Wednesday, October 27th, 2010
If you are a book lover, then you will surely empathize with me when I say that shopping in book stores, especially the popular ones can be extremely harrowing.
Gone are the days when readers had respect for literature, handled books with precaution and ensured that it remained spotless for years. An experience in a book store (and God save you if there is a book sale) is fraught with jostles, chaos and the experience of never being able to find the right book in the right section.
The reverential Jane Austen’s may be found on the floor of the kids play section if not amidst Tom Sharp medley of slapstick humor.
To add to it all bookstores, have created special areas where prospective customers can review a book and then decide to purchase it. Started as a thoughtful concept, this reading section is a nightmare.
Replete with kids, this area hardly gives you the impression of a place where one would like to take a few minutes to scan the latest bestseller. And the icing on the cake is the smudges and smears that these devils leave behind on the books that you consider precious.
Though feeling the book lends a lot of substance to the final decision of buying, any book lover would resort to the less invasive method of buying books on the Internet.
If you are looking for an older book or one that is not for sale or has been approved for re writing, then finding it on the Internet should be easy.
The only small hassle that one may face while doing so, is the need to scan the search engine results to finally lay hands on what you started to find. But thankfully that can be done sitting calmly in the privacy of your home.
To help you with the search process so that you don’t land up with irrelevant books which are non-bestsellers and science textbooks, here are a few websites which you may want to explore.
1) Bibliomania.com is a spirited, user friendly site that connoisseurs of literature shall find impressive. It has a collection of more than 2,000 books and is segmented by category.
2) LiteratureOnline.com gives you access to classics, The Bible and almost all Shakespearean works.
3) Project Gutenberg include more than 6000 books that have been scanned into it’s database.
4) WiredforBooks.com has the additional benefit of showcasing poetry, oratories, and audio versions of literature.
Equipped with this information you shall find that making searches for books online whether it be for purchase or reading the free eBooks, you shall find it easier to trace what you are looking for.
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Friday, August 27th, 2010
Having just getting hold on a new ipad, this would be a cool tool to entertain the young ones in my house! (LOL) 
Touchoo’s latest interactive picture-book offers a fun and immersive reading experience for parents and children.
Thumbelina, the classic Andersen fairytale, tells the tale of a tiny flower girl, who goes through many adventures on her way to the ‘happily ever after’. This adaptation to touchscreens sports a very fresh design, age-appropriate interactivity and a rhyming text. This book-app makes the readers an important part of the adventure, as they help Thumbelina along her way through various interactions.
The book has been carefully translated into Spanish, French, German and Japanese – all equally rhyming and with a strong stress on text aesthetics in each of the languages; The availability in several languages is good news for readers whose mother tongue isn’t English and a great bonus for multi-lingual families.
“Kids, same as adults, are reading fewer and fewer books. Reading habits in early childhood have a major impact on literacy and on success later in life” says Touchoo’s co-founder and CEO, Omer Ginor.
“For the first time in many years, we now have a chance to reverse this process. Bringing young readers a timeless fairy tale such as Thumbelina in a creative, charming and immersive form – is a great way to re-connect children to the joys of a good storybook and to nurture lasting reading habits.”
Thumbelina offers readers to:
- Hear the story read by a narrator or record themselves reading the story;
- Participate in the story through various age-appropriate interactions;
- Control sound effects and music options;
- Choose auto page flip to accommodate young readers.
Thumbelina’s developmental benefits
- Nurtures the capacity for empathy and for reference to the other;
- Increases the ability to cope with difficulties and with failures;
- Encourages the capacity to seek help;
- Nurtures the ability to follow a narrative.
For more information, see Thumbelina’s webpage: http://touchoo.com/books/Thumbelina, or download the press kit: http://bit.ly/TinyPressKit.
To download the app from the app store:
http://bit.ly/TinyiPhoneFromPRWeb (iphone version)
http://bit.ly/TinyHDPRWeb (iPad version)
Review copies are available upon request.
Device Requirements:
Compatible with iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, running an iOS of 3.2 or newer
Pricing and Availability:
Thumbelina is available from Aug. 26th, 2010 worldwide on the Apple app store. The picture-book app will be on a $1.99 special offer until August 31st, when it will resume its original price point.
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“Want to know what your future has in store for you? Get your FREE insightful Destiny Reports! ”
“How to deal with loneliness!”
“How to save a Relationship! (PROVEN methods for both men and women!)”
“How to attract love into your Life!” FREE Book for you – “101 Amazing Ways to Say I Love You!” (Value $47)
“Find out your Biorhythms online!”
“Have a pressing question? Want some guidance? Ask the I Ching for advice!”
“What’s the best decision to make? Get your FREE rune reading!”
“Learn tarot readings online! Know what your future has in store for you! Get your FREE Tarot Readings too!”
“Which lover is the best one for you? Check your love compatibility!”
“Give a gift of inspiration to all your friends, family members and lover! – They WILL love you for this!”
“Learn cartoon and caricature drawing!”
“How to retire at WHATEVER your age!” FREE e-course worth over $97!!!
