Office Space (DVD) Review – by: Britt Gillette

If Seinfeld is a show about nothing, then Office Space is the hit comedy about one man’s “dream of doing nothing”… Arguably the best work-related comedy ever written, Office Space follows the life of Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston), a computer programmer in his late-twenties who hates his mind-numbing job updating bank software for Initech Corporation. Hilarious from beginning to end, Office Space is the ideal comedy for anyone who’s spent one iota of life wasting away in a cubicle.

Office Space focuses on the mundane world of Peter Gibbons and his fellow computer programmers Samir Nagheenanajar (Ajay Naidu) and Michael Bolton (David Herman). All three men are plagued by the condescending, soul-killing management techniques of their Satan-like boss, Bill Lumbergh (Gary Cole), who begins every utterance with a protracted “Yeah…” Terribly unhappy with his job, and discontent with his romantic relationship, Peter whines about his horrible life while sipping coffee at Chotchkie’s, a local restaurant where he’s infatuated with a beautiful waitress named Joanna (Jennifer Aniston). Just like Peter, Joanna hates her job and her evil boss who forces her to wear “pieces of flair”. Samir and Michael encourage Peter to ask her out, but he’s too paralyzed by life to do anything.

All that changes, however, when Peter visits a hypnotherapist with his girlfriend. In the act of sending Peter into a state of total relaxation, the hypnotherapist suffers a heart attack. His untimely death leaves Peter in a perpetual state of relaxation, providing his life with a much needed injection of enjoyment. The next morning, Peter sleeps through work, dumps his girlfriend, and asks Joanna out to lunch. The two hit it off, and Peter tells Joanna that he’s going to stop going to work.

After a good week or so of neglecting his job, two independent consultants, Bob Slydell (John McGinley) and Bob Porter (Paul Willson), promote Peter to the upper ranks of management. Meanwhile, studious co-workers Samir and Michael are slated to be fired. Armed with this insider information, Peter approaches Michael about concocting a previously mentioned computer program to take the remainders of every bank transaction at Initech and funnel them into a private account owed by Peter, Samir, and Michael. Michael is reluctant until he finds out he’s going to be fired.

While the two set out to convince Samir that their plan will work, resident office weirdo Milton Waddams (Stephen Root) is in the process of having his paycheck stopped by the consultants who uncover the fact that Milton was fired several years earlier but is still being paid. When Bill Lumbergh moves Milton’s desk into the basement, he quietly vows revenge.

Meanwhile, one of the funniest sequences in the movie takes place when long-time corporate cog Tom Smykowski (Richard Riehle) achieves a lifelong dream when he’s severely injured by a drunk driver. Fresh off a seven-figure settlement, and in possession of his prototype “jump to conclusions mat,” Tom tells Peter to hang in there, that life has a lot of good things in store for those who wait. In the meantime, Samir and Michael grow nervous when Tom’s lawyer reveals that white collar criminals go to federal “pound-me-in-the-ass” prison where they better “beat someone up or become someone’s bitch” on the first day. Office Space is one laugh after another, and our heroes’ nefarious plan works surprisingly well until it hits an unforeseen glitch. With their well laid scheme going up in smoke, Milton decides to create some smoke of his own.

The brainchild of King of the Hill and Beavis & Butthead creator Mike Judge, Office Space will leave you in absolute stitches. Funny from beginning to end, with a plot mysteriously similar to Superman 3, this is one movie you need to see at least once if you’ve ever been trapped in a job from hell, and haven’t we all?

About The Author Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a blog where you can find more reviews like this one. Source: http://thedvdreport.blogspot.com/2006/02/office-space-dvd.html

SEO Your PDF’s – Does This Work? – by: Kevin Kantola

Why optimize?

First, why would anyone want to search engine optimize their PDF files? Well, if you had an eBook, brochure, product description or technical document in PDF format, you may wish to optimize these to pick up some extra search engine traffic.

Can the search engines read PDF files?

Yes, most of the major search engines now can read the basic contents of PDF files, though getting these pages to rank as well as HTML files is still questionable.

How is it supposed to work?

