Top DVD Rentals Reviews

Renting DVD's online today is becoming popular today because you don't need to leave your house to rent movies and most of the time have to worry about late fees. There are many companies out there that will allow you to pick movies from their website and they will deliver them to your door in usually 1-3 business days. Most services allow you to choose from up to 50,000 movie titles in many different categories. Below are a listing of the top movie sites online:

1. Netflix - The company that really started the online dvd rental service.
2. Blockbuster
3. Intelliflix

These are the top 3 companies and there are a few others that are not as big as these providers. Netflix and Blockbuster are really the two companies battling it out for competition. Intelliflix stands out because they also offer video game rentals along with movies. Most services you will have to pay a monthly fee to rent dvd's online. Most packages are setup so you can rent unlimited amounts of dvd's per month and prices vary depending on how many dvd's you want to have at once.

If you are trying to choose which DVD rental service is right for you, it really depends on what you want out of the service the most. For instance, Netflix probably has the biggest movie selection, but Blockbuster offers free in store movie coupons good for free rentals. On the other hand, Intelliflix offers video game rentals if t hat's what you are after.

To learn more about each online DVD rental service or to get started in signing up for one visit: http://www.zoomreviews.com/dvd-review/

Author:: Nick Destefano
Keywords:: online dvd rentals, rent dvds online, rent dvd, dvd movie rentals, dvd to rent, Netflix, Blockbuster
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It's A Wonderful Life (DVD) Review

The quintessential Christmas classic, It's A Wonderful Life has dominated the holiday TV landscape with its timeless story of love, friendship, and a kind mans exceedingly relevant life. Filmed in 1947, this Frank Capra masterpiece debuted in theaters to what could best be described as a lukewarm reception. Yet it quickly rose in stature following repeated annual television airings in the 1960s, a Christmas tradition that continues to this day. Centered around the life of George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart), a likeable, ambitious resident of Bedford Falls who harbors dreams of grandeur, the film sets out to portray a viewpoint of a world in which the divines ultimate plan may be far different from our own. Yet the result of that plan is far better than we could ever imagine

As the film begins, we gain a glimpse into the life and times of a young George Bailey, an upstanding and studious fellow who manages to avert two potential disasters by the age of ten. Under the employ of neighborhood druggist Mr. Gower, Bailey prevents the delivery of a poison prescription, and while enjoying the boyhood wonders of the local ice pond, he rescues his younger brother from certain death by pulling him from a patch of broken ice.

From these early years, the story jumps several years into the future, where a grown up and infectiously optimistic George harbors wild dreams of world travel, exploration, and the construction of large buildings. But inevitably, he stays in Bedford Falls in order to carry on the family business, the small yet popular Bailey Savings & Loan (the only financial institution in Bedford Falls not owned by the unmerciful tycoon Mr. Potter). As the years pass, Bailey must deal with his own family problems, his unfulfilled dreams, and the burdens of the Great Depression. Along the way, hes tempted with offers of vast wealth and travel opportunities by the conniving Potter, but he always turns him down, opting to work for the benefit o f the community instead.

However when a seemingly innocent snafu threatens to bring down Bailey Savings & Loan, George ponders the unthinkable. He questions his very existence and the true worth of his life. Disillusioned by feelings of failure and a pessimistic outlook for the future, he fails to see the true value of his life. In the end, only divine intervention and the warm hearts of the people of Bedford Falls can transform Georges outlook and force to him to recognize the extraordinary life hes lived

The innate power of Its A Wonderful Life stems from the strength of numerous performances, most notably that of Jimmy Stewart. Much like Tom Hanks today, Stewart played the role of the everyman during his long tenure in Hollywood. He may have lacked the sex appeal of Clark Gabel or the cowboy virility of John Wayne, but he fit perfectly in the mold of best friend and loveable guy. In a feel-good, fairy tale film like this one, Stewart is cast perfectly, and hes well complemented by a host of others Who else could play the role of the grumpy miser any better than Lionel Barrymore? All in all, its a recipe for silver screen excellence.

Its A Wonderful Life illuminates an almost magical setting with its idyllic portrayal of Depression-era, small-town America. Each character (with the exception of Mr. Potter), harkens back to a simpler time when public attitudes toward morality prevailed, where neighbors knew each other by name, and where communities helped each other out. Further strengthening the allure of the film, George Bailey and his friends are likeable characters who develop a strong rapport with the audience, forcing the viewer to actively root for the desired outcome. Its this personal connection with the audience (and an audience ability to relate to the overriding themes) which is the key to the enduring success of this film. Having spent over five decades as Americas most popular Christmas Movie, Its A Wonderful Life deserves mention among the ranks of the all-time classics of cinema.

About the Author

Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a blog where you can find more reviews like this one of the It's A Wonderful Life (DVD).

Author:: Britt Gillette
Keywords:: it's a wonderful life dvd review
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Violence In Films And Television

Because of the inconclusive nature of Violence, a number of models have been developed to explain the relationships between the Media and its audience. A common model is the hyperdermic syringe model. According to this model, the Media had the power to change attitudes and behaviour for the pro-social as well as the anti-social influence. Empirical research has soon revealed the shortcomings of the hyperdermic syringe model and it was recognised that the effectiveness of the Media in getting its message across depended on the personal influence affecting the perceptions of audience members. An alternative of this was the development of the two-step flow which was produced by Katz and Lazarfelo. They believe the way the Media is interpreted by audiences is usually involved by a process of negotiation with other members of the audience. They believed instead of passively absorbing Media output, a discussion is held between family members, friends and even strangers about the programmes seen on T.V. In this model, opinion leaders emerge to help interpret the message we are being sent. They believed the stimulus relat ionship between Media and audiences was replaced by the complexity of human meaning and personal relationships. Finally the third alternative model, which rejected both the hyperdermic syringe model and the two-step, flow model, was the long-term effect model. This model suggests that Media may influence us in many ways that are hard to measure and have long term effects on our attitudes, creating new ideas or reinforcing our original ones rather than changing opinions we already have.

Cumberbatch carried out a study where he analysed all programmes broadcasted on all four channels, in four separate weeks between May and September 1986. The primary unit for counting was the violent act; he quoted a coherent uninterrupted sequence of actions involving the same agents in the same role. Cumberbatch found that 30% of programmes contained some Violence. The overall frequency was 1.14 violent acts per programme, 1.68 acts per hour, where each act lasted approximately 25 seconds and so therefore occupying just over 1% of T.V time. However he claimed that if boxing and wrestling were excluded, the average duration would be 13 seconds and if verbal threats were to be included than the average frequency would rise to 1.96 acts per hour. He found that most Violence was shown in spy, fantasy, war detective, crime and thriller programmes, and less Violence on quiz shows and chat shows plus non-contact sports. However he claimed that injuries from violent acts were rare. 26% of occasions, Violence resulted in death but 61% no injuries were shown as the victims simply showed pain or were shocked.

While about 75% of people believe that there is more Violence now on Television then there was about 10 years ago, Cumberbatch believes most people are mistaken. Violence and concerns about Violence have clearly increased in society in the last decade but have not been reflected by a proportional increase on Television. Much of the concern is focused upon children. Cumberbatch found that while Violence was more likely to be shown after 9pm, Violence in childrens T.V was rare, with the main exception being cartoon. However, until recently much of the public controversy over the harmful effects of T.V on children has focused on the popular cartoon such as Tom and Jerry. Realism is an important factor, which appears to be an important element in viewers perception of Violence. For example, real life incidents in news and documentaries are generally rated as more violent then Violence portrayed in fictional settings.

The recent studies have shown that when children were exposed to violent p rogrammes they showed violent behaviour. The childrens aggression in behaviour is learnt from the environment through reinforcement and the process of modelling. Modelling involves learning through the observation of other people, which may lead to imitation. Aggression may be learnt from models such as parents, peers or even Media characters through observation. For example, if a child sees the models of aggression being rewarded, this acts as indirect reinforcement for the child who will continue to imitate it. But if the child sees aggression in others who are punished, it is then less likely to be imitated.

Although over a thousand studies have been made, the link between Media Violence and violent behaviour has not yet been proven.

The article was produced by the member of masterpapers.com. Sharon White is a 5-years experienced freelance writer and a senior manager of dissertation writing services support team. Contact her to get custom term paper tips and learn how to write Term Papers.

Author:: Sharon White
Keywords:: Films,Movies,Television,TV programmes,Violence,Media,hyperdermic syringe model,Media Violence
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The Stars of Silent Pictures

Ever since the beginning of the cinema, the public was always particularly interested in the leading actors and actresses of these Movies. They were called stars. They had such a public appeal that the success of a certain movie would depend largely on the popularity of the cast. Each star in this star system was an actor or actress who had his own distinctive qualities. They also had their own famous Hollywood name or image. Others may have their own signature tag lines.

