Tags: autograph

Autograph - How to Get an Autograph

- Monday, 31 August 2015 No Comments

Getting an autograph requires patience and tenacity. If you want a player to sign something for you, you will need to wait near where he will pass by. You should not yell or antagonize the player for any reason. You will need to observe the area where the player may go during a break in the game.

You may also need to get to a sporting venue very early so you will have the opportunity to get close to the players while they are warming up. Some players are relaxed during warm-up so they are more likely to give you a minute or two of their time.

If you are attending a professional tennis tournament, you may have the opportunity to get within inches of all of the tennis players including the most famous ones. Tennis players generally must move from their locker room quarters to the courts without the aid of any security.

If you are hoping for a player's autograph, you should smile and politely ask the player to sign your ball or program. Make sure that you have a pen ready. The players at a tennis tournament only have a few minutes to spare while transitioning between matches so you will need to be prepared.

If you are chasing a celebrity who is attending a publicity event, you will have to be extra diligent about how you behave. Movie stars and musicians often travel with heavy security so it is very difficult to get close to them. It is possible to get a celebrity's autograph if you are in the right position at the right time. When you are waiting for the celebrity to arrive at the event, you will want to be close to where vehicles are picking up and dropping off celebrities.

When a celebrity is just coming out of his limousine, you can then smile and politely plead for his signature. You are likely to get a response from a celebrity in this area. Celebrities who are entering into a restaurant or other venue are very preoccupied with what their handlers are telling them to do.

You have the best chance of getting a celebrity's autograph if you happen to see them out in public. Don't scream or yell or rush up to the celebrity. If a celebrity is walking, you might smile and assertively ask if they would sign something for you.

If you see a celebrity at a restaurant, wait until the celebrity seems done with their meal before you unobtrusively approach him. Treat any professional sports player or celebrity with courtesy and you will have a greater chance of obtaining their famous signature.

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Tags: godfather / movies

The Godfather (1972)

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The Godfather is probably one of the best mafia based movies of its time with an all-star cast that delivers a magnificent film for everyone to enjoy. Marlon Brando plays Don Vito Corleone who is getting older in years and who is looking out for his sons and family to run the family "mafia" business. Al Pacino stars as Don Corleone's war hero son who is happy to stay out of the family business, which pleases his father.

Don Corleone is asked by a man named Virgil Solozzo, (Al Lettieri), a key player in the drugs business working within the Tattalia Crime family to finance his narcotics business and to guarantee him protection and crucial political contacts that will see him profit and guarantee the Corleone's a 30% cut of the takings. Tom Hagen, (Robert Duvall) and Sonny Corleone, (James Cann) recognize that there are huge future profits and growth potential in dealing in narcotics. However, Don Corleone senses distrust in Solozzo and rejects the deal as it would be bad for the family.

Solozzo is not content with the rejection and wants more power and demands retribution by trying to kill Don Corleone and by killing Corleone's loyal friend,. Luca Brasi.(Lenny Montana). When Michael Corleone visits his father Don Corleone at the hospital after the failed hit, he soon discovers that Solozzo's men are coming back to finish his father off. However, before that he learns that nobody was guarding his father at the hospital, not even Tessio's men, which raises suspicion of his involvement. Michael saves his father from being killed but is badly beaten by the bent cop, Captain McCluskey, (Sterling Hayden) who is obviously on the payroll of Solozzo.

The scene is now set for how the Corleone family will respond to being targeted by Solozzo and the response is memorable and surprising and lets us know that Michael is truly a Corleone at heart. Michael decides that he will kill Solozzo and Captain McCluskey in order to save his father's life. This ensures that Michael will always be involved in the mafia business and his father is initially shocked as he wanted Michael to stay out of that side of the business. However, Michael soon fits nicely into his role as the new boss of the Corleone family and takes care of unfinished business with all those involved in trying to kill his father.

However, as a consequence of killing Solozzo, it results in Sonny being set up and killed by those working with the Tatallia family, which included Barzini and Carlo Rizzi, (Gianni Russo) who was married to sonny's sister Connie, (Talia Shire).

During Michael's reign as boss of the family, he is told by his father how Don Barzini, (Richard Conte), one of the other head's of another mafia family will target him and it would be arranged with someone he can trust. This leads to Michael identifying the traitor within the Corleone family as Tessio, (Abe Vigoda) who is led off to be killed for his betrayal.

Carlo receives his reward for being a traitor when he is killed in the car by Peter Clemenza, (Richard Castellano) who is one of Corleone's soldiers. Barzini is also killed along with all other rivals who have gone against the Corleone family. We are now left with Michael Corleone showing his ruthlessness as head of the family business.

