Happy Vampires

Port of Poseidonia: The nor′easter
[And the Mountains of Hell]

Let us not all believe Atlantis did not have its secrets, and dark powers, for it surely did. And this sketch will bring forth, one of them. (Part V)

1
The Storm

A thousand years had passed and the late King of Atlantis, Phrygian, with his Queen Ais were neither a day older or younger since they had journeyed into the Great Gulf of Hell, with its turbulent waters at times, and its endless dim fog that covered their presence. They had drifted aimlessly like water-rats, ghosts of the abyss. It was around the year 9,600 BC, and there came a great hurricane, cyclone in the gulf; it looked as if the whole earth had collapsed, went upside down; a tempest that shook the foundations of Hell itself a nor’easter winds, vortex that twisted everything about. Ais hung on to Phrygian and Phrygian hung on to the vessel, lest they be caught in the water for a thousand years with bobbing heads up and down out of the water like drowning porpoises. When the storm had settled and the earth stopped shaking they found themselves still within the vessel, but on the side of a mountain top—a peak of sorts, it was about the size of the craft, sticking out of the water, not much more than a few feet, and the vessel was for the most part, destroyed as its side was struck, its thick wood crushed into the hard granite rock of the mountain peak.

And so the cracked vessel (along its shell ((side bottom)), cracked like an egg, gave the two inhabitants no choice but to leave its domain: for the insides of the craft were pushed and cracked to one side of the boat, and falling apart, unusable.

As they found themselves outside of the craft on the rock lingering about, thinking, the king knew there was no hope, once cast into Hell—I mean, to the landing docks of hell, and then inland where one sees the real Hell, as Hell. The Hell that resided at the pier was simply its transit station one might say, and the gulf, its water were the parade of ships that carried the doomed ones might add—to their fate; as the onlookers at the docks saw the parade of hundreds of ships, boats of all sizes rowing in, coming in, some sailing in on windy days, they smirked and laughed and gave a grave welcoming.

2
The Discovery

In this land of the dead, hours were days and days were months and months were years, and the seasons seldom changed. Abaddon and Zammrel, Lucifer’s lieges, were on the look out for the king and queen, but were blinded by the thick fog often, and as spellbinding and supernatural as they were, they were not omnipotent, or omnipresent: they could not be at two places at one time or command Hell’s foundations to not give refuge to seekers, the only problem is, for the seeker, for it was normally just a matter of time, for where could a runaway go? And their constant movements with the boat provided some escape, but now it would not be so hard to be found as it was before, it was just a matter of time as they had always know likely, the little hope they had was gone was hope just a game saying: look how hard you tried, and see, you tried in vain. And as the days passed one by one as they hid along side the rocks, half under the water half hugging the tips of the rocks, which were really the mountain tops, being missed by a thread, but by a glance or two, had they looked longer, straighter, possibly the seekers would have, might have spotted them to capture. The king could see on the faces of Zammrel and Abaddon, lurid eyes of hate, wanting to be the heroes who brought him back to the Gates of Hell, to Hells domain, to hells’ everlasting torments.

The rock, the rock, that is all they had left to them, for them, with them; it was the mother of rocks to them, the womb that covered them, their salvation—for God was not watching, present in Hell, only the god of Hell was in Hell, Satan, someplace, and usually he didn’t’ like being there and was seldom there to be frank, it was His henchmen he ordered to do his dirty work, his kings and generals and henchmen. Yet Ais remained strong with her husband unselfishly strong, and so claimed each and every day to be his wife, she was a proud one thought the king, and a faithful one. They were about midway between the entrance of the gulf and the pier. Twenty miles each way perhaps, surely no wider in total length than forty-miles thought the king; but now it was deeper, much deeper, and as deep to hold a mountain below his feet—possibly five miles deep. All the mountains or hills before were on the other side of the gulf, where the pier was. On the opposite side of the gulf was what was known as Paradise, a place he was forbidden to touch, go to, nor could any one from Hell expect to be granted access to such a place if they could get close enough to smell the fresh breeze, cool fresh breeze that existed beyond this lifeless airless atmosphere. Oh it had its moments, but hot air on air was not a magical moment, and it is no wonder the Ten-Winged Serpent Satan Himself would not come down here often, it was a land of decay.

With many a hiss from the gulf stream, and the clutching of eyes that rowed the oars in the vessels that went by, he decided to venture deeper into the waters to look for a possible entrance into the mountain, a cave of sorts, anything to hide from this eternal domination that wanted to enslave him once captured. Yes, in spite of all, the king had some kind of hope, something that made him search and search, day after day, for an entrance. But he found only cliff after cliff, until the one-hundredth time, there he found an opening, small as it was, it was an opening nonetheless.

3
The Entrance

They were like two shadows chained together—both used to one another, it was a love no one would believe in books, it was hard to believe in reality, in desperation they loved even more than previous to their downfall.

—They had found a crevice, crack—a peak-hole you might say into an underwater mountain; this strange refuge gave them a rest as they pushed their slinky forms through it. It was fathoms bellow, and as they sank a graveyard of bones lay all about, an eldritch-dark, misty gloom, ivory-laced black moss circled about. It was the gloom of the earth, and the first night there was: phobic, neurotic mind bending occurrences for them; with its tight-macabre walls closing in on each side of them—ebbing. They didn’t think things could get worse, but just its lack of light was worse than the surface of the water with all its danger and fog included. Nonetheless they slept a night in peace, unguarded for once, so they acquired one gift, at a price of another, for sleeping in the Hell was impossible, and in the waters of the gulf, seldom could they both sleep at any one given time; yes, sleep was a privilege, a gift, and treasured by all, and all they needed to do was remember a thousand years of not sleeping; so this was their outlook on the matter, and gift in the raw.