Charlie Chaplin, for example, was called the Little Tramp because he was always in a pair of baggy trousers and wearing a battered Derby hat. Harold Lloyd was known for his horn-rimmed glasses. Buster Keaton always kept a straight face. However, these comedians did not rely on these images the public had of them because the y had real talent. Their slapstick and pantomime was a real work of art.

When a certain actor was given a unique role in a film, it became his trademark. One kind of trademark was that of the vampire or commonly known as the vamp. Theda Bara was the first vamp. She redefined what the public thought vampires looked like. Because of her, a vamp meant a sexy, beautiful woman who was fatally attractive to men. Theda Bara was soon followed by another actress called Gloria Swanson who was then eventually replaced by Clara Bow, known as the It Girl. Each actress was able to create their own brand of vamp.

For men in the film industry, the ultimate symbol of masculine glamour was Rudolph Valentino. This trademark came from his most famous Desert picture entitled The Sheik which was filmed in 1921. Even unattractiveness became glamorized in Hollywood. This was exemplified by Lon Chaney. He was a character actor who played the roles of various monsters and cripp les such as in the movie The Phantom of the Opera in 1925 and the Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1923. Drama also had its stars like the Gish sisters, Dorothy and Lillian Gish. They were renowned dramatic actresses. In Western Movies, the leading cowboy actors were William S. Hart and Tom Mix.

In love stories, there were no one else but America's Sweetheart Mary Pickford and the dashing, debonair and romantic Douglas Fairbanks. Mary Pickford had the perfect image of innocence and purity while Douglas Fairbanks was flawless in his roles as beautifully costumed heroes in the Movies Robin Hood in 1922, The Thief of Baghdad in 1924 and The Black Pirate in 1926. The Black Pirate was an exceptional film made using color photography.

As time went by, these epic films were made more frequently and had more startling and imaginative effects. Because of the magnitude of these films it wasn't only the actors and actresses that became famous. The people behind the scenes, like the directors and producers, also became quite known to the public. Cecil B. De Mille was a director who became known as the director of spectacles with biblical themes. The classic movie Ben Hur was made in 1926 and it was the most expensive production made in the era of silent films. It was Frank Niblo's adaptation of a General Lew Wallace novel, Ben Hur, A Tale of the Christ. The movie cost over $400 million. The high point of the movie was an intense chariot race which climaxed in a spectacular accident. In the 1950s, a second version of Ben Hur was made and was equally successful.

Michael Russell Your Independent g uide to Movies

Author:: Michael Russell
Keywords:: Movies
Post by History of the Computer | Computer safety tips

Energy Enhancement Meditation Incredibly Profitable and Successful Movie List: American Beauty

What makes a good movie? And what makes an Incredibly Profitable and Successful Movie? Because usually, the two go together, unless the bad guys against evolution Successfully oppose.

The Three Major themes of Enlightenment are..

1.Opening the Heart
2.The Mastery of Relationships
3.Life and Death and Enlightenment.

And all truly good and Incredibly Profitable and Successful Movies contain all these three themes and some spiritual instruction of a major thoughtform which needs to be entered into the consciousness of humanity.

At this moment, fifty percent of humanity have not as yet Successfully Opened their Hearts. These people will enjoy, as Shakespeare said, Movies full of Sound and Fury, Signifying Nothing which include the vast majority of all Movies.

These fifty percent of people including all levels of the Movie Making community will give moderate success to a movie with a good script, costumes, music and production values. But it is another paradigm for them, they cannot understand the meaning and reality of the words, Intuition, Significance And Purpose.

At this moment, fifty percent of humanity have Opened the Heart a little through a lot of evolution in which they have used techniques of meditation like the highly advanced techniques of Energy Enhancement to remove energy blockages from the heart and also the Highest Heart! Only these people understand the meaning and reality of the wor ds, Intuition, Significance And Purpose

Yet for real popularity and incredible money making potential and for an over 400 Million Dollars in Receipts Movie.

For one hundred percent of the people to go to a movie a movie must contain both a good script, costumes, music and production values, AND Intuition, Significance And Purpose.

This series of articles will talk more on the theme of Significance which is, as Shakespeare pointed out, the most important theme of all.

Only Significance equals Success!

American Beauty By Sam Mendes and with Kevin Spacey pounds on the theme of Life and Death but includes opening of the heart and relationships.

It only fails to make loads of money because the themes are not hidden enough to be accessible to most unevolved Humanity.

For example, my DVD renter in Spain thought that Lester was Killed by his wife whereas he was killed by Col. Frank Fitts.

In satellite channels to India all themes to do with sex and homosexuality are routinely removed and censored.

Thus the driving scenes and themes of the Movie as when Col. Frank Fitts homosexually kisses Lester and provides the motive for his murder, (Homosexuality).

And when Lester finds our The Mena Suvari Character is a virgin and lovingly withdraws, (Sex) showing his Initiation of the Mastery of Relationships and the reason for his happiness and enlightenment just before he dies.

These two essential scenes are removed, censored, from the movie because these two themes are not allowed to be seen in India.

Thus for a billion people in India it is not possible to understand the significance of this movie!

For real success in Movies, you must be capable of hiding all these themes and themes of even higher significance in a Rip Roaring story as in The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and to a lesser extent, Harry Potter which I will go into in other articles.

The American Beauty movie starts with Death, In one year Ill be dead says Kevin Spacey right at the beginning. At the end of the movie, Lester, his character will be dead And also Enlightened.

All the people in the movie are totally mad.

Mad enough to kill, because they want something which is not essential to their real nature and Soul Path.

Except for Lester who progresses through and rejects, sees deeply into the madness of what he is doing, and rejects..

1.He rejects Money and Career not in alignment with his soul path representing his Initiation of the Opening Of The Heart.

2.He rejects his going back to the old student ways of flipping burgers, partying.. getting high with marijuana, and getting laid.. this time sculpting his body with weight training, for one year, to attract the 16 years old Mena Suv ari character, again representing his Initiation of the Opening Of The Heart.

3.He rejects inappropriate love as he sees deeply into the nature of the homosexual Chris Cooper character, Col. Frank Fitts, USMC and the 16 year old Mena Suvari character representing his Initiation of the Mastery of Relationships.

This seeing deeply creates such love within his heart for all and everything in his life, his mad wife and daughter, true unattached love for Mena Suvari. At the end of the movie, after having rejected everything not in alignment with his soul, he feels wonderful for the first time in years.

In that moment he becomes Enlightened. Even when Chris Coopers character kills him he says, I suppose I should feel really pissed off by the end of my stupid little life, but then he sees all the Beauty and Love of his life in flashbacks.

And he talks to the audience and says, when you die, you will understand this too. And the Beatles, George Harrison, mu sic at the end of the movie supports this theme of Love Because the world is round it turns me on. How can even death spoil that Vision of Love.

Lesters daughter, the Thora Birch character thinks wrongly that she will be free and happy leaving her mad parents by leaving with Ricky, her drug dealing boyfriend to go to New York.

Whereas she really loves Rickys real several moments of Soul Contact when he sees the souls beauty in the eyes of Dead People, and sees the freedom of the Soul Energy in the movements of a paper bag.

Ricky really loves her and this is shown by the heart-stoppingly beautiful Thomas Newman music whenever Love, the major theme of this picture, comes down from heaven in connection with this love story between Ricky and Lesters daughter.

Ricky has had Satori. He has had a Little Glimpse out of the corner of his eye, but now he needs to avoid becoming Comfortably Numb, (Pink Floyd Song) where with their Wrong Livelihood of drugs, (G autama Buddha), not in alignment with his soul path, will destroy both their lives in the future.

Lesters wife, the Annette Bening character, really takes the job of making money seriously and you realise how mad she is when after an amusing episode trying to sell a house, she beats herself up and cries heart-rendingly.

She finds consolation from Lesters lack of interest in making money in the arms of her House Selling Hero, Buddy, Have you ever been nailed by the King! and when Lester finds out, when Lester, Rains on her Parade she screws herself up to kill Lester. Mad!

Lester tries to help her when he says Its only a fucking Couch! and then she shows how seriously she takes her madness by retreating from Love when Lester looks as if he is going to pour beer over her Italian Silk Covered whatever, and by returning with a gun and a desire for liberation from Lester. She is round the twist.

And yet she cries out in anguish when she returns home to find Lester, Dead. She is not yet totally gone.

The sixteen year old Mena Suvari character has written herself into a wrong thoughtform which will destroy her life if she enters into it. She longs to be different, to be a beautiful model, to climb the ladder of success with her sex.

She tells everyone that this is the way it is. Life is like that. And this way can lead to success, yes, but it will also lead towards madness as this wrong thoughtform takes you away from your true soul path.

