Tommy Boy (DVD) Review – by: Britt Gillette

Chris Farley and David Spade team up in Tommy Boy, a 1995 comedy about an incompetent, intellectually-challenged auto-parts heir who is forced to save the family business following his father’s untimely death. Utterly hilarious from beginning to end, it’s one of the best comedies of the 1990s and continues the long tradition of cult classic comedies that helped cement the careers of former Saturday Night Live cast members. The onscreen banter between Farley and Spade is unrivaled, making Farley’s premature death all the more of a loss. Throughout Tommy Boy, Farley’s unique brand of Belushi-like humor and good-natured demeanor make this comedic gem blossom into a masterpiece.

Tommy Boy follows the life of recent college graduate Tommy Callahan (Chris Farley). Picked up from the airport by Callahan Auto employee Richard Hayden (David Spade), Tommy’s father “Big Tom” (Brian Dennehy) announces a surprise engagement to his new girlfriend Beverly (Bo Derek). Beverly has a son of her own, Paul (Rob Lowe), who travels into town for his mother’s wedding. Ecstatic to finally have a brother, Tommy takes Paul out on a personal tour of his hometown of Sandusky, Ohio – where the idea of a wild night of fun consists of cow-tipping. Paul is anything but amused.

On the day of the wedding, however, Big Tom suffers a heart attack, and without the big guy running the show, Callahan’s clients grow weary about doing business with the over-extended Callahan Auto Parts. With the Callahan bankers reneging on their promises to loan the company much needed capital, the board of directors considers selling out to Ray Zalinsky (Dan Aykroyd), a rival auto parts salesman who “sells auto parts to the common man, because that’s who he is and that’s who he cares about!” But selling shares means closing the current Sandusky manufacturing plants and putting hundreds of employees out of work.

Intent on averting that outcome, Richard and Tommy decide to hit the road and sell Callahan auto parts face-to-face. However, when Tommy bungles a number of meetings and Richard comes across as arrogant, the two lose more orders than they gain. Meanwhile, Tommy’s love interest, ex-high school classmate and Callahan employee Michelle Brock (Julie Warner), uncovers a surprising truth about Beverly and her supposed son Paul. With the future of Callahan Auto and the town Sandusky hanging in the balance, it’s up to Tommy, Richard, and Michelle to put a stop to Beverly and Paul before they sell a majority of Callahan shares to the cold and calculating Ray Zalinsky.

Directed by Peter Segal, producer of such hits as Anger Management (2003) and 50 First Dates (2004), Tommy Boy is one laugh after another. If you haven’t seen it, you really don’t know what you’re missing. Chris Farley and David Spade create the perfect comedy duo. Written by veteran TV writers Bonnie and Terry Turner, screenwriters for the 1992 phenomenon Wayne’s World, Tommy Boy is one of those rare comedies that’s well-written and hilarious without being overly outlandish. Highly recommended.

About The Author Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a movie and TV review site. Source: http://thedvdreport.blogspot.com/2006/02/tommy-boy-dvd.html

King + Queen = Royal Success – by: Shawn Campbell

Ever wonder how or why your competitor gets better search engine rankings than you do? Does he know something you don’t? Well, maybe he actually does…And that’s where I come in. I’m here to unveil the secret tricks of the trade that may be giving your competitor that much-needed edge in search engine rankings and to show you how you can reclaim your position without skipping a beat. Quite simply, I am going to give you the key to unlocking the secret chest of information that your competition is using to get better rankings.

It is not that difficult. There are two main criteria to getting good rankings:

1. Content (which is king)
2. Linking (which is queen)

Content is King

Content is easily viewable and just as easy to measure. It basically includes what you see on the site: the text. If your competition has more text than you, consider increasing yours; if he has more keywords, consider increasing yours; if he has bigger headers, consider increasing yours. By all means, I am not saying to make a carbon copy of his site, but do look at the “on the site” factors that you are lacking and evaluate whether to increase them on your site. A note of caution – make sure that any changes you make actually improves the site and increases its value for your customers. In other words, don’t sacrifice quality for quantity unless you believe that the added text actually serves to better the overall look, feel and quality of your site.

