Mother's Day is coming up soon, but maybe you are not sure what you could get her that will surprise and thrill her. What you are trying to figure out is what is it about a gift that makes it special for your mother to receive, or in other words, why does your Mom like to get gifts?

There are several reasons that you can consider in your quest for the best Mother's Day gifts. One is that she will feel special when she knows that you have remembered her. This is a big deal in our fast-paced society, because it takes time to find a suitable gift for your mother.

Another reason why your mother likes to receive gifts is that she enjoys the surprise that happens when she opens the gift and looks inside. We all want pleasant surprises when it comes to gifts, so one way to make sure your Mother's Day gift is a hit is to focus on the things that she likes. Is your mother a gourmet cook? You could put together several of the food-related items that she would like together in gourmet Mother's Day gift baskets. If she enjoys the food of a particular region of the country, for example, your gift basket could focus on items from there. Let's say she loves creole cooking from the South. A gift basket with this creole theme could contain lovely items such as different rices, bottles of spicy pepper hot sauces, and jars of creole rubs for meats and poultry. A cookbook containing recipes from that area of the country would make a fantastic addition for a Creole-themed gift basket for your Mom.

Along with the pleasant surprise factor, you will also want to add in the unique aspect of the gift. She will flip when she opens your gift if it is personalized specifically for her and her particular tastes and likes, and this will show her that you care. Perhaps your mother has a hobby that would become the focus of a customized gift basket. If she is a gardener, you could include such items as garden gloves that really fit and do the job well, along with sunglasses and some fragrant sunscreen. Along with these, you might want to be on the lookout for beautiful small glazed ceramic pots in your Mom's favorite colors as another thoughtful item to include in your one-of-a-kind basket. If she is into vegetables, you could get her some unusual seeds of beautiful vegetables, such as runner beans that flower in colorful blooms, or even beautiful lettuces that come in deep red and variegated colors. This personalized touch is why your Mom loves your gifts.

It is that time of year again when we pay tribute to the single, most important lady in our lives--our mom. Mother's day is often a day filled with gifts and activities as we try to make it as special for her as possible. And because mother knows best, she probably does not even want you to go out for your way just to get her something extraordinary or expensive. This may be a good opportunity to introduce her to something simple yet novel--gourmet coffee.

Even if your mother stays at home and does not work, keep in mind that she is kept busy by numerous household chores. Giving her something complicated like electronic items may just end up with the gift being neglected because she simply does not have the time to use it. Food and beverage items are most likely closer to her heart especially if she spends a lot of time in the kitchen.

Most reputable coffee vendors pack their products in shiny, well-designed foil bags that make them elegant gifts. Bundling different types in a basket makes the gift even more classy. Aside from being simple and elegant, here are a few more reasons why gourmet coffee makes a wonderful gift for mom:

• Different flavors to choose from. There is always a coffee flavor to delight anybody's palate--from premium, exotic Hawaiin Kona coffee and Blue Mountain coffee to flavored coffee types to the regular house blends. The choices are many. Some vendors even offer a sampler package where you get a little bit of this and that.


• Brings out the scientist in mom. Some of the greatest discoveries were made in the kitchen. We will not even attempt to expound on this reason. Just leave it to mom to mix, match, blend, or shake the coffee and come up with one of her amazing kitchen creations.


• Make her learn something new. Notice how some of those fancy packs of coffee have an entire short story printed at the back? Give mom a gift basket and she should have some good reading especially when her favorite magazine subscription does not arrive on time.


• Leaves no mess in her kitchen. All she has to do is open up the bag, scoop out the appropriate amount, pour it in the coffee maker and that is pretty much it.


• Gives mom something to brag to her friends about. When mom goes out with her group or chats with her friends on the phone, she is sure to tell them about the great new coffee she just discovered, thanks to you.


• Something handy to serve her visitors. And you can be sure she will let her visitors know who gave her the wonderful coffee.


• A gift that keeps giving. Mom does not have to think too hard next time she has to give a gift to relatives or friends. She will just give the same kind of coffee you have given her, her relatives and friends will love her for it, and she will be the star.

