Outside the box..sometimes it works,...

With the recent changes that everyone surely knows about. (I know that was vague.) We can stand to really cement ourselves, and figure out what makes us tick, and go with it. We all have values, we all have common sense. Why not use what we already know and make light of what we DO have and begin our change to becoming producers/consumers. Instead of tipping the scale far to the latter. So in an effort to kick start that kind of thinking I present to you more abstract ideas that if they had been presented to you any year before 2009, it would land me in a nut house.

"You pay what you feel you got."

You'd think that is common sense right? But apparently it's a big frowning NO,NO in the business world; until now that is. Sam Lippert, who started as an engineer by trade, has hit the gold mine. With revenues at his own Java Street Cafe increasing in this recession, it boggles the mind how something so ludicrous seems to be working. What's his secret? He doesn't price his coffee. None of it. His menu is a blank slate with only the names of what he offers.
Do people try and cheat him out of a good meal? He admits that it happens. More often than not, the customers have paid near, or over what the price used to be. People acting like people again, and not just as consumers? Interesting idea. I personally can't wait till the people with fucked up ideals of how to run a business are dead and gone, and people can start serving people once again.

I hate your "original movies". I hate your choice anime. I hate that you put on wrestling. No more Battlestar. Good-bye, forever. (unless you run Gits again) but only for that!

Classical Greatness, old and new

Jacqueline Du Pré-

She disappears into the music that she emits. When she plays, she isn't human, she IS music. The deep resonance is lacking in the poor Youtube quality, and even in the regular recordings at the time. I've seen the movie her family approved of, "Hilary and Jackie", which recounted somewhat the intricacies of what her life was like. But not even Yo-Yo Ma, IMHO, can match her sheer epic gravitas and raw power of every note loud or soft. She is in my pantheon of forever greatness.




Anna Lucia Richter-
She may deny,deny,deny me for putting her next to someone like Du Pré, but frankly, no singer has moved me like she did. Her Youtube videos are not superior quality, but they're high enough to get a real good sense of her voice. What's unique, thanks to her brother, is an auditory chronological progression. One of her videos, was made when she was 17 and the other at 18. As perfect as the early performance was, she only seems to excel one year later. At this rate, the pantheon awaits her.

ONLINE TV

I don't know why people still watch regular Television. The selection sucks, and frankly the fact that you have to wait till they show it, is so antiquated. So in an effort to curb "it's the only thing that's on" syndrome, I present some online tv sources:

Alluc.org






Free-tv-online-video-online.info








Surfthechannel.com




If you can't find your show on one, they try another.

Recent Art Elites show some heart..and kids make their own.

THE ALLEGORY OF EARTH AND WATER by Jan Brueghel II, is one of the many pieces that have begun, or are in contention of being, sent back to it's original collector. The heirs of Max Stern, a Jewish gallery owner forced by the Nazis to sell his paintings, said they will redouble efforts to recover artworks still in Germany and announced the return of a work once owned by former Chancellor Konrad Adenauer.

“We are in the first stage of pursuing the artworks which we believe are in Germany,” Clarence Epstein, director of special projects and cultural affairs at Concordia University, said at today’s news conference, adding that a “disconcerting” number of Stern paintings remain in German collections.

Art Project Helps Kids Picture Natural World

Whetstone Students Explore Photography

Posters of wildlife photography began to take form last week as fourth-grade art students at Whetstone Elementary School hunched over tables, intently studying pictures they had taken with digital cameras.

Abiel Alvarenga, 9, said he used photos to tell a story.

"I . . . made a story of a lost duck," he said. "Some rats are planning to attack him, and the duck finds his family before the rats get him."

Cereals and Junk mail

In the long standing battle between spam and rightful use of something crappy for free. Comes two weapons for us. These are some of my best kept secrets as an avid Internet user for 14 years. Tricks of the trade, if you will.YouSerials.com hosts a bevvy of serials for some programs that ask for it. More often than not their minimal library will not have what you're looking for. Their library being entirely dependent on submissions by it's members, often comes up with no results. But when you do strike gold, it works. I always leave a comment, or just a rating. Something to give back to the submitter, a thanks if you will. Though, even if you find something, it doesn't necessarily mean it'll work. So it's the luck of the draw. And if you purchase something, post it's serial. Think of how much money you've saved just by using it twice! (to date, I've saved $400.)

Then there's Mailinator.com
If you've ever landed on a site, and didn't want to give up your email just to peek into their site, then use this handy site. Free, and very clear and concise, you couldn't ask for a better scape-goat. It gives you the option of using a "regular" pre-constructed email address, or an easier addy to use for those less finicky sites. It stays operational pretty much forever. Mine is still being used for those times I sign up to forums for a day. So say goodbye to spam-a-day sites.