This is how the workflow is supposed to work. Create your file in MS Word, or in a draw or page layout program that later can be distilled into a PDF (with some applications you will have to create an EPS file first and then distill it and with other applications, you can distill right out of the apps). If you are using a program such as MS Word, be mindful to apply the H1, H2, H3 tags where necessary and optimize the body text as you would an HTML file.

When you are finished, distill the file. Bring this file into the full version of Adobe Acrobat 6 for editing. Plug in the appropriate content, post the PDF on your website and let the search engine robots index the file.

How do I plug in the appropriate content?

In Adobe Acrobat 6 there are two places to input content into a PDF file. The first place is under File / Document Properties and the second place is under Advanced / Document Metadata. Under File / Document Properties there are several menus but the most relevant for our purposes is the Description menu. Under the Description menu, there are fields for Title, Author, Subject and Keywords.

Now to confuse matters more, let’s go over to the Advanced / Document Metadata menu. There are a couple of choices here, but let’s once again look at the Description menu. Under this Description menu, there are fields for Title, Author, Description, Description Writer, Keywords, Copyright State, Copyright Notice and Copyright Info URL.

How does the PDF store the data?

With duplicate fields, it is important to find out how the data is stored so that we may make some educated guesses as to how the search engines read this data. I performed a few small experiments and here is what I have found. The Title and Author fields seem to be linked to each other because when you change one and check on the other you will see it too has changed. Also, the Subject field of the Document Properties menu seems to be linked to the Description field of the Document Metadata menu for the same reasons. The Keyword fields, however, are not linked. Separate sets of keywords can be added to both fields. When the file is saved, both sets of keywords are stored in the PDF file.

Which set of keywords is correct then?

Adobe stores its metadata in XML format. Opening the PDF file in Notepad, it appears that the Keyword field under Document Properties is the one that the search engines will use (this hasn’t been proven, yet though). The keywords input into this field appear in the PDF as we have come to expect, separated by commas, like this: Keywords(movies, cinemas, matinees, theatres, popcorn).

The keywords that were input into the Document Metadata menu appear as a sort of list like this: treeswoodchips

Of course, this doesn’t mean anything really – it is how the search engines read this that counts.

How does it really work?

I’ve run some preliminary tests (and by this I mean very preliminary) and more testing will need to be completed to verify these results, but here is what I have come up with so far. When a PDF file was first opened in Acrobat 6 the Document Properties or Document Metadata title and author fields were already filled in with the file name and author’s initials (information received from MS Word)

Without filling in any extra data into the Document Properties or Document Metadata menu, Google used the Title field information for the title in the results and the description in the results was acquired from the body copy. Yahoo!, in older PDF’s use the largest text on the page as the title text. In regards to more recently indexed PDF documents, however, Yahoo! is using the Title field information as the title text in the search results. At this writing, the description text in the search engine results comes from the body text of the PDF and not the Document Properties or Document Metadata text.

Thinking I might just get lucky (and hoping for quick results), I ran a few optimized and non-optimized PDF’s through some of the more popular search engine spider simulators on the web, but these spiders did not handle the binary code very well. None of them returned title or meta tag information and the most popular keywords were snippets of binary code.

So, at this point, does it really pay to optimize a PDF?

The simple answer is, yes. The title tag and body copy can still be optimized and the major search engines will index it accordingly. As far as the Keywords and Description meta tags, well Google ignores this in PDF’s just as it does in HTML documents and Yahoo!, which does use the description tag, is only half way to where it needs to be.

But Google and Yahoo! aren’t the only two search engines / directories around and with algorithms changing all the time, perhaps someday soon either the SE’s will be able to fully read a PDF file or Adobe will offer a patch that will make PDF’s more SE-friendly. It’s only a matter of time, my friend. Will you be ready?

About The Author Copyright © 2004 SEO Resource http://www.seoresource.net Kevin Kantola head’s up SEO Resource, a California search engine optimization company devoted to achieving high rankings. info@seoresource.net

Best Recipes: Peanut Butter and Jelly Milkshake – by: Donna Monday

Our old favorite sandwich standby: peanut butter and jelly, has got a new twist! That’s right. Now you can have your peanut butter and jelly in a glass. Got milk?

A little ice cream? Good. Then you’re ready to have a yummy taste treat that will really satisfy all your PBJ desires.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Milkshake makes a great afternoon snack for kids and adults. Now all you’ve got to do is decide what kind of jelly you want with that milkshake.

