Film Review: the Good Shepherd (2007)
June 9, 2008 by Shadow · Comments Off
Having not directed a film since 1993’s A BRONX TALE, director Robert De Niro comes back with an interesting although flawed take on one man’s perspective on how the C.I.A. came to be in the United States in his new film THE GOOD SHEPHERD.
Matt Damon as Edward Bell Wilson gives one of his most stoic and honest portrayls of a man who gives up everything he wants in order to do and be what other people expect of him. It’s about a man who will give up everything personal in his life for country and family. Although Damon does a wonderful job it is his supporting cast which are not up to par. Although the cast is rounded out with such markee names as Angelina Jolie, William Hurt, Billy Crudup, Michael Gambon, Timothy Hutton, Joe Pesci, and De Niro himself, none of these characters are fully realized and they all seem just as stoic and card-board-like as Edward Bell Wilson. Only the scenes with Tammy Blanchard as Laura, Edward’s true love that he sacreficed in order to be the man everyone expects of him, give us a sense that there is something deeper to Edward but these scenes are few and never fully allow us to see into the character long enough for us to see him as “human,” which could be the point that De Niro is making in the film - that in order to work in the secret society of the C.I.A. and the government you have to sacrefice everything that makes you human. The weaker scenes involve Edward’s son when he is older and wants to follow in his father’s footsteps by also joining the pre-C.I.A. Skull & Bones Society.
The film is also badly paced especially in the second act where the film seems to drag and meander along with scenes that tread the same or similar info as previous scenes.
THE GOOD SHEPHERD was a nice try by De Niro and its a big step ahead of his previous film. I just hope he doesn’t wait another thirteen years before doing the next one.
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Nokia 6500 Slide - the Most Popular Phone in Nokia 6500 Series
June 6, 2008 by Shadow · Comments Off
Nokia 6500 is a new member of the elegant series Nokia mobiles. It’s a smart, fashionable and sophisticated Nokia model. Its perfect design is easily noticeable as it looks quite compact and gives a smooth feeling in hand. Now let us see what exactly it offers for us. So far as its design is concerned it is elegantly built with soft metal with transparent surfaces. It is a triband mobile phone equipped with video recorder and 5 mega pixel camera. Video recorder with camera facilitates you the opportunity to catch everything which catch your eyes. This feature is a good combination of beauty and style as you can store the images and movies you want to keep close to you. Its 65 k color screen is big enough to capture the pictures and you can always share it with your family and friends.
Reading, browsing and messaging on this hand set is really enjoyable with its 16 M color screen as it offers a quality with class. Equipped with java TM technology Nokia 6500 have several other features like animated games and other interactive applications. So you can always load many more games of your choice and if you don’t want them in your set just use the delete option and get rid of them. Are you a music lover? If yes, then be happy and enjoy the FM radio, an integrated part of this handset.
Moreover, you have one more reason to be happy as it also works like a push to talk small walkie talkie like. A set with new introduction, this feature facilitates you to interact with more than one individual at a time by just pushing a button. This facility helps you facilitate your business smoothly or at least keeps your friend circles at the helm of affairs.
Nokia 6500 is having triple band facility of 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz that helps you reach out to your friend and well wishers staying abroad, be it USA, Europe or any other place on the earth. Moreover this Nokia model also supports internet, GPRS, MMS and short messaging services making it easy to be online any time and anywhere while receiving and sending text and picture messages.
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Hypnotherapy Home Study Course for Boosting Confidence
May 29, 2008 by Shadow · Comments Off
Hypnotherapy home study course is one of the hottest trends today. Even popular figures (like Matt Damon and Tiger Woods) have expressed their own fascination with the benefits they get from their own hypnotherapy home study course programs. Multinational corporations such as IBM, Microsoft and Coca Cola have also enrolled their people on hypnotherapy home study course to boost their confidence and productivity.
All these stand testament to the benefits of learning self hypnosis from a credible source.
Man have always look for ways to grow and evolution has been our survival’s main driving force. It is therefore no surprise that a lot of us are now turning to various methods looking for ways to “evolve” and to go beyond the competition. Physical dominance is enough for the cave men during their time, but in today’s ultra-competitive field we must all learn how to develop our inner strength to maintain an edge. That’s practically why more and more people are looking for ways to boost confidence, develop more focus, and fortify inner resilience to pressure and challenges.