They had woke up, or so it seem, days later, or possibly weeks or months later, time was not measured by distance or movements, it was measured by events more so. And waking up to know what was going on was time. If a boatman oared by you, and then another one shortly after, one might say it was five minutes or five hours between events. Then if there was more fog, and the spotting of these vessels were less seldom, then time was measured accordingly, one would have to allow more time for each event. It became simple after a while for the couple, after a hundred or so years that is, and then after a thousand years they didn’t even have to think on measuring time it was automatic. Their guess was that they’d been down there between eight hundred to 1500-years. But it was a thousand years they were there, take or give a few.

4
The Discovery

Now Phrygian and Ais saw a moved rock, a rock they had leaned against, oh yes, thick shadows have weight, believe it or not. And they quickly moved the surface of that area, and a larger hole opened—not too large just enough to seep through it like curled up worms digging their way to freedom, to the top of the surface of land. And when they came out on the other end, to their amazement they saw a city, a city deep within the core of the mountain, a necropolis, a resting place for a dead city of Atlantis; towers and temples all laying about as if a hurricane, or earthquake had caused some kind of earthly catastrophe, potentially an upheaval—volcanic activity, or asteroid or meteorite impacted the earth—something on that order

as they got closer within this mammoth core of the mountain—in the inner cave, pieces of oxide (iron) were all about and other minerals like globs of nickel lay here and there, that told the king it was highly, and most likely a meteor (s) that struck the earth, thus, elsewhere, if not everywhere there would be craters on earth, this was the upshot of the ocean floor. It had evidently sunk, and turned things a little upside down (what before was land, was mountains, some below the seas; probably even what were cities could now be on top of mountains that had never previously existed); furthermore, it was possible the earth itself became lopsided, and very promising unbalanced the earth’s axis; in addition, this upheaval of the oceans floors, was surely the cause of the earth being sprayed with large and small portions of a huge asteroid from an asteroid belt, or one, or a dozen, likely frozen rocks, flying by earth, and through the earths atmospheres.

But on the other brighter side, they had found—as they came closer to the towers, found the larger tower, and the acropolis, it was Atlantis’ graveyard. It was Atlantis itself, their previous home. Then by a standing upright temple, came Anases, in shadow form, like them—configurations of dark mass. On one hand it was a rude awakening for all, and on the other, a jubilee for all, for none had seen another being in a very long time.

“Phrygian,” he cried with a crack in his voice, “And Ais, I am so glad to see you.”

Asked Phrygian, in a lost commanding voice, a more human one than when he was Archeking of Atlantis, “My old friend, what are you doing here?”

“Oh yes,” he replied, looking about, “Yes, yes, I am looking for my scrolls, I had them in the tower as you must remember—I think, but I can’t find them, how will the world ever know of our existence?”

“They will make tales of us,” the old king now said with a nostalgic voice, “they will tell wild and long tales; yes, yes indeed that is exactly what they will do.” Then Anases left them as they stood, and started searching every rock, fissure he could find, the scrolls.

As they walked further into the debris, and looked about, a tour of sorts, looking at the few standing buildings there within the tour, they turned to each other, Ais saying,

“At least we’re home.” But she was day-dreaming of the days of glory and beauty of Atlantis, which surely the old king was doing also and her words came out in poetry:

The Lost Archkingdom Atlantis

Her nine-sided ivory tower obelisks,
Atlantis’ throne to kings and gods:
Were topped with trident crowns—

Her towers, temples, and turrets:
Her tapestries and treasures of fur—
Fountains, pools and waterfalls,
Her gardens, lilies and poppies,
Her sculptures, palaces, observatories,
Her giant pearls of Yndessoss!
Coral reds and whites from Mu,
Lemuria’s vast urns and vases—
Give glory to you: Archkingdom, Atlantis

Lost forever in the deep fathoms of Hell….

See Dennis′ web site: dennissiluk.tripod.com dennissiluk.tripod.com

The words, the thoughts, the processes go on and on.

As simple as it may seem to me I tend to feel that all words have their own meaning and not always the dictionary form.

A simple word takes the form of many other words as each individual person who hears it puts it through a transformation process.

A doctor can take a word and change it into a disease. A carpenter can take a word and change it into a tool.

Is it that no one is listening or is it that each person listens only to what they know currently?

Debates take a turn at each word that is change and looked at in a different way by the person listening. According to our knowledge we can take a prayer and turn it into a blatant statement of hatred or immoral intrusion.

We can take a statement that spews hate and turn it into a humanitarian effort.

The words that tell, the words that say, the words that we hear and acknowledge everyday make us what we are if we allow them to.

It is the definition as we see it and nothing more. Depending on how stubborn a person is the prayer, the hatred can be anything.

A long line of definitions and the end of any Thesaurus will change the meaning according to the word you pick hate can become love and loving can become despising.
This is the way a person’s mind can work and in the end it all blends into the way a person listens.

If all you know is hatred, it is not hard to imagine what love could be. Still depending on the words that you know it can turn itself into a field of flowers or the face of a monster.

Every word has a meaning and that meaning can be twisted and turned into so many different forms that it can take forever to get through if the person listening does not understand your meaning and what it means to you.

Human beliefs are a large part of the basis of the definitions that are out there.
What could be simple and what is simple can, and at times can become complex and confusing.

Confusion occurs when a word we learned as a child takes a different form and we are unaccustomed to it being used in that way. Simple can be so much better but the world is complex and if the ones that hold the knowledge contained in a Thesaurus use it, the world can and will become the definition of what they believe in if only because no one can truly understand what is happening.

