Travelling - Undiscovered Comoros Islands, Indian Ocean

Undiscovered Comoros Islands, Indian Ocean

Scattered in the Indian Ocean between Madagascar and Mozambique are the four small islands of the Comoros, whose name comes from the Arabic for "moon". The name is strangely appropriate considering the islands have been so surprisingly isolated from the tourism boom that has enveloped the rest of the Indian Ocean nations.
Like neighboring Zanzibar, the archipelago lies at the crossroads of the Arab and African civilizations, and its Arabian heritage can be seen in the delicate arches of its whitewashed mosques. Like another neighbor, the Seychelles, it also boasts all the requisites of a fantasy island, tropical warmth, turquoise waters, palm trees. But nobody visits the Comoros – supposing they have even heard of the place.
The reason is the troubled Comoran history. Since independence from France in 1975, the Union of the Comoros has been anything but united. While one of the islets, Mahoré, voted to remain a French overseas territory, the three others have gone through a turmoil of no less than 20 coups d'états, several led by the infamous French mercenary Bob Denard, with the latest occuring as recently as 2008.
No wonder that when I landed on Ngazidja, the main island, I found a neglected (but peaceful) backwater. Imagine streets with more potholes than asphalt, goats munching on heaps of roadside trash, dilapidated collective taxis wheezing around, and run-down hotels, only one of which had 24-hour running water. Conversely, the total absence of foreign tourism meant that people were friendly and happy to chat.
But once I had visited the few nice sandy beaches and spent a few evenings belting out karaoke favorites at one of the three decent restaurants in Moroni, the capital city, I discovered that I had pretty much exhausted the after-work entertainment possibilities. Only one adventure remained - to hike the Karthala volcano.
Its dark mass looms 2,361 meters above the port of Moroni, sometimes wrapping its rainforest-covered flanks in a blanket of clouds. It happens to be one of the most active volcanoes in the world, having erupted 20 times in the past century. But at the time of my visit it had been quiet for two years, so a climb was safe. Because the paths up were notoriously poorly marked, I hired a guide. His name, appropriately, was Chauffeur ("driver" in French).
On the said day, he swung by at 5 a.m. to pick me up from my hotel, where I waited gazing at the starry sky beside the bemused security guard. Our battered taxi collected another traveler, a Frenchman named Ludovic, and we drove to a village an hour away. Chauffeur was wearing a pajama-like tracksuit, a droopy sweater and worn boots, Ludovic (like myself) regular clothes and a pair of trainers.
Both took regular cigarette breaks. Little wonder that peasants in flip-flops breezed effortlessly past us, when we set off through plantations of banana trees, fragrant clove trees and vanilla bushes. Vanilla had been the cash crop of the islands until artificial flavorings made its price crash. Our guide was less than knowledgeable when we asked him about wildlife. "Are there any snakes here? - Yes there are. What kind of parrot is that? Yes, it's a parrot."
After an hour-long slog up winding paths, we emerged from the forest and walked through rust-colored heathland. We were now high enough to take in both edges of the island, where the blue of the ocean melted into the sky. We stopped to pluck wild strawberries, which seemed to melt on our tongues in a burst of sweetness. Around noon, we reached zebu pastures and pitched our tents, then continued upwards in the mid-day heat.
Presently, we hiked on ashen gray land, stepping over sun-bleached dead trees. We climbed one last ridge and a lunar landscape opened in front of us. The most barren field of brownish ash, strewn with rocks, stretched ahead. We trudged across it to reach the edge of the collapsed crater, the caldera. Hundreds of meters below us, two tiny fumaroles puffed.
The only sound was the whisper of the light breeze. We picnicked, snoozed. Ludovic wrote "la vie est belle" (life is beautiful) in the sand, then we proudly crossed the moon-like surface again and made our way back down to our campsite.
The next day, the climb down the mountain was long and uneventful, until we reached the village, where the children excitedly pointed at us with cries of "mzungus!" (white people). I had a wonderful time and I think, with more development, that the islands could be a tourist attraction. Someday, perhaps, the children of the island won't find visitors to be so strange and unusual.

URL=Indian

Travelling - Enchanted Rock, Texas

Enchanted Rock, Texas

Nils and I were a few miles past Llano when the tip of Enchanted Rock appeared, a sliver of pink granite suddenly sprouting from the horizon. We had been driving west for hours, watching the greenery of Texas' hill country gradually give way to parched flatland. Now, as its granite dome rose over the highway like a miniature Uluru, there was something uncanny about Enchanted Rock.
Enchanted Rock has its fair share of ghosts. In his history The Enchanted Rock, author Ira Kennedy writes that nearby Tonkawa believed that the spirits of the dead roamed the mountain, while the Comanche told stories of ghost fires and unearthly groans. In the imaginations of Texan treasure hunters, Enchanted Rock was a place of fantastic riches, packed with lost Spanish mines and fat veins of ore.
Nils and I had come to Enchanted Rock with a humbler goal. As the second-largest rock dome in the United States, Enchanted Rock is a prime destination for climbing in all its forms, from casual hiking to technical climbing. For Nils, a climbing wall regular and one of my best friends, the chance to do some real scrambling and caving had just looked too good to pass up.
It was about 10:30 AM when we started our hike to the summit, but the trail was already crowded. Some groups had small children in tow, and a few climbers had even brought their dogs. However, while the path itself wasn't difficult, the dry heat and complete exposure of the rock made for slow going. With no trees or other features to help us gauge height, the bare slope played tricks on our eyes. I felt like we were walking on a granite treadmill; no matter how far we climbed, we never seemed to get any closer to the summit.
In folk tales, the summit of Enchanted Rock is a kind of purgatory, an in-between place for souls burdened by crimes or grudges against the living. The Handbook of Texas relates the legend of a chief who supposedly suffered this fate as punishment for sacrificing his own daughter. According to the story, it was his spirit's ceaseless pacing that wore the divots in Enchanted Rock's surface.
Eventually, the trail leveled off into a broad plateau, and we found ourselves standing on top of Enchanted Rock. Below us, the land spread out like a road map, a patchwork of plains, two-lane highways and bare stone hills that stretched to the horizon in every direction. It was as if we had climbed onto the roof of the desert. We spent a few minutes snapping pictures in the intense heat before heading back down.
Our next stop was Enchanted Rock Cave, a 350-meter long, 30-meter deep fissure running down one side of the rock's dome. For nearby Apache, Enchanted Rock Cave was home to the gan, powerful mountain spirits responsible for curing illness and protecting the Apache from their enemies. Unfortunately, the cave's easy accessibility has proven to be a conservation liability, as visitors with little or no experience with cave conservation have damaged the fissure's native fauna and left behind litter in the course of their explorations;
With the help of a trail map, Nils and I finally tracked down the cave entrance, a narrow gap in the rock just under the summit. While we checked our gear, a man with a thick South African accent argued with his son over whether or not to go inside.
"We don't have a torch," said the exasperated father. "I'm not going in without a torch."
After about half an hour of wriggling through paper-thin squeezes and chimneying down slick vertical drops, Nils and I agreed that this would not be the best cave for a family outing. Just getting ourselves and our packs through was taking a good deal of teamwork, not to mention a smidgen of muscle. Still, we were enjoying ourselves
"This actually makes an awesome rock slide," I commented to Nils at one point, as I slipped my way down a slab of granite. In the lantern's glow, I saw Nils grimace. We were deep inside one of the largest hunks of stone in the United States, and I had not chosen my words carefully.
"Dude," he groaned, "don't say 'rock slide'."
Among the many spirits said to have been swallowed into Enchanted Rock, there is one that came back to tell his tale. According to local legend, a Spanish conquistador once escaped a group of pursuing Tonkawa by climbing Enchanted Rock and vanishing. Mystified, the Tonkawa whispered that he had cast a spell over the mountain.
The conquistador had a different explanation. It was the mountain, he would later tell his comrades, that had cast a spell over him. For a while, he had become part of Enchanted Rock itself.
"When I was swallowed by the rock, I joined the many spirits who enchant this place." he said.
As I stood outside our tent and watched the sun set behind the cliffs that evening, I didn't need magic to understand how Enchanted Rock wove its spell. It was there in front of my eyes. It was the clouds of buzzards riding the last thermals from the cooling granite, the way that the rock faces seemed to grow and shift as dusk fell.
Deep down, I envied the ghosts