I know. Decisions like this can be so hard sometimes.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Milkshake

• 1 tablespoon peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons jelly or jam (grape, raspberry or strawberry)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 cup vanilla ice cream

Directions

Combine peanut butter and jelly. Place in blender. Add milk and ice cream.

Blend until smooth.

About The Author Copyright 2004 Donna Monday Easy to make – fun to drink http://www.1st-milkshake-n-smoothie-recipes.com

4 Steps to Use Fears as Friends: Don’t be a Thunder Dog! – by: Dan Ohler

Imagine humungous, bulbous, billowing alto-cumulus clouds building higher and higher in the sky. They are as black as tar at the bottom and snowy white at the top. It looks as if we’re in for a storm.

CRACK, rumble, rumble, rumble. Use your imagination folks. That’s thunder, not a malfunction of my keyboard.

My black and white Border Collie, Tip, catapults from her slumber, ears laid tight against her head, and she’s off, full tilt, as fast as her legs will take her. Where is she going? She doesn’t know. She’s scared and she is just running.

Does she have a safe place at home? Absolutely. She has a nice dog house that she uses for protection from the rain, snow, and coyotes that venture too close to the yard. But when there is thunder, she runs blindly. She is an incredibly intelligent dog, but under these circumstances, the expression “as dumb as a sack of hoe handles” comes to mind.

You may be thinking, “Cute story but what does this have to do with me?”

Ponder this.

Does a similar reaction happen for you? Something happens in your life (the something rhymes with “it”), and you jump to reaction mode, as if on autopilot? You know what I’m talking about: angry outbursts, sarcasm, rudeness, aloofness, running away, or retreat. It doesn’t make logical sense, and it doesn’t get you the results you want, but you do it anyway. You are an intelligent human being, and yet, it still happens.

Why does this occur?

Let’s have a quick look at how the brain works – in dogs and in you.

Dog Noodle Notes (about Tip’s brain)

The intense sound of the thunder is a nerve message that goes to Tip’s brain. Her brain stem, the most primal part of her brain, receives the stimuli and determines that this loud sound could be a threat to her safety. A threat causes fear, and the brain stem instantaneously overrides all other brain systems and directs her body to do one of three things – fight, flight, or freeze. In Tip’s case, it’s flight. Is she really in danger of losing life or limb? Not a chance, but her brain doesn’t know that.

If I am near Tip, and hear the thunder, there is a split second in which I can catch her attention, and encourage her to make a different choice – to go to the safety of her house. If I miss that chance, she’s gone.

People Noodle Notes (about your brain)

As a human, you have the same primal brain stem and it works exactly the same as Tip’s. When you are hurt or frightened (physically, emotionally, or mentally), a message goes to your brain stem, the threat is recognized, fear is created, and you move into the same mode – fight, flight, or freeze. You lash out at yourself or others physically or verbally, cry, pout, become argumentative or defensive. You run, or at least leave. You retreat to your own space, and are unable to do anything constructive. You do and say things that you wish you hadn’t, and the consequences of your reactions, over time, can completely destroy your relationships.

I know this happens for you because the “fear” and “reaction mode” happens for me.

What is my reaction? Because of my personality style, I retreat, become aloof, and lose myself in my work. I become sarcastic and abrupt.

Am I this way to customers or friends? No way! I take it out on those closest to me – my wife Carol, my sons Jamie and Brad, or other family members, even though they may not have had anything to do with my fear.

Does it make logical sense? Not at all, but it happens, unless I am aware of what is going on and make a different conscious choice.

Just like Tip, there is a split second in which I have the ability to let the message move past the brain stem to the cortex of my brain, which is the logical and spiritual part of my brain. The cortex processes the message, considers consequences, alternatives, feelings, and allows me to make a different choice for myself and others.

The same applies to you.

How can you benefit from this knowledge?

Here’s how.

4 Steps to Use Fears as Friends

These are basic, not necessarily simple:

1. Notice that feeling of fear, disappointment, discouragement, hurt, or anger. It may be: tenseness of muscles, heat, perspiration, scowling, tears, clenched fists, rapid heartbeat, and lack of focus. These are some cues to let you know that fear is present.