So as you can see, nothing makes a more versatile gift than gourmet coffee. The challenge for you now is to find out what kind of coffee maker she has, whether she can grind the coffee herself and maybe whether she needs a new coffee mug. Once you have all that information, shopping is the easy part especially if you choose to do it online. Your knowledge and expertise in gourmet coffee will guide you along the way because this time around, you know best.

Do you miss that special touch of love that once filled your senses and invigorated your mind and body alike?
Has the romance taken the backseat while family, profession and other mundane tasks occupied all of your time?
Are you looking forward to bring back those sweet moments of love and romance back in your life?

Well you can definitely bring those glorious moments of the past back and you do not have to think hard to create a perfect evening for both of you. Let us make a fresh start with some time tested things – Candles. You can depend upon the age old practice of candle light dinner which can never get out of fashion.

Some of us today may think that candle light dinners are passé, but you just need to try it out once to feel the true magic. The twinkling lights of the candles rekindling the flame of love, the soft music of violin rejuvenating your soul, the sweet fragrance of flowers and aromatic candles and the perfect aphrodisiac food along with sparkling champagne or ruby red wine that would titillate the senses. All this together with the perfect ambiance is sure to give a new boost to your otherwise dull and dead love life.

For creating the right ambiance, you need to know the right things that would synergise to provide you the perfect setting. You can choose a very romantic place where the weather is soothing. Trust dim lights to spell a charm all around. Nothing can beat flowers when it comes to romance – select them wisely. You can choose his/her favorite ones or simply go for roses. Now comes the selection of candles. You can either choose aroma / scented candles or you can go for designer candles. Best would be to go for both – while the aroma would spread the fragrance, the designer candles would create visual delight.

Having set the basic requirements, you can get as creative as you can for your candle light dinner. But what's more important is love. Let the light of the candles reduce the distance between you two and reinstate the intimacy once again.

Nick Cassavetes is the son of one of America's most revered film directors. John Cassavetes (1929-89) made cheap cinema look intellectually respectable. He was pure jazz. His shooting style was fast and loose, and his plots were ugly. But he adored actors. He encouraged them to improvise. Some say he is the godfather of modern cinema.

The young Cassavetes has always been in awe of this magic. He inherited the desire. He inherited the stars. He's made expensive films. But precious little has genuinely clicked. Even by art-house standards, Nick's career has had to unfold under the most intimidating of shadows. He has been blessed with advantages his father could only dream about. He has secured parts as an actor in a healthy spread of Hollywood fare. He has directed glittering casts in films that perhaps promised more than they delivered. But Alpha Dog is topical and controversial; the story clearly shines with his own useful disillusions and search for artistic point. I suspect Cassavetes Sr might have been pleased.

It is the first film Cassavetes has shot in anger, and it rings worryingly true. The tabloid details are all too familiar. The director lays out the acts like a court case. There are subtitles announcing who is whom and an endless list of times and dates. This is because the film is the "fictional" mirror of a real crime that narrates the six-year pursuit by the authorities of an LA drugs king-pin.
A gang of white, rich kids is running rampant in the middle-class districts of LA. They are Eminem clones with respectable parents who are too busy to care. Emile Hirsch will never play a role as fabulously cruel for the rest of his career. He is Johnny Truelove, a drug dealer and would-be Tony Soprano. He has cash, girls and sacks of drugs. Most of all he has Bruce Willis (armed with a convincing hairpiece) as his father. We know Bruce is mean meat from the first scene. He is sitting in an armchair in his bungalow being interviewed about a murder that may or may not involve his wayward son. A tiff between the local Nazi nutter, Jake (Ben Foster) — who can't pay his crack bills — and the arrogant Johnny sparks an insane plot.

If the film wasn't based so closely on the truth it would be hard to swallow. It took two years for Cassavetes to picklock the legalities.

Johnny persuades trusted members of his gang to kidnap Jake's 15-year-old brother, Zach (a great and humbling performance by Anton Yelchin). The wisdom of this clumsy snatch is quite lost on Justin Timberlake. He is Frankie, and he has the attention span of a slug. He is Johnny's best friend, and the unwitting heart of the movie.