Some ideas to increase quality/quantity of content:

• Write a monthly article about your topic
• Write a page about your keyphrase/product/service
• If your headers don’t have your keyphrase in them, then be sure to add it
• Make sure the titles on all your pages relate to the content of the page
• Write, write, write (and then write some more!).

Linking is Queen

Linking requires more research. Look up your competitions site on Google by typing in: link: http://www.competitorsdomain.com/ into the search box (replace competitorsdomain with the URL of your competitor). Now the search results you will be looking at is a list of all the sites that are linking to your competitor. Go through that list, and for each site, figure out how he got that link. Some links might be paid for, some might be link exchanges, some might be directories like dmoz.org or Yahoo, and others might be references or testimonials. Make a spreadsheet with each site linking to your competition, and jot down how he got the link. Then, for each site that is appropriate, get it to link to you. Remember to stay away from link farms and low quality links. Link farms are sites that have nothing but links. Low quality links are sites with little to no content. These sites will often try to exchange links with you: Don’t do it! Only link to a site if it will enhance the user experience of your clients.

For more about linking, see my article entitled Linking is Queen
(http://www.redcarpetweb.com/promotion/0409.html#feature)

Royal Success

Getting links takes time and patience, and writing is not usually done overnight. To top it off, once these projects are done, you then have to wait for the search engines to discover and re-evaluate your site. Both the link campaign and the writing projects should be something done on a regular basis, not as a one-shot injection. Try to create new pages every month, and to get some links every month. That way your site will make the gradual climb to the top. And who doesn’t want that?

Shawn Campbell

About The Author Shawn Campbell is an enthusiastic player in the ecommerce marketplace, and co-founded Red Carpet Web Promotion, Inc. (http://www.redcarpetweb.com/). He has been researching and developing marketing strategies to achieve more prominent listings in search engine results since 1998. Shawn is one of the earliest pioneers in the search engine optimization field. Contact: shawn@redcarpetweb.com.

Indoor Grills Featured in Steven Raichlen’s Newest Book – by: Laura Ciocan

With a great number of city people living in condos, with no possibility to grill outside, Raichlen’s latest book, “Indoor! Grilling” covers a topic of large interest, especially that grilling is a tradition in America, some sort of a national custom. So, this theme surely relieves a lot of frustration for the part of audience that had been previously left out!

Steven Raichlen is a cooking teacher, lecturer, author, journalist and TV host. He founded the Carribean cooking school Cooking in Paradise. Raichlen’s TV show, Barbecue University debuted in 2003 on public television. The same year he was named the “cooking teacher of the year” by Bon Appetit magazine.

Participating in a “barbecue battle” on Japanese television and defeating Iron Chef Roksbura Michiba attracted him nicknames such as the “Michael Jordan of Barbecue”, as Howard Stern called him or, like Oprah put it, the “Gladiator of Grilling”.

Raichlen published over 25 books of which best-sellers such as Barbecue Bible Sauces, Rubs, and Marinades, Beer Can Chicken, Healthy Latin Cooking, Miami Spice, Big Flavor Cookbook and the famous first and foremost book on grilling, The Barbecue Bible, that appeared in 1998. It was the first guide on grilling, a study of barbecuing around the world and a course on live fire cooking techniques. His writing won 3 IACP awards and 4 James Beard Awards and was translated into ten different languages.

To write “Indoor! Grilling” Raichlen intensively studied these appliances and the technique to cook using them. Although the public of this category is familiarized with the many types of indoor grills, Raichlen treated them in a detailed manner, starting from the very beginning, from contact grill, grill pan, built-in grill to freestanding grill and fireplace grill. And to do this, he largely improved his knowledge about how indoor grills actually work. He tested the 270 recipes in the book on each type of grill.

What really takes grilling steps further is what the experimenting Raichlen does with sandwiches, vegetables and desserts in the recipes section.

About The Author Laura Ciocan writes for http://www.natural-gas-grills.info where you can find articles, buying tips and reviews of popular gas grills. Please feel free to use this article in your Newsletter or on your website. If you use this article, please include the resource box and send a brief message to let me know where it appeared; mailto:lauracio@gmail.com

Dare to Achieve and Discover a Daring New You – by: Michaela Scherr

Forget Christmas, the New Year is fast approaching and with it comes another 12 months of doing what you’ve always done. Now I’m not sure about you but I know that next year will be different for me.