And the taking of the path leading you away from your true soul path really is normal in just about everyone. It is the major cause of all pain and bad luck in everyones life.

By, as yet not taking that path, the Mena Suvari Character really is different!

And yet when Lester makes his sexual approach, she tells Lester that she is a virgin. She really is different again! And this causes Lester to come out of his lust. To see this beautiful young lady as his daughter . Someone in need of love and attention, and help. Not just as a sex object, but as someone he truly loves.

As the George Clooney character in Quentin Tarantinos From Dusk till Dawn, says at the end of the movie in a similar situation, I may be a Bastard, but Im not a Fucking Bastard!

Lust is not necessarily Love. Love is the Real Opening of the Heart. Just wanting to really help someone else.

And this Opening of the Heart of Lester makes his energy flow with the energy of true love for everyone in his life. Just before he leaves his life, which is the destiny of all living beings on this planet. No-One gets out of Life, Alive!

And of course the maddest guy of all is the Chris Cooper character, Col. Frank Fitts, USMC, who actually kills Lester with a gun. Like the Al Pacino Character in Angels in America he is a repressed homosexual who is driven mad by his repressed desires, and the need to hide them from contemporary society.

Even his son, Ric ky underestimates him, You sad, tired, old man, because he does not understand the homosexual repression which drives his life, to destroy all love and everyone around him.

His wife, Rickys mother, is mad from lack of love from her homosexual husband. Free Ricky is repressed, sent to military school, sent to an asylum to be anaesthetised, Comfortably Numb, Because you need structure and discipline. if you are repressing anything, using the wrong thoughtform, not in alignment with your true soul path..

Col. Frank Fitts kills Lester because he has shown Lester the truth of his repressed homosexuality, of his repressed desire, of his repressed love. And because that truth, if it gets out, can destroy his carefully constructed life of repressed madness, he has to kill Lester!

All the mad people in this movie are driven to madness by the desire for something which is not essential to anything but their selfish competitive egos. Wrong thoughtforms. Wrong thinking .

And yet, this is the way of all human evolution. We need to experience the results of all wrong thinking, all the bad luck and bad Karma, until We have been down that path, (All bad paths), and we know where it ends from the Matrix and again from the Matrix, we know it, From Balls to Bones.

This wisdom is not intellectual, with many lifetimes of the use of meditational techniques like Energy Enhancement it becomes Hard Wired in, intuitive from the Soul Infused Personality and is accessible from Child to Old Person.

And we will keep making those mistakes until we know we have the Freedom, the Free Will, the Soul Intuition, Only to make the Right Choice! in life.

And only Lester finds the way out by rejecting all the wrong thoughtforms finding real love and enlightenment just before he is murdered. This is the way of Enlightenment, and, This planet is a Factory for the production of Enlightened Beings it is all our paths, too.

The greatest drawi ng actors intuitively make the right choice of great themes and significance when they choose their Movies because as we said at the beginning. Only Significance equals Success!

This American Beauty movie is highly Significant. And how do we really know this. We Feel it in our Hearts.

Ponder on this

Satchidanand, Director of Energy Enhancement, is one of the leading teachers of Meditation.!

He helps people worldwide reach further than they EVER thought possible, FASTER!!!

http://www.energyenhancement.org

Author:: Swami Satchidanand
Keywords:: American Beauty, Mendes, Successful, Profitable, Movies< /b>
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Movie Review The Night of the Iguana (1964)

A timeless classic directed and co-written by John Houston from another great stage play by Tennessee Williams. Anthony Veiller was Houston's co-Writer. An unqualified 10 out of 10 despite the fact that it won no Oscars except for the Best Costume Design, Black-and-White for Dorothy Jeakins. Good for Jeakins. But the absence of Oscars for this film in the Best Acting, Best Writing and Best Directing categories is nothing short of a joke for the rest of us movie fans.

I'm aware that it is not polite to watch Movies for messages. (Use the Western Union instead! as the old joke goes.)

But I still think this one has a very clear core concept which is expressed by Deborah Kerr (playing Hannah Jelkes, a sensitive painter travelling the world with her poet grandfather and earning whatever she can by doing quick live sketches) towards the end of the Second Act:

Acceptance of life is surely the first requisite of living it.

The volatile trio of Richard Burto n (Rev. Dr. T. Lawrence Shannon), Deborah Kerr and Ava Gardner (Maxine Faulk) weave fiber by fiber this very humane and touching story of the fall and redemption of an Episcopalian pastor, of his desperate struggle to save his soul and find some solace other than alcohol.

By peeling off one layer of a man's soul after another, Tennessee Williams and John Houston treat us to the agony of Rev. Dr. T. Lawrence Shannon, a man caught in between the strict demands of his vocation as a man of God and the temptations of his flesh and mind as just an average creation of the same power. His unexpected deliverance is provided by Hannah Jelkes and Maxine Faulk whom he tries to control like all the others but fails -- for his own good.

The movie starts off with the motif of captivity at all levels. Parishioners are imprisoned by their blindness and rigidity. Rev. Shannon imprisoned by his own volcanic desires and disillusionment with his parish. And a wild iguana is forced to live a captive life, tethered to a wooden deck by the tight rope around its neck.

When that night of the iguana is over, they are all freed from their leashes and fears and limitations, including the iguana. That's the kind of life-altering night Tennessee Williams has brought to life for us. It is still jolting and liberating 42 years after the movie was released.

The story, at a realistic level (one of the two levels of existence brought up in the film), is not complicated at all. It is at the other and fantastic level that its time-release magic slowly unfolds like an intoxicating rose.

Rev. Shannon loses his job after accusing his parishioners with insincerity and shallowness and chasing them out of his church.

A few years later we see him as a tour guide down in Puerta Vallarta, Mexico, taking a group of elderly ladies on a sightseeing tour, to show them the wonders of God as explained by a man of God. However, he certainly is not fond of the o pen advances of one of the tour participants, the 17 year old Charlotte Goodall. That's after all how he got into trouble back home when another young amorous parishioner visited him at his church office. Although the Reverend first suggested they pray together by kneeling down, it soon led to other things that ended his church career.

The Reverend Shannon does whatever her can to keep Charlotte at an arms distance but she is the spoiled daughter of a very successful and rich man and she won't take no for an answer. As she pushes herself on the alcoholic Shannon, her secret admirer and tour leader Judith Fellowes (played like a hot knife through butter by Grayson Hall) throws a jealous fit and makes life sheer misery for the vulnerable Shannon.

Shannon is still trying to put his life together although he is firmly on the bottle, His internal circuitry is just too damaged to bear the high voltage of Fellowes's cruel attacks -- she threatens to have him arrested fo r seducing a minor as soon as they return to the USA. Unable to face the reality of her own attraction to the pretty dove Charlotte, Fellowes promises to destroy Shannon's second career and livelihood and looks like she is capable of carrying out her threat.

To make sure no such career-altering development takes place, Shannon hijacks the whole group to a mountain top vacation resort run by his old flame Maxine Faulk (Ava Gardner) who is a diamond in the rough, a vivacious woman with a coarse exterior but a lonely interior landscape. By stealing the distributor cap of the bus, he makes sure they won't be able to turn back but stay there with him for a while until perhaps Fellowes's ire is diminished to a more manageable level.

Shortly after, the group is joined by a travelling sketch artist Hannah Jelkes (Deborah Kerr) and her wheelchair-bound poet grandfather. They provide the gentle but solid ballast to balance the mercurial outbursts of Rev. Shannon and the e qually explosive Faulk.

The decisive scene arrives in the Second Act when Rev. Shannon is hog-tied to a hammock to help him overcome his alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Playing his redeeming angel, Hannah helps Shannon exorcise his devils by giving him an unforgettable lesson about love.

The scene starts with Rev. Shannon, very sure of the superiority of his own life exploits and experiences and still struggling to free himself from his hammock-jail, asks Hannah if she had ever in her life had any kind of love affair.

Two, she admits, to Shannon's surprise, and proceeds to recount the story of her two experiences both of which do not even remotely resemble what the earthy Shannon would normally define as a love affair.

In her first love experience Hannah was only sixteen. When a young man pressed his knee against hers in a Nantucket movie theater she screamed aloud and had the young man arrested. Later, she regretted and took her complaint back and said that since it was a Greta Garbo movie she was just excited and that's why she overreacted and created such a scene.

Her second love affair, which took place only 4 years earlier, is even more curious an episode. An Aussie underwear salesman whose sketch she drew at a Hong Kong hotel, asked her to join him for a ride in a sampan. She accepted the offer because he was such a gentle man and he tipped her very well for the sketch. In the boat the Aussie salesman got more agitated and asked her if she would do him a favor. He said he would turn his back to her if she would hand him her articles of clothing, which Hannah did.