The Godfather is a great movie with some great performances, particularly from Al Pacino, Marlon Brando, Al Lettieri and Robert Duvall Therefore, it is highly recommended to watch and very entertaining, a must see.

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Tags: buy movies online / movies online / online movies

Why Buying Movies Online Is The Best Option For Die-Hard Movie Fans

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Are you tired of waiting in line to watch your favorite movies? How about noisy moviegoers that seem to know everything and destroying your movie experience? These are just some classic examples why most people prefer to download or buy movies online. Here are some benefits of purchasing movies online versus watching it in the theater.

Anti-Social?

One might come off as an introvert, anti-social or loner if one prefers watching movies within the comforts of one's home but there are several benefits of watching movies at home rather than the movie theater and it has nothing to do with being an anti-social. One of the benefits is convenience. Imagine being at work for 8 hours and having to rush to the theater and wait for half an hour in order to get inside. You are hungry, tired from the whole day stress you receive from work and what is worst is that you get the most uncomfortable seat and your stomach is grumbling from hunger. 

Although you can schedule your movie time during your day-offs, chances are, you will still be waiting in line for the movie house to open and if there are kids and elderly people, you will have to wait another few minutes or so for them to get inside first.

This is not the case when you watch the movie that you like at home. You can change your clothes, re-heat some leftovers or cook your dinner while the movie downloads. Downloading movies would generally take about half an hour so by the time you finish your chores, you can prop your feet up, get the popcorn and watch the movie without any distraction. You can even hit pause if you suddenly feel the urge to go pee which is not the case if you are watching it in the movie house which will certainly make you feel cheated in the end.

Value for Your Money

If you are on a budget, then every dollar counts. Watching movies in the cinema costs a lot compared to subscribing online. Three to four movie tickets cost about twenty to thirty dollars which is equivalent to a one-month subscription online. Some sites also offer free downloads of your favorite movies so you can play it any time you like. If you are a fan of old movies, then this is also the best option as many online sites offer old and classic movies which are rare or hard to find. You can only find the copies in vintage stores or hobby shops.

Although watching movies at home is the best option for movie fanatics, there are some perks of watching it in the cinema especially if the movie is a 3D or 4D. However, for those who just want to watch their favorite movies and want the comforts of their own home, then purchasing an online membership is the best choice.

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Tags: bollywood pictures / cinematography / film-making / movie making

Cinematography - An Important Element of Movie Making

- Sunday, 30 August 2015 No Comments

When it comes to movie making, cinematography is the most important part. It involves the activity of getting the movie on celluloid film. In the early days of movies there was no sound in motion pictures. Therefore, the concentration was focused entirely on the picture. As such, it was the director who operated the camera also. But with the development of technology, adding sounds to movies became possible.

When artificial lighting became the norm, the camera had to be operated by a different person. This signaled the birth of cameramen for movies. The celluloid films were also improved in quality. Films with low speeds of ISO 50 to the high speeds of ISO 800 became available. This provided the cinematographers to capture scenes in very poor lighting conditions when they were doing the filming in locations other than studios.

While the quality of films improved, the formats also increased in number. This enabled cameramen to choose the format they wished. 8 mm, 16 mm and 35 mm were the formats available. For movies it was the 35mm format that was being used most often. Improved film laboratories also were established. This enabled the cinematographers to obtain films with high-resolution in order to achieve better quality with their films.

Different kinds of filters used in shooting offered the facility of creating different effects with both black and white and color films. Filters consist of two pieces of glass and a light-sensitive material filling the space between them. Yellow, blue and UV filters were often used.

Another asset that became available for cinematographers was the camera lenses. The wide-angle and telephoto lenses were made available for them to create various effects with cameras. Later, the macro lenses became available to make things easier.

With the manipulation of the lens aperture and the distance of focus, the cinematographers today are able to change the depth of field. Though a camera focuses just one plane, with increased depth of field cinematographers are able to focus their cameras on objects that are located in a bigger depth.

Traditionally, cinematography involved only recording motion pictures on celluloid film but modern trends have evolved where digital cameras are being used in the creation of video films. Therefore, modern-day cinematography involves the digital photography also. With digital cameras you have the possibility to create various effects in addition to recording the motion pictures. There are highly advanced digital cameras at the disposal of cinematographers today.

If you are searching for some great pictures of Bollywood, then please visit my website here to get some wonderful photos and images of Bollywood actors and actresses.