For a start, I’m not going to undertake a million and one things with deadlines impossible to keep (though I suspect my interest in new projects will get the better of me). Many amazing and interesting things in this world grab my attention, making it easy for me to get sidetracked.

My intention for the New Year is to transcend all previous successes and achieve things previously not considered. I’m curious to know where it will lead me (there’s that sidetracking issue again). It’s a scary thought but exciting all at once.

Yes, next year sure will be different and amazing.

If you’ve come through a year filled with boredom, sameness, heartache, yearning, and wish life to be different then consider whether it’s now time for you to give yourself a stern talking to about creating change for your highest good.

Some questions you could ask are:

Are you willing to repeat this year, next year?

Has the past year provided you with contentment, happiness, success and new friendships?

If yes to the last statement, congratulations! Some years are like that, absolutely fabulous years where you wouldn’t change for the world for anything – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

If the statement is not true, ask:

How are you going to change things?

Do you have strategies in place that will ensure you become successful in your endeavors?

Are you thinking this is another ho hum time of the year when arbitrary New Year’s resolutions are made?

Maybe all you want is to go with the flow, and that’s okay if deep down that’s what you truly want.

What if you motivated challenged or dared you, not by others, by you only?

There have been many times when I’ve dared myself to do things I wouldn’t normally do and have never looked back. That’s when I become comfortable with the uncomfortable, for a short while anyway.

Anyone can dare themselves to achieve greatness and it might just be what’s needed to kick start the New Year. You never know where it can lead you.

I’ve listed 7 Dares to choose from should you motivate and dare yourself into initiating an action designed to change your next 12 months in the most amazing way. They are:

1. Dare to be different.

2. Dare to discover who you really are.

3. Dare to let go of the past.

4. Dare to step out of your comfort zone.

5. Dare to ask more questions on how YOU do business.

6. For those on the dating scene – date only those that respect all parts of who you are and accept nothing less.

7. Dare to achieve more.

It’s possible one or more points above will resonate with you, in which case write down your preferred challenge in a journal or diary and keep note of how your dare is going. Include who, what, where and when you needed a little external guidance. This will enable you to reflect on your journey as you prepare for the New Year next year.

The road toward contentment, happiness, and success is often challenging, which makes it all the more scary yet exciting – you’ll really know you’re alive then! The upshot is that you achieve what you set out to do, and you can tell the world you did it your way!

About The Author Michaela Scherr Copyright requirements are that it remains with Michaela Scherr and for the link to be clickable or ‘live’ at http://www.michaelascherr.com Michaela is a Transformational Coach, certified practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), writer and intuitive who is totally committed to helping others create positive and action oriented changes to their lives. Michaela is the author of several e-books and publisher of a monthly newsletter called From My Desk. You can find out what her website offers at http://www.michaelascherr.com. enquiries@michaelascherr.com

Writing Help – by: Jack Thompson

Whether you are working for a small business, large corporation, or are a student, there are numerous sources that you can turn to for help with writing. Businesses need to be able to effectively communicate with their customers, their employees and their potential customers. Effective verbal communication is equally important, but nonverbal communication in the form of copy writing, article writing, press release writing, and more requires a certain level of expertise and experience. The typical small business wants to focus their efforts on their core business activities without spending too much time on projects that can easily be outsourced to consultants or freelance professionals. Many small businesses turn to freelancers to help them save time and money. For example, a certified public accountant opened his own accounting practice after working in another accounting firm for the last ten years. One of the ways he decided to search for new clients was to embark on an advertising and promotional campaign. Although some of his previous clients followed him to his new practice, he wanted to increase the number of accounts he currently handled. These accounts included various individuals and small businesses from around the town. Rather than hire new employees or handle the projects himself, he decided to hire a consultant through a freelance web site to work on copy writing for a local newspaper ad campaign as well as to help with press releases and company news distribution. By outsourcing these non-core business activities to an independent consultant, he is able to save himself time and money and also gets the expertise of an established professional who specializes in the types of writing that he needs assistance with. He decides to list his writing projects in a freelance marketplace and receives bids from independent consultants and freelance writers. He was able to choose a service provider based on factors related to cost, the service provider’s experience, references, and previous feedback from clients. All small businesses have a decision to make about whether to outsource certain projects or to complete the work in house. Using economics as a deciding factor, it makes sense economically for businesses to outsource writing projects when the projects are non-core business activities that do not contribute to the company’s bottom line.