URL=Texas

Travelling - Diving Republic of Maldives

Diving Republic of Maldives

Paradise on earth exists. Not exactly on Earth's surface, mind you, more like several dozen feet below it. To be precise, paradise lies in the middle of the Indian Ocean, 700km from the coast of Sri Lanka, in the shallow lagoons of the Maldives archipelago. As an island country, fragmented into 1,200 islets, huddled in 26 atolls, the Maldives is an outstanding diving destination.
It is in its transparent, warm waters, that the marine world was revealed to me. "Revelation" is no understatement here. The first day I scuba dived, I swam into an enchanted and hitherto unsuspected universe of iridescent colors, fantastical shapes and unhurried movements.
Now don't get me wrong. The bit of Maldives that does emerge from the ocean is idyllic – a modest bit really, since ninety percent of the country's official surface is covered with water and the largest island doesn't exceed eight square kilometers. In fact, the islets are so postcard-perfect that a description summons every cliché in the book about Robinson Crusoe-style islands: palm trees leaning over fine white sand, turquoise water, gentle waves, tropical heat, fragrant hibiscuses, azure skies.
Then on the 80 or so islands which have been turned into exclusive resorts, foreign guests can sip cocktails under a parasol all day long – a hedonistic treat forbidden to Maldivians, who are Muslims. Since I was not lucky enough to be on a luxury honeymoon, I was stuck working in Malé, the capital island.
It is a compact, polluted concrete jungle of just a few square kilometers, onto which 100,000 people – and possibly an equivalent number of scooters - are crammed, without an inch of palm-fringed beach. Mercifully, other expats quickly pointed me towards the one available escape: scuba diving.
Initially, I was a little worried about getting claustrophobic underwater and strapped into all the gear, so my friends first took me on a snorkeling trip. We rented a dhoni, the traditional wooden fishing boat of the Maldives, and sailed to a spot an hour away from Malé. I slipped into the deliciously warm sea and, floating on my belly, gazed at the depths through a mask.
The visibility was stupendous: I could see shimmering shoals of fish perhaps ten meters below, above undulating sea anemones, eels poking their reptilian heads from holes in the reef, all this in a greenish space of muted sounds. When a turtle glided past, close enough for me to distinguish its scaly face, I knew I had to learn to dive.
And so learn I did. With a funny back-to-school feeling, I sat through hours of "open water" instruction. I became familiar with the tanks and regulators, figured out how to use the dive tables (which tell you how much surface time is required after so many minutes at certain depths), memorized the symptoms of nitrogen narcosis, choked through my first underwater exercises, and finally got PADI-certified.
My first real outing was at a reef called Bolifushi. One by one, harnessed to our clunky equipment, we dropped over the side of the boat, then went under all together. We slowly sank away from the twinkling surface, towards the sandy bottom. Once we had exchanged the necessary safety hand signals, the instructors led the way.
As I followed everyone's paddling flippers and streams of bubbles, I felt like I was in a science-fiction story. We were explorers, adventurers of a new world, prospecting a totally alien environment, enclosed in our precious survival spheres.
We reached a wreck, at a depth of 25 meters, and my awe intensified. The other divers swam over and around it, like curious insects swarming around an unknown carcass. The wrecked ship lay on its side, and though the structure was recognizable, it had been transformed by its years underwater: fish crossed its portholes and spindly algae grew from the deck.
Over my next dives, I grew so confident that I almost never had to worry about the technical aspects and just focused on enjoying my new playground, the lagoons of the Indian Ocean. I learned to recognize the numerous species of fish: the red and white lionfish, with its antennae-like crests, the big-foreheaded napoleon, then my favourite, the blue surgeon fish, with a round, black-trimmed body the size of a plate and yellow fins.
While no other location can beat the teeming wildlife of the Maldives, I now have the ability to experience other countries around the world differently: underwater.

URL=Maldives

 

Travelling - Costa del Sol, Spain

Costa del Sol, Spain

 

It isn't very difficult to see why southern Spain's Costa del Sol is such a hit with European holidaymakers. With its white-sand beaches and mountainside citrus groves, this stretch of Malaga coastline is a marvelous slice of pure Mediterranean, boasting an average of over 300 sunny days a year. In the past sixty years, the region has gone from backwater to big-time; today, the geography of the coast is a litany of high-end resort towns, like Marbella and Torre del Mar, which cater to the wealthier crowd.
 Despite the Costa del Sol's reputation as a seaside playground for the rich and famous, visitors willing to go beyond the beach may find themselves surprised by how much the region has to offer. They run the gamut from outdoorsy to intellectual, from windsurfing all the way to wine tasting. Malaga's coast offers an array of adventures to suit every palate, each one flavored with the Costa del Sol's unique Andalusia-meets-Mediterranean charm.
For history-hungry travelers, Nerja Cave, located near the town of the same name, is a good place to start. In 1959, the first cavers to access this 5 km-long system discovered skeletal remains and tools dating back to the Paleolithic era. Visitors can tour the cave's main chamber and look at some of the excavated artifacts. In addition, the cave, which supposedly possesses excellent acoustics, occasionally hosts classical music performances, though this practice is becoming less common due to conservation concerns.
If you'd rather be out in the fresh air, lace up your hiking boots and head to Sierra de las Nieves national park. The park, which lies in the mountainous hinterland about 18 kilometers north of the seaside resort town of Marbella, offers hiking and biking in over 200 square kilometers of slopes and virgin pine forest. The park is also famous for its many vertical caves, a few of which plunge to depths of over 1000 meters. Due to its higher altitude, the park does sometimes experience snowfall during the winter months, so check the weather before heading out and come prepared for the cold.
When it comes to watersports in the Costa del Sol, windsurfing is king. Spain's southern coast is a veritable windsurfing Mecca; on any given day, dozens of sails dot the horizons at the Costa's major beaches as groups of surfers skim and spin their way across the water. Equipment rental shops line most beaches, and most resorts have windsurfing clubs where beginners can pick up the basics in the relatively calm waters. More experienced surfers in search of a challenge can make the hour-and-a-half trek southwest to Tarifa, where aficionados from around the globe gather to try their skills on the strong winds and currents from the Strait of Gibraltar.
In addition to the sights of the region itself, the Costa del Sol is also convenient to some of the Iberian Peninsula’s most famous destinations. The city of Granada is a day trip away; beach-weary travelers can take a break from the sun and explore the Alhambra, the magnificent 14th century palace that once housed Granada's Moorish rulers. On the off chance that visitors finish their tour with any time left to spare, a stroll around the maze-like cobblestone streets and open-air spice stalls of old Granada offers enough captivating sights and sounds to keep anyone occupied for days.
For a slightly different excursion, Gibraltar, a British overseas territory located at the edge of the Iberian peninsula, is about an hour and ten minutes' drive from Marbella. The iconic Rock of Gibraltar, a peak that looms up from the center of the territory, offers Europe's best view of the African continent as well as the chance to meet Gibraltar's well-known Barbary ape population. Because Gibraltar is British territory, visitors need to bring their passports in order to enter.
Finding budget-friendly accommodations in the Costa del Sol can be a bit challenging, but it's certainly possible. While top-tier resorts like Marbella's are pricey beyond belief, less exorbitant resorts in towns such as Torremolinos sometimes offer fairly reasonable package deals. If that doesn't work, try looking for accommodations a few kilometers inland; if you're willing to stay a little further from the coast, you'll have an easier time escaping the resorts' high prices.
Alternatively, if you're traveling with a group, it may actually be cheaper to rent a house, especially if you're planning on staying in the area for a while. Because the Costa del Sol is such a popular destination, many travelers from other European countries buy second homes in the area, often renting them out when they're not using them. Plan your trip well in advance and try to negotiate the rental price with the owners and you may well be able to score a bargain, a rare enough event on these shores.