2. In that moment, STOP! Take a deep breath – or ten. This gives the stimulus enough time to be accepted by your rational cortex. Think about your reactive responses in the past to the same or similar experiences. Were you happy with the consequences and the effect on your relationships? Do you want that to happen again?

3. Wave your magic wand. What is the “best way” for this to turn out, and what actions can you take to achieve that desired outcome? Notice it says “actions you take,” not what someone else should do.

4. Choose and Act!!

You are a human. You have fears. They show themselves as: anger, defensiveness, frustration, or a need to be right. The reactions are not healthy for you or your relationships.

The truth is this: you are the captain of your ship! You are accountable for everything that happens in your life. You always have the power to make a choice – ALWAYS. And ultimately, not making a choice is still a choice.

Use the fears as friends and follow the steps above. You will notice a dramatic improvement in your self-esteem and self-confidence. Watch your personal and business relationships soar.

You know that relationships are vitally important. Treat them with care. Genuine happiness is impossible without them. Don’t be a thunder dog!

Copyright© 2005

About The Author Dan Ohler is a relationship, change, and happiness specialist based near Edmonton, AB, Canada. Dan’s high-content keynotes, workshops, and comedy presentations help you and your organization excel. Dan encourages change through insights & humour. Learn to apply the basics of human psychology, the natural laws that produce success. Learn the secrets to create life-long flourishing relationships, and abounding success. To book Dan for your next conference or event, get FREE articles, or to subscribe to his e-zine, “Soaring Insights,” visit http://www.ThinkinOutsideTheBarn.com.

Knock-Out Writer’s Block: Listening To Your Inner Voice – by: Celise Downs

When I was young, I used to talk to myself. Long, drawn out, one-sided conversations. I didn’t have an imaginary friend, I just talked to myself. My mother says that’s why I became a writer: because of my overactive imagination. I admit she may be right. Those conversations currently get me through my worst cases of writer’s block.

I have to laugh when I read articles on breaking through a writing slump. They always have tips like: go to the mall and make up a story about the people you see there..or..write down a dream you had the other night..or..think about the happiest moment in your childhood and write about it. You can even sign up and have a writing “prompt” emailed to you everyday. And I can’t help but think, Does this work for anyone? I mean, really? I’ve come to discover that I’m not like the average author. The normal methods of combating writer’s block do not apply to me. In writing mode, I can only concentrate on one novel at a time. I get distracted easily, so writing something on the fly only leads me down one path: The-Hey-I-Just-Came-Up-With-Another-Great-Idea-For-A-New-Book-So-I’m-Gonna-Drop-The-One-I’m-Currently-Angsting-Over-And-Start-A-New-Novel path. Believe me, it’s happened before. I was young (seventh grade to be exact), just starting out, and I didn’t know any better.

Now, I just put the novel away..and wait. The wait has been known to last six months to a year. Sometimes longer. For others, the time frame may be shorter, but eventually they will come. The inner voices, I mean. I no longer hold verbal one-sided conversations with myself. My characters have one-sided conversations with me..in my head. When they start talking to me about dialogue and plot, that tells me it’s time to pull out the novel and jump in again.

So, go on. You try it: Open up your mind and listen to your inner voice. If we ever meet at a conference or a book signing and you tell me that you’ve been hearing voices, I won’t think you’re crazy. I promise.

About The Author Copyright © 2004 – Celise Downs. Reprinted with permission. Celise is a Young Adult fiction author and owner of Gemini Mojo Press. Her books, “Secrets and Kisses” (Mar 2004) and “Dance Jam Productions” (Sept 2004), are currently available on the publisher website at www.GeminiMojoPress.com. celise@geminimojopress.com

Go Between – by: Wayne and Tamara

Direct Answers – Column for the week of June 16, 2003

I enjoy reading your column every week. I want to tell you about a family problem I am having at present. Recently our youngest daughter divorced after 22 years of marriage and two teenagers. This was a great shock to all the family as she never told anyone of her unhappy situation.

Now she is living with her high school sweetheart, who is also divorced. She says she is very, very happy. My big problem is that my husband of 54 years will not accept the situation and refuses to speak to this daughter.