At this point Shannon asks her what the salesman did with her clothing. Hannah says she has no idea because she also turned her back to him. And that was that. The end of the story.

Rev. Shannon is flabbergasted one more time, And here follows their unforgettable exchange:

Rev. Shannon: And that experience, you call it a...

Hann ah: Love experience. Yes I do Mr. Shannon.

Rev. Shannon: That sad little dirty little episode, you call a ...

Hannah: Sad, it certainly was for the poor little man but why you call it dirty?

Rev. Shannon: You mean you weren't disgusted by it?

Hannah: Nothing human disgusts me Mr. Shannon unless is is unkind or violent. And I told you how gentle he was. Apologetic. Shy. Really, very, well... delicate about it.

Then she cuts him loose, telling him that by listening to her story he is now exorcised from all the agitation in his heart. Why? Because now he is in a frame of mind where he is not just reacting to life but also accepting it. And she delivers yet another unforgettable line: Acceptance of life is surely the first requisite of living it.

Another development -- Hannah's grandfather dies after composing his best poem ever on the night of the iguana.

The next day, the group of traveling ladies leave Shannon with Faulk who offers hi m the management of the resort and the restaurant since she is so sick and tired of running the whole show on her own. For the first time she is enjoying the freedom of letting go of her control on her own affairs and livelihood and sharing it all with someone she loves. Besides, the presence of a man will help her business by making it attractive for female tourists, she figures.

Hannah is made the same offer but she prefers to move as the independent spirit that she is. She has liberated Shannon from his own devastating bonds, and her work is done. She moves on like the summer wind, with her drawing pad under her arm. We are pretty sure the elements will take care of her.

The last scene shows Shannon and Faulk resolving to start a new life together at the resort, hopefully a new life propelled with self-understanding, graced by tolerance, and illuminated with truth, a life of liberation where even the iguanas live free.

A must see for all movie lovers. It should be an indispensable item on every cinema fan's school curriculum.

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Ugur Akinci, Ph.D. is a Creative CopyWriter, Editor, an experienced and award-winning Senior Technical Communicator specializing in fundraising packages, direct sales copy, web content, press releases, movie reviews and hi-tech documentation. He has worked as a Technical Writer for Fortune 100 corporations since 1999.

He is the Editor of PRIVATE TUTOR FOR SAT MATH SUCCESS web site http://www.privatetutor.us

In addition to being an Ezine Articles Ex pert Author, he is also a Senior Member of the Society for Technical Communication (STC), and a Member of American Writers and Artists Institute (AWAI).

A true movie fan since he was a child, Akinci provides FREE MOVIE PLOT IDEAS every day of the year at SCRIPT BOILER. Visit http://scriptboiler.blogspot.com today.

You are most welcomed to visit his COPYWRITING WEB SITE http://www.Writer111.com for more information on his multidisciplinary background, writing career, and client testimonials.

Author:: Ugur Akinci
Keywords:: Hollywood,Movies,movie plots,Films,ugur akinci,Writer,Editor,the night of the iguana,john houston
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Hollywood Studios and the Internet a Change is Coming Like It or Not

Apple, Disney Studios, Warner Brothers, NBC Universal and even George Lucas herald a change in the way Movies are made and ultimately delivered to the public.

Apple in recent days has attempted to stake a claim on the movie download market by striking a deal with Disney Studios to deliver movie down loads. Earlier this year Warner Brothers announced an agreement with the software firm Bit torrent to enable movie Downloads to your computer. Bit torrents software application has long been the choice of peer to peer file sharing pirates because it allows fast Downloads of large files and uses very little bandwidth.

Last week Apple together with Disney studios jumped into the movie down load market and offered two key features to its movie download service. First it uses the ipod as the device for downloading. Second, knowing that the ultimate viewing choice for Movies for the public will be the television or home theatre. Apple indicates it will introduce a set top box to work with the TV thus bridging the gap between internet delivery and end users desired viewing choice.

This puts Apple in a position to capture a middleman role and to make money on a device to ease the process between the down load and final choice of viewing medium. But Bit Torrent is already working with Warner Brothers and will probably leap frog Apples device sooner or later by allowing direct Downloads to your TV receiver, fast, hig h quality and immediately playable using a high speed cable line to do it. And to go with this instant down load will be the option to burn to a DVD or store the movie on the hard drive of your tivo box or similar device.

George Lucas in an interview with CNBC earlier this year and again last week stated that the movie companies and Hollywood would have to adapt sooner or later to the new digital age, of production and distribution. When asked about file sharing and bit torrent specifically Lucas stated that it would be the future of Hollywood and that Steve Jobs and others had already grasped that concept.

The major retailers of DVDs, such as Walmart and Target have communicated to the Hollywood studios that they will not sit still for Downloads that would be cheaper than the DVDs they s ell. Apple has been responsive and is said to be discussing an agreement on the pricing of down loads from its itunes site.

As usual the big players are attempting to control how, where and at what price the next generation of Movies will be delivered to the public. All the major players want to control the delivery process but the time for that has passed. George Lucas himself said that with web sites like Youtube, film makers can show case their talent and deliver it to the public very cheaply, they dont need a Hollywood Studio.

Using the internet as a proving ground for content creation and distribution has finally come of age now that high speed internet access is so wide spread. So get ready Hollywood change is coming like it or not.

Skye Conroy works for http://www.websitedesignpartners.com, a web site that offers free help for small businesses and free tools for ecommerce, marketing and more. The web site also has a section devoted to bit torrent and it's uses.

Author:: Skye Conroy
Keywords:: bit torrent,Apple, Movies, Downloads
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The Start of Television

A six year-old commented, TV is so necessary. What would I do without it? I told him TV is a rather new Invention and the idea of it dawned on its makers about a century ago. It is a stirring thought that something playing such an important role in a little child's life is so young, as an Invention.

Television is the third Invention after electricity and radio to have a life-shaping, magnetic influence on the masses. The word Television loosely means to see far. While public and commercial Television Stations address masses, Cable Stations try to attract audiences with specific tastes. In addition to augmenting programs, security and surveillance problems are handled in schools, businesses, and hospitals through closed-circuit Television.

Since many scientists were involved in the way the Television technology has evolved, we cannot call any one person its inventor. Television was first thought to be possible as early as the 1800's when it was understood that r adio communication Signals could be sent through the air.

In 1831, Michael Faraday and Joseph Henry were the first scientists to experiment with electromagnetism, therefore establishing a start for electrical communication. They were followed by Samuel Morse in 1844 with his Invention of the telegraph and then by Abbe Giovanni Caselli an Italian, who first sent images over a distance using a pantelegraph. In 1873 two the Englishmen, May and Smith, used selenium and light with the idea to transform images into electrical Signals. After George Carey's system of selenium cells in 1880, Paul Nipkow patented the first mechanical Television scanner in Germany. Marconi's morse code by wireless also played a role in the development of Television.

In 1906, Lee DeForest developed a vacuum tube to amplify Signals. Then using the German Carl Ferdinand Braun's cathode-ray tube invented in 1897 with the Nipkow disk, Boris Rosing of Russia invented a system as the World's first Television in 1907. In 1908, A.A.Campbell-Swinton of Scotland came up with the proposal of an all electronic Television. In 1922, Philo T. Farnsworth, a sixteen year-old US citizen, developed an electrical scanning system. At about the same time in 1923, Iconoscope--an electronic Camera tube--was patented by Vladimir Zworykin, who also produced the Kinescope, a picture display tube. John Logie Baird was the first to get an actual Television picture, but Zworykin took the first patent for Color Television, being the one person who had made the most contribution during the first developmental stages of Television.

In 1927, the pictures of Herbert Hoover, US Secretary of commerce, were sent over two hundred miles from Washington to New York, and in 1928 W2XBS became RCA's first Television Station in New Y ork City. This was when the first Television star, Felix the Cat, was created.

The first Television drama The Queen's Messenger also came to the screen in 1928. Still during this year, John Logie Baird sent London's images to New York via shortwave. The first Television commercial was in the air in 1930 by Charles Jenkins. Also in 1930, BBC started its regular programming. In 1931, VE9EC--Canada's first Tv Station--and in the USA, RCA from the Empire State Building began transmissions on an experimental basis.

In 1935, France began its Television transmissions from the Eiffel Tower and Germany established a three day-a-week transmission service. CBC in Canada was formed in 1936. Right that year, Allen B. Du Mont manufactured the first TV set for sale to the North American public.

An interesting highlight in Television transmission happened during World War II. As soon as the war started in 1939, September 1, BBC Television stopped broadcasting in the middle of a Mickey Mouse Cartoon and in 1945 resumed the Cartoon's showing, starting where it left off in 1939, which makes one wonder what the British children thought of the broadcasters.