URL=Spain

 

Travelling - Lago Coatepeque, El Salvador

Lago Coatepeque, El Salvador

El Salvador is so small, poor and crime-infested that almost no foreigners visit the country, bar Peace Corps volunteers and Christian missionaries. But those who dare are rewarded with the friendliest encounters and the least tourist-ridden landscapes of Central America. First though, they must overlook the country's dangerous reputation – unfortunately a deserved one, since the street gangs of El Salvador are among the toughest and most ruthless of the continent.
Nonetheless, ordinary Salvadoreans are hard-working, hospitable and congenial people. Despite the widespread poverty and the scars of the devastating 1980's civil war, they find the faith to carry on, perhaps inspired by the name of their land, "El Salvador" (Spanish for "the Savior"). They are truly the redeeming feature of a country with few real tourist attractions.
On my first weekend there, I escaped San Salvador, its choking traffic, crumbling concrete, barbed-wire fences and armed security guards, to explore Lago Coatepeque, a lake in a volcanic crater a couple of hours away. Ignoring horrified warnings about traveling alone, I hopped onto a bus and started enjoying myself straight away.
Public buses are former American school buses, painted blazing colors and adorned with religious stickers ("God bless this trip"). Reggaeton blares over the roar of the engine. At every stop, shouting vendors climb aboard to sell water, fruits and sweets, pushing their way between whole families squeezed onto the seats. On that trip, the passenger next to me was so honored to meet a Frenchwoman - for the first time! - that he shook my hand and warmly welcomed me to his country.
After a couple of hours of nondescript highway, the bus turned up a wooded slope, climbed a ridge, then rolled down a winding road and I was treated to a spectacular vista. The lake's perfect lapis-lazuli circle was hemmed in by the scrub-covered walls of the extinct volcano Cerro Verde. Piers jutted out onto the water from a scattering of tiny lakeside houses, presumably the second homes of well-heeled Salvadoreans.
At the end of the road, the bus dropped me off in a cloud of dust, and I strolled down to the shore between weeping willows. There, a woman knee-deep in the water was scrubbing clothes, while three men pulled in a fishing net. It was a peaceful, quiet morning. Suddenly, a dozen women wearing white kerchiefs on their heads waded into the water, fully clothed, behind two men in white shirts, and stood in a row.
The man at the end of the line briefly immersed the first woman, tilting her backwards, then started chanting while a larger group which had remained on the shore sang and clapped hands. "They are being baptized," explained a young man standing next to me. "We are a Baptist group from Santa Ana." While El Salvador remains a stronghold of Catholicism, Protestant churches have made some spectacular inroads, like in other parts of Latin America. I snapped some photos of the baptism, then shot some individual portraits of several participants, who gracefully posed. "Gracias," even said one lady, actually thanking me for photographing her.
Once the ceremony was over, I wandered off to a hostel with its own wooden pier. The rest of the day I spent dipping in the lovely cool water, sunbathing in a deck chair and drinking fresh lemonade. Jet skis zoomed back and forth. Families chatted under parasols on the jetty of the next-door restaurant. The sun slowly sank behind the peak of the Santa Ana volcano, sending oblique rays skidding on the surface. The next morning, I swam again, before the tourist boats started plying the area, chatted with the owner of the hostel and a couple of other travelers, just enjoying the weekend. I could easily have spent a full week chilling there.
Instead, it was already time to make my way back to the city. But on the connecting bus back, the fare collector did not have enough change to accept my five-dollar bill for the 35-cents ride. Without my asking anything, the elderly gentleman sitting next to me paid my fare, waved away the banknote I tried to hand him, and accepted my effusive thanks with a huge toothless smile. When he got off, he gave me a big wave through the window. I felt as though he had just knocked on my heart and, with that gesture, El Salvador had just won me over.



URL=El Savador

Books - Eve

Could John Gallo, a man from Eve's past, be the missing piece to the puzzle that has haunted her for years? Why was he in Atlanta just before Bonnie disappeared? Find out in this brilliant narrative that goes back to Eve Duncan's early life, exploring her history and motivations like no other novel before.

URL=Eve

Books -Stronghold

When King Edward I of England built Grogen Castle in Wales, he proclaimed it the strongest fortress in the British Isles; impregnable to assault, armed with devices so fiendish that would-be attackers would die in multitudes. But the Welsh have had enough of English tyranny. Armed with druidic magic and an ancient, mystical artefact, they summon an army to their banner even the most superstitious of Edward's soldiers could never have imagined. Soon, Grogen Castle finds itself beseiged by forces forged from splintered bone and rotten flesh. Just how long can this Stronghold hold out against the zombie horde?

URL=Stronghold

Books - Wolf!: The Legend of Tom Sawyer's Island

How far would you be willing to go to save your life—as well as the potential future of your boss, Walt Disney? Would you put your life in the hands of a mysterious security guard named Wolf who seems to have uncanny abilities that reach far beyond the realms of logic? Would you be willing to breech the very fabric of time itself to save Walt's Legacy?
Wolf has dedicated his life to guarding his boss Walt Disney. Little did he know how far-reaching that dedication would extend.
Dr. Claude Houser, a doctor and scientist employed by Walt Disney, finds his life and Walt's future threatened by an unknown blackmailer. Relocating the doctor where he can't be harmed Wolf tirelessly seeks to find and stop this malicious villain. Only then will he consider bringing the doctor back to continue his vital work.
Wolf sends Disneyland cast member Walter Davis to aid the doctor and a damsel in distress. He now finds himself in a bizarre—yet strangely familiar—setting where time moves differently and things that occur in the present seem to have a profound effect on things that happen in the past.
It will take all of Wolf's cunning to bring three vastly different people back through the swirling vortex of time as we unravel the fascinating Legend of Tom Sawyer's Island.

URL=Wolf

Books - About Doctor Ferrel

You sleep in the next room even as I write this letter, this futile letter. If only I could tell you without the hurt...Maggie is just down the hall - Maggie, the waif, the beautiful waif whose nearness makes me tremble. You were so kind to her, Elaine, so much the good doctor's wife, to take in this lovely, ragged child, sick with violation. Now we have repaid you, this child and I, by falling in love. No fool like an old fool, you say? I've told that to myself a hundred times, Elaine, but when I see her, when I touch her, when...
The man in the half-lit room looked up at the sound of the door. He could just see the gleam of golden hair in the darkness. "Darling," the apparition said, "I couldn't sleep for thinking. Roger, honey, you're a doctor. How really, really bad is Elaine's heart?"

URL=Doctor

Books - Name of the Wind

I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.
You may have heard of me. So begins the tale of Kvothe--from his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, to years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-riddled city, to his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a difficult and dangerous school of magic. In these pages you will come to know Kvothe as a notorious magician, an accomplished thief, a masterful musician, and an infamous assassin.

URL=Wind

Movies - The French Connection

This gritty, fast-paced, and innovative police drama earned five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay (written by Ernest Tidyman), and Best Actor (Gene Hackman). Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle (Hackman) and his partner, Buddy Russo (Roy Scheider), are New York City police detectives on narcotics detail, trying to track down the source of heroin from Europe into the United States. Suave Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey) is the French drug kingpin who provides a large percentage of New York City's dope, and Pierre Nicoli (Marcel Bozzuffi) is a hired killer and Charnier's right-hand man. Acting on a hunch, Popeye and Buddy start tailing Sal Boca (Tony Lo Bianco) and his wife, Angie (Arlene Faber), who live pretty high for a couple whose corner store brings in about 7,000 dollars a year. It turns out Popeye's suspicions are right -- Sal and Angie are the New York agents for Charnier, who will be smuggling 32 million dollars' worth of heroin into the city in a car shipped over from France. The French Connection broke plenty of new ground for screen thrillers; Popeye Doyle was a highly unusual "hero," an often violent, racist, and mean-spirited cop whose dedication to his job fell just short of dangerous obsession. The film's high point, a high-speed car chase with Popeye tailing an elevated train, was one of the most viscerally exciting screen moments of its day and set the stage for dozens of action sequences to follow. And the film's grimy realism (and downbeat ending) was a big change from the buff-and-shine gloss and good-guys-always-win heroics of most police dramas that preceded it. The French Connection was inspired by a true story, and Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso, Popeye and Buddy's real life counterparts, both have small roles in the film. A sequel followed four years later. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

URL=French

Movies - Days of Heaven

A turbulent, swarming story of triangular love and migrant farm workers in the early 20th century. Starring Brooke Adams, Richard Gere, Linda Manz and Sam Shepard, this film sweeps across the American heartland in telling the story of a drifter (Gere), his sister (Manz), the woman he loves (Adams) and the farmer (Shepard) who covets her, all unfolding against backgrounds that are as intoxicated by the beauty of nature as aware of its destructiveness. The film was chosen as one of The New York Times 10 best films of its year and won an Academy Award for its cinematography, by Nestor Almendros.