These factors set the stage for self development thru self hypnosis. Initially we had the time to take part in actual classes and sessions, but as mentioned above time is a luxury most people don’t have prompting many clinical hypnosis practitioners to create hypnotherapy home study course programs tailored to fit the current always-on-the-go social trend.
One of the best hypnotherapy home study course I tried was from Dr. Brian Alman (considered by many as a pillar of clinical hypnosis industry). To avoid having this article labeled as a shameless plug, I’ll keep my thoughts regarding his hypnotherapy home study course programs to myself and instead focus on Dr. Alman’s beliefs and insights.
According to Dr. Alman, the root of humankind’s current detachment from the inner self goes deeper than most of us think, and that the reason most people are now yearning for inner growth is because our inner selves are also yearning to empower us. Restlessness, worrying, the feeling of emptiness are all signs we’re missing our inner half, and that our own inner self is missing us.
Confidence and self-esteem are among the inner power hardest to gain, why is that? Dr. Alman uses these to prove his point.
Why is it that some of us are confident and some of us are not? Why is it we feel secure with some aspects of our life and some people, yet not others? And why is it we doubt our ability to accomplish things or our decisions, whether it be choosing the color of a new T-shirt or deciding which job to go for?
If you have feelings of self-doubt or in some way lack self-confidence, don’t worry, you are not alone! These feelings seem to drift over all of us from time to time, like a dense, damp fog! But why is that? One of the reasons is that most of us as children heard many more “no’s” than “yes’”, many more “don’ts” than “do’s”, so subsequently, most of us as adults, find it much easier to put ourselves down than accept ourselves as we are.
Having had our heads filled, at such an impressionable age, with so many directives, instructions, opinions and criticisms, we feel unsure how to make decisions for ourselves, or we feel that the way we do things is somehow “not quite right” or “not good enough”. As a result, we learn to depend on others to tell us how we’re doing, whether we’re doing well or whether our appearance is alright. Thus, our view of ourself becomes outer-directed; our self-image, self-esteem and levels of competence, become dependent on those around us.
Essentially, as long as we depend on others to boost our confidence, we will continue to be tossed around by the waves of opinion. Maturity means starting to consult ourself instead of looking to others for approval. It means deciding our own levels of competence and formulating our own self-image by looking within, rather than looking to others outside of us to determine our self-esteem. It means measuring ourself with ourself to find our own personal best, rather than comparing ourself to others. And it involves setting aside all the old patterns of behavior we have previously followed and learning new scripts instead.
The fundamental keys to dropping self-doubt are self-exploration, self-reliance and self-trust. It’s all about being your own counselor, being your own support team, and encouraging and rewarding yourself for jobs well done. It’s about you depending on you, to tell yourself how attractive, capable, and accomplished you are.
Regaining self-confidence also involves being honest with yourself, about realistically assessing your capacities and limitations, which means not just blocking out negative comments from others, but looking at your very own negative self-talk. Self-confidence is not about being arrogant, conceited or having an inflated ego, it’s simply about accepting, supporting and loving yourself.
If you find yourself nodding in agreement to Dr. Alman’s observations, then you’ve taken your first step towards inner growth thru self hypnosis. If you’re reading up to this point, then it might be a good idea to take part on your own chosen hypnotherapy home study course.
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Poker is Cooking
May 27, 2008 by Shadow · Comments Off
Poker is cooking. While it is certainly a lot sexier to compare poker and coitus, such a comparison leads to an ungainly conclusion – do you really want to think of 10 un-showered old guys sitting in a smoky room and sex at the same time? Cooking is the better metaphor.
• First of all, poker is a game of patience just like cooking. Even for the most aggressive of players, most of your time at the poker table is spent folding your cards and waiting. Likewise, most of your time spent cooking is time spent waiting for the right opportunity to fuss with your ingredients more.
• Once the time is right, a lot of things happen all at once. In poker, you’ll fold five hands in a row then pick up pocket tens. Immediately, you have to factor in your table position, how many players are already involved in the pot, who those players are, how many chips you have and THEN you have to figure out how to bet. Same thing goes for cooking: you wait and wait for your skillet to heat up then you have to add two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, three minced garlic cloves, pinch of salt, a teaspoon of cumin, a little chili powder, a bay leaf, then sear the chicken but flip it before it burns, then add the white wine then simmer, cover… and wait for another twenty minutes.