Small businesses also need to be able to effectively communicate with their current customers. Some of the more effective ways to get help writing effective communication for current customers involve using tools such as newsletters, email lists, and articles written by outsourced consultants. Newsletters are very effective ways to keep customers informed of current events and happenings within the company. They also offer you the opportunity to gain new clients as the newsletter gets passed around and is often seen by more than one person during its life cycle. It makes sense and is a smart move to outsource corporate communications instead of keeping it in-house. Hiring a separate professional will save your business money and time. For less than the cost of hiring a full time employee, and because it will contribute to allowing more concentration on the activities that will earn your business money, contracting with a consultant or freelancer for your corporate communications (writing of press releases to distribute company news, getting publicity through pieces in newspapers and magazines, and getting help writing newsletters or articles) simply makes sense. An expert in the field who has amassed many years of experience with business writing, persuasive writing, and copy writing in addition to having experience writing press releases, articles, essays, and possibly academic or technical research and term papers will have a lot to offer you and your business.

Large corporations use writing to effectively communicate on all levels of business. Business writing and corporate communications are essential elements that keep the public informed and give companies their corporate image. A company’s image, or its publicly perceived notion of credibility and reliability is extremely important to its bottom line. For example, upon its introduction many years ago an American car company introduced a car known as the “Nova”. After some time, it was discovered that the car was not selling well in many Spanish speaking countries. Because in Spanish, “No va” translates to “doesn’t go”, the car sales in these countries were dismal. Effective corporate communication can have far reaching effect. Ineffective corporate communication can result in lower sales as shown in the car sales example. Large corporations also need to be effective communicators with their current employees. Internal corporate communications are equally important and keep your employees abreast of company accomplishments, events and human resource issues.

Finally, students also need to be able to write effectively as well. Writing assignments can include writing essays, writing term papers, report writing, and thesis writing not to mention having to demonstrate writing ability in other subjects outside of English class. For example, law students need to be able to write not only persuasive but argumentative writing as well. Foreign language students need to be able to translate into their native language and then back again. Science and technology students need to be able to demonstrate scientific writing ability. Taking writing tips from college professors that teach correct formatting and usage, including APA style, and improving your proofreading and editing skills will result in quality writing assignments. For the student that is looking for writing help and homework assistance for their assignments, freelance marketplaces that allow you to hire a consultant or tutor could be a productive and time saving solution.

From a freelance or independent consultant’s standpoint, marketing writing skills to potential service buyers is important to keeping any consulting business thriving. Registering with freelance marketplaces will enable you to showcase your writing skills, talents and abilities. Previous experience with all kinds of writing ranging from grant writing, fiction writing and interactive writing to writing short stories, articles and ebooks or even technical pieces, in addition to all forms of business writing will enable you to prove your varied background and skills. All of which can be showcased in your freelance marketplace profile. Creating and managing a profile is important to make you stand out from the crowd of freelance writers competing for new writing projects. All in all, those looking for writing help can find a vast array of resources in the form of consultants who are more than willing to lend a helping hand.

About The Author Jack Thompson is a freelance writer, business consultant and entrepreneur. He has helped thousands of individuals and businesses across the world realize the benefits of outsourcing. Independent consultants, freelance service providers, and companies looking to outsource service projects can post or bid on projects at www.smartylance.com.

The Best Policy – by: Wayne and Tamara

Direct Answers – Column for the week of July 28, 2003

How do I help a former friend let go of a friendship that’s not working for me?

This woman, I’ll call her “Anne,” is a life coach. We met last year and hit it off as friends. The problem for me is the vast majority of our conversation centered around Anne and her situation, particularly as it related to men. On and on these conversations would go about this guy or that. My honest feedback was not well received.

Prior to getting fed up with the lack of balance in our friendship, I invited her to speak at a conference I organized. The event took place last month, and Anne was just okay as a speaker. Reviews were mixed, but it was done.