It will get to the point where not only will people not understand what is happening because they do not understand the use of the wording. But the other people will not understand because they have evolved to a place where simplicity means nothing.

It is everywhere and few see it.

It is in politics, they make wrongs right, according to the wording of laws and bills. It is in corporations as they justify the wrongs or the lies that they come upon every day. It is in the very fabric of the religions that will change what they need to according to what they want to believe in.

Simple, look it up!

Julie Pierce has worked in the retail sector for more than thirty years.
She has been a union member of the UCFW Union and the afl-cio more than once and has worked for more than one large retailer during the course of her career. She attended Gulf Coast Community College, Panama City Beach, Florida, in the nineties in the pursuit of a degree in Journalism and Mass Communications.

Some of her work has been published during the eighties and nineties in various editorial pages of newspapers in the state of New Jersey and Florida. She also did some work as a community reporter for a weekly newspaper in Panama City Florida. Other work includes an article in the Gulls Cry, the Gulf Coast Community College newspaper.

She is the wife of TSgt William F. Pierce Jr. (retired) USAF and the mother of three children and one grandchild.

Her experience with Walmart has taken her into three different regions and six districts within the company. In over a six-year period has worked in ten Walmart stores for twelve Walmart Store Managers.

Everyone knows that gambling is a business of risk. Professional gamblers will successfully manage their risks and make a profit, whilst 98% of punters who consistently lose money, also consistently fail to manage risk effectively.

This is the concluding part to this series of articles, where I have explored the key reasons most punters lose money, in a vain attempt to make money through betting.

We have seen the importance of always getting a value price when you bet. If you fail to strike bets which offer a satisfactory return on your investment, then ultimately you will lose money.

We have learned why you should have a sensible approach to staking. Never put too much of your betting bank at risk in one bet, in an attempt to get rich quick.

I pressed home the dangers of chasing your losses. Experienced gamblers appreciate that you will more often than not lose more bets than you win. Losing is part of gambling – accept this fact and you will not be tempted to compound your losses by trying to re-coup them by deviating from your staking plan.

In the most recent article, we looked at discipline, and why it is critical to treat your betting like a proper business if you want to achieve business-like results.

In this final section, I want to conclude by further exploring the topic of risk management, and developing a profitable portfolio of betting strategies.

Ask any number of professional gamblers and the vast majority will tell you they do not rely solely on one betting strategy alone. They spread their risk by employing several methods, and constantly reviewing the performance of each method. In effect, this is much like an investor managing a portfolio of stocks, shares, and investments. This echoes back to a previous article where I likened betting for profit to running a business.

The disadvantage of relying on just one betting method or system or tipster, is that if the strategy is not currently returning a profit, then you have no income.

If you look at the Stock Market, the value of individual shares goes up and down on a daily basis. Whereas, over time, the value of the market as a whole has historically risen.

So it makes sense to have a number of betting strategies running concurrently. If during one particular month Tipster A is losing money, then probably System B is returning a profit. Your aim should be to manage your portfolio such that you generate a net income every month.

Developing a portfolio raises a number of questions:

1) Which strategies should I employ?

2) How many betting systems/tipsters should I have in my portfolio?

3) When should I relegate a system from my portfolio?

Developing your betting portfolio

To answer the first question – the obvious response is to follow profitable systems. But this is much easier said than done. Where do you find profitable methods, systems, and tipsters?

It will take you time to develop a good portfolio, but a good place to start is with your own methods. If you can read form, and you understand the concept of value, then you can develop your own methods of making good selections.

Whilst you are developing your own methods, you can employ the skills of one or more tipsters, and/or buy some ready-made systems. Before rushing out to buy a copy of the Racing Post and looking in the classified advertisements for tipsters, I recommend you search on Google under ‘tipster review’ or ‘horse racing tipster review’ or ‘betting tipster review’. Adverts will always say their tipster or system is the best, and makes amazing profits. But this is your money you are investing, and you owe it to yourself to do some home-work.

Look for a forum or discussion board where tipsters and systems are reviewed objectively by customers or people who have actually used the service.

How big should your portfolio be?

This is a question only you can answer really. The more strategies you have, the more your risk is spread across a number of income streams. You could also potentially earn more money. However, the more methods you employ the harder your portfolio will be to manage, and the more of your time will be taken up.

You will need to strike a balance where you are comfortable with the time-input and the return from the portfolio.

A sensible portfolio may have five or six strategies, with another two under review at any one time.

Managing your portfolio

In a previous chapter I suggested ‘paper-trading’ a method for at least two months to test its profitability. This means you should follow a method or tipster or system for two months to see if theoretically you would have made a profit. Once you are happy with the performance of a particular method, you can proceed to award it a place in your portfolio, and start trading with actual cash.

If the strategy doesn’t make the grade, then ‘file’ it for future reference.

You will have heard the old saying “If it ain’t broke don’t try to fix it” so you should not be too hasty to discard a particular betting method if it returns a losing month.

However, there is also the teaching “Don’t throw good money after bad”. If a system has earned a place in your portfolio by performing well for two months, then it makes sense to allow it two poor months before even considering it should be relegated. That said, if you are not happy with a system and it is losing money, then get rid of it!

Summary

Develop a portfolio of betting strategies to spread your risk and maintain a regular net income. Use a combination of your own personal methods, purchased systems, and subscription tipsters. Constantly review your profitability to highlight any under-performing strategies.