• A card room or a casino works a lot like a restaurant. First thing that you do is walk up to the person at the counter and put your name on a list to sit down. Then you go wait at the bar for them to call you.
• Finally your name is called and someone in a suit leads you to a chair at a table. Once you sit down, someone even brings you chips just like at a Mexican restaurant.
• The dealer is your server. If you cook at home, everyone usually serves themselves, but once you enter the friendly confines of a restaurant the server is there to speed your meal along and take care of any special requests you might have. The dealer will take care of your table in much the same way. The dealer also expects to be tipped.
• While you can make most any dish in most any place provided you have the ingredients, cooking tends to be very different in different parts of the world. From the beans and rice of Costa Rica to the high priced gourmet of LA to the fried everything of Great Britain, food changes from place to place. So too does poker: go to Costa Rica and expect to get involved in slow Limit Hold’em and Stud, go to LA and you’ll be involved in high stakes action-packed No Limit Hold’em and go to Great Britain and get ready to play Pot Limit Omaha.
• Whether you play in a home game or go to out to eat, it’s always nice to do it on a neatly set table.
• Great chefs and poker masters come in all shapes and sizes – from the Mario Batali/Doyle Brunson type to the Gus Hansen/Bobby Flay type. Body type is no pre-requisite for either activity.
• Movies about both tend to be awful. If you are looking for a truly awful poker movie, and there are so many to choose from, check out “All-in” with Michael “Mr. Blonde” Madsen. For a recent wretched cooking movie rent “Spanglish” with Adam Sandler. On the other hand, for a good poker flick check out the seminal “Rounders” with Matt Damon and Edward Norton. And for fine food cinema you can’t go wrong with Stanley Tucci’s all-time great “Big Night”.
• At the heart of all cooking there is a simple equation – change in temperature + food = cooking. Every last bit of food you ever eat has been through some derivation of this equation. At the heart of all poker there is an equally simple equation – cards + bet = pot and every cent you win or lose in poker has been done under this equation’s umbrella. Any beginner can pick up a get a seat at a table and win a pot just like any ten year old can make scrambled eggs.
• Of course, to master either takes a lifetime.
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The Boss Endorses Barack Obama
May 26, 2008 by Shadow · Comments Off
Folk rock legend Bruce Springsteen endorses Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama. The musician recently posted a letter on his official website that stated his support for the Illinois Senator. The endorsement was posted before a debate between Hillary Clinton and Obama in Philadelphia.
In Springsteen’s letter to fans, he said he supported Obama because he reached out to the same demographic of the USA that the folk rocker’s songs reached out to. The musician believes that Obama’s ideals and dreams for the country reflect his own. He even criticized the detractors of the presidential hopeful for taking attention away from important issues to distract voters.
Bruce Springsteen is only the most recent celebrity to jump on the Obama train. Since the beginning of the caucuses and primaries, all presidential hopefuls have received both financial and vocal support from various celebrities. While some celebrities are content to host fund-raising events or send in checks, others accompany their candidate to public outings and debates and speak out about why they chose a candidate.
The musician is known for his eloquent lyrics and soulful music that deal mostly with the problems of America. His songs have been tied to progressive politics as his lyrics express the concerns of ordinary middle class men and women to make ends meet. Known as “The Boss”, Springsteen is recognized as an icon for the blue collar demographic and it is believed that this will help Obama connect more with those voters. Springsteen also endorsed Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry in the 2004 elections.
Senator Obama has had a lucky string of celebrity endorsers who passionately speak for him and draw attention to his causes and ideals. Most notable among Obama supporters is the talk show host, media mogul, entrepreneur and philanthropist Oprah Winfrey. The internationally known “Queen of TV” publicly spoke about her reasons for endorsing Obama. She sincerely expressed her belief that Obama should be the next president.
However, Obama is not the only one with big names backing his campaign. Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York also has star power enlisted in her campaign. Some prominent Clinton endorsers are Madonna, Barbara Streisand, Steven Spielberg, poet Maya Angelou, the novelists Anne Rice and John Grisham, Quincy Jones, America Ferrera of Ugly Betty fame and musicians 50 Cent, John Mayer and Jon Bon Jovi.
It has been a bit more difficult for Republican candidate John McCain to get endorsements from the predominantly Democratic world of show business. However, he did manage to garner some support from celebrities. Action stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone, actor Tim Selleck and Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling are some of the names that support the Arizona senator.