Last night Anne left a message indicating she wanted me to be a referral for a potential client. I feel bad about recommending someone I no longer believe to be effective. How do I get off her calling list without being unkind?

Laurel

Laurel, in this situation truthfulness is more important than politeness. Politeness will get you more of what you don’t want more of.

Anne doesn’t take criticism, or the truth, well. She makes a good first impression, but she does not have the understanding she is trying to sell to others. Giving Anne what she wants makes you a co-conspirator with her, and that is an incongruity you cannot live with.

Just as your life must proceed from honesty, so must Anne’s. Tell Anne reviews of her performance don’t allow you to make a recommendation. If she takes offense, she is taking offense to the truth.

Tamara

Beating A Dead Horse

I am American and my husband British. We met while he lived and worked for two years in the US. When we became engaged, we discussed where we wanted to settle and that place is America. We both feel strongly about this.

We did, however, decide to move to the UK for two years for him to finish a few things and get his US green card. That is much easier to do abroad than at home, and we told his parents we would only be in the UK a short time.

My mother-in-law is a person who uses mind games to get her way. She has directly insulted America to me claiming everything from American greed to gun problems. She whines that her grandchildren will not be close to her, and she has even hung up the phone on my husband. She is a right brat!

I know it must be hard for her, and I understand, I really do. But we can’t always live around the corner, and I am starting to get angry. My husband told his family they are welcome to come stay with us for a month or longer at a time, but my mother-in-law said, “I don’t like to fly, and I don’t think I’ll like Texas!”

My husband knows his mother is a difficult woman, but he hates conflict and wants to keep the peace. My mom says keeping my cool is the best thing to do.

Kay

Kay, before you insult the royal family or British cuisine, remember your mom’s advice and keep your cool. Don’t argue with your mother-in-law. By the very act of arguing you are giving substance to her wishes. Arguing as if it is unsettled may make it unsettled.

When you give in to a difficult person, they don’t become more reasonable, they become more difficult. They think they are entitled to win all the time. Once you have moved, your mother-in-law can visit you, and if you can afford it, you can visit her.

Maybe she’ll even like Texas. Or maybe she will love to hate Texas. But either way your mother-in-law’s behavior sounds like a better argument for emigrating than for living around the corner.

Wayne

About The Author Authors and columnists Wayne and Tamara Mitchell can be reached at www.WayneAndTamara.com. Send letters to: Direct Answers, PO Box 964, Springfield, MO 65801 or email: DirectAnswers@WayneAndTamara.com.

Achieving Optimum Health – by: Tim Ong

“Optimum health is not just the absence of disease but the presence of wellness in mental, emotional, physical, spiritual and social areas. Some would also include financial health.”

Introduction

Optimum health is essential at all levels, from the individual to the society we live in to the environment around us. We have to start thinking of wealth not just in terms of possession of money and properties but also the possession of mental, emotional, physical, social and spiritual well-being.

Mental Health

The truth is mind is the forerunner of all states.

With a proper mindset, a poor man can still be happy. Conversely, if the mindset is not right, no matter how much material possessions you may have, you may still be a very unhappy person. Thus, Gandhi said, “The world has enough for everyone’s needs, but not enough for even a single person’s greed.”

So a healthy mind is one that possesses a mindset that can lead to happiness and contentment with self and the world around us. It provides clarity of thoughts, good insight and the ability to see things through an unbiased mind.

To be able to see things through an unbiased mind is no small feat. It is extremely difficult to note or observe the unfolding of events and phenomena without judging. We habitually associate emotions or feelings to events, and allow such emotions to direct our actions. Our likes for certain things and dislikes for others are closely associated with our emotions.

Emotional Health

It is our emotions that lead us to act impulsively at times. Thus a high level of self-awareness in this area is extremely useful. In fact, it is essential to our well-being. After all, things and relationships that may take us years to build can be destroyed in a moment of anger.

There are positive and negative emotions. Positive emotions such as love, compassion and joy should be cultivated, while negative emotions such as fear, anger and hate need to be eradicated.

When asked about this, a wise sage of India once illustrated with a story:

An old man said to his grandson, “Boy, I have two tigers caged within me. One is love and compassion. The other is fear and anger.”