URL=Heaven

Movies - Belle-de-Jour

Belle de jour dramatizes the collision between depravity and elegance, one of the favorite themes of director Luis Buñuel. Catherine Deneuve stars as a wealthy but bored newlywed, eager to taste life to the fullest. She seemingly gets her wish early in the film when she is kidnapped, tied to a tree, and gang-raped. It turns out that this is only a daydream, but her subsequent visits to a neighboring brothel, where she offers her services, certainly seem to be real. This illusion/reality dichotomy extends to the final scenes, in which we are offered two possible endings. Thanks to a question of copyright and ownership, Belle de jour disappeared from view shortly after its 1967 release, not even resurfacing on videotape. When it was reissued theatrically in 1994, many critics placed the perplexing but mesmerizing film on their lists of that year's best films. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

URL=Belle

Movies - Adaption

More than once in the week after I saw ''Adaptation,'' I found myself suddenly awake in the middle of the night, pulse racing, fretting over the movie's intricate, fascinating themes. Since quite a few of the films I see have a decidedly soporific effect, those bouts of insomnia might in themselves be sufficient grounds for recommending this one. But my sleeplessness was edged with panic; it seemed to mirror the frantic anxiety that the hero of ''Adaptation,'' a screenwriter named Charlie Kaufman, suffers as he struggles to complete a script based on ''The Orchid Thief'' by Susan Orlean, a writer for The New Yorker.
At the paranoid hour of 3 in the morning, I wondered if Kaufman's towering writer's block might be contagious. As the deadline for this review approached, I pictured myself in his agitated state, pacing the floor in a sweat, muttering nonsense into a hand-held tape recorder and then desperately stalling my impatient editors: ''It's coming along. Really. You'll have something soon. No problem.''
I realize that the fear of contracting writer's block from a fictional character is crazy, but in the brilliantly scrambled, self-consuming world of ''Adaptation,'' which opens today nationwide, it has a certain plausibility. After all, one of the movie's reigning conceits is that the boundary between reality and representations of it -- between life and art, if you want -- is highly porous, maybe even altogether imaginary. Another is that obsessive manias -- for instance, the passion for certain forms of plant life that afflicts some of the characters -- reproduce themselves like madly pollinating wildflowers.
According to the credits, someone named Charlie Kaufman did indeed write -- or at least helped to write -- the screenplay for ''Adaptation,'' which indeed is billed as based on ''The Orchid Thief,'' the true story of a renegade horticulturalist, John Laroche. The encounters between Mr. Laroche and Ms. Orlean frame the book's excursions into Darwinian theory, Florida ecology and the history of orchid collecting. Many of these elements, by the way, are faithfully reconstructed in the movie. Mr. Kaufman's flailing attempts to honor the nuances and implications of Ms. Orlean's dense, elusive, intellectual mystery story are interwoven with a retelling of that story, until finally the two plots collide, overlap and blow each other to smithereens (along with the viewer's mind).
But all of this is much too straightforward. Yes, ''Adaptation'' is, most obviously, a movie about itself, as gleefully self-referential an exercise in auto-deconstruction as you could wish. But it is also, more deeply, a movie about its own nonexistence -- a narrative that confronts both the impossibility and the desperate necessity of storytelling, and that short-circuits our expectations of coherence, plausibility and fidelity to lived reality even as it satisfies them. Common sense suggests that there could never be such a movie, but if there could, it would have to be one of the slipperiest, most fascinating and, by any sane reckoning, best movies of the year.
In their first collaboration, ''Being John Malkovich,'' Mr. Kaufman and Spike Jonze, the director of ''Adaptation,'' concocted a deft and dizzy trompe l'oeil brain teaser that, for all its kinetic inventiveness, had a surprising sweetness and intensity of feeling. Like ''Adaptation,'' it was a movie about creative insecurity, misbegotten love and the traps of identity. Its characters were drawn together by an itchy desire to shed their own skins, a longing made hilariously literal by their discovery of a secret passageway into Mr. Malkovich's brain.
''Adaptation'' picks up, literally, where ''Malkovich'' left off: on the set of the earlier picture, where Charlie Kaufman skulks around in a neurotic funk. But while Mr. Malkovich, in a cameo, reappears playing himself (a role for which he won the best supporting actor award from the New York Film Critics Circle), Mr. Kaufman is played here by Nicolas Cage. And so is the second credited screenwriter of ''Adaptation,'' Charlie Kaufman's twin brother, Donald.
Mr. Cage and Mr. Jonze share a casual, daredevil sensibility, and the two of them -- or should I say the three of them? -- pull off one of the most amazing technical stunts in recent film history. It's not just that Mr. Cage plays two fractious, unsettled characters, who each become more complicated as the picture vaults and scrambles toward its conclusion, or that Mr. Jonze manages to place them seamlessly together in the frame. It's more that these acts of bravura seem to be no big deal. For much of the movie, you are watching a single actor portray a prickly, tender sibling dynamic with himself, and yet after a while this astonishing feat seems as matter of fact as color film or synchronized sound (which were once, of course, astonishments in their own right).
Whether or not Donald Kaufman really exists (and there is not much evidence, other than this movie, that he does), he and his brother embody the antithetical impulses that haunt any writer. Charlie, nearly paralyzed by his dread of cliché and convention, sees his profession as an exacting, exalted search for truth. He wears his terrible awkwardness -- with his would-be girlfriend (Cara Seymour), with a willowy producer (Tilda Swinton), with himself -- like a badge of authenticity. The hapless Donald, who is freeloading at his twin's house, appears happily shallow and serenely untroubled by such concerns.
Although Charlie ridicules Donald's use of movie industry jargon (''Don't say industry,'' he snaps), Donald decides to try his hand at screenwriting. While his brother tears out his hair over ''The Orchid Thief,'' Donald churns out a serial-killer script so utterly derivative as to be a sure-fire six-figure sale (and sparks a happy, bawdy romance with a makeup technician played by Maggie Gyllenhaal).
He also attends seminars conducted by the screenwriting guru Robert McKee, whose rigorously structural approach to storytelling Charlie disdains. Later, in desperation, Charlie will turn to McKee, ripely impersonated by Brian Cox, for salvation, and will get an earful of self-help exhortation. ''For God's sake, don't use a deus ex machina!,'' McKee thunders, perhaps fully aware that he is one.
Meanwhile, Susan Orlean (played with impish composure by Meryl Streep) falls in with Laroche (Chris Cooper), a haunted, antic autodidact who has been arrested for poaching rare orchids from a Florida swamp. The contrast of their backgrounds and temperaments, hinted at in Ms. Orlean's book, is wittily realized by Ms. Streep and Mr. Cooper, whose lank-haired, toothless charisma also resonates with Mr. Cage's improbable magnetism.
As the stories unfold in counterpoint, seesawing back and forth in time, ideas pop up like flowers blossoming crazily in time-lapse photographs. It would be futile to try to account for all of them, but the effect is both exhilarating and a little stressful, like a graduate seminar in philosophy conducted by a slightly mad professor, and then edited down into an extralong episode of MTV's ''Real World.''
After it's over, you will want to keep arguing about it, if only in the relative safety of your own brain. The last part -- what McKee's acolytes might call the ''third act'' -- stages a formal death match between Donald's approach to storytelling and Charlie's, and sends Orlean and Laroche on to adventures undreamed of in the pages of The New Yorker (though they are, by Hollywood standards, perfectly predictable).
Some may find the ending rushed, inconclusive or cynical. I thought its lack of easy resolution was proof of the film's haphazard, devil-may-care integrity, and its bow to conventional sentiment a mark of sincerity.
At one point in ''The Orchid Thief,'' Ms. Orlean asks a park ranger named Tony why he thinks people find orchids so seductive. His answer matches both the nonchalance and the insight of this remarkable, impossible film: ''Oh, mystery, beauty, unknowability, I suppose. Besides, I think the real reason is that life has no meaning. I mean, no obvious meaning. You wake up, you go to work, you do stuff. I think everybody's always looking for something a little unusual that can preoccupy them and help pass the time.''
Charlie Kaufman could hardly have said it better, though perhaps his brother Donald might have.

''Adaptation'' is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). It has scenes of sex, violence, drug use, evolutionary biology, flower abduction, journalistic indiscretion and many other things likely to trouble the sleep of neurotic, oversensitive viewers. Not that I have anyone particular in mind.

ADAPTATION

Directed by Spike Jonze; written by Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman, based on the book ''The Orchid Thief'' by Susan Orlean; director of photography, Lance Acord; edited by Eric Zumbrunnen; music by Carter Burwell; production designer, KK Barrett; produced by Edward Saxon, Vincent Landay and Jonathan Demme; released by Columbia Pictures. Running time: 112 minutes. This film is rated R.

 URL=Adapt

Movies - À Nous la LibertÃ

It is not astonishing that René Clair's picture, "A Nous, la Liberté," which came to the Europa yesterday, mystified its first-night audience in Paris, for one might hazard that this French-language combination of fantasy and realism is like snapshots of a weird dream. The tale itself, M. Clair's own account of two prison pals, first inside and then away from jail, is sufficiently lucid, but the manipulation of the incidents is quite another matter. There is little real dialogue, music being often relied upon to do the "talking." The characters frequently give vent to their thoughts in song, whether they are behind the bars, in a factory or in a banquet hall. And unlike M. Clair's previous hilarious contribution, "Le Million," the humor in this new venture, despite its farcical nature, is provocative of thought rather than laughter.