By the time the first Color Television transmission started in 1951, there were over one hundred Television Stations in the USA. In 1979 there were three hundred million Television sets flickering on and off, and by the year 2000, about one and three quarters billion Television sets were estimated to exist in operation Worldwide.

With the arrival of high-definition and Plasma TV's and the talk of Computerized TV's or Computer and TV combinations, twen ty-first century is promising a great deal more of entertainment and education to its Viewers Worldwide. In bringing the cultures together, let's hope we make the best use of it.

Joy Cagil is an author on a site for Creative Writers (http://www.Writing.Com/) Her training is in foreign languages and linguistics. In her background are varied subjects such as psychology, mental health, and visual arts. Her portfolio can be found at http://www.Writing.Com/authors/joycag

Author:: Joy Cagil
Keywords:: Plasma,TV,Computer,Station,Channel,View,Cartoon,Television,Camera,Color,Invention,Signal,Cable,World
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Movie Review: XMen III: The Last Stand

So, the third (and final?) X-Men movie sees Jean Grey return to the world, butoopsCharles Xavier forgot to mention that Grey has a split personality and a powerful psychotic alter-ego exists inside her head! Thankfully, when Jean resurfaces she takes a moment to kill her former boyfriend, the utterly pointless Scott Summers (Cyclops).

All this takes place amid the discovery of a cure for the Mutant X gene which promises a normal life for mutants. Its met with a mixed reaction - some mutants are glad of the prospect of a cure while others (Magnetos crowd) see the potential extermination of the mutant race and choose to fight against it.

The movie remains fast-paced throughout, and its abundant in shocks and comic moments throughout: Mystique getting shot with the Mutant cure and losing her abilities, Phoenix (Jean Greys alter-ego) disintegrating one of the X-Men in a tense battle, and getting frisky with Wolverine (the bit where she whips his belt off using her psychic powers was a hoot).

One of the set-pieces was completely over the top though: the bit where Magneto raises the Golden Gate bridge and floats it across to Alcatraz Island. In the name of God, why? In X-Men II, Magneto conjures floating discs from atoms of liquid metal! Plus, he has Phoenix in tow with her devastating psychic powers. Surely between them they could have thought up better transportation?

The Acting

As usual, Wolverine and Magneto get their share of the best lines. Ian McKellen is at his wicked best as Magneto, especially turning his back on a newly human Mystique (whod sacrificed herself to protect him moments earlier) and cunningly convincing Jean Grey to join his rebellion. Hugh Jackman makes the transformation from mild-mannered Aussie to the gruff, blade-fisted Wolverine with ease, and just about steals the show. Wolverine is always the best thing about an X-Men movie.

Kudos should also go to newcomers Vinnie Jones (as rock-he aded Juggernaut) and Kelsey Grammer (as Dr. Hugh McCoy). Who would have pictured Frasier as the ol blue furball?

On the down side, Halle Berry as Storm is a waste of space. Its hard to tell if Storms character is at fault, or if the the finger should be pointed at Halle Berrys acting, but three Movies down and Storm has yet to play a central role. Shes almost as expendable as Cyclops was. A new hairdo does not the superhero make!

(Oh, why exactly do all the bad muta nts dress like junkies? Talk about stereotyping)

X-Men: The Verdict

Its hard to put your finger on it, but X-Men: The Last Stand is slightly different to its predecessors. Perhaps its the departure of director Bryan Singer, perhaps the storyline is too busy, not enough effort on character development.

Whatever your opinion, this is still a comic book translation, so suspend your disbelief for a couple of hours and enjoy the ride. As one reviewer on Rotten Tomatoes said: The Last Stand is as good if not better than X2.

If theres a morality message, its lost in the dizzying special effects and fast pace of the movie. Its definitely worth a visit to the cinema, so dont believe the nay-sayers!

James Levee writes about politics, Movies, music and modern life on his blog, The Levee Breaks. He is a father of three young children and an IT Manager in his spare time (read Day Job) and lives in Northern Ireland.

Author:: James Levee
Keywords:: Movies, Reviews, X-Men, Wolverine, Rogue, Magneto, Mystique, Juggernaut, Comics, Storm
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Jon Jost Independent Filmmaker Angel City

Jon Jost, independent film-maker. The early Films

6. Angel City

Jon Jost's 'Angel City' (1976) appears as a transitional work in that while it is held loosely together by a thread of narrative, it makes many of its overtly political points through digressions, and sequences which deliberately disrupt the narrative. The film is a simultaneous attack on capitalism and Hollywood Films, two evils which, in Jost's view, go hand in hand; the latter helping to spread the corrupt and dehumanising values of the former throughout society.

The narrative, featuring the familiar Hollywood figure of a private detective, is used to hold our attention, while at the same time, by playing on our expectations, undermining the conventions of the genre. Frank Goya, the detective, has been hired by a businessman to investigate the murder of his wife, and all the usual stages in the build-up of the drama are undercut and discredited by the fact that Goya explains this direct ly to the camera, with the already dead body draped over the edge of the pool beside him.

Goya begins his investigations with a visit to the businessman's mistress, and she, perhaps in keeping with Jost's 'female spider' image leads him through the labyrinthine corridors of her house towards the bedroom. She is the feminine embodiment of capitalism, a corrupt, seductive, consumer of men.

But while Goya pursues his investigations at ground level, we, in an interpolated montage sequence, are whisked up to view Los Angeles, including the conspicuous HOLLYWOOD sign, from the air. As the camera drifts slowly across the seemingly endless web of streets and houses, now reduced to an almost abstract pattern of light and shade, the sound-track gives us two contrasting commentaries on the scene; a poem, and a list of statistics.

The function of this sequence is to distance us, in every way, from the action. We look down not just upon the scene of the crime, but on its context, geographical and political. Who, Jost is implicitly asking, is responsible for the murder from this point of view? It cannot be the personified LA evoked by the poem, nor can it be one of the millions of tiny units which go to make up the statistics; births, marriages, divorces etc. It has to be something bigger, something which has power over both the city and its human population.

It doesn't take Goya long to discover that capitalism, represented by the businessman himself, is responsible. The generic convention of the detection has been transformed into the adoption of a political perspective, and the convention of the confession, or unmasking of the villain consists, in Jost's version, of the businessman strolling along the beach extolling the virtues of corporate capitalism. This scene looks and sounds conspicuously like a TV advert, with the businessman using the suave, persuasive, sinister language of a professional public relations job.

Th e convention of the film chase is also parodied and ridiculed by Jost; the scene cuts back and forth between Goya and the businessman-villain, denuded of cars, running along in front of a painted back-drop shouting: I'll get you, you son-of-a-bitch. Oh no you won't. The scene is patently artificial and absurd, and ends with a long-shot which destroys the illusion by showing us the camera, camera crew, and actors working in the street in front of a mural.

'Angel City' is an amusing film, largely due to the cool sardonic manner of Bob Glaudini, who plays Goya. But the underlying message is deadly serious, and an important reference point for the development of themes in later features. The message is that American corporate capitalism is a system which corrupts and destroys human life, and that it has powerful accomplices, such as Hollywood, which both perpetrate its dehumanising values, and distract its victims, (with stories), while the villain goes in for the kil l.

Having identified the villain, Jost turns his attention, in 'Last Chants for a Slow Dance' and 'Slow Moves', to the victims, or, as he calls them in 'Stagefright', the casualties.

Read the full version of this essay at: http://www.literature-study-online.com/essays/jon-jost.html

Ian Mackean runs the sites http://www.literature-study-online.com, which features a substantial collection of English Literature Resources and Essays, (and where his site on Short Story Writing can also be found), and http://www.Booksmadeintomovies.com. He is the editor of The Essentials of Literature in English post-1914, published by Hodder Arnold in 2005. When not writing about literature or short story writing he is a keen amateur photographer, and has made a site of his photography at http://www.photo-zen.com

Author:: Ian Mackean
Keywords:: Jon Jost,Independent film-maker,Cinema,Director,Films,American,Media
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Seinfeld (DVD) Review

The preeminent show of the 1990's decade, Seinfeld grew from an idea of a show about nothing into a sacred pop culture icon, not that there's anything wrong with that... The show follows the life of comedian Jerry Seinfeld and the exploits of his short, quirky, bald guy best friend, George Costanza (Jason Alexander), Jerrys neurotic neighbor Cosmo Kramer (Michael Richards), and Jerrys ex-girlfriend Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). Through the years, theyre joined by a loveable cast of characters that includes Newman, Uncle Leo, the Soup Nazi, Frank and Estelle Costanza, the Bubble Boy, and countless others

The Seinfeld DVD (Seasons 1 & 2) offers the very first glimpse into the world Jerry, beginning with The Pilot (episode 1) which was originally titled The Seinfeld Chronicles. The first scene involves Jerry commenting to George about a button on his shirt (the same conversation later takes place in the last scene of the series finale). These opening episodes provide in sight into the development of the shows four primary characters with conversations that range from Georges initial admission that hed like to be an architect (episode 2) to Kramers propensity for get rich quick schemes like a make-your-own-pizza pizzeria (episode 4). From day one, Seinfeld established itself as must see TV, creating such memorable episodes as The Stock Tip, The Pony Remark, The Deal, and The Chinese Restaurant.