The young boy asked, “Which one will win, grandfather?”

The old man replied, “The one I feed.”

At times, it may seem that we have no control over our emotions. This is not true. The truth is how well we manage our emotions depends on how aware we are of our emotions, particularly on the arising of our emotions. The earlier we are able to note the arising of our emotions, we better we can manage them.

More and more researches are showing that our well-being is closely linked to our emotional and mental health. Our body’s immune system is generally enhanced by positive mental outlook and emotion. Conversely, it is depressed by negative mental and emotional states. Thus, stress, worry, anger and fear are some states that may lead to physical illnesses such as hypertension, cardiac diseases, peptic ulcers, depression and a host of other ailments.

Physical Health

To maintain an optimum physical well-being, therefore, requires us to focus not only on our body but also our mind and emotions.

On a physical level, our body can be kept healthy through adequate sleep and rest, proper nutrition, regular exercises and a healthy environment that is free from pollution.

Spiritual Health

Throughout the ages, wise men have consistently informed and taught us that we are essentially spiritual beings.

Although medical science has not been able to reveal to us our spiritual nature, there are many indirect evidence that we would be foolish to ignore. Stories from people who had gone through a near death experience (NDE), or dying people with heightened nearing death awareness, or simply a cure from an ‘incurable’ disease all suggest that there is more to life than just the physical state.

Major religions of the world all based their teachings on the belief that we are essentially spiritual beings. According to these teachings, our physical existence is secondary.

While it may be true that we should focus our life more on our spiritual nature than our physical nature, it would be difficult for the majority of people to do so, at least not immediately. Things cannot change overnight. Mindset, however, can, and that is perhaps the best place to start.

Financial Health

However, on a more mundane level, most people are still stuck on how to survive from day to day, where to get the next cheque to pay for the house installment, so on and so forth.

Practically, therefore, we need to look into ways to achieve a financial state that would theoretically free us from the constrain of ‘forced’ work. This is where the concept of financial freedom is so attractive. According to this concept, one should strive for a state where we have one or more than one source of income that can be generated passively, that is, even when we don’t work.

This is what Robert Kiyosaki termed as ‘passive income’.

According to him, passive income can only be achieved by becoming an investor or a business owner, not a sole proprietor or an employee. To become an investor or a business owner, you must spend the time and money to acquire financial intelligence. Unlike IQ or EQ, you can acquire financial intelligence through self education.

To get a financial health check-up, consult an accountant, a banker or a financial planner you can trust.

Healthy Relationship

“No man is an island, entire by itself.”

As a medical doctor, I am in a unique position to confront and comfort dying patients. One of the most important thing that I have observed is that dying people do not ask about their money or possessions. Instead, they focus their remaining energy and strength on trying to heal wounded relationships. It is as though there is an inherent need to get a proper closure to a relationship.

Thus, forming and cultivating a healthy relationship is important for our well-being. Unfortunately, this is something we often ignored until it is too late. If there is any forgiving to be done, or the need to be forgiven, leaving things to the last minutes may end up with an unfulfilled desire for a closure.

Knowing this now, shouldn’t we spend more time and effort in improving our relationship with our loved ones, especially with our parents, spouse, children and siblings?

About The Author Tim Ong is a medical doctor and author of the online “Build From Within” newsletter series. He is also the webmaster of The Self Improvement Site (http://www.theselfimprovementsite.com), Klinik Ong (http://www.klinikong.com) and Caring For The Terminally Ill (http://www.caring-terminally-ill.com). You may sign up for his free newsletter at http://www.theselfimprovementsite.com/signup.html.

Real Genius (DVD) Review – by: Britt Gillette

The breakout film for Val Kilmer’s career, Real Genius is one of the first films to portray the “nerd” as someone cool rather than as the taped-glasses, plaid pants cliché that dominated most of the 1980s. Evolving over time into a cult classic, this can be classified as more of a generational film. Most of the people I know who grew up in the 1980s have seen it. As such, it meets the criteria to be defined as a must see movie.