I am not happy either, but have accepted it as I want to keep communication open with my daughter. How should I handle this problem with my husband?

Adelle

Adelle, we live in tornado country, and a few weeks ago several small towns near us were almost totally destroyed. Many people lost their home, their possessions, and their livelihood. The next morning some people were clearing rubble and rebuilding their lives, while others were wandering around stunned by their loss.

We vary enormously in our responses. Some people heal faster than others, and some adjust to change faster than others. Your husband lost a part of his life, and a son-in-law, he never expected to lose. Perhaps he is like the tough old oak not easily bent. You are more like the willow which is flexible and bends in a storm without breaking.

For now, you need to give your husband the time he needs to adapt to the change and be the flexible connection between father and daughter. You are like the old-style telephone operator making connections between two people. As long as you are in touch with both, keeping each aware of the other, you keep the distance between them from getting too great.

That is a positive, not a negative. There needs to be a little time for healing all around for everyone in this situation. Perhaps in time, or in a crisis, the connection can be made more direct. Your husband and your daughter may only be one incident, or one holiday, away from coming together.

Wayne and Tamara

Opportunity

My boyfriend and I have always had our differences, and though we are both strong-headed, we have learned to appreciate each other. We’ve been talking about marriage, but there is one issue I cannot get past. He is so selfish!

He contributes little to the household duties and financial obligations such as food and cleaning supplies. He spends large amounts of money on weekends and vacations with the boys, but can only rarely take me out to dinner. He shops the Wal-Mart clearance racks for holiday gifts. Christmas was a toothbrush and bath mats.

I strongly dislike the area we live in and would like to relocate. He says he grew up here and will never live anywhere else. I was recently laid off, and the only positions in my field are in other cities. I want to work so I can fulfill my half of the financial obligations, but he says he cannot leave and I should just keep looking.

Prudence

Prudence, opportunity knocks all the time, but the problem is we usually can’t recognize it for what it is. We expect the Prize Patrol to show up with balloons and a check for a million dollars. That isn’t going to happen. Usually opportunity shows up as something mundane, like getting laid off from our job and thinking about where our life is headed.

You are thinking about marriage, but you should be thinking about 50 years of bath mats and toothbrushes from a selfish man. You want to keep up your half, but where is his half?

You’ve been given an opportunity to live where you choose. When you go there, you may find a man who doesn’t have differences you can’t live with.

Wayne and Tamara

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.

Eat Right For A Healthy Life – by: Dr. Shashikant Patwardhan

Our diet is an essential factor for the formation of our body. It is clearly mentioned in an Ayurvedic classic ‘Charak Samhita’ that consuming improper diet in improper way is the main cause of ‘Disease’.

According to ‘Charak Samhita -”An appropriate and suitable diet in a disease is equivalent to hundred drugs and any quantity of drug hardly compares to good results in disease without following proper dietetic regimen”

Ayurvedic has mentioned following principles for living full span of life with perfect health.

Diet should be regulated taking into account the ‘Desha’(territory), ‘Kala’ (Season as well as time of the day) etc. On should be in a habit of taking all six ‘Rasa’ (tastes) in order to prevent nutritional deficiency disorders.

Time of consuming food : A person should take meal only when he feels hungry. Lunch should be taken early between 12 and 1P.M. this coincides with the peak Pitta period, Pitta is responsible for the digestion. Ayurveda recommends that the lunch should be the largest meal of the day. The supper should be lesser and lighter than lunch

Quantity of food : Generally half of the capacity of stomach should be filled with solids, ¼ th with liquids and rest kept empty for the free movements of body humors.

Sequence of consuming food :Madhur (sweet) rasa food like fruits are advisable to take in the bigining of meal, food with Amla and Lavana (sour and salty) rasa in the middle and Katu,Tikta,Kashay (bitter ,astringent and pungent) foods should be taken at the end of meal

Method of consuming food :

* Wash the face hands and feet before meal. Dine in an isolated neat and clean place in pleasant environment with the affectionate persons in sitting position.

* Food should be taken after complete digestion of previous one.

* Hard items should be consumed in the beginning followed by soft and liquids subsequently.

* Few sips of water is advised now and then while taking meal.