Interestingly, in the pilot episode of Seinfeld, Elaines character does not yet exist, and Kramers character (not yet named Kramer, but Feldman) is more of an unemployed, pathetic, shut-in neighbor than the usual quirky and energetic Cosmo. Playing the role of the female in George and Jerrys life is a wisecracking waitress named Claire (Lee Garlington) who never appears in later episodes.

Nevertheless, this initial episode exhibits the flashes of brilliance that made Seinfeld a cultural phenomenon. The show is essentially about nothing. Ge orge and Jerry do some laundry Jerry and his neighbor watch some TV George and Jerry have some coffee During that time, the dominant topic of conversation is a girl that Jerry met while taking his comedy act on the road. Shes coming to stay at his place, but he doesnt know whether he should pull out a mattress for her or not. Feldman (Kramer), George, and Jerry debate the topic endlessly until the woman arrives and Jerry learns that its all irrelevant because shes engaged

Below is a list of episodes included on the Seinfeld (Seasons 1 & 2) DVD:

Episode 1 (Pilot: Good News, Bad News) Air Date: 07-05-1989
Episode 2 (The Stakeout) Air Date: 05-31-1990
Episode 3 (The Robbery) Air Date: 06-07-1990
Episode 4 (Male Unbonding) Air Date: 06-14-1990
Episode 5 (The Stock Tip) Air Date: 06-21-1990
Episode 6 (The Ex-Girlfriend) Air Date: 01-23-1991
Episode 7 (The Pony Remark) Air Date: 01-30-1991
Episode 8 (The Jacket) Air Date: 02-06-1991
Epis ode 9 (The Phone Message) Air Date: 02-13-1991
Episode 10 (The Apartment) Air Date: 04-04-1991
Episode 11 (The Statue) Air Date: 04-11-1991
Episode 12 (The Revenge) Air Date: 04-18-1991
Episode 13 (The Heart Attack) Air Date: 04-25-1991
Episode 14 (The Deal) Air Date: 05-02-1991
Episode 15 (The Baby Shower) Air Date: 05-16-1991
Episode 16 (The Chinese Restaurant) Air Date: 05-23-1991
Episode 17 (The Busboy) Air Date: 06-26-1991

About the Author

Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a blog where you can find more reviews like this one of the Seinfeld (DVD).

Author:: Britt Gillette
Keywords:: seinfeld dvd review
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Krrish Has Left the Building!

Some call it the world's largest film industry. Indian filmmaking has come of age. The latest blockbuster Krrish has laid the foundation for a new era in Bollywood.

Just as Hollywood has been presenting movies that are sold as branded, marketed and well rounded products so has our own film industry finally learnt how to sell a movie. Shot in Singapore this film has brought with it a new way of marketing a film to India. Almost everything related to the film has been turned into a product and sold. From the Krrish Action Figures and masks to the Krrish Location tours in Singapore everything connected with the film has been marketed. A PC game based on the movie cannot be far away too. This is not just a greedy money making exercise. It helps in creating the aura around the film as being larger than life, almost a legend before its even released.

Having said that of course no movie no matter how well marketed is going to be a hit unless it is written and made well. In the end the proof is in the pudding. If the people like it then all the other peripheral products will do well and add to the success of the venture. It has taken Indian cinema a while to get here. People here tend to get a bit too emotional about their movies and sometimes have lost sight of the fact that commercial cinema is exactly that - commercial.

Slowly but steadily the film industry here has seen significant changes in the way it operates. There is still a long way to go but the fact that big national and international corporations are investing in projects within the industry is a welcome change. It has helped in bringing about some order to the otherwise chaotic and mostly obsolete way of functioning of the Old Bollywood. Professionalism has begun to creep in for the better. Who would have thought a few years ago that Insurance companies would be lining up to help insure future productions and that productions houses would be listed on the stock exchange. But yes the time has come. Krrish has shown us the obvious benefits of producing a movie keeping the big picture in mind.

In fact the complete production sequence is soon going to be taught as part of curriculum in Indias business schools. To show budding business leaders how a competent marketing strategy can succeed especially in todays multi-platform world.

Now its time to get into a theater and see what all the fuss is about.

Sasha Masand the founder of Indian Voice Overs an award winning Television Producer who has been part of the Indian media industry for over fourteen years and has been an Englis h and Hindi Voice Over Artist for twelve.

Bollywood

Author:: Sasha Masand
Keywords:: Krrish, Bollywood
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South African Film Industry: the Highlights

Grand Beginnings

South Africa started making movies in the early 1900s: the silent movie era. American Director, D.W Griffiths made Birth of a Nation and movies on the Voortrekkers were produced.

The first South African movie with sound was Moedertjie in 1933. South Africa grew side-by-side with the international film industry because Kilarney Studios in Johannesburg was actually a satellite 20th Century Fox studio.

The film, Ruiter in die Nag, in 1963 was shot on a zoom lens, which in those days was the big discovery that screwed onto a Mitchell camera. The only other film that used it was the American blockbuster The Robe starring Richard Burton and produced by 20th Century Fox. With this cross pollination happening, the South African film industry kept in step with international expertise.

Our Golden Globe

In the early 60s, the Germans started making movies here. They also made television programmes, because production was a lot cheaper. E ngland also jumped on the bandwagon, making the film, Zulu with actors, Stanley Baker and Jake Hawkins, which went on to become a famous classic - still shown around the world today. Actors, Richard Todd and Sydney James starred in the movie Tokolosh. The Americans made The Naked Prey a Paramount Picture starring Cornell Wilde and South African star, Gert van den Bergh. South African film, Katrina directed by Jans Rautenbach won a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film in 1968. During this decade, we made one of our finest films, Die Kandidaat, which makes comment on our political history and has stood the test of time.

The Wild Season, a South African film made in 1965, did extremely well here in 1966, and was sold outright to the Japanese for the ludicrous sum of R40 000. It went on to make millions in Japan and scooped $14 million internationally. Success in the late 60s came with Jamie Uys who directed, Beautiful People, a documentary movie which did exceptionally wel l overseas; especially in Japan and Germany.

The Australian Connection

When the Australians came to South Africa to make the movie Breaker Morant, they approached a South African company to co-produce, asking for 50% of the funds. Unfortunately the offer was turned down. Breaker Morant went ahead to become one of the real success stories of the Australian film industry. There was a huge Australian awareness around that time with the Peter Weir films. This was the early 70s, and Australia was rushing onto the film map. South Africa could have been there with them.

The Gods Must Be Crazy

The Gods Must Be Crazy, directed by Jamie Uys in the early 80s was a huge success in Germany. In fact, there was a cinema in Stuttgart that showed the movie continually for years. It was also huge in Japan. They flew the bushman star, Xau to Japan, where he was revered as a huge star. Rather overwhelming for someone who had spent his entire life in a grass hut in the ru ral north-eastern side of Namibia.

A Second Beginning

The South African film industry got on the Oscar map, when Darryl Roods Yesterday was nominated for Best Foreign Film in 2005. Oscar-winning South African actress, Charleze Theron has also been instrumental in keeping our name alive, as she always mentions South Africa. When Tsotsi directed by Gavin Hood won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 2006. The dye was cast! South Africa seems to be the flavour of the decade and lets hope it carries on to a century, not just a couple of years.

Veteran Actor and Film Director, Regardt van den Bergh comments: We are moving into a season where South African films are being watched with interest. People are enjoying looking at our stories and were having various successes, not just with feature film s, but also our short films. We had a short film at the Cannes Film Festival this year made by students from AFDA, which was received really well. The doors are opening more and more.

Sustainable Development

From Governments side things are more forthcoming. The IDCand the NTVA are inspiring young people to come up with ideas and get something off the ground. The IDC will give 50% of the money to make a film if they decide its a good idea. The money has to be paid back with interest but they do not take 50% of the film. Thats a good deal!

Now is the time to create a sustainable, successfulfilm industry that makes money for producers and the various people involved: that also makes inroads in terms of the stories we tell. We have some really amazing stories, not different from stories overseas, but theres a different flavour, which makes it unique.