About the author: Max Redd has been making a living betting on reddracing.co.uk horse racing for over 10 years. He runs the Redd Racing betting advisory service which offers members a FREE trial and a 60-day money-back profit guarantee. Find out more at reddracing.co.uk reddracing.co.uk

Max Redd has been making a living betting on reddracing.co.uk horse racing for over 10 years. He runs the Redd Racing betting advisory service which offers members a FREE trial and a 60-day money-back profit guarantee. Find out more at reddracing.co.uk reddracing.co.uk

We have already looked at how to win at online gambling with games of chance but by their very nature they are games of chance and you only need to place the bets with the best odds of success.

Here we will look at 3 games to win at online gambling that involve a degree of skill where you can influence the outcome of the game.

Because skill is involved you can win more money, but which game is best for you. Let’s take a look.

1. Online Slots Video Poker

This is the perfect introduction to a skill game, bridging the gap between the pure games of chance and the more daunting table card games.

The reason video poker is so popular is that it has all the fun of slots but you can play with a strategy (different for each game) and tilts the odds a little in your favour.

When playing video poker its best to play high paying machines and a good place to start is with a jacks or better 9 / 6 machine.

The advantage of video poker are its fun, it’s easy and you get to tilt the odds in your favour.

It’s a good intro to games of skill but if you really want to win at online gambling you need to look at blackjack and poker.

2. Blackjack

Blackjack is a game where your choices really do make a difference to the amount you win and by using basic strategy and card counting, you can get the edge away from the casino and in your favour.

The advantages with card counting is that over the long term you can get the odds in your favour and make steady gains and card counting is not as complicated as it is made out to be.

The disadvantages of blackjack are, that at best the edge in your favour is about 2% and it’s a long term edge i.e. short term results can vary dramatically.

You can make good money but you won’t really get rich and playing it can lack excitement, as you are simply following a method.

3. Poker

The king of all online casino games and if you want to win at online gambling and win big this is game to focus on.

So why is poker so competitive and the winnings so large?

The answer lies in it’s an interactive game where you face other players and compete with them NOT The casino.

It is this that makes poker a game where the big money is.

It’s a game of skill, but it’s also a game of psychology. Keep in mind the beat hand does not always win in poker!

Here you need to play your opponent as much as your cards, this makes poker unpredictable and the ultimate test of skill.

Poker can make you far richer than any other game in the casino but you need to hone your skills, to win at online gambling with poker you need lots of practice and the traits of discipline, perseverance, cunning, patience and a cool head.

If you can adopt these traits and learn from your experiences, you can make huge gains and in today’s big money poker tournaments you’re talking 7 figure sums.

In poker you can’t just follow a system as you do in blackjack or video poker, you need to use psychology to win and thats the appeal.

It’s hard, it’s brutal but very satisfying when you win!

All the games above have reasons to recommend them and the one you play to win at online gambling will reflect your personality, your aspirations and how much money you want to win.

Which ever you choose to play to win at online gambling, have fun and good luck.

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I started writing a short history for each of the Top 100 films on the American Film Institutes list, and then I realized that the AFI list is problematic for a few different reasons. It only represents the opinions of film critics, it stays within the boundaries of Hollywood and American born films, and it tends to pander towards the classics with films that were extremely important but don’t necessarily represent the opinions of those that watch them, the movie going public.

So, I present the exact same project with the Top 100 movies from The Internet Movie Database’s Top 250 list. The IMDB list is a much greater tool, and one I’ve used in the past because it’s dynamic. Over the course of the years it has changed substantially adding new films, removing old films and generally reflecting the opinions of those that watch the films.

Number two on that dynamic and eponymous list is a film that doesn’t even peek its way into some other Top 100 lists. Clearly a fan favorite though, The Shawshank Redemption has found endless support in the world of DVD sales and television airing. Starring Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins, The Shawshank Redemption is the story of Andy Dufresne, falsely imprisoned for the murder of his wife and her lover for two consecutive life terms. Morgan Freeman plays the part of Red, who also narrates as Andy goes from quiet unassuming banker to beaten, abused bottom rung of the prison ladder to the warden’s personal accountant and purveyor of the newly minted prison library. The film spans the course of 20 years, and in that time Andy finds himself a substantial place in the prison hierarchy and garners powers through his intelligence that no prisoner should be allowed.

When Andy’s savior enters the prison with the proof he needs to clear his name, tensions reach a boiling point and the Warden acts excessively forcing Andy into action. Following is one of the most entertaining and satisfying conclusions in recent cinema. The film’s run time, at nearly 2 and a half hours is well worth the wait just for those final 10 minutes.

The film was written and directed by Frank Darabondt, after his purchase of the rights to Stephen King’s novella, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. He takes liberties with the material and makes a great deal of changes, but the core ideas and themes remain intact albeit the voice severely changed from King’s to something decidedly more subdued.

Interpretations of the film aren’t nearly as varied as films on this list from earlier decades, probably due to its much more recent release. Drawing heavily from The Count of Monte Cristo, the film doesn’t however go down the road of revenge and sacrifice as Dumas’ classic does. Instead, Andy’s key characteristic is his integrity, and as he endures the beatings of his fellow inmates, injustices of his warden, betrayal by his ex-wife, and the injustice of the system that allowed it all to happen, he stands strong and eventually uses his gifts to escape. His is a tale of hope and patience and finally of success under horrendous circumstances and finally reward.

Parallels have even been made between Andy and Christ, following the false arrest, imprisonment and crucifixion after betrayal by a loved one, only to die and be resurrected anew, awarded for the injustices committed against them. The director denies any intentional parallel though. Thankfully art is open to all interpretations despite original intentions, and we’re still allowed to make the connections.