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Tags: hollywood / hollywood movie awards / hollywood movies

The History of Hollywood Movie Awards

- Saturday, 29 August 2015 No Comments

The modern movie was born in 1915 with the release of D.W. Griffith's silent epic "Birth of a Nation," and the first Hollywood movie awards followed little more than a decade later.

 
Eager to head off the potential threat of disruption cause by increasing unionization within the industry, Louis B. Mayer of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio founded the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in May 1927. The organization aimed to promote harmony and solidarity among the five major divisions of the film production process: directors, producers, actors, writers, and technicians.

Two years later, in an effort to further promote unity, the Academy announced the launch of a series of awards for cinematic excellence. The very first Academy Awards ceremony took place on the evening of May 16, 1929, and was attended by around 270 guests.

Every film played at any theater in Los Angeles between Aug. 1, 1927 and Aug. 1, 1928 was eligible for nomination with one exception. The first ever feature-length motion picture to include synchronized dialogue, "The Jazz Singer," was disqualified from the Outstanding Picture category on the grounds that its pioneering use of sound gave it an unfair advantage against all of the silent movies that were in contention.

Although "The Jazz Singer" still received nominations for the categories of best Adapted Screenplay and Engineering Effects, it won neither. In consolation, a special honorary award for the film was presented to Darryl Zanuck, head of production at Warner Brothers, for having "revolutionized the industry."

Although they were hugely successful at the time, these first-ever award winning movies are now little remembered and studied only by students of film history. The awards for Best Production and Engineering Effects were both won by "Wings," a silent film about fighter pilots in World War I, while the romantic drama "Seventh Heaven" won in three categories, including Best Director.

This first event was chiefly focused on the actual presentations, as the names of the winners had all been announced roughly three months earlier. It also featured the sole appearance of a separate award for the best director of a comedy film, won by Lewis Milestone for "Two Arabian Knights."

The iconic statuette was designed by founder Academy member and MGM art director Cedric Gibbons and has changed little since it first made its debut at the first ceremony. No one quite knows how the statuette earned the "Oscar" nickname, but it is most often attributed to actress Bette Davis who is said to have named the figure after her husband.

The gold-plated statuettes stands 34 cm tall, weighs 3.85 kg, and depicts a medieval knight holding a broadsword and standing on a five-spoke film reel, where each spoke represents one of the five filmmaking disciplines.

The second Academy Awards in 1930 marked the first time the recipients were announced on the actual night of the ceremony. An arrangement was made to release the names of the winners to the newspapers earlier in the day on the understanding that they would not publish them before 11 p.m.

The Best Picture winner of 1930-31, "Cimarron," was the only Western film to win the top prize until "Dances with Wolves" seized it some sixty years later. In 1934, Frank Capra's "It Happened One Night" became the first film to make a clean sweep of the five most sought-after categories: Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay. Forty years had passed before any other film achieved the same feat.

One of the most remarkable years in the early history of film awards was 1939; this is due to the fact that the competition for Best Picture included several movies that, unlike the early silent movies, have gone on to stand the test of time and continued to receive widespread acclaim.

That year the John Wayne vehicle "Stagecoach" was vying for Best Picture with the Howard Hawks' screwball comedy "His Girl Friday," the ground-breaking "The Wizard of Oz," and the hugely popular "Gone with the Wind." More remarkable still is that, despite such stellar competition, "Gone with the Wind" managed to sweep the board with a total of eight Oscar wins.

For the first few years, awards related to all the work a particular actor or director had done was completed during the qualifying period. It was only in 1933 that the system was changed to honor specific works instead. Another major change came in 1935 when the qualifying period was altered to represent the previous calendar year rather than a period spanning two years.

In 1940, the Los Angeles Times busted the long-standing embargo and revealed the names of that year's winners in its evening edition. Ever since, the Academy has made use of the now famous system of sealed envelopes, keeping everyone in suspense until the very last minute.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Zack_Mandell

Tags: fusion music / music

What Is Fusion Music?

- Thursday, 27 August 2015 No Comments

What is fusion music? Well, you don't have to be an atomic scientist to understand fusion music. Let's look at a basic definition of fusion; 'the union of different things by or as if by melting; blending; coalition.' This definition is from the New World Dictionary of the American Language, Second College Edition. So, in music, different musical elements, often from different musical genres are put together. Here are some examples of fusion music:

•     Reggae Rock
•     Rap Rock
•     Jazz Fusion
•     Gypsy Punk
•     Gypsie Jazz
•     Folktronica
•     Folk Metal
•     Folk Punk
•     Celtic Punk
•     Country Rap

From most of these titles, you can see what genre has been mixed with what other genre; 'Country Rap' is obviously Country Music mixed with Rap Music and 'Folk Punk' is Folk Music mixed with Punk Music. This is only a partial list, of course, since the combinations are pretty much unlimited. Being of Germanic heritage, I have attended a number of Oktoberfests and heard 'Umpah Bands' playing rock songs. One of the more successful types of fusion music is Country Rock.