Forthcoming Attractions

This year Ster Kinekor will release three South African films: Ouma se sli m kind, directed by Gustav Kuhn. Faith like Potatoes directed by Regardt van den Berg and Running Riot written by the versatile actor and writer, Bill Flynn. The Lamb a South African written and produced movie, with an international cast and international distribution will be shot in Morocco in 2006, directed by South African Regardt van den Berg. A new season of success is on its way!

Prinz Productions delivers reliable production service backed by more than 35 years in the business. As a leading Service Production Company in Cape Town, their focus lies on providing a professional service to the film and photographic industries. A major part of their success is the personal and interactive relationship they develop with their clients.

Author:: Bronwen Roberts
Keywords:: South African film industry, production services, stills photography, charleze theron, Tsotsi,
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The Naked Gun (DVD) Review

Writer/Director team David Zucker and Jim Abrahams, producers of cult comedy classics Airplane! and Top Secret, team up once again to bring audiences The Naked Gun. A full-length film based on their earlier collaboration on the short-lived television series Police Squad, the Movie (just like the TV show) stars Leslie Nielsen in his breakout role. With a plot and scene sequences that are far less absurd than its two sequels, The Naked Gun is one of the best comedies ever produced for the big screen.

The Naked Gun follows the exploits of Lt. Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen), a longtime member of Police Squad, a special division of Los Angeles County law enforcement. Fresh off his return from a much needed vacation to Beirut, Frank is informed by Capt. Ed Hocken (George Kennedy) that his partner and best fr iend Nordberg (O.J. Simpson) remains in critical condition after being shot on duty. Frank and Ed visit Nordberg in the hospital where they try to extract information about the shooter. Unsuccessful, they promise Nordbergs wife Wilma (Susan Beaubian) that they will not rest for one second until they catch the man who did this to her husband, then they go off to grab a bite to eat...

Frank and Eds search for the shooter eventually leads them to the office of Vincent Ludwig (Ricardo Montalban), owner of I Love U a Panamanian ship anchored in the harbor where Nordberg was shot. Ludwig directs his Secretary, Jane Spencer (Priscilla Presley), to give Lt. Drebin whatever files hes looking for as well as to get to know him and find out what he knows.

Jane and Frank strike up a relationship and all is well until Frank discovers that Ludwig is involved in a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth on her impending visit to Los Angeles. Believing his relationship with Jane to b e a sham constructed by Ludwig, Frank breaks things off with Jane. But when she reveals Ludwigs plot is to have one of the ballplayers kill the Queen during the 7th inning stretch of the Angels/Mariners playoff game, she and Frank reconcile and two set off with the rest of Police Squad to foil Ludwigs plan

Some of the more hilarious scenes in cinema history can be found in The Naked Gun, most of them attributable to Leslie Nielsens perfect comedic delivery and the serious face he displays throughout. From the moment Frank Drebin steps onto the baseball field, you wont be able to stop laughing. Whether hes belting out the national anthem as Enrico Perlazzo or calling strikes and balls as the home plate umpire, the screenwriters manage a perfect storyboard sequence with this film. It's the same old story. Boy finds girl, boy loses girl, girl finds boy, boy forgets girl, boy remembers girl, girls dies in a tragic blimp accident over the Orange Bowl on New Year's Day Loade d with some of the best comedy dialogue in cinema history, The Naked Gun is 85 continuous minutes of outright hilarity. A definite must-see among comedies

About the Author Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a blog where you can find more reviews like this one of The Naked Gun (DVD).

Author:: Britt Gillette
Keywords:: naked gun dvd review
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Seabiscuit (DVD) Review

Nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Seabiscuit is based on the inspirational true story of an underdog who rises to victory and wins the hearts and minds of a nation. Directed by Gary Ross, creator of such hit films as Big (1988), Dave (1993), and PleasanTville (1998), the film is a family-oriented form of entertainment guaranteed to spike your adrenaline level. With narration by two-time Pulitzer Prize winning author David McCullough, Seabiscuit combines the best of dramatic storytelling with the historical significance of a History Channel documentary. Based on the bestselling book by Laura Hillenbrand, its set in Depression-era America where an unorthodox racehorse named Seabiscuit captures the popular imagination of underdogs everywhere

Seabiscuit follows the life of wealthy autom obile magnate Charles Howard (Jeff Bridges) whose personal life disintegrates following the death of his son. Divorced, he meets his soul mate Marcela (Elizabeth Banks). The two get married, and Howard is soon infected with her love for horses. Searching for a new challenge, the Howards decide to purchase a racehorse. Immediately, Howard encounters Tom Smith (Chris Cooper), a man with an unusual talent for dealing with horses. Impressed with Toms expertise, Howard hires him to train a racehorse.

Letting Tom guide the search for the best horse, the two settle on Seabiscuit, a defiant and untamed free spirit dismissed by others as a lost cause. Soon thereafter, Howard hires the only jockey with the grit and moxie to handle Seabiscuit, Red Pollard (Tobey Maguire). With an undersized horse, an oversized jockey, and an unproven trainer, the three men combine to form the best race teams on the West Coast. In race after race, they capture the imagination of local thoroughbred racing aficionados. As the wins mount up, Howard decides to launch Seabiscuit on a cross country tour. His goal is to have Seabiscuit facedown the best racehorses on the East Coast, and one horse in particular the undefeated reigning champion and Triple Crown winner, War Admiral.

Leveraging the media, Howard maneuvers to create a Seabiscuit/War Admiral one-on-one showdown. But as the race nears, injuries to both Seabiscuit and Red force both man and horse to overcome the greatest of odds. Reaching deep within, each must summon the courage to rise to their respective challenges. And what they achieve is nothing short of legendary

An inspiring tale of unyielding perseverance and tremendous courage, Seabiscuit is certain to stir emotions in every viewer. Knowing the film is a catalogue of actual events forces the audience to its feet in fanatical support of characters who, like each of us, may not always be the best or fanciest specimen in the race, but neverthele ss press on with a never quit attitude. A story that embodies the best and most noble qualities of the human spirit, Seabiscuit is great entertainment certain to be loved by idealists from age one to one-hundred and one

About the Author

Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a blog where you can find more reviews like this one of the Seabiscuit (DVD).

Author:: Britt Gillette
Keywords:: seabiscuit dvd review
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My Search For Reality in TV Revealed Satellite TV and Television's Future Now

My Search For Reality in TV Revealed Satellite TV and Television's Future, Now.

I never dreamed of TV becoming amazing again I was the guy with 12 oclock blinking green on his VCR. Yes, I said VCR. So getting the hang of todays TV was not a piece of cake.

Recently, during an emergency replace-ectomy of my dying Zenith behemoth, I realized I was in deep trouble. Never mind DVD. Who knew of progressive scan and digital convergence. Aspect ratios and digital comb filters. Anti-glare coatings and so many lines of resolution? I knew of the Tv satellite dish, but...

This was a long way from the TV I was nurtured on?

I remember seeing Elvis on the Ed Sullivan Show gyrating inside a black & white-glass-globe-picture-tube about as small as the window on a front-load washer.

Man did the warm glow of that box-at-the-end-of-a-wire get me excited.

Oh, I watched plenty alright! And you know what? I cant remember ever complaining about getting up from the couch to change the channel or to adjust the antenna.

Then, Wagon Train on a 19 inch color set was about as good as it got.

I lost track of televisions high technology after a while I suppose. I saw TVs getting bigger and I did get hip to cable and the remote control but distracted by life and a million other things todays satellite TV and the whole awesome new experience almost passed me by.

It wasnt until my first trip to a home-electronics super-store - to replace the dinosaur 25inch Zenith color console, in a polished-wood-cabinet that matched our living-room furniture long ago - that I realized I wasnt in Kansas anymore but rather, lost.

Lost in a new-world-unknown.

A world where I discovered satellite Tv on flat screens square and wide, Where thin plasmas hung on the wall and flat-panel LCDs framed in silver sat upon slender, tilting pedestals.

I saw TVs that connect to your computer and one, giant-screen, rear-projector that eats digital camera memory sticks to show your photos of grandma on vacation in larger than life and surround sound.

Oh, TVs are still getting bigger, alright. But now they are amazing again and Im excited. But with that excitement and amazement, comes downright confusion. How do they do that? What of all that is right for me?

Now, I like the idea of a Tv satellite dish on my roof, but its a new-tech jungle out there my friend. Prepare if you too are from Kansas.

I'll help you get a clue about what's out there before you buy what could become the most incredible entertainment experience you and your living room - or Elvis, could ever dream-up. And for a lot less than you think, too.

Keep your eye on the Planet. Ill fill you in soon about why I cant leave my home anymore.