“Send inspiring and beautiful e-cards to all your friends, family members and loved ones again, suitable for various occasions!!!”
“FREE rare book for you – CAN change your life!” (use the form on the site to gain free access, this book has received raving reviews from readers all the world over, including readers from korea, australia, usa, canada, asia, japan, hong kong and more!)
“Play FREE games online! – free membership TODAY!”
Posted in Things To Do | No Comments »
Sunday, November 29th, 2009
Maybe you’re one of those lucky writers whose head is bursting with ideas.
Or perhaps you have one idea that’s been nagging you for weeks, always at the edge of your thoughts. Either way, you’re itching to begin writing.
That’s good.
But before you rush headlong into your story, stop and ask yourself one question: Is this just an idea, or is it a book?
Ideas, of course, are the seeds of any work of fiction or nonfiction. But until an idea is fully developed, until you can envision its beginning, middle and end, that one idea might not be enough.
The experience of writing for pages about an idea and ultimately getting nowhere (or getting a pile of rejections) has taught many writers to outline their books before they begin. But if the thought of an outline sends shivers up your spine, at least thinking your idea through and making sure it merits months of writing can save you future frustration.
Ideas for Fiction
A lot of writers, especially when they’re beginners, get ideas for fiction from their own lives. This can be useful for several reasons: you’re emotionally invested in the topic, you can relate directly to the main character, and if the situation actually happened to you, you’re less likely to be unconsciously basing the story on a book you’ve read.
But remember, just because you find this thing that happened to you or your child fascinating, it doesn’t mean it will be fascinating to thousands of potential readers. Very often, a real-life event is just that–an event. It’s a vivid scene you recall with pleasure, or a family joke that’s repeated over and over. It evokes strong emotions when you remember it, perhaps you even look back on an event as a turning point in your life. But only rarely does reality provide a plot.
When writers stick too closely to what really happened they fail to develop the elements necessary for a good story: a believable main character who is faced with a problem or conflict, mounting tension as that character tries to solve her problem and experiences setbacks, and a tension- filled climax followed by a resolution that’s satisfying to the character and the reader.
If your main character is really your son, you might not want to get him in trouble or throw rocks in his path. But you have to. It’s the only way you’ll create a story that will keep readers hooked and wondering how it will end.
Speaking of endings, if the resolution of your story comes too easily, it’s probably obvious and predictable. Try mixing up real life and have the situation evolve in a different direction. Surprise yourself, and you’ll surprise an editor.
However you get your idea, focus first on whether it’s a plot or a theme. Many times, an initial idea is really the underlying meaning of the story, what the author wants to convey to the reader. Themes should be universal in their appeal– such as friendship, appreciating one’s own strengths, not judging others too quickly.
Then play around with the sequence of events until you develop a plot (what actually happens in the book) that makes this theme clear to the reader. And remember; if you’re using a childhood incident as the foundation of your story, tell it from your childhood viewpoint, not how it feels to you now as an adult.
Ideas for Nonfiction
Your nonfiction book should be based on something you’re truly interested in and passionate about. After all, you’ll be living with this idea for many months. The key to successful nonfiction is to take your idea and approach it in a way that no one else has ever done before.
This means doing most of your research before you begin to write. Don’t settle for the most easily-found information on your topic–your readers have probably read the same information. Keep digging until you find an aspect to your subject that strikes you as unique. Then search through the library and book stores to make sure no one else has already beat you to it.
For a nonfiction idea to become a book, you need enough information to fill the number of pages necessary, depending on the age group for which you plan to write.
Younger children need a foundation of basic facts, but you can also get fairly detailed within the scope of the approach you’ve chosen as long as you explain concepts in a simple and straightforward manner (how animals hibernate, why insects are different colors).
Older readers can draw on a broader foundation of knowledge, and infer connections between your topic and related subjects. A detailed outline of any nonfiction book is essential to help you see if your idea has enough substance and originality, or if you need further research before you begin writing.
Whether it’s fiction or nonfiction, your idea should mean something to you, but also have the potential to mean a lot to your readers. Think it through, add to it, take the nonessential elements away, and make sure it has a beginning, middle and end. Only then will your “idea” turn into “an idea for a book.”
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“Want to know what your future has in store for you? Get your FREE insightful Destiny Reports! ”
“How to deal with loneliness!”
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Monday, November 16th, 2009
In a culture where art and life are often inextricable, Magical Secrets about Thinking Creatively: The Art of Etching and the Truth of Life comes as the latest in a series of books, sites and magazines that keep them entwined.
In the last few years, the number of magazines and websites devoted to art criticism, art projects and found art, has ballooned, a sign of rising enthusiasm about art among people from all walks of life.
There is an abundance of new books, on one hand (the hand of cultural criticism), Michael Kimmelman’s The Accidental Masterpiece: On the Art of Life and Vice Versa, John Updike’s Still Looking: Essays on American Art; on the other hand (the hand of pure pop culture) an insurgence of immensely successful novels based as much on art as on life: Girl with a Pearl Earring, Jonathan Harr’s The Lost Painting, last but not least, The Da Vinci Code.