As a film still fresh in the memory of Hollywood and critics, the reception is still very much contemporary. Critics cite it as a great film but a modern film, and in the year of its release (1994) it was forced to compete with Forrest Gump at the Academy Awards and thus failed to win a single one. But, it has endured with greater tenacity than Tom Hanks fame machine, voted to the number two spot on IMDB’s list, and last year named the #1 film of all time by a reader poll in Empire.

A true testament to the nature and power of IMDB, The Shawshank Redemption’s impression is still felt among movie lovers new and old 13 years later, and will likely continue.

I’m a self avowed unemployed writer, working on semi-constant basis to try and overcome the need to go and work a real job. I’ve written more than 200 articles and reviews and am constantly scouring the internet for any and all excuses and methods to make myself less dependent on corporate pay days. Visit my website at thechatfield.com TheChatfield.com

When considering the Australian Ticketing Environment, Australians prefer to deal locally. Local sites in the ticketing industry received over 84% of all sales in the Shopping and Classifieds – Ticketing industry, with the average time of online visits in both January and the preceding month being just over 7 minutes.

The main player in the Australian Ticketing Environment at the moment appears to be Ticketek, with 32.16% of the market share, while TicketMaster Australia comes a close second with just over 22%. Inthemix.com.au places third in the Australian Ticketing Environment race, at a little more than 12%. This information was based on visits to the sites in the month of January 2007.

There are other players in the Australian Ticketing Environment with a smaller percentage of sales, yet still within the top ten are moshtiks, OpenSeats.com, Showbiz box Office, Tickets.com and Ticketmaster. The percentage of audience for these sites is between approximately eight and five percent. going further, there are many smaller ticket sellers that form an integral part of the Australian Ticketing Environment.

Visitors to all these sites – including the first three major sites that were mentioned - tend to have first visited computer and Internet or entertainment sites just before purchasing their preferred tickets. Shopping and Classifieds, sports and music, news and media, email services and chat rooms are some of the other main sites visited.

Overall in Australia today, it is clear to see that the Australian Ticketing Environment is alive and well.

One of the great things about life is that there are many incredible, amazing things all going on at the same time. From the littlest to the largest, there’s immense pleasure to be had just observing, watching, or participating. That’s why learning how to take photos the right way is a wise move.

Not only does this passion of life motivate many people to learn how to take photos, but many creative inclined individuals often find themselves eventually selling photos online. Whatever you choose to do, you’ll have a unique way of doing it. And the wonderful thing is that there’s a real enriching satisfaction to creating digital photography that you can discover over time.

Most everyone can learn how to take photos competently. Many people also end up spending thousands of dollars on photo courses, or high end digital equipment that doesn’t get to be fully utilized. It lives on the shelf more often than not. Pictures don’t take themselves. Great photography comes from the photographer who learns their craft well.

But for those who are more serious about how to take photos that impress, or just want to become a better photographer… or just wish to further their body of knowledge and expertise, let me introduce you to Digital Photography Secrets. This insightful digital photo book is everything the professionals know, but don’t want you to know about using your digital camera to take stunning photos.

What I like about Digital Photography Secrets is that it’s kind of like having a professional photographer next to you as you shoot. You’ll understand how important it is to not only know how to take photos, but to do it well. If your camera is a serious investment for you, then why not strive to be the best in your field, and use your talents to their fullest potential?

It’s also great to be able to know how to take photos that other people can appreciate. This feeling is often hard to describe. If you look at digital photography you could see the medium allows lots of flexibility and holds great potential. And if you could read and understand a digital photo book that could really improve your photography, would this make good business sense?

Still, all things being equal, not everyone manages to create great pictures. Actually it’s more difficult than it looks. Photographers often shoot high numbers of digital pictures to get one good picture. That’s the beauty of digital photography. The question you need to ask yourself is… how badly do you want to improve your ability to take good photos?

Digital Photography Secrets covers a good, concise, practical range of information, written in simple terms without the complex jargon of some professional camera books. (By the way there is a photo jargon demystifier included as a bonus with this digital photo book.) It includes such things as how to look after your digital camera, how to take photos the smart way and 21 outstanding foundation secrets for taking better photography.

What the author of Digital Photography Secrets has done is distill down the important aspects and secrets of good professional photography. As such this digital photo book doesn′t get too technical, or philosophical. It’s grounded in down to earth practicality, with how to take photos secrets that you can learn and adapt for your own photography business.

This appealing digital photo book speaks it as it is, without any fluff. So often with photography you need to know how to take photos that will look right, especially capturing important moments, documenting events or shooting stock photos. A good example would be wedding photography when it helps to get it correct first time… that is, if you want to continue working in that field.

Digital Photography Secrets covers the basics of digital photography too, which would be helpful as either a refresher course or basic how to take photos learning tool (if you’re a digital photo newbie.) There’s also some ‘special insights′ on using the right printer, removing noise from your digital photos, (great to know about this) preservation of photos, buying a photo cartridge kit, and more.

My favorite happens to be part of the bonus section, and is about using Flickr. What we′re talking about is a very popular, online photo sharing site, and the author of this digital photo book has created some videos that will show you how best to use Flickr, upload and share your photos with others. After all, if you’re going to learn how to take photos, why not do it well, and reach as many people as you possible can…

© Copyright Martin Hurley 2006

Martin Hurley is head honcho at hurleypix.com hurleypix.com and an unconventional modern day artist, photographer and thinker. He helps people uncover their inner talents and passions… and make money from taking photos! Why not start selling your photos online? Visit now to get a free ebook, an amazing Thailand cloud photo, and sign up to my free ezine. Learn more about the hurleypix.com/how-to-take-photos.html How To Take Photos guide here.