* Heavy substances are contraindicated after meals and should be avoided

* Consumption of excessive hot food leads to weakness. Cold and dry food leads to delayed digestion. Intake of food prepared by giving extra

heat leads to ‘Glani’. Hence consumption of such food should be avoided

Incompatible Food (Viruddha ahara):

Milk followed by fruits and vice versa.

Soar substance along with milk.

Milk with salt, horse gram, green gram & cow gram

Wheat preparations in gingelly oil(Tila taila)

Hot drinks after alcohol, curd or honey.

Cold and hot substances together

Banana with curd and butter milk

Chicken with curd

Ghee kept in bronze vessel

Radish with jaggery

Fish with jaggery or sugar

Jingelly seeds with kanjika.

Use of incompatible food leads to skin disorders, Gastro intestinal .Disorders , anaemia, leucoderma hyperacidity impotence etc. hence should be avoided.

General Rules about food consumption :

Walk a while after meal to help digestion

No travelling, exercise or sexual intercourse within one hour after meal.

Avoid meals when thirsty and water while hungry.

Avoid meals after exertion

Avoid meals when you are having no appetite.

Don’t suppress the appetite as it leads to body pain, anorexia, lassitude, vertigo and general debility

Don’t suppress the thirst as it leads to general debility, giddiness and heart diseases.

Consumption of the fresh, acceptable, easily available and compatible food with various nutrients is a key to lead a healthy life.

About The Author Dr. Shashikant Patwardhan is practicing as ‘Ayurvedic Consultant’ for last 25 years at the city -Sangli , Maharashtra -India. He has done his graduation in Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery [B.A.M&S] and post graduate Fellowship of Faculty of Ayurvedic Medicine [F.F.A.M.] From Tilak Ayurved Mahavidyalaya, Pune University , India, during the years 1970-1976. He is a chief editor and Ayurvedic Consultant of a ‘Comprehensive website on Ayurveda – http://www.ayurveda-foryou.com He is an author of many books on Ayurveda and is first to publish them in ebook format. He has written ebooks like – Ayurvedic Cure of Diabetes , Home Remedies in Ayurveda , Treat Common Diseases with Ayurveda & Yoga , Ayurvedic Principles Revealed. He regularly writes articles on various topics in Ayurveda in Ayurvedic health magazines and alternative medicine sites. editor@ayurveda-foryou.com

The Red Violin (DVD) Review – by: Britt Gillette

Winner of the Academy Award for Best Music, Original Score (John Corigliano), The Red Violin should’ve at the very least received a Best Picture nomination. Overlooked by the arbiters of most of the major awards ceremonies, The Red Violin nonetheless enjoyed widespread critical acclaim. And every bit of its praise is well-deserved. Because The Red Violin belongs on a list of the best films of its decade.

Charles Morritz (Samuel Jackson) is called on by a Montreal auction house to assess the value of a recently procured violin. His initial reaction is that the violin is the long-lost, world famous Nicolo Bussotti “Red Violin”. In verifying its authenticity, the film flashes back to the birth of the violin.

When famous Italian violin maker Nicolo Bussotti (Carlo Cecchi) witnesses the tragic death of his pregnant wife and true love, he designs the perfect violin as a testament to her memory. Originally intended for his son, the violin makes it way across the continent of Europe, first appearing in an orphanage where child prodigy Kaspar Weiss (Christoph Koncz) comes in possession of it. Ushered off to Vienna and poised on the precipice of worldwide fame, Weiss suffers a heart attack, and the violin is buried with him. However, when his grave is looted, gypsies give a home to the violin for some time before it is purchased by the mad genius Frederick Pope (Jason Flemyng). When Pope injures the heart of his longtime lover Victoria (Greta Scacchi), the violin is damaged by a bullet.

A servant of Pope’s eventually takes the violin to the Asian Continent where it is used first as a teacher’s aide, then hidden during the Communist revolution which fears the evils of ‘Western music’. When the Shanghai violin collector in possession of the red violin passes away, the Chinese government places his multi-million dollar collection on the auction block. Finding the red violin in its midst, two experts work to verify its authenticity, and when they do a fierce bidding war takes place to see who will get the prized possession. But an article of such great value can only be held by someone who truly appreciates its beauty.