Other celebrities who have endorsed Obama are George Clooney, Will Smith, Halle Berry, Matt Damon, Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas, Scarlett Johannsen, Morgan Freeman, Usher, Stevie Wonder, Sharon Stone, Ben Affleck and former basketball player Charles Barkley.
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Screen Actors Guild Awards a Good Predictor of Academy Award Winners
May 23, 2008 by Shadow · Comments Off
If the past Screen Actors Guild award ceremonies have taught us anything, it’s that influence can never be underestimated. Take last years Academy Award winners, for instance. In 2006, the Screen Actor’s Guild appointed the film Crash (starring Matt Dillon and Sandra Bullock) as the best outstanding performance by an ensemble cast in a motion picture. Crash went on to win the Academy Award for best picture, beating the odds on favorite Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain (starring Heath Ledger and Jack Gyllenhaal).
Though actors constitute a small portion of the 6500 plus Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, they do remain influential in the industry as a whole. This is true for both their votes as part of the SAG constituency as well as for their opinions on the productions their peers are involved with. Though they were once without any real voice in the motion picture industry, the right actor is now just as likely to help a project get off the ground as the director or the producer. Films are cast with the movie going public in mind, and those who fill theaters can not only command top dollar, but loosen the pockets of the production companies behind the films as well.
This year, the exclusion of the popular film Dreamgirls (starring Beyonce Knowles, Jennifer Hudson, Eddie Murphy and Jamie Foxx) from the Academy Award nominee list has left industry insiders clamoring for direction. This means that in all likelihood, the SAG awards may hold even more influence than usual. Though Dreamgirls is nominated for best ensemble performance by a cast, there are plenty of other tempting choices for voters this year. Should another film win, its chances of being best picture at the Academy Awards are greatly increased.
Other films nominated for the category include Emilio Estevez’s Bobby (starring Anthony Hopkins, Helen Hunt, Lindsay Lohan, Harry Belafonte, Heather Graham, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, to name a few, Martin Scorses’s The Departed, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Wahlberg, Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson), the indie film Little Miss Sunshine (starring Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, Abigal Breslin and Alejandro G as well as “Babel”, a multi-location, interweaving story of love and adversity with a cast of relative unknowns.
Though it’s uncertain as to which film is the definite frontrunner, the film that wins will either gain ground in the race for Best Picture at the Oscars or, in the case of Dreamgirls, solidify the notion that the film was erroneously overlooked.
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How to Put Movies on Iphone
May 2, 2008 by Shadow · Comments Off
If you own an Iphone, you’ve probably already worked out how much fun it is to use it to watch movies-it has that nice big screen, and the sound quality is surprisingly good too. Now imagine if you knew how to download Iphone movies without having to pay.
As you may imagine, downloading Iphone movies for free can be very difficult unless you know exactly how to do it – not only that but you can get yourself into some serious trouble if you download from the wrong place. Use the following guidelines to help you avoid any problems.
1-Take the time to find a site you can trust. Hopefully your downloading relationship with this website will be a long and fruitful one, so it makes good sense to pick a site you can live with. A good way to find a reputable site is to ask around, or maybe search on the internet for some reviews or customer points of view.
2- Always keep in mind that many websites will be falling over themselves trying to get you to visit them. What’s more, many of them won’t be too subtle about it, so you’ll be faced with a million popups in some cases, and in most cases it can prove very difficult to negotiate your way out of there. Generally speaking, you are usually better off just steering clear of sites with lots of popups like that.
3-Forget about using the torrent sites, P2P sites or whatever they are called these days. There have been numerous famous sites like this over the years, with several being taken to court etc. The simple fact is that downloading from sites like this is completely against the law in most places. If you do insist on getting your free downloads from somewhere like this, please be sure to check all applicable laws for your area, as people really do go to jail for things like this. Is it worth jail to get the new Matt Damon?
4-The last tip for downloading Iphone movies is to get ready to pay. There are a few new sites around these days that will give you access to huge download databases, and totally free downloads, but not before you pay their admin fee. This fee usually gives you totally free downloads, and sometimes it lasts for your whole life too, so it’s pretty good value. As with anything, there are good and bad sites like this, so it’s definitely worhwhile for you to look around before you take the plunge.
These tips can really help you build up quite a sizeable Iphone movie collection, but only if you are smart. Don’t break the law, and make sure your computer is secure- happy downloading!