Playing the piano in public can be one of the greatest challenges facing a beginner piano student. Perhaps your teacher has asked you to do a piano recital, or maybe you are playing for a concert or for friends and family.

The nervous jitters set in! Your hands shake! Your palms sweat! Yet playing for an audience can also be one of the most rewarding parts of being able to play the piano. Here are five tips to help boost your confidence and maximize your performance.

Five Tips for Playing the Piano in Public

1. Take a few moments to settle yourself comfortably at the piano or keyboard.

2. Even if you are very nervous, try to make a good start to your piece. Make a good first impression!

3. If you get tangled up in the middle of your piece, don’t stop, look aghast and throw your book away! Instead, keep your cool and keep on playing. Keep in mind that often many of the people who are listening won’t know the piece you are playing and may not even notice your mistake.

4. Make a good tidy ending to your piece. Finish with a flourish!

5. Afterwards, if people compliment you on your performance, don’t say, ‘Oh, I made an awful mess of that part…’ This only fixes the mistake in people’s memory. Instead say, ‘Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed it.’

By using these five tips to increase your confidence, you will soon become skilled at playing in public and will find it a pleasure to entertain your friends, family and the general public with your music performances.

(Warm thanks to Sister Agatha who originally taught me these five golden rules for playing the piano in public!)

About the Author:

Betty Wagner of Music With Ease has been teaching music for over 30 years. Her unique multimedia ebooks make learning to play the piano fun, easy and affordable! Children can

By the end of the first half of the 19th Century, Russian intellectuals supported the need for reform in Russia. Russia had entered the age of capital development. Influenced by the liberal ideas of Chernyshevsky and Belinski, the Itinerant movement established the first Free Society of Artists in Russia. The founding of the Itinerant’s movement was a measure calculated to express the need for rejection of the social order in Tsarist Russia. The objectives of the Itinerants were:

- the enlightenment of the people by affording them the opportunity to learn about the new Russian art;
- the aesthetic objective of forming a new artistic sense and taste;
- the economic objective of attracting new buyers in order to have a market for the new art.

Itinerants (Peredvizhniki) List: I.Shishkin, N.Ghe (Gay), V.Perov, I.Kramskoi, I.Repin, V.Surikov, G.Myasoedov, Kamenev, A.Savrasov, Amosov, Ammon, M.P.Klodt, M.K.Klodt, Pryanishnikov, A. Bogolyubov, Gun (Huns), V.Makovskiy, N.Makovskiy, K.Makovskiy, V.Maksimov, K.Bryullov, K.Savitskiy, A.Kuindji, Bronnikov, V.Vasnetsov, A.Vasnetsov, Litovchenko, Lemokh, V.Polenov, Volkov, Leman, Nevrev, Kharlamov, Kuznetsov, Bodarevskiy, N.Dubovskoy, Svetoslavskiy, N.Shil’der, Arkhipov, I.Levitan, I.Ostrouhov, Zagorskiy, Lebedev, Stepanov, Pozen, Kasatkin, Miloradovich, Shanks, V.Serov, Bogdanov-Bel’skiy, I.Bogdanov, A.Korin, Endogurov, Nesterov, Baksheev, Orlov, Kostandi.

With the onset of the itinerant movement, new terms to describe Russian art began to be heard. Phrases such as “enlightening,” “aesthetic objective,” “economic objective,” “new,” “fresh,” “for the first time” were heard all over the country. This was the first time in the history of the Russian world of art that the subject matter was rich and expansive. The method used by these artists was to conduct traveling art exhibits in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other large cities throughout Russia. This set the Itinerants on a collision course with the forces of the Academy and set the stage for an entirely new type of art. Russian art has never looked back. Everyone in Russia became involved in the conflict. Critics, artists, academics, newspapers, politicians, and even the common people could not let the matter rest. Exhibition halls became battlegrounds between the new and the old. Today it is difficult to understand that the emotion of the times and the results of the movement clearly shook the forces of empire to their very depths.

The itinerant artists themselves were from all walks of life and age. Some were peasants, and some were of the nobility, but all were united in a single goal. That goal was to depict life in Russia as it really was. The difference between this path and Classicism and Romanticism was that for the first time painting was focused on present day reality. The artist’s hand was freed from the restrictions of lofty ideals. Painting reflected events and the contradictions of Russian society. The lives of common Russian people including their struggles against oppression were revealed through art. The love of the Russian people for their country and its nature was deified, and for the first time, paintings were free of social prejudice. One must be aware that all the while Russia, unlike other Western European countries, was a land where the political freedom to express oneself was strictly prohibited. Free expression was prohibited almost to the point of non-understanding in this country. It was only in the field of the arts (painting, literature, music, theater, etc.) that there was any possibility self expression. This led the Itinerants to feel as if they were given a special responsibility to effect change. The artists willingly took on this mission as a sacred duty. The great Ilya Repin wrote that artists come from the people and that the people expect art that reflects a clear understanding of conditions and nature.

This generation of Itinerants tried to analyze and determine what art was and what role it played in social life. The great Russian art critic Vladimir Stasov defined this aspiration as follows: “The artists striving to unite to setup their own society were not doing it for the purpose of creating beautiful paintings and statues for the sole purpose of earning money. They were striving to create something for the minds and feelings of the people.” This is why arguments that arose at the exhibition halls were concerned with far more than pure artistic arguments. The artists themselves were of varying talent, and different painting genres, but as members of the Society became “Universal Artists,” who worked in different forms of art. For example, the most talented of the Itinerants (Repin, shishkin, and others) worked in both painting and drawing. As a result of their efforts, easel drawing stopped being merely preparatory work for future paintings and developed into an independent form of art.