"A Nous, la Liberté" is assuredly different from any other screen feature. It bristles with strange originality. It almost descends to slapstick in one sequence, but even that is set forth imaginatively. In contradistinction to the skittish happenings, there are the cleverly designed settings for the scenes in both the prison and the factory. This angle of the production is extraordinarily thorough, every detail having received most careful attention.

There have been unique introductory glimpses in many pictures, but M. Clair goes all one better by showing prisoners at work making toy horses, some of the inmates sticking legs into the wooden bodies, others doing the painting, and so forth. Emile and Louis, the principals in this fable, are among those at the long table with a moving section in the centre. Following this the convicts are beheld at their evening meal, with the running centre-board on which are the salt, pepper, sugar and bowls of food from which the prisoners help themselves.

It is really quite a dramatic sequence where Emile and Louis, armed with a grappling iron on the end of a rope, are ready to make their escape from their cell. The window bars have been neatly filed and the two men crawl out of their cell, ready to risk their necks by scaling a high wall. Louis, with the aid of his friend, succeeds in getting away, but before the unfortunate Emile can climb the wall he is caught by the keepers.

M. Clair arranges a neat way for Louis to avoid detection. The convict, once in the street, bowls over a speeding cyclist. While the dazed man is on the ground, Louis, who has disrobed down to his underwear, rides away on the bicycle. And then comes one of the few bits at which the spectators laughed. It is where Louis is greeted by a throng as the winner of the cycling race.

Putting to practice some of the ideas of prison, Louis, in course of time, becomes a wonderfully wealthy phonograph manufacturer. His appearance is greatly changed by his prosperity. Eventually Emile is freed from prison, and without knowing that his former cell-mate is managing director of the factory he succeeds in getting employment in the works. One day Emile is told that he must appear before the managing director, and to his astonishment he sees Louis, who is at first reluctant to admit his identity.

These ex-convicts have a high old time in the factory. In one episode a painting of Louis is used for fractious doings. The prison pals look at the painting and then they throw cakes from a buffet table at it, and they roar with laughter when Louis hurls a stone gin bottle through the centre of the canvas.

Louis's labor-saving devices in the factory are beheld in many of the scenes, and in one of the latter interludes he caps all his other ideas by an invention whereby the phonograh parts are assembled automatically after going through a little tunnel.

As for the romantic side of the story, Emile, a dreamy sort of fellow most of the time, falls in love with a girl worker named Jeanne, but she is not interested in him. When Louis hears about this he insists on the match between the two, giving Jeanne's old uncle a check for her dowry. But nothing comes of this forced alliance.

The police ultimately learn that Louis is an escaped convict and he decides to flee with his pal. Louis stocks a bag with banknotes, but during a high wind the bag is blown off a table and opens, and soon the air is filled with 1,000-franc notes and also with the tophats of factory, officials who are holding an open-air meeting.

In the final fade-out Louis and Emile have discovered liberty away from prison and work—they are happy tramps, glad to get a few sous with which to buy bread.

Henri Marchand gives a commendable performance as Emile, and Raymond Cardy is capital as the more vigorous Louis. Rolla France is pleasing as Jeanne, and Paul Olivier is excellent as the girl's uncle.

URL=Nous

Inspirational - Web of Love

Listen to how a simple ball of yarn became a web of love for one classroom of high school students.

Their teacher seated the students in a circle on the carpeted floor. One member of the group was instructed to toss a ball of yarn to someone across the circle, holding tightly to one end. The recipient took hold of the string and listened as the one who tossed it shared something that she especially liked about him. Keeping hold of the string, he then tossed the ball across the circle to someone else and affirmed something positive about her. The ball of yarn was tossed across and around the circle until everyone had both heard and shared encouragement...and thus the yarn became a woven web of love and good feelings....

Before they went their separate ways, the teacher took scissors and snipped through the web. Each person took a piece of yarn away as a remembrance of the special words they heard. Surprisingly, many of them wore cherished pieces of yarn around their wrists for days and weeks afterward.

Every year now, students ask their teacher to end the term with the Web of Love. It has become an annual tradition in their high school! Which goes to show how much encouragement means to most people.

Why wait? We can find opportunities to affirm others throughout the day. Few people grow weary of hearing sincere appreciation and praise. And each time you give it you help to create an invisible web of love that can last a lifetime.

URL=WOL

Inspirational - Love is Understanding

You've heard it said: "Love is patient and kind." If love is patient, it may be because love is truly understanding.

Do you know what the most common craving is among pregnant women? (I'm sure this is factual.) The most common craving among pregnant women is not spicy food, pickles or ice cream. Not even close. It is for MEN to get pregnant.

Why? Because then they would know what it is like! Then they might be more patient. What most women need during times of cravings, discomfort, swollen ankles and morning sickness is... understanding.

Much of our conflict is simply misunderstanding. As a new bride, one woman moved into the small home on her husband's ranch in the mountains. She put a shoe box on a shelf in her closet and asked her husband never to touch it.

For 50 years he left the box alone, until his life partner was old and dying. One day when he was putting their affairs in order, he found the box again and thought it might hold something important.

Opening it, he discovered two doilies and $82,500 in cash. He took the box to her and asked about the contents.

"My mother gave me that box the day we married," she explained. "She told me to make a doily to help ease my frustrations every time I got mad at you."

Her husband was touched that in 50 years she'd only been upset enough to make two doilies.

"What's the $82,500 for?" he asked.

She explained, "Oh, well that's the money I've made selling the doilies."

Marge Piercy beautifully said, "Life is the first gift, love is the second and understanding is the third." But it is love that gives us life and understanding that brings about love.

Making doilies might take your mind off the problem, but it won't change anything. The path from conflict to love is not by way of arts and crafts. It is through the valley of understanding.

URL=Understand

Inspirational - Love Without Measure

Freda Bright says, "Only in opera do people die of love." It's true. You really can't love somebody to death. I've known people to die from no love, but I've never known anyone to be loved to death. We just can't love one another enough.

A heart-warming story tells of a woman who finally decided to ask her boss for a raise in salary. All day she felt nervous and apprehensive. Late in the afternoon she summoned the courage to approach her employer. To her delight, the boss agreed to a raise.

The woman arrived home that evening to a beautiful table set with their best dishes. Candles were softly glowing. Her husband had come home early and prepared a festive meal. She wondered if someone from the office had tipped him off. Or - did he just somehow know that she would not get turned down?

She found him in the kitchen and told him the good news. They embraced and kissed, then sat down to the wonderful meal. Next to her plate the woman found a beautifully lettered note. It read: "Congratulations, darling! I knew you'd get the raise! These things will tell you how much I love you."

Following the supper, her husband went into the kitchen to clean up. She noticed that a second card had fallen from his pocket. Picking it off the floor, she read: "Don't worry about not getting the raise! You deserve it anyway! These things will tell you how much I love you."

Someone has said that the measure of love is when you love without measure. What this man feels for his spouse is total acceptance and love, whether she succeeds or fails. His love celebrates her victories and soothes her wounds.

He stands with her, no matter what life throws in their direction. He may say that he loves her to death. But he doesn't. He loves her to LIFE. For his love nourishes her life like nothing else can.

Upon receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, Mother Teresa said: "What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family." And love your friends. Love them without measure.

Love them to LIFE.

Steve Goodier Publisher@LifeSupportSystem.com is a professional speaker, consultant and author of numerous books. Visit his site for more information, or to sign up for his FREE newsletter of Life, Love and Laughter at

URL=L.W.M

Inspirational - A Beautiful Heart

One grandfather quipped about his grandchildren: "My grandkids are four and six. The Pulitzer Prize winner is four and the brain surgeon is six."

Parents and grandparents are understandably proud of the quick minds and impressive talents of their little ones. But let me tell you about another quality, perhaps even more important, found in a little girl named Skylar.

I received a letter from a grandmother who told me about her four- year-old granddaughter Skylar. Ever since Skylar learned of Disneyland from TV, she saved her nickels and dimes in a piggy bank in hopes of visiting there someday. Her parents surprised her with a trip when she was four, however, and didn't even require her to use her own money!

When Skylar returned it was Christmastime. She decided to buy presents with her savings. But she also learned from announcements on TV about a local homeless shelter called "The Road House." She repeatedly asked her mother what "homeless" meant and why those children needed coats and warm clothes. She couldn't seem to get the homeless off her mind.

