.com only. Today's Author is Erick Behymer. Read his words about this work of fiction: The Djinn Chronicles Well, I do have one that directly involves the mythological creatures known as Djinn....... - 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......
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Woodwind Instruments Collectibles -> Cultures, Ethnicities -> Musical Instruments Collecting woodwind instruments is a great way to collect not only some of the finest art ever created but to infuse music into your collection as well. Instruments are fascinating and beautiful bits of artwork in themselves, but they represent our history of...... -
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