Johnny charges Frankie to guard the kidnapped boy. Frankie promptly forgets his jail duties. He likes Zach, and Zach doesn't mind being kidnapped. Frankie's dad has a huge swimming pool. The deck chairs are full of teenage totty, and the cast is contractually obliged to ignite a large Camberwell Carrot every ten minutes. Zach, the prisoner, has never had it so good.
Cassavetes assembles his chilly twists around Hirsch. The actor's eyes glitter with deadpan pleasure. His character Johnny is demonic. He might be Pinky from Brighton Rock, or a young James Cagney. But that's too exotic. Hirsch wears a back-to-front baseball cap, a mobile phone and a smirk. The cruelty is banal. That's the creepy power. It helps that his father is the neighbourhood bruiser. And it's a given that his No 1 desert island tune would be Guns and Bitches by Gangstas in the Hood.

This sheer lack of communication is the honest and electric shock. No one, including Willis, is immune. The real crime is that the entire morality of a generation is being tapped out by teenagers on mobile phones.

Cynics will doubtless fear Alpha Dog for all the wrong reasons. They will fume about its credibility. They will wonder about the phenomenal number of tattoos on show. They will link the casual horror of this film to Monday's murders in Virginia.

True, Alpha Dog is a film with no manners. But it has great nerve. What's truly impressive is how the splintered story is buried by individual performances. That shows great skill and brave directing. Timberlake is a revelation as the Pontius Pilate of thugs. His fealty is tragic. It twists his wits. It contradicts conventional wisdom. But that's the nature, and loyal demand, of friends. I think many teenagers will enjoy and understand this.

Wouldn't you love to know what's really going on behind the scenes in the oval office, the room where the lives of the people of earth are manipulated? Wouldn't you love to be a fly on the wall in the oval office? Not that flys can understand English but who's perfect?

There seems to be a web cam in every co-ed's dorm room in America so why isn't there one in the oval office? What are our puppet masters hiding from us? Why are American politicians campaigning for President 2 years before the election? Wouldn't a one month campaign be enough? Surely this campaign was designed to grind us all up into submission so that we will be too weak to oppose George Bush's imminent nuclear invasion of Iran. The minute he gets the funding he's going to push the button.

We have all been thrust into a media controlled real live Gitmo with threats that if we aren't good little boys and girls we will be forced to watch Lucy reruns forever, Bill and Hillary and Chelsea back in the White House for another 8 years, 3000 days. Is America that lame that all we can come up with is Bushes and Clintons? Is there nobody out there? Why do bad things happen to good people? What did we do to deserve this Chinese water torture?

It used to be said that religion was the opium of the masses. As long as people were promised eternal paradise in the future for chanting "Mumbo Jumbo" their rulers could basically get away with anything during their short mortal years. It is because our lives on earth are so short that we don't really worry about what we do to the planet while we're here. We have more important things to do. When Bill Clinton was in office no one knew where Afghanistan was. Now that America has occupied Afghanistan for five years, the source of 90% of the world's heroin, why haven't the troops uprooted even one poppy plant?

America is suffering from collective ADD. We have the attention span of a deer tick. The war mongers who are fleecing us now have purchased the media. General Electric bought NBC Universal. Why don't they put rainbow colored peacocks on their fighter jet engines. The 72 members of the Saudi Royal family who own the Middle East and pay one dollar a barrel to get the oil out of their ground and then sell 10 million barrels a day to America for $65 a barrel, bought the Bush family with the profits. George Bush senior sits on the board of the Saudi Royal family and the Carlysle Warmonger Corporation and the Saudi bin Laden family financed Junior's oil company. While nobody was looking the Saudi Royal family bought AOL Time Warner which owns CNN.

Like a magician the Sunni Saudi Royal family has diverted our attention from their latest orders to George Bush to capture Shiite Iran for them. MSNBC the propaganda arm of warmonger GE, and CNN the propaganda arm of our true masters the Saud boys have diverted our attention from their destruction of our planet by the burning of oil with a massive all out 24/7 propaganda entertainment blitz starring Anna Nicole Smith, Larry Birkhead, Howard K. Stern, Virgie Arthur, Dannielynn Smith, Daniel Smith, Judge Larry Seidlin and Dr. Joshua Perper. Can't Dr. Perper wear a hat? His head has freaked us all out in a classic brainwashing technique.