When fourteen-year-old Mitch Taylor (Gabriel Jarret) receives entrance into a highly prestigious college program at Pacific Tech, he’s put to work by his mentor Professor Jerry Hathaway (William Atherton) on a highly experimental and difficult project – the development of a specific type of laser. But Mitch’s studies are hindered by his more laid back roommate, Chris Knight (Val Kilmer), who would rather use his genius brain to have fun rather than be used by people. Explaining that he used to be just like Mitch, he one day learned that you can’t through all of life with your nose in a book.

Garnering great influence with Mitch, Chris and the rest of the students engage in some crafty shenanigans (such as turning the dorm room floor to ice – ice that turns from solid to liquid). But Chris and Mitch are foiled by the Prof. Hathaway kiss-up, loser Kent Torokvei (Robert Prescott) who is always shadowing their activities and telling Hathaway. When Mitch meets up with Jordan (Michelle Meyrink) at an auditorium where the orchestra pit has been turned into a pool, the two develop a romance. But the party is crashed by Hathaway who threatens to send Mitch home.

With the military applying pressure on Hathaway to complete the laser project, he threatens to fail Chris. With Chris and Mitch working around the clock, the project makes great progress. But the team has to enlist the help of Lazlo Hollyfeld (Jon Gries), an eccentric former student who lives in their closet, before they make the breakthrough discovery that gives them an operational laser.

Celebrating out on the town, the team ponders the implications of the laser they have created. Realizing that it will be used for assassinations, they run back to lab only to find the laser missing. When they unleash a plan to get revenge on Prof. Hathaway, Kent and the professor’s house become part of a great popcorn experiment.

Rife with a number of hilarious scenes, one of the more hilarious is when Mitch, Chris, Jordan, and their friend Ick gas Kent and insert a microphone in his mouth. They then speak to Kent, pretending to be God. The entire movie is worth that scene alone, but there are countless others in this popular teen classic. If you like clever comedy, Real Genius is one film that can’t miss.

About The Author Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a movie and TV review site. Source: http://thedvdreport.blogspot.com/2006/02/real-genius-dvd.html

Using Free Publicity to Build Your Web Site Links and Traffic – by: Matt Hockin

So, you have a great product or service, yet your web site is not getting the high rankings and traffic you desire from the top search engines like Google and MSN Search.

You’re not alone. This scenario is playing out all across the web, yet there is a simple solution to the problem. Publicity. Publicity is the art of gaining exposure for your web site, product, or service with press releases, articles, and other promotional methods.

A consistent publicity campaign can get you links from some of the best web sites on the Net. These links provide your web site with “Link Popularity” and the Google PageRank numbers you need for high search engine ranking and traffic. Plus, the links themselves can bring you a significant about of targeted traffic.

The Top 5 Tips for Getting Publicity (and Links)

Here are a few of my tips for getting publicity and links on the web sites, AND getting news stories and articles in the newspapers, magazines and Internet radio show sites.

TIP #1: Be Consistent – Stick With It For The Long-Haul

For maximum results, use public relations as a long-term awareness and link-building campaign. This will allow your messages to be delivered to the appropriate audience and generate visibility, traffic and sales for you.

The biggest mistake I see businesses making with publicity, is they’re not consistent at all, only sticking with it for 1, 2, or 3 months. It pays to be consistent is because sometimes you’ll send out a press release and get no response back, no publicity, nothing… In fact, this is when most people quit, when they should realize that publicity is a “numbers game” that generates exposure over the long-run if they would just stick with it.

Plus, if you know where to submit your articles and send your press releases, each one that you write can generate 3-20 or more new publicity hits and new links to your web site! So, send something to the media at least every month, if not every week or two. Stay on track by scheduling your articles and news releases on your marketing calendar.

TIP #2: Offer Great News Ideas and Quality Articles

To maximize your results, don’t send corporate “flack” to the media. “Flack” is blatant advertising disguised as a press release. Instead of wasting the media’s time, be their ally by sending them real news and quality articles that help their audience.

Don’t think you have enough time or ideas for writing articles and press releases? You probably already have the content for 12 press releases or articles without having to write a bunch of new content.

Where is this “hidden” content that’s already written? It’s the content on your web site, and in your white papers, and other marketing materials. Simply “repurpose” and edit this content into announcements, articles, press releases, tip sheets, and other publicity materials.