 
Another term applied to fusion music is 'cross-over.' You have probably heard the term 'Cross-Over Hit,' referring to a song that captured the attention of listeners in different genres of music. Fusion music often originates from the desire of a band to reach a broader audience but it can also come from the effort to establish a unique or new sound.

Most musical artists who have stood out have had a unique sound of their own and this is actually the end product of this fusion process we are talking about. Whereas some fusion efforts are very obvious, that is to say they have combined a very identifiable musical element with another very identifiable musical element, some fusion processes are much more subtle and involve a larger number of musical elements.

To illustrate this point, I will share a short story of when I heard a lecture by the late, great author Ray Bradbury. He knew that he was addressing an audience of young writers and he said, quite simply, if you want to be a writer, you just read and read and read and it starts coming back out. Somehow, I understood just what he was saying which was that, in being a writer, you don't shut yourself off in an ivory tower but you get as much exposure as possible to the writings of other authors and then this starts to come across in a mix that reflects your own personality.

You can take just about any great musical artist and trace his personal favorite musical artists in his music. In Beethoven, for example, we can find Mozart, Haydn, Handle and Bach, not ripped off verbatim, but present stylistically in the mix that is uniquely Beethoven. When we really look, we see that no musical genre has popped out of the blue but is a product what is fusion music.

If you like this article, you will probably like the most original new music on the web.

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Tags: film-making / movies

Beginner's Guide to Filmmaking

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As a college student life on a budget is my middle name. As a film major no-budget is my last name. I've learned quite a bit about what works and what does not work when you have limited funds. I'm going to discuss the basic equipment needed as well as what happens in the different phases of production. If you have an interest in making movies or maybe you've just embarked on your journey to film school, here are a few basics to starting your film making journey.

First, you need a camera and depending on if you're looking to make films professionally or home videos, they can be pretty pricey. Red Epics and Black Magic cinema cameras are great finds, for a pretty penny that is. DSLRs are perfect for beginner filmmakers because they're inexpensive compared to the thousands of dollars spent on cinema cameras. You should choose a camera that shoots in 1080pi at 24 frames per second. For a cheap find I recommend the Canon Rebel EOS T3i with a basic lens kit. A basic lens kit usually consists of an 18-55mm lens. After you've purchased your camera it's time to invest in a 3 point light kit which consists of your key light, fill light, and back light. You will also need to purchase sound equipment such as a shotgun mic that you can mount on the hot shoe mount that is on most DSLRs. You may not think lighting and sound are important to a film, but they can make or break your film. Would you rather watch a movie with a good story line but you can't see the actors' faces or actions and can't hear what they're saying? Or would you rather watch a movie that's story line isn't the best but has adequate light and sound. You should be able to see the actors and their actions clearly and you should be able to hear footsteps if the actor is walking. When you are ready to write your script start with the treatment. The treatment will help conceptualize your idea from beginning to end. Once you have done that you can start your script.

There are three phases of production: pre-production, production, and post production. Pre-production is crucial to any film as it can fall apart without it. In pre-production actors are cast, locations are scouted and secured, costumes and sets are designed, and a shooting schedule is created. If a film is a period piece such as World War II, procuring locations and costumes are an essential part of the pre-production phase since it helps place a time frame on the film. Next comes production when the film is being shot. Director and director of photography of a film is hired during pre-production but more than likely if you are a film student or a hobbyist you will be directing and filming your own movies. After everything has been filmed it's time for post-production where the film is edited into its final product. I recommend Final Cut Pro for Macs and Adobe Premiere Pro CC or the Adobe Creative Suite for editing.

If you're college students you are probably relying on your college's theater department for actors looking for experience. Your crew members probably consist of friends or fellow film majors or enthusiasts. You may not be able to afford to pay your cast and crew, but make sure to provide them with craft services i.e. food and beverages to keep them happy. Something to look out for with your film, especially if your actors or crew members are not paid, is never trust talent. I can't tell you how many times actors have not shown up on shooting days because they didn't make the film a priority since it was essentially a volunteered service. You may have to remind your actors that what they are being paid with is more valuable than money: experience.

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