Once the NBC ratings department saw that we were losing interest in the Anna Nicole Smith saga they used their own script with Don Imus to divert us again. The mistake they made with the Anna Nicole Smith story was the guest list at the funeral. Where were President Bush and Laura? Where was Queen Elizabeth? Where was Helen Mirren? Who were these dress designers and haidressers? They couldn't even get Alec Baldwin and Kim Bassinger to attend. This was when we knew that we had been had.

These political shenanigans were not lost on the masters of suspension of disbelief the Hollywood producers and directors. Normally the film companies spend millions of dollars advertising their garbage before the film is released. Our country has massacred 1 million innocent Iraqi men, women and children and we are all glued to our television sets and computer screens being whipped into a collective hysteria by the boob tube pseudo Sigmund Freuds terrified that Ireland Baldwin is now going to suffer permanent debilitating psychological brain damage because her dad Alec Baldwin left her a nasty phone message. We have gone from agonizing over the long term damage Dannielynn Smith will suffer from womb methadone to this. Howard K. Stern has now been replaced in this Western by the new villain and scapegoat for all of our self inflicted problems Alec Baldwin.

Why did Seung hui Cho send his video to GE Universal NBC? If he wasn't sure that his actions would gain him world wide fame and immortality would the Virginia Tech students still be alive? Was Seung hui Cho not the classic example of demonic possession or was the murdering and vanity just an act?

Stephen Hawking is the world's leading scientist. Stephen Hawking recently said from his wheelchair while he was sipping a diet coke that we would soon all go extinct from nuclear world war 3, global warming or something we had not yet thought of. Well guess what. Albert Einstein said that without bees humans could only survive four years. The bees pollenate our crops. The AT&T Cingular cell phones are ruining the bees' navigational systems, they can't find their way back to their hives and half of the bees on earth disappeared over the winter. If the other half of the bees die next winter then our species is finished. Get ready for the huge cell phone companies to tell us that the evidence is inconclusive, just like the tobacco companies and then the oil companies.

On Halloween 1938 in the years leading up to world war 2 CBS broadcast a radio program called "The War of the Worlds." Martians landed in Grovers Mills New Jersey and began to take over New York City with heat rays and poison gas which the American military was defenseless against. The United States went into a national panic and in the aftermath Orson Welles shot to superstardom. Adolf Hitler remarked that the "American panic was evidence of the decadence and corrupt condition of democracy." It led him to believe that Americans were mindless weaklings and gave him the confidence to invade Poland. When you hear Mahmoud Ahmadinejad say that the Ireland Baldwin incident is evidence of how weak and far gone we all are you will know that he is about to invade Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Israel. The world will be plunged into nuclear world war 3 because of a publicity stunt for Alec Baldwin's new movie Lymelife about a teenager watching his family disintegrate as his father Alec Baldwin has an affair with a woman whose husband got bitten by a deer tick and got Lyme Disease and hid in the basement smoking weed but not inhaling.

I am a big fan of the Batman series, so I knew from the start I had to watch Batman Begins. Quite frankly, I didn't know what to expect, because I assumed that it could become repetitive and full of clichees. Boy were my expectations wrong. To my mind, this is the best movie of the Batman series.

The plot is centered on showing us how Batman started. Young Bruce Wayne witnesses his parents' death, but he is unable to revenge them. He leaves his home and travels to Asia, where he seeks the counsel of the dangerous but honorable ninja cult leader known as Ra's Al-Ghul, because he wants to learn how to fight injustice and turn fear on those who prey on the fearful. When Bruce Wayne (played by Christian Bale) returns to Gotham City, he finds it overrun by criminals and evil doers, and corruption had reached such a level that there were people plotting to remove him from the leadership of Wayne industries. When he finds a cave under his old mansion, Bruce assumes his new role and identity, Batman, a fighter for freedom and justice.

Besides the very interesting storyline, there are also several other aspects that turn Batman Begins into a great movie. The action is fast paced, the special effects used in the fights are extraordinary because unlike in other movies, they make the action seem real. The supporting cast brings in great names such as Liam Neeson, Michael Cain, Morgan Freeman, and Christian Bale is, to my mind, the best actor who has played Batman's role.