Other examples of multi-talented artists include artists such as Vasiliy Polenov and Victor Vasnetsov. These two Itinerants worked, not only as easel painters, but each also devoted a great deal of time in reviving theater scenery painting thus laying the foundation for the tradition of Russian theater decor that reached its peak at the turn of the 19th and 20th Centuries. This effort was done in conjunction with artists of another artistic society, the World of Art. Vasnetsov, among others, also created many mural paintings for churches. Being universal artists, many Itinerants worked successfully in other genres. Ivan Kramskoi, Nikolai Ghe, Ilya Repin, and Vasiliy Surikov were fine portraitists and history theme painters. Polenov was an historical painter as well as a landscapist. Nikolai Yaroshenko worked in portrait, landscape, and genre painting. In spite of multi-talented artists that worked in many genres, one must not forget, subjects and heroes, the images of Russian nature and human destiny always remained the main themes of their creativity. While working on these motifs each artist revealed his own understanding of the fundamental problems of human existence.

In order to comprehend the work of the Itinerants more fully, one must examine some of the new tendencies brought by the Itinerants to Russian art. Genre painting was the primary method of bringing realism to Russian art though it was not new for Russian art in the whole. The range of themes represented here was extremely wide, embracing studio works depicting everyday life in the city and peasant life in the country. In some instances huge paintings were created in order to accomplish these goals.

Before serfdom was abolished by the reform act of 1861, peasants had belonged to a landlord. The liberation of the serfs entailed many new problems in society. The serfs were freed but were not given the right to own land. Therefore, they had no means of support. Many serfs fled to the cities and into the arms of a miserable existence. They were no longer peasants but they did not find acceptance in the cities. They were no longer able to always maintain the ties that had previously bound them to their families. The villages they left behind had also changed. Customary ways of making a living were changed forever, and again family relations were affected. The peasantry became very heterogeneous and in some cases were able to engage in cottage industry that changed their relationship with the local nobility. A classic painting by Maximov, The Division of the Family Property is a sterling example of this change in Russian lifestyles.
Vladimir Makovskiy, a very prolific artist dedicated his creative works to a reflection of urban life. His paintings The Date and On the Boulevard are perhaps his two best works. By depicting ordinary life he managed to reflect the deepest tragedies of contemporary society. The poverty of the most vulnerable members of society children and their miserable existence, mothers being doomed to the worst, the estrangement of sons totally exhausted by backbreaking labor were clearly recognizable in these two paintings.The Date is particularly remarkable. When viewing the painting, you can sense the same strain and emotional disconnect that you find in On the Boulevard. At first glance nothing seems askance in either painting. You sense nothing amiss due to the lack of action or covert tension. You see two people sitting on a bench - one of them a young woman with a child, newly arrived from the village to visit her husband. Her husband sitting beside her has become a foreigner to his family and apparently has been so for sometime. The more you look the more you see of a tragedy slowly unfolding before your very eyes. The viewer becomes aware of the contrast between the interplay of the people and the surrounding beauty of an August day on an old Moscow street, oblivious to the tragedy between the husband and wife.

The oldest artist among the itinerants was Vasiliy Perov. His creativity played a special role in the establishment of Russian realism. In his painting Religious Procession on Easter that belongs to his early period, we can find a critical tendency, a typical feature of early realism. He criticizes priests that are to bring the faith to the people but actually do not deserve to be the Lord′s pupils. Following a period of creativity, Perov tried to avoid a rude unmasking of people’s sins and defects. He starts telling a sad story of contemporary reality. Seeing -off the Deceased is a story in art in which we can see the image of a peasant woman free from idealization. Her fate gains the sympathy and compassion of the viewer. The landscape in an artist’s paintings starts playing a specific role in setting the mood of the whole painting. In the 1870s, Perov changed from sad and tragic subjects. He started depicting common people happy with their simple human joy and hobbies. He depicted fishermen, hunters on the holt, and bemused duck hunters.

The creative heritage of Ilya Repin plays a special role in genre painting and in Russian art as a whole. He is considered to be the most talented and famous Russian painter. His interests in painting were pointed mainly to contemporary subjects. He was interested in all aspects of Russian reality, but his talent was more fully revealed in genre and portrait painting. His works can be considered as an encyclopedia of Russian life with its heroes and events. His first famous painting, Barge Haulers on the Volga, painted while he was a student of the Academy of Fine Arts, showed his talent and characteristic manner of work. Unlike the artists who had treated this subject before, Repin was much more interested in the participants of the scene. He wanted the viewers to see their fates and personalities more than the hard labor they were forced to perform. He was the first in the history of art who tried to peer into people’s faces to understand who they were. For the first time a common Russian man was depicted as a hero of artistic work. He didn’t idealize his heroes but tried to demonstrate their personality. For the first time people could see a group portrait of miserable and humiliated Russian people.

Such an artist’s aspiration to concentrate attention on the psychology of the bargemen was always Repin’s characteristic feature. Another illustration of this was his painting Religious Procession in Kursk Province. This painting is very typical of Repin and is remarkable for its characteristic details of that time. Being a talented artist he had a wonderfully keen feeling of the main idea that needed to be expressed. One of the features of art of the 1870-80s was the tendency to create big monumental works whereby a person viewing the one life depicted on the canvas could analyze present day reality and see the whole historical epoch of the Russian people. This technique illustrated that genre painting proved to be as powerful and as important as historical painting. Genre paintings illustrated the life of the Russian province, in both events and in human portraits. The action in Religious Procession in Kursk Province takes place in a province famous for its dense forests, but in the picture we can see only stumps left after the trees had been cut down. Modern man’s activity resulted in the destruction of nature. We see crowds of people marching along the dusty road.