With outstanding performances from an unprecedented number of actors and actresses, The Red Violin is a production of genius on par with the perfection of its lead character – the hand-crafted red violin. Samuel L. Jackson is the only star of the film who’s of Hollywood blockbuster caliber, and he shines brightly in his role – using his penetrating eyes to convey a sort of mystic power upon the object of his desire. Coupled with an original storyline, having all the more of an impact due its suspenseful chronology, The Red Violin is an unforgettable film of passion and adventure.

Boasting a well-written screenplay, and direction that displays all the symbolism and emotion expected from a classic novel, The Red Violin is a film that strives to touch the polarities of the human soul. With an emotional passion that emanates from the screen, the film forces us to contemplate the wonder of human existence and what exactly will be our individual place in its history. A modern day epic regarding the travels of a beautiful blood-red violin through various centuries of the human experience, The Red Violin is a definite must-see film.

About The Author Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a blog where you can find more reviews like this one. Source: http://thedvdreport.blogspot.com/2006/02/red-violin-dvd.html

Is An Online Business For You? – by: Erol Alici

Do you recognize yourself in this?

It’s Monday, you get up early in the morning. Still half asleep you prepare yourself to go to yet another day of work. You quickly get dressed and have a burned piece of toast and a cup of coffee for breakfast. Grumpy you get in your car and soon find yourself in the middle of the morning’s traffic jam. When you arrive at work you start the rat race, the clock has become your biggest enemy. When the clock hits 5 pm you thank God and head for home. After you made your way trough another traffic jam you have dinner and talk about work with your spouse. After dinner you fall asleep behind the TV tired after a day of working for someone else. at 11 pm you go to bed only to start the same “ritual”again the next day.

Is this more or less you?

For most people this is life’s reality. They have been taught to go to school and get a good J.O.B. Only to find themselves worse off then they where after 40 years of hard labour.

It does not have to be this way…

More and more people are starting their own online business. No wonder because the benefits are great.

• Go to bed when you get tired and wake up when you get tired of sleeping
• Take the 2 second commute to your home office in your pyjama’s
• No employer looking over your shoulder, nobody to boss you around
• Set your own schedule and work when you want, wherever you want
• You decide when and how often you take a vacation, not your employer!
• Be financially free and have the time to enjoy life with your loved ones.
• Have peace of mind

These are just some of the benefits you will enjoy when you have a profitable online business.

Wouldn’t it be great to live your life this way?

You can, however there is no such thing as get rich quick. In order to build your new business you have to work to make it a success. But don’t worry, you wont be making 40 hour workdays, most people with successful online businesses work less then 10 hours a week. That’s the power of online marketing!

Are you willing to work to build an online business? Are you willing to help other people do the same? If so then you probably have what it takes to be an online business owner.If you do not then think about the possibilities and opportunities that arise when you own an online business and start working on those qualities you currently miss.

To your success!

Erol ALici

About The Author Erol Alici publishes Homebiztycoon Tips, a fresh and informative newsletter dedicated to supporting people like YOU! If you`re looking for the *best rated* home business opportunities, the latest time saving tools and helpful support from an honest friend in the business, come by and grab a F-R-E-E subscription today at: http://www.homebiztycoon.com

Best Recipes: Peanut Butter Cup Milkshake – by: Donna Monday

If you love peanut butter and chocolate, then you probably love peanut butter cups. You know, those sweet chocolate candies stuffed with peanut butter inside? Yeah, you’ve probably eaten plenty over the years just like I have.

Well, now you can have that same flavor treat inside a tall, cold glass when you make yourself a frosty Peanut Butter Cup Milkshake. Getting excited? I bet you are. And this is really easy to make, so get out your jar of peanut butter and that bag of peanut butter cups you’ve got stashed away in the cupboard. Try not to eat all the peanut butter cups before you finish making this (wink).

Peanut Butter Cup Milkshake

• 3 tablespoons chocolate syrup
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon peanut butter
• 2 – 3 scoops vanilla ice cream
• Peanut butter cups, chopped

Directions

Blend first 4 ingredients until smooth. Add peanut butter cups as you blend.

About The Author Copyright 2004 Donna Monday Easy to make – fun to drink http://www.1st-milkshake-n-smoothie-recipes.com