Her mother took her to the store to buy presents. Instead of buying for herself or her family, however, she decided to purchase a warm coat, socks, gloves and crayons for a little girl in the shelter. She also wanted to buy a doll (a "baby," as she called it), but when she discovered she didn't have enough money, she left the doll behind.

When Skylar got home, she lined up her own much-loved "babies" and chose one she thought another child could also love. The baby went into a box with the other items she bought that day.

She could hardly wait for Christmas! Skylar was not thinking about Santa Claus or the presents she would be getting. She was thinking about going to the shelter and giving her carefully selected gifts to a homeless child.

On Christmas Eve she and her family drove to the shelter where Skylar presented her Christmas box to a grateful little girl. She was so filled with joy at truly helping someone else, that her family has decided to make the journey to the homeless shelter an annual tradition.

"Perhaps it's good to have a beautiful mind, but an even greater gift is to have a beautiful heart," says Nobel Laureate John Nash ("A Beautiful Mind"). Young Skylar has a beautiful heart. It is that one quality, above all else, that makes beautiful people.

URL=Heart

Inspirational - 10 Easy Ways to Say I Love You

By Linda Wilson

Everyone needs love. From the newborn baby who thrives on being cuddled by his parents to the geriatric in a nursing home who watches the door for a visit from a loved one, and all us in between. We need love. The need for love is instilled in us by our creator and no matter how we may try to deny it, the need is always there. We may try to deny it, we may try to avoid it, but it is always with us and it always will be. From birth to the grave, we need to give and receive love.

The importance of love is even scientific. Scientists know and openly state that being loved and giving love are beneficial to our health. So don't fight it. Accept the love that others offer to you and don't be stingy about giving love. February is known as the month of love; what better time than now to put the practices of giving and receiving love into action?

We live in such a busy society today. Often both spouses work and have little time for each other or their children. Children are being raised in day-care centers, by nannies, etc and have little time with their parents. Children move away to better jobs and hardly see their elderly parents. But that does not mean we can't still let them know how much we love them. Following are some simple ways to stay connected and to let our loved ones know how much we love them. Give some of these suggestions a try. You'll be amazed at how much satisfaction you'll get.

1. When a loved one leaves the house, give them a kiss or a hug and make it a point to tell them you love them.

2. Give a simple bouquet of flowers. They don't have to be elaborate to say I love you.

3. When packing lunches for a spouse or child, put in a one or two line note reminding them of your love.

4. Before going to bed, post a note on the bathroom mirror, refrigerator door or other spot where your loved one will find it shortly after they get up the next morning.

5. Pick up the phone and make a call to that loved one who is away. There's nothing like hearing the voice of loved one. Email and letters are nice but sometimes one just longs to hear a loved one's voice.

7. Make time for those you love. You may have to schedule it just like a business appointment. Do what ever it takes. Go to a favorite restaurant, the park, settle the family down and watch a movie together, play a game or work a puzzle. Your children just want to spend time with you. They aren't picky about how that time together is spent.


8. Let your children know they are important to you. Don't get so busy you miss their school programs, sporting events, music recitals or whatever they are involved in. Sometimes actions speak louder than words!

9. When you are doing something special with your loved ones, keep them the center of your focus. Don't take them to the beach then sit in the shade working on your laptop. They want you to swim with them, build sandcastles and be a part of what they are doing.

10. Kisses, hugs, longing glances, a wink are all ways a very busy person can silently communicate their love. When you get right down to it, it really is the little things that count.



I saw this little poem once and it has stuck with me. I have no idea who the author is but I feel it is worth sharing:

Hold your loved ones close today, Whisper in their ear. Tell them that you love them And you'll always hold them dear.

For tomorrow is promised to no one, Young and old alike. Today may be your last chance To hold your loved ones tight.

That is good advice. Don't be afraid to let those you love know it. You'll be a happier, healthier person for it and so will they.

Remember the old saying, "Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today."


URL=I Luv you

Software - Vista 2!! Must buy!!!

There has been so much talk about Windows Vista but it seems that the house is divided. It seems inevitable for users to move up to a higher operating system but some are simply not willing to concede and surrender XP. If you look closely at the abundant blogs in the internet, many are filled with reasons why not to buy Vista. On the other hand, there can be some good reasons to buy too. Naturally, we all want to be updated and move with the changes in technology. Other than this soon to be mandatory reason however, Vista actually has its charm and potential for usefulness. You should therefore get Vista for some good reasons.
User Interface
The new user interface is not only appealing to the eyes but easier to use and simply pulsating with life. Enhanced navigation includes live thumbnails and flip 3D features as well as various animated effects. Operating system messages are better written, understandable, more positive and more accurate. In many ways, the Vista interface experience has more depth, almost like interacting with a live creature.

Instant Search
Some simply see Vista as possessed with a degree of intuition when it comes to performing searches. The Vista Instant Search is of course faster than previous search function versions. Aside from the speed though, Instant Search is system-wide and can automatically perform its function at the start menu, control panel and Windows Explorer. It will also allow indexing through user determined data and categories.

Multimedia Applications
Any new Vista user will rejoice at the wealth of possibilities with Vista multimedia features. Windows Media Player for example features stacking and media sharing with other computers. Windows Movie Maker and Windows DVD Maker are also wonderful features. The former allows editing HD and DVR-MS videos and DVD burning. The latter supports DVD creation. Photo enthusiasts will also be glad with the new Photo Gallery which will let you manage, organize, edit, print and rate your photo files.

Parental Control
Parents now have an extra reason to give thanks. Now, parents can be away from home and not worry about their kids going over restrictions. With Vista, parents can block specific websites and content based on category or type and can even prevent downloads. Parents can also specify time limits on account use.

Internet Explorer 7
Probably one of the best features of the new Internet Explorer is better privacy and security. With the new technology used in Internet Explorer 7, users can actually be kept secure from websites with doubtful intent. The new Internet Explorer will also stop code from a third party from reaching you.

Meeting Space
Another great reason to buy Windows Vista is because of its peer-to-peer collaboration feature which will let users interact and share with members of a network. Desktops, work and messages can now be easily passed from one member to another.

Windows Defender
If you’ve had some terrible encounters with spyware in the past, then Windows Defender on Vista may be the best answer for you. Aside from scanning for spyware, it will also give you feedback on changes because of spyware.

URL=VISTA

Software - Power Point Tips

Are you puzzled when using PowerPoint sometimes? In this article, I will list some small PowerPoint tips. Maybe they are all common, but practical ones. Hope these tips will make you convenient in your work and life.

1. How to Resize Pictures

You can size pictures in PowerPoint by clicking the picture with the mouse and dragging it to a new size. If you don't want to "stretch" the picture (keeping the horizontal aspect ratio the same) but enlarge it, hold the Crtl key when changing the size. You can also click the corner of the picture and enlarge it and the aspect ratio will remain the same.

2. How to Use Scanned Photos in PowerPoint

In Microsoft PowerPoint, you may want to add your own scanned photos into a slide to spice up your presentation. But very large pictures can slow down you slide show when they start to load. Even if a picture takes only a few seconds to load, it can throw off your entire presentation, as well as your timing. Recommend using smaller sized photos to help your slide show run exactly how it should.

3. How to Use Graphics with Text Efficiently

While working in Microsoft PowerPoint, you may decide to use text over graphics. This can either make or break your presentation, depending on how well you select your font and color. When working with text and a full color, it can be very difficult to pick the right color and font style. However, when working with a picture that only contains a few colors, text on top of it can spice up the slide�s appearance.

4. How to Record a Narration in PowerPoint

You can record a narration into a PowerPoint slide easily. Do this:
* Go to the Slide you wish to add a narration to.
* From the Insert menu select Movies and Sounds.
* Click Record Sounds.
* When ready, click the Record button (the red circle).
* When finished recording, click the black Stop button.
* Click OK.

5. How to Add a Background Sound to a PowerPoint Slide

To add a background sound to a PowerPoint slide, follow this:
* Open the Insert menu.
* Select Movies and Sounds.
* Click Play CD Audio Track.

6. When Using AVI files with Presentations

Using an AVI file with a presentation may spice it up, but it can also ruin it. Make sure to keep your AVI file normal size. A movie playing that is viewed too big will not have anywhere near the quality that a smaller viewed movie will.