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About The Author
Danny Planet is author of Dannys Planet, the hippest free zine out there, hundreds of articles, web pages, radio spots and celebrity ghost scrawling. Visit him at http://satellite--Tv.blogspot.com/. Cut & paste this URL into your browser to read his most current articles and get your seat on Danny's Planet Ark.

Author:: Danny Planet
Keywords:: satellite Tv, the Tv, in Tv, reality Tv
Post by History of the Computer | Computer safety tips

Burned Bridges has been Picked Up for Production and will be Made into a Movie!

As if that was not enough, the upcoming writer from Colorado received critically acclaimed reviews for her first book, Taylini: A Family Saga. The fictional mafia book made waves over in Europe, which landed her a spot in the Italia Press! Her much awaited second book, Tracis Story was released in January 2006. For the last year, Ms. Ashton has been brought on board as Co-Writer at JVI Productions LLC. She is currently working with the Executive Director, Jerry VanDenHul on two screenplays. One in regards to racing, has piqued interest in the film industry. It is tied to the upcoming reality T.V. show, Racin For A Livin, due out later this year.

Ms. Ashton who currently has three personal screenplays in the works stated that she, Loves the challenge of multitasking more than one genre during her w riting. It keeps her adrenaline running. Another question asked of her, was, Does she see herself pursuing her acting career? She said, Living in Colorado, there is not that much work for actors. Upon realizing that, I started to focus more on my writing, which has just been flowing from my fingers. My passion is my writing and I am glad that I am able to share that with other readers, who in one way or another can identify.

A new personal website is in the process of being completed, through the company she works for, JVI. It will include film details for her screenplay, Burned Bridges, and daily updates for the much awaited script, Dreamin being written at JVI. The new link will be posted upon completion.

Marguerite Ashton was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. She attended George Washington High School and just finished a paralegal course. Marguerite just went back to school to finish her associates in criminal justice! Her screenplay, Burned Bridges, is c ompleted and looking to catch a professional eye For the last year, Ms. Ashton has been brought on board as Co-Writer at JVI Productions LLC. She is currently working with the Executive Director on two screenplays. One in regards to racing has piqued interest in the film industry.

Contact information:
Marguerite Ashton
writer@jviproductions.com
ashton275@yahoo.com
720-940-5896

Author:: Marguerite Ashton
Keywords:: Marguerite Ashton, JVI Productions, Jerry Vandenhul, Traci's Story, Taylini, A Family Saga
Post by History of the Computer | Computer safety tips

Acting Rise of Acting Techniques

A popular Italian comedy, Troupes of the commedia dell'arte was very popular throughout Europe in the early 1600s. They would work on makeshift stages and without scripts. These companies, which included women actor's spread a new wave between the actor's and audiences. Actor's improvised their own words and comic actions using a basic plot and character types, which created theatrical creativity and would capture the interest of the audience as a whole group. This was so unlike the opera or literary theater, where the emphasis from the audience concentrated on a playwright's speeches or individual. Scenic displays and literary concepts were not common, thus inspiring the art of Acting.

Theatergoers in England by the beginning of the 17th century learned how to distinguish Hamlet by actor-mana ger, Thomas Betterton. This was accomplished by other productions of Shakespeare's plays. Using different staging of familiar and classical plays sharpened spectator's senses. Good acoustics were designed into theater halls to help performers to be heard differently and to have more subtle and natural reflections. Visual details of a performance were easily perceived and critiqued with the introduction of indoor stage lighting. Individual actor's faces and hands were then displayed by the indoor stage lighting.

Charles Macklin and his student David Garrick became one of the first modern actors on the British stage in the 18th century. Commedia-like farces and pantomime was Charles Macklin's background and why he was hired, based his character Shylock (a Jewish businessman in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice) on Jews in London. Lifelike details of movement and speech were added to written text. These details might not have been noticed 50 years earlier if no t for the stage lighting, acoustic changes and other technologies.

Under better lighting conditions and more plausibility, David Garrick continued natural Acting. Mimicry was brought to the stage through Garrick's practices of imitating facial expressions of actual people. In his performance of Shakespeare's King Lear, Garrick used a crazed neighbor to reenact the accidental killing of his infant daughter. Garrick never dropped his character during a performance and he would listen and react in character to all the dialogue around him. Because of this, he was very popular with theatergoers.

Denis Diderot, an 18th century French encyclopedist, became fascinated with Garrick who was on tour in Paris. The actor feeling less emotion is what Diderot believed could achieve a more consistent and s tronger performance.

Diderot's essay Le paradoxe sur le comedien (1773; translated as The Paradox of the Actor, 1883), compared to famous rivals who performed at the Comedie Francaise, Marie-Francoise Dumesnil and Hippolyte Clairon.

Dumesnil believed it was an actor's responsibility to become the character and represented the so-called emotional school. She was very uneven as an actor and normally coasted through a performance until a tragic point was reached. She had emotional depth and tremendous power. She made claims she new the secrets of great Acting. To find out who she was as a character, where she was and what she had done, Dumesnil would use prayer. Alcohol stimulation was unfortunately a big part of her inspiration.

Clarion claimed she created her characters through movemen t and speech and not from becoming them or playing them. By rehearsing endlessly and perfecting the look of emotions, she was able to develop a natural and reliable character. She believed audiences applauded the actor, not the characters.

By these two actors' comparison's, Diderot uncovered polarities of inspiration and technique.

Problems of inspiration and expressiveness were not solved for other actors, however. For example, any schools or treatises that were left behind seemed to be more philosophical than technical. Actually with Garrick's natural school of Acting disappeared after his death. It was more of a fad with British audiences that was associated with the actor. Basically, Garrick and the rest couldn't teach their techniques.

In the 19th century emotional and anti-emot ional Acting styles of the great actors ran in cycles. Actor's of one generation championed the first technique and then was replaced by a younger actor who championed a different technique, which happened in every country. The romantic and emotive Edmund Kean followed Sarah Siddons, who followed Garrick and so on.

The limelight gave way to the rise of gas lighting and then on to electricity. More and more physical detail appeared on stage and costumes and scenic displays grew in complexity and size, which dwarfed the actor.

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Acting

Author:: Michael Russell
Keywords: : Acting
Post by History of the Computer | Computer safety tips

America's Long Running TV Show: The Simpsons

The Simpsons is arguably television's most beloved family and is the longest running American sitcom and the longest running American animated television program of all time. The Simpsons made their television debut on April 19, 1987 on the Tracey Ullman Show, in a cartoon short called Good Night. The Simpsons creator, Matt Groening first conceived the idea while in a office lobby. The initial appearance of the Simpson family was drawn poorly, Groening said this was due to the fact that he couldn't draw well , so the animators traced over his drawings.

The Simpsons was truly an alternative animated television show to all of the other Cartoons being put out at the time. The Simpsons features a family living in a small town called Springfield, the U.S. state of the town is unknown. The famil y is made up of Homer Simpson, who is the man of the house, he is an overweight safety inspector at the towns power plant, he often gives bad advice. Marge Simpson is Homer's wife and the lady of the house, she is a stay at home mother and she is the rational one who tries to keep peace in her crazy home. Bart Simpson is Homer and Marge's 10 year old son, he's always in trouble at school and at home. Lisa Simpson, is Bart's little sister, she's a philosophical free thinking 8 year old who loves to play the saxophone and solve the worlds problems. Maggie is the youngest daughter of Homer and Marge and never speaks, she communicates by sucking her pacifier.

Many people liked The Simpsons shorts on the Tracey Ullman show, so in 1989 The Simpsons was made into a 30 minute television show. On December 17, 1989 The Simpsons premiered on the FOX broadcasting network as a Christmas special, it was entitled Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire. The Simpsons was the FOX netwo rk's first genuine hit television series, it was FOX's first show that appeared in the top thirty highest rated shows of the season. Several episodes of the Simpsons have been watched by audiences exceeding 20 million viewers and sometimes even 30 million.

Although The Simpsons gained a vast following in a short period of time it quickly sparked controversy with many American families. Because of Bart Simpson being portrayed as a rebel who caused trouble and got away with it hands free, many parent groups and conservatives became upset with the Bart Simpson character because they felt he was a poor role model to children. Bart Simpson t-shirts that read, Underachiever and proud of it, man! became banned in many schools across the United States, but despite this Simpsons merchandise still made over $1 billion worldwide in less than 13 months.

Today The Simpsons is still a very popular television show that still has a cult like following just like it did when it first aired. The show has aired over 350 episodes, it's been on television for over 16 years and a full length feature film is set to be released in theatres in 2007. Most television shows, real life or animated can't even last for a single season, but The Simpsons has managed to stay on television longer than any other show on American television.

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Cartoons

Author:: Michael Russell
Keywords:: Cartoons
Post by History of the Computer | Computer safety tips