TIP #3: Expand Your Publicity Campaign By Building A Media List

In the publicity game, your greatest assets are your contacts. Since you know your ideal customer, you can target the web sites, media, and publications that your customers use to get their news and information. Your media list should consist of the following types of media…

• Industry-specific web sites, and e-newsletters
• Internet blogs, discussion forums and discussion lists
• Article syndicators
• Trade publications
• Newspapers
• Magazines
• Radio & TV shows

TIP #4: Distribute Via E-Mail

A 2003 study by the Meta Group revealed that approximately 80% of business people say their e-mail is more valuable than the phone. This applies to media professionals as well, so send your press releases and articles via e-mail. E-mail is f*ree and easy to use, but adhere to these quidelines for e-mail press releases…

• Introduce yourself via e-mail to the media professionals on your list and start building a relationship.
• Use a compelling subject line that is personalized by including their first name.
• Never ever send attachments
• Be sure to format your e-mails in ASCII text file with hard returns at 65 characters. (Use Microsoft NotePad)
• Following up via the telephone will greatly increase your results, but never ask “did you receive my press release?” (The media hate this question since they get hundreds of press releases a day!)

TIP #5: Post Your Articles On Your Web Site And E-Mail Newsletter

Content is King on the Internet, and the search engines love web sites with great niched content. Your articles and news releases are a perfect source of keyword rich text that’s tasty “spider food” for the search engine crawlers. So, post your articles and press releases on your web site to increase your search engine traffic.

But don’t stop there. Send them to your e-mail newsletter subscriber list, you never know who might be on your list who will love your article and link to it!

CONCLUSION:

As the great P.T. Barnum once said… “Without publicity a terrible thing happens… nothing!” Publicity is a great way to build your web site links, visibility, traffic and sales. Use these tips to maximize your publicity campaign’s success.

Promote! Promote! Promote!

About The Author Article by Matt Hockin, of Interactive Marketing, Inc. Interactive Marketing, Inc. assists business owners with increasing their growth and profits with cost-effective, high-ROI sales and marketing strategies. http://www.interactivemarketinginc.com/

George Foreman Grill Producer vs. George Foreman Foods Inc. – by: Laura Ciocan

Salton, Inc., the producer of George Foreman Grill filed a complaint against George Foreman Foods Inc. regarding the use of the domain name . The complaint was denied.

Beyond the fame gained as a heavyweight boxer, becoming world champion in 1973 and 1994, George Foreman has become a renown brand for quite a wide range of quality products. In fact, the name has become so famous as a product brand that many of the younger generation have come to know the famous character through the products sold under this brand. Foreman himself admits that he gained more fame and wealth as a product endorser than he thought possible.

The brand sells from electrical products, to clothes, cleaning products, low-fat, grill-compatible products. However, the most notable of this series is the George Foreman Grill produced by US marketers Salton Inc. The company owns trademarks and trademark registrations for the mark GEORGE FOREMAN in the United States and elsewhere for products used for preparing, cooking, serving foods and beverages since 1995.

In 2002, George Foreman concluded an agreement with an entrepreneur to launch a line of meat products and other foods. The company became George Foreman Foods Inc. and was going to cause a whole series of problems. At present, Foreman is fighting to unwind the contract on the grounds that the company introduced products he didn’t approve, such as coffee and old frozen meat products, thus putting Foreman’s image at a risk of being spread too thin.

On the other hand, Salton Inc., filed a complaint against George Foreman Foods Inc. with the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation) Arbitration and Mediation Center on September 24, 2004, on the grounds that the food’s company use of the web domain www.georgeforeman.com breached Salton’s registered trade marks in the name.

While looking at the matter from a holistic point of view, the complaint seems rather well-founded, the company’s use of the domain creating the possibility of “confusion as to the source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of its web site”, as Salton alleged.

However, WIPO, although admitting that the domain name is identical to the mark in which Salton has rights, agreed that George Foreman Foods did have rights in the disputed domain name. The complaint was denied.

About The Author Laura Ciocan writes for http://www.natural-gas-grills.info where you can find articles, buying tips and reviews of popular gas grills. Please feel free to use this article in your Newsletter or on your website. If you use this article, please include the resource box and send a brief message to let me know where it appeared; mailto:lauracio@gmail.com