7. How to Convert Your PowerPoint to DVD

You can use Windows Movie Maker, but you may not be able to keep the animations and sounds in your presentation. Another choice is to use a professional tool to help you do this easily. Here I recommend the Wondershare PPT2DVD. With a high conversion quality, you can do it easily.
More information you can go to http://www.ppt-to-dvd.com

 URL=PPT

Software - Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word is a commercial word processor designed by Microsoft. It was first released in 1983 under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems.^[1][2][3] Subsequent versions were later written for several other platforms including IBM PCs running DOS (1983), the Apple Macintosh (1984), the AT&T Unix PC (1985), Atari ST (1986), SCO UNIX, OS/2, and Microsoft Windows (1989). It is a component of the Microsoft Office system; it is also sold as a standalone product and included in Microsoft Works Suite. The current versions are Microsoft Word 2010 for Windows and 2011 for Mac.

URL=Word

Software - Windows 7 News

View Comments April 12, 2011
What is Windows 8 “Genuine Center”?
Images have surfaced on winfuture.de of a new Genuine Center in early builds of Windows 8. This appears, for the moment, to simply be a single place accessible from the Action Center where a user can check if their copy of Windows is genuine, enter or change their product key and activate it.
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View Comments April 11, 2011
Top Menu Launchers to Look At
Sometimes the Windows 7 Start menu does not do the kinds of things that you want it to do. So here are some programs that will help you modify your tray menu system, and make it do more of what you want. SE-TrayMenu Use SE-TrayMenu to gain quick access to most frequently used applications.
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View Comments April 11, 2011
Will this Microsoft Windows MVP Jump Ship from Windows 7?
You find me at a crossroads because interesting times are upon us, as I find myself seriously considering, for the very first time, jumping ship from Windows. Nope, you don’t have to check the calendar, it’s not April 1st again and I’ve not been on the strong sauce. I genuinely mean it! What’s more I’m.
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View Comments April 11, 2011
Possible Windows 8 App Store Screenshots leaked
We’ve heard rumors that Microsoft is working on an App Store model codenamed “Jupiter” for their upcoming release of Windows 8. Very little is known about the app store, but small bits have started to leak about Microsoft’s plan for the new app model. This morning, Cnbeta.com posted some screenshots of the purported Windows App.

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View Comments April 10, 2011
New Office Service Packs Coming
Microsoft is busy. It’s Office Suite software is up for some updates and it plans to deliver the first service packs for Office 2010 and for SharePoint 2010 sometime this summer. Moreover, they also plan to deliver service pack 1 for the Mac version of Office 2011 the week of April 11. Date Updates The service pack delivery dates.

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View Comments April 10, 2011
Commodore 64 Makes A Return Running Windows 7
The Commodore 64 was widely regarded as one of the first actual personal computers that people could buy and use. Primarily it was known as the first gaming pc with titles such as “California Games” getting it a massive base of users. The Commodore 64 roamed this earth long before I did, but I’m sure.

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View Comments April 9, 2011
Windows 7 Overtakes Windows XP in USA
We’ve been wondering when this day will finally come for a while. It didn’t take Windows 7 too long to overtake Windows Vista in terms of market share, but we all agreed that the biggest test for Windows 7 would be to see if it could take down the mighty Windows XP.

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View Comments April 9, 2011
I’m TK421 and the Death Star was my Idea
Some great videos have been put online parodying Microsoft’s “Windows 7 was my idea” adverts from last year. The videos feature a Stormtrooper, Darth Vader and Chewbacca. The videos are very professionally made with excellent costumes and a very effective green-screen process. When Microsoft launched Windows 7 they wanted to make it known.

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View Comments April 8, 2011
Top Graphics Editors
With all of the Photos and Themes that you can have on a PC today, there are some tools that can help you manage and manipulate those photos. Here are some Graphics Editors for you to look at. PhotoBatch You can use PhotoBatch for batch image processing, or file format conversion and renaming of image

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View Comments April 7, 2011
Some Top Desktop Managers to Look At
Managing your desktop can be an adventure that you may prefer to avoid in part because no matter what you do, your desktop will go back to the same condition that it was in…messy. But some of the Desktop Managers here can help you avoid that problem. SideSlide SideSlide is an advanced, portable, and unobtrusive,

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View Comments April 7, 2011
NetGear NeoTV 550 HD Set-Top Box Review
Those of you who follow me on Twitter or through other social networks may know that for the last month I’ve been testing NetGear’s new, top of the range NeoTV550 HD Media Player. This box is a small, and I really do mean small, do it all box for the connected home. It will sit

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View Comments April 6, 2011
What’s Pinned to Your Taskbar?
I’d like to get a feel for how different Windows 7 users are organizing their taskbar and whether Internet Explorer 9′s pinning feature is as useful to others as it is to me.

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View Comments April 6, 2011
A Quick Look at Top Registry Cleaners
One of the most important and least understood program database on a Windows computer is the registry. It stores information about all programs, users, files, folders, passwords, and anything else on the computer on a cryptic and hard to read database. When you add a program to the computer, the registry is modified.

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View Comments April 6, 2011
How Many Lawsuits Will Windows 8 Provoke?
In the last week we’ve had a few juicy leaks about forthcoming Windows 8 features such as the inclusion of the Ribbon interface into Explorer. We’ve seen new screenshots that offer tantalising views of new features, and we now could also see a fair few lawsuits being prepared by third-party companies. Why do I say this?

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View Comments April 5, 2011
Top Defraggers to Look At
The API is part of the operating system and can safely move almost any file on the disk, without risk and while the computer is in full use.


URL=Windows 7

Software - Windows 8 News

[2] April 12, 2011
Windows 8 M1 Build 7850 Leaks to the Web
Windows 8 leak season is in full swing and today we’ve learned that a leak of an early Milestone 1 build of Windows 8 has been posted to a BetaArchive FTP site. So far, the build is only available to private members, but is said by many to be legitimate and will soon be available.

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[0] April 12, 2011
What is Windows 8 “Genuine Center”?
Images have surfaced on winfuture.de of a new Genuine Center in early builds of Windows 8. This appears, for the moment, to simply be a single place accessible from the Action Center where a user can check if their copy of Windows is genuine, enter or change their product key and activate it.

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[2] April 11, 2011
Possible Windows App Store Screenshots Leaked
We’ve heard rumors that Microsoft is working on an App Store model codenamed “Jupiter” for their upcoming release of Windows 8. Very little is known about the app store, but small bits have started to leak about Microsoft’s plan for the new app model. Cnbeta posted screenshots this morning of the supposed App Store running.

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[4] April 8, 2011
Windows 8 SmartScreen Filter
No day goes by without another post somewhere on the Internet that reveals yet another new Windows 8 feature. The latest is Long Zheng’s discovery of a SmartScreen Filter in Windows 8. Many computer users know SmartScreen Filter from Internet Explorer or Windows Live Messenger where it is used to protect against phishing website.

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[2] April 7, 2011
Windows 8 Aero Auto-Colorization
The next new feature of the upcoming Windows 8 operating system has been revealed: Windows Aero Auto-Colorization. What does it mean? It basically means that Aero will change the colorization of Windows automatically based on the underlying color. If you have green background, for instance a green desktop wallpaper, then the window color will also.

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[4] April 6, 2011
How Many Lawsuits Will Windows 8 Provoke?
In the last week we’ve had a few juicy leaks about forthcoming Windows 8 features such as the inclusion of the Ribbon interface into Explorer. We’ve seen new screenshots that offer tantalising views of new features, and we now could also see a fair few lawsuits being prepared by third-party companies.

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[0] April 5, 2011
Windows 8 Leak Sites Closed Down
Microsoft appear to be getting tough with sites that have been leaking Windows 8 features over the last couple of weeks. Sites such as winreview.ru, PCPortal.org.ru and wst-place.ucoz.com have all closed, probably as a result of legal threats. Winreview.ru posted on twitter that: winrevuew.ru is not exists [sic] anymore because it is pointless project.
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[0] April 4, 2011
Windows 8 To Include Windows Phone-like IE, PDF Reader
Microsoft is pushing to position Windows 8 as not just a replacement for Windows 7 on desktops, but also as a serious OS for tablets and touchscreen devices – to that end, the company has been hard at work creating a new interface for the new operating system, inspired at least partly by its work.
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[17] April 3, 2011
Windows 8 Windows Explorer Ribbon UI Revealed
We see screenshots of new Windows 8 features on an almost daily basis right now, which can be mainly attributed to the fact that Microsoft has started distributing early test versions of the Windows 8 operating system to a wider audience of partners. The latest leak was posted on the Within Windows website.