And then there are plenty of examples of pop cultural criticism, such as Hal Niedzvieki’s Hello, I’m Special: How Individuality Became the New Conformity, along with countless books and products on the market designed to help everyone from businessmen to babies to bus drivers embrace their own creative genius.
Magical Secrets, which is at once a book, a DVD, and a website (http://www.magical-secrets.com), is one of the smartest of these forays into exploring creativity.
The book is formulaic without being predictable: Author Kathan Brown has organized it into thirteen chapters, one for each “magical secret,” (my favorites are chapters five and six, “Don’t Know What You Want” and “Know What You Don’t Want,” a very Zen-like juxtaposition). Magical Secrets manages to pack a lot in, from stories about artists to musings on the creative thought process.
Yet Brown spends no more than a handful of pages on any one Secret, and addresses her reader clearly and concisely, not as an entertainer or an academic but as a confidant, pupil and friend.
She guides her audience confidently on a path that leads inward, but still somehow ends up outside the self.
It is a feat in itself simply that Magical Secrets conveys a lot of information. Etching, one finds, is a centuries-old technique of incising an image into metal with acid.
The artist begins by covering the surface of a copper plate with a hard, waxy ground. He cuts the image he wants into the ground with an etching needle or other sharp tool, then submerges the plate in acid.
The acid bites into the grooves and crevices, the waxy ground is rubbed off, and the image is left engrained in the smooth surface of the plate.
The resulting incisions are filled with ink, a piece of paper is placed on the plate, and the whole thing is run through the printing press. Scraping and burnishing the copper, rubbing the ink into the grooves, and pulling the plate through the press are highly physical, labor-intensive processes that involve a lot of painstaking, detailed work, yet the resulting lines an artist can get are often the most delicate you’ve ever seen, and the textures the most subtle.
Though etching is appreciated by many art lovers, the number of master etchers in the United States might be comparable to the number of virtuoso organists or rare orchid cultivators.
It is not the first thing most people think of when faced with something as huge as Life.
But etching has been Kathan Brown’s life. Despite the beauty of etching, it was not taken seriously in the United States contemporary art market until Brown made it her mission to revive it.
Since Crown Point Press’s inception in 1962, artists from all over the world who work in different mediums—from San Francisco conceptual sculptor Tom Marioni to New York composer John Cage; from Australian Aboriginal artist Dorothy Napangardi to Pakistani-born miniature painter Shahzia Sikander—have been drawn there for a unique experience in art making.
Magical Secrets about Thinking Creatively marks the forty-fourth year in Brown’s highly energetic and passionate career.
The variety of art represented at Crown Point speaks to the depth of Brown’s understanding of it; while her technique is narrow, her scope is broad, and that is what makes Magical Secrets a compelling read.
Brown offers a broad understanding of the etching process, and ultimately steps back to examine creativity itself. “Many artists have told me that after working with etching they have a new awareness of what they are doing in their painting or sculpture,” she writes in the preface. “You can share their awareness through this book, which is for artists and people who have – or would like to have – the spirit of an artist.”
Indeed, Brown’s style makes it difficult not to share this awareness: like good art, her writing makes her subject seem both obvious and somehow profound.
I just received this from a friend. These people are such genius. I really respect their passions for what they love to do!
– Before photo -
Typical concrete & stucco facade
The wall starts to take on a
3-dimensional appearance.
Eric in his element, 30′ off the ground. He does most of the artwork by himself & researches, paints and designs each Project from scratch.
His wife Kathy, also an artist,
Serves as project manager.
– After photo - Finished product
MORE BELOW!
Here are some more examples of Eric’s projects…
Liberty Remembers
Before photo
After photo…
Hard to believe you’re looking
At a flat 2-dimensional wall.
How to dress up a Drab Shopping Mall
- Niagara , New York
Before photo…
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After photo…
Also look at the close-up of
Left side and middle
Before
- Miller Fermenting Rooms
After photos…
- Past meets Present in the Miller
Brewery Fermenting Rooms.
Hooks, clipboards and aprons were
Added To the
Surface of the murals to enhance
The illusion…
You’re looking at flat walls!
Detail view looking down
The illusional hallway in the previous mural.
Simply Amazing, Isn’t it?
I wonder how many people walk into the walls…while trying to go down a hallway that does not exit!
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“Want to know what your future has in store for you? Get your FREE insightful Destiny Reports! ”
“How to deal with loneliness!”
“How to save a Relationship! (PROVEN methods for both men and women!)”
“How to attract love into your Life!”
“Find out your Biorhythms online!”
“Have a pressing question? Ask the I Ching for advice!”
“What’s the best decision to make? Get your FREE rune reading!”
“Learn tarot readings online! Know what your future has in store for you! Get your FREE Tarot Readings too!”
“Which lover is the best one for you? Check your love compatibility!”
“Give a gift of inspiration to all your friends, family members and lover! – They WILL love you for this!”
“Learn cartoon and caricature drawing!”
“Send inspiring and beautiful e-cards to all your friends, family members and loved ones again, suitable for various occasions!!!”
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