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Nokia N95 Black 8gb Mobile Phone - the Most Popular Mobile Phone at Present After Nokia N95
May 1, 2008 by Shadow · Comments Off
If you want an example of true master class and a phone which is complete in itself I would say only one name and its Nokia N95 black. Black word doesn’t specify any other model of Nokia N95 8GB phone but the colour black. Since black is beautiful, elegant, sexy and adorable the colour suits the high end mobile very much.
There are very few mobile phones which come in black colours and with such complete elements in it to change the life you look. Nokia N95 black can do it for you. You will have a complete different experience and your lifestyles will definitely changed. Cool guys you know you are cool! But still there is less attention, handle a Nokia N95 black and see the change in the next party. You are noticed among the crowd while you talk in the phone. There are many key features of this high end mobile phone which we will discuss a little later. Lets talk about some contract deals offered by various service providers. This marvelled by all phone is offered by different service providers with lucrative deals. You can browse the web and find a deal suitable to your need and budget. There are so many benefits from this contract that you will get. First you get this very expensive phone is a price which you will find it difficult to believe. Then you have offers of discounted call rates, free SMS, roaming and renewable contracts. All these facilities depend a lot on the plan you want to take.
Now when we talk of features its very difficult to start and to end. There are so many features in Nokia N95 black that one finds it really hard to believe that a device can offer so much. All right lets dissect the phone into parts and see what are the main features of the phone leaving the smaller ones. The major features of this phone are 5 mega pixel camera, powerful multimedia, high end gaming, faster internet connection, built integrated GPS and built in AGPS and for official purpose document viewing of files like word, PowerPoint, PDF and excel.
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The Magnificent Gift of New Videos This Christmas Season
April 22, 2008 by Shadow · Comments Off
Think about presenting a DVD movie on this Christmas occasion. It sounds as a nice option than many. For, very few things can better entertain people than a favorite DVD movie. When you want entertainment without leaving the comfort of your home, DVD movies become a favorable option over theatres. To entertain people during the coming festive season, there are many new DVD movies entering the market. Here, we will have an overview of some DVD movies that can add value to your movie collection.
My first choice to discuss here is the movie-?Pirates of the Caribbean: At World?s End?. This movie has a good star cast including Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley and Geoffrey Rush. This is the last one of the trilogy series and it revolves around saving Jack Sparrow, organizing a pirate counsel and the final battle against the East India Trading Company and Davie Johns. This blockbuster movie has everything to entertain the fans of the first two pirate movies. The visual effects, acting and overall picturisation has made it a good and must watch movie. It can be a nice addition to your DVD collection.
?The Bourne Ultimatum? comes second in our list of DVD movies that has to be collected for this festive season. This is also a final movie in a trilogy series. In this movie, matt Damon plays the role of Jason Bourne who realizes himself in great trouble related to his past and starts in search of certain answers. In the search, he gets caught in the middle of a state-sponsored murder plot, which becomes a big problem for him. The interesting screen-by-screen events are a must watch.
?Superbad? needs your attention as the third best movie that has to be placed in your collection of DVD movies. For, this movie can entertain adults through the entire holidays. The movie revolves around two best friends who have to separate from each other after finishing high school and to enter different colleges. They like to have a last party before going away. But, they are not the kind of smart to get the booze for the party and make them look cool. This has become one of the best comedy movies and a nice one to pick for entertainment. You better get this DVD to have full fun this time and you will surely know the reason behind people saying that ?McLovin rules?.
Many free movies are available on Internet today. If you need entertainment in spite of not having enough money, you can go through vast number of websites that are providing free movies to entertain people. It will be a great fun to watch movies for free without paying money. You can watch a plenty of movies that you didn?t in the past and entertain yourself without having to bother about money.
But, if you want Hollywood movies, you need to realize the fact that only few websites offer Hollywood movies that are old and do not come under the protection of copyright laws. Also, these kinds of movies are a bit older ones. So, if you want full entertainment, you better get new DVD movies that are entering the market to make your moments filled with joy.
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Nokia N95 8gb Black - the Most Appealing Phone Around After Nokia N95 Silver
April 10, 2008 by Shadow · Comments Off
The all time appealing color Black of Nokia N95 Black adds on to the classy looks and enhances its visual appeal along with the 2.8 inch QVGA display, 16m colour TFT screen. Nokia: the quality service provider of all times in the arena of mobile phones merges technology and style with precision through