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Gadget - World's Most Expensive Handycam

GWhat’s new with Handycam®? | Latest Handycam® news
Get the latest camcorder news from Handycam®. Take a Handycam® video camera anywhere and capture amazing home movies, even in low light with an Exmor R™ CMOS Sensor. We’re continually introducing new camcorder technology to help you achieve beautiful, professional results

The new Handycam® NEX-VG10E camcorder

Discover the new Handycam® NEX-VG10E – the world’s first Full HD consumer camcorder with interchangeable lenses. Create stunning HD cinematography using lenses from your DSLR camera by Sony

Retrace your memories with GPS

Take footage with a Handycam® with GPS and it automatically geotags the exact location of the shot. After filming, view memorable trips as ‘pins’ on the Map Index on the camcorder LCD screen or upload movies to Google Maps

Walk, zoom & film with Optical SteadyShot Active Mode

Wobbly images caused by unsteady hands are a common cause of disappointing results. Now you can capture steady, clear video even when walking and zooming in with our latest anti-shake technology

Film detail in low light with an Exmor R™ CMOS Sensor

Overcome the challenge of filming in low light with advanced Exmor R™ CMOS Sensor technology. This innovative, new sensor ensures noise-free, natural-looking results indoors, at dusk or during any low-light scene

Latest camcorders

Model:
NEX-VG10E
NEX-VG10E Interchangeable lens HD camcorder

Cinematic Full HD video with the flexibility of interchangeable lenses

Full HD, Exmor® APS HD CMOS, interchangeable lenses, high quality mic, Xtra Fine LCD, EVF, HDMI®
Full HD video with cinematic picture quality
Interchangeable lenses for limitless creativity
High-quality stereo microphone



Model:
HDR-CX550VE
CX550V Full HD Flash Memory camcorder

Superlative Full HD imaging with latest technology and smart features

Up to 26hr Full HD on 64GB internal memory, Wide angle lens, 10x optical zoom, 12MP photo, 8.8cm LCD
Very high quality low-light shooting with Exmor R™
Wide angle lens gets more into the picture
Fully featured, top of the range performance


Model:
HDR-CX305E
CX305 Full HD Flash Memory camcorder

Superb Full HD imaging with advanced technology and smart features

Up to 6.5hr Full HD on 16GB internal memory, Wide angle lens, 12x optical zoom, 7MP photo, 6.7cm LCD
Very high quality low-light shooting with Exmor R™
Wide angle lens gets more into the picture
Less camera shake, even when you're walking

URL = HandyCam

Gadget - World's Most Expensive Camera

When you hear the phrase “most expensive camera in the world,” you probably imagine a super high-tech digital camera—maybe one used by NASA to take pictures of Mars or the moon or some cool camera capable of going underwater to extreme depths.
That couldn’t be further from the truth.
The first cameras used the daguerreotype process, pioneered by Jacques Mande Daguerre, to form images. A daguerreotype image is achieved by producing a direct image onto a polished silver surface. Unfortunately, a daguerreotypist couldn’t produce copies by means other than daguerreotyping the original and the process was obsolete within a decade.

1839 Susse Freres daguerreotype camera
In May 2007, a daguerreotype camera dating back to 1839 became the world’s most expensive camera when it sold at auction for €576,000—about US $775,000 at the time. The camera, designed by Frenchman Susse Freres, was housed in a sliding wooden box frame and was also believed to be the oldest commercially manufactured camera in the world, heightening its appeal to collectors.
In May 2010, another daguerreotype camera will go under the hammer and possibly become the most expensive camera in the world. Undocumented since 1839, this camera was built by Alphonse Giroux, brother-in-law to Daguerre, which may make it the oldest camera ever built. It was even signed by Dagguere, which can only increase its value to enthusiasts.

1839 Alphonse Giroux daguerreotype camera
The Camera will be on sale at the WestLicht Auction in Vienna—the same auction that sold the Susse Freres daguerreotype in 2007—where bidding will open at €200,000. It is expected to fetch between €500,000 and €700,000—that’s upwards of US $978,000.

Gadget - World's Most Tablets

World Most Expensive Product: Intel Atom Z670 to Tablets

I do not believe are numerous doubts approximately the success of the tablets on the market, But yet a set of pie to be distributed and all applicable stakeholders, from hardware producers to makers of operating systems, are conscious of it. Bets Google and Apple are clearly the winning horses, but we must not forget that Microsoft is planning his way. The Redmond, as is traditional in operating systems, betting in the initial instance by X86 architecture, hand in hand Intel.



Intel readies its newest gadgets accessories development with in the family Atom known as intel oak trail with the internal title Z670 for higher performance model. It is comes with the cost tag at $ 75. This cost signifies a worth greater than the prior Atoms, and more costly than other alternatives “Intel does not.” The most significant comparison we can build the most extended chipset in the market for tablets: Nvidia Tegra 2.






The prominent dual-core based ARM Cortex-A9 is priced approximately $20 for producers, and balance power/autonomy is complicated to defeat for the Intel options. In short, three times more costly, So we believe Intel actually wants to lot the new processor prices to be competitive in the market, memorize that the hand of Windows 7, also involves the payment of license.

If we deem that in addition we have Nvidia Texas Instruments and Qualcomm welcoming the rest of tablets on the market, Intel space is shrinking, not to mention Nvidia’s intentions with Project Kal-ElWith four cores before year’s end. The most famous qualities of the Intel Atom Z670 are its 1.66GHz, 512KB of cache and a thermal design power 5W TDP so guys what you think about new pc gadgets accessories?

Intel oak trail is not merely the hardware that is emerging as perfect for use tablets and netbooks Windows 7 operating system, also referred to products Meegan they have to go to market. We remind you that Intel is also developing Medfield, A platform-oriented smartphones. Besides Meegan in version 1.2 we anticipate that in the future shall sustain Google’s operating system in its recent versions, as they are turning to Intel processors. This is world most expensive product.

What is extraordinary is that this leak had been reported formerly that the cost would be near to $ 25, A very competitive cost for a chipset based on x86 architecture, low power consumption. For with the use of Meegan, an operating system which does not have to pay license could put affordable products on the market. It looks that the last accounts shall go somewhat higher.

Gadget - World's Most Expensive MP3 Players

MP3 players have taken the world by storm since Apple released their original 5 GB iPod in 2001. The iPod wasn’t the first MP3 player, though. The first of the modern successors to portable tape and CD players was produced in 1997 by SaeHan Information Systems. Their MPMan, later licensed to Eiger Labs for distribution in North America, held only 32 MB of music.
Since then, MP3 players have become almost as ubiquitous as cell phones—and they’re status symbols in the same way cell phones are, as well. A variety of expensive MP3 players have been released in the past decade. What follows are the most expensive MP3 players in the world.
TrekStore i.Beat Organix Gold – $20,000

Wowing attendees at CeBIT 2006, the TrekStor i.Beat Organix gold MP3 player was one of the first luxury MP3 players. Cast in 18 karat gold and covered with 63 one carat diamonds, the player’s technical specifications included a gigabyte of memory, a Lithium-polymer battery that allowed an operating time of twenty-five hours, an FM radio, SRS WOW surround sound and even an audio recorder for note-taking.
iDiamond iPod Shuffle – $40,000

This diamond-encrusted version of the iPod Shuffle was offered as part of an auction at the Feast of Albion. The auction also included a chauffeured Jaguar XJ and VIP tickets to see Roger Waters’ final performance of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. The iPod and accompanying headphones are made of 18k white and pink gold. There are 430 diamonds on the iPod and another 118 on the headphones. While its estimated worth is around $40,000, its exact value is up in the air since it is a unique item sold as part of a larger auction prize.
Meng Duo’s Douglas.J Presidential HD – $44,000

Over twice as expensive, however, was the Douglas.J Presidential MP3 player by London-based Meng Duo Ltd. When ordering your own Presidential, you needed to choose not only the gold used in the casing (white or yellow) but also the physical configuration of the diamond buttons set in the front of the player. This expensive digital audio player included a gigabyte of memory, a 65k color screen for video playback and support for a plethora of audio and video file formats. The price also included Class 85 membership that provided exclusive access to a small group of clubs as well as hand delivery of the blinged out MP3 player anywhere in the world.
Stuart Hughes’ iPod Touch Supreme Fire Edition – $330,000

The latest luxury gadget by Stuart Hughes, this iPod Touch—already a costly MP3 player—has been refitted with 125 grams of solid 24k gold and embellished with 124 flawless diamonds totalling 75 carats. That includes an Apple logo set with fifty-three diamonds, a border of diamonds around the face and a 2-carat diamond set in the center of the home button and surrounded by twenty-eight smaller diamonds. This luxury iPod is a limited item and only three will be made.
For the cash-strapped, Hughes also offers his standard iPod Touch Supreme for about $220,000

URL=MP3