The composition was arranged in such a way that we almost feel the crowd moving forward, about to crush the spectator. Real religious faith can be read on the faces of heroes depicted on the left of the canvas and especially in the face of the hunchback on the foreground. Note that he is pushed aside by the policeman riding a horse because this poor cripple might disturb rich people proceeding along the road. (Didn’t Christ say we are all equal before him?) The painting shows us two extremes: superficial, cold, hypocritical religious feelings on the right half and true believers in God in the left half of the painting. These people are rejected by this insincere society on the left part of the painting. By paying such attention to the individuality of a person, Repin displays the great variety of types and characters of his heroes. In the foreground we see a rich merchant woman avidly holding a icon. She is drawn into arrogance, clearly breaking a main tenet of Christianity. We can spend hours examining the painting whereby the motley crowd is represented as an integral part of the Russian people.

Painting present day reality, Repin managed to reveal a new social phenomena by using new participants. He was an artist forever seeking new subjects, themes, images and means of expression. Many times in his paintings he addressed new social and political moods and, of course, revolutionary events. The policy of terror carried out by several revolutionary organizations entailed cruel murders of some prominent politicians and the assassination of Emperor Alexander II in 1881. This consequently resulted in extremely strict and bloody responses by the Government. As the country became more and more submerged in the blood of innocent victims, the attitude towards revolutionaries gradually changed in the society. Art in this matter absorbed and reflected all topical ideas. Initially revolutionary activity was often compared with the excruciating life and death of the saints of the Gospel who sacrificed their lives for faith. Repin was affected by these ideas, and he painted his Refusal to Confess which glorified fanatical ideas of the day.

Afterwards he conceived the idea of another work They did not expect him, a story about the return of an exiled convict. The interesting thing is that originally Repin planned for a woman to be the main actor in the painting, as women were fighting for these new ideas next to men. Later the artist gave up this idea having considered that it would add some sentimental aspect to the painting. Besides, he realized that the question of the main hero was not so relevant compared to the subject itself. Terrorists were ready to die for the sake of the idea and for the sake of their loved ones. Did these loved ones want such a sacrifice to be made? How did relatives meet these returning anarchists after being separated for decades? Repin’s contemporaries usually associated this painting with the parable of the return of the prodigal son. None of the artists expressed an opinion, thus making the viewer decide the destiny of the hero.

Bloody events of reality had not always been reflected directly in genre painting. The background of Repin’s Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan was an expression of the artist’s feeling of the atmosphere and smell of spilled blood in the room where Ivan the Terrible is holding the head of his son. A son he had just struck in the head with a stave and murdered in a fit of temper. Another painting Nicholas from Mirl, calls for love and forgiveness and shows us how the main hero, Saint Nikolai, intervenes at an execution and saves the lives of people sentenced to death.

Continue in Part II

Michael E. Donnelly, PhD
Find more at mmarttravel.com mmarttravel.com

How to convert Audio CD/Files to PSP music and get tunes on your PSP

When you want to convert any audio cd/file, I advise you to download the latest PSP Video Converter and then go ahead to install it. If you also need to Convert audio CDs to MP3, launch pspblend CD Ripper, load your audio CD, select “Lame MP3 Encoder” for your PSP and click the “Extract and Encode” button to convert CD. It’s as simple as that to Convert audio files to PSP MP3, Launch pspblend PSP Video Converter, load the file(s) by clicking the “Add” button in the main interface or choose Add on the File menu.

Highlight the loaded file and choose output format from “Profile” combo-box. at this time, i advice you select “PSP Audio Format mѣ′ for your PSP. then you Click the “Browse” button to select folder or entering the path directly to decide where to save the output file; (Take Note)”C:temp″ should be the default one. Then go ahead and Click “Encode” to start converting. Once the conversion is complete, you will get mѣ file instantly as regards How to download or transfer your music on your PSP? Just connect your PSP with PC, and copy your mѣ files into “H:PSPMUSIC” (where “H” is the drive letter of your PSP).

You really don′t have to go through much stresss by now i am sure you should be able to see the audio after selecting “Music” from the PSP Menu. What a great way to Enjoy your music! Did i Hear you say “Interesting.

Getting Tunes on Your PSP

The PSP is a multimedia player which can play video as well as audio files much like an iPod, with most PSP’s you will have access to millions of MP3’s ready for you to download and transfer to your PSP, download Full albums, single songs, unreleased mixes plus more! You can transfer music from your computer to your PSP with ease! Copy your own CD collection or download from our existing database of music already available online.

All you need is a PSP USB cable or compatible memory stick reader, and at least a 256MB Memory Card. You will be able to transfer music from your PC to your PSP with ease! All music downloads are in MP3 format and are fully compatible with the the iPod and other leading media players on the market.

What Exactly is PSP How Can You Benefit From Membership

When you register for a PSP Membership you receive instant access to millions of files ready to be transferred to your PSP. This includes but is not limited to movies, television shows, video games, music, and PSP software. Most downloads are the full version games and movies, exactly like the original. There are no additional fees ever after a membership is purchased. Members receive unmetered, and unlimited access to millions of files ready to be downloaded to their PSP, all current firmware versions are supported by almost all the psp’s.

When files are downloaded to your computer all you need do is simply transfer the files straight to your PSP using a USB cable or compatible memory stick reader. Step by step instructions makes the process simple even for a child.

For More Information register for a PSP Membership and Download PSP Music, Games & Movies 100% Legal, Search & Download Now From musiconpsp.blogspot.com musiconpsp.blogspot.com