So, if you're a fan of Batman, or just want to see a very good action movie, I recommend that you see Batman Begins, you won't regret it.

My rating: 10/10

Peter Parker has finally found the balance he's longed for between his love for Mary Jane Watson and his responsibilities as Spider-Man.

The city of New York and it's citizens are at last coming around and appreciating everything he has done as his crime-fighting alter ego, and Peter is in the running for a staff job at the Daily Bugle.

However, everything Peter has worked for is about to unravel. Flint Marko, while fleeing prison, is caught in an accident that displaces molecules and is transformed into the Sandman, a new super villain who is able to change his body into any shape of sand he sees fit.

When Peter learns of a connection between The Sandman and the murder of his Uncle Ben, he will stop at nothing as Spider-Man to capture him. But before Peter can do so he discovers a mysterious black substance has turned his suit black, and has brought forth a darker side of Parker and Spidey nobody has seen before.

Peter begins to give into this new dark personality, starts to abandon the ones he loves the most and in turn his best friend Harry Osborn takes up his late father's mantle as The New Goblin. Quickly Parker begins a new romance with his lab partner, the beautiful Gwen Stacy but in doing so Peter sets off a rival Bugle photographer, a troubled young man by the name of Eddie Brock who is obsessed with Stacy. Little does Peter know the black substance has its sights set on Eddie else as well. Turning Brock into Venom, a foe that mirrors everything Spider-Man can do. Forcing Peter to become the strong-willed hero he has forgotten about if he hopes to defeat his greatest threat yet.

Peter Parker has finally managed to piece together the once-broken parts of his life, maintaining a balance between his relationship with Mary-Jane and his responsibility as Spider-Man. But more challenges arise for our young hero.

Peter's old friend Harry Obsourne has set out for revenge against Peter; taking up the mantle of his late father's persona as The New Goblin, and Peter must also capture Uncle Ben's real killer, Flint Marko, who has been transformed into his toughest foe yet, the Sandman. All hope seems lost when suddenly Peter's suit turns jet-black and greatly amplifies his powers. But it also begins to greatly amplify the much darker qualities of Peter's personality that he begins to lose himself to. Peter has to reach deep inside himself to free the compassionate hero he used to be if he is to ever conquer the darkness within and face not only his greatest enemies, but also...himself.

When it comes to Halloween party, it is all fun. One of the most well liked events of Halloween is carving pumpkin. Before you buy or pick your Halloween pumpkin from the local pumpkin shop, you first need to plan the pumpkin design. You can as well take the easy way out and but readily available pumpkin patterns, or you could further design your own.

Buying good pumpkin

The pumpkin's shape and size would decide what type of patterns and drawings you could use to it. If you are using pumpkin carving design then it is necessary to buy a pumpkin, which matches the stencil's size and requirements. If you don't plan on using a stencil then makes certain that your Halloween pumpkin is tall and huge enough for the sketchy design that you are carrying in your mind.

Look for a pumpkin that's not excessively ripen. It needs to be in the right color orange and not have any squashy spots or bruises. Look for a strong stem and you should never, ever lift the pumpkin by the stem. Sturdy or not, it's a small trip from "nice Halloween pumpkin" to splat.

Hold the pumpkin nicely and then smell it around the stem and top. If in case it smells very strong and "pumpkiny" then there is a possibility that it's too ripe, pass it up and hunt for another. Thump the pumpkin and pay attention for a solid "thunk". A void sound could be of bad news. Carry your Halloween pumpkin cautiously and move it home safely. A black-and-blue pumpkin rots very fast and may not make it during the Halloween season.

Preparing process

1. Cut a circle properly around the top of the pumpkin with no damage on the stem.

2. Remove the top stem and put aside.

3. Remove and throw away the pulp and seeds unless you would like to make Vampire Fingernail snacks for your Halloween party.

4. With a soft knife or same scraper, quietly scrape down the inside of the pumpkin to take away any moist flesh adhering to the sides. Be careful not to harm the wall of the pumpkin.

Next step is pumpkin stencil

1. Wipe the outside of the Halloween pumpkin so that it is empty of dust and any other foreign material. If you require wiping it down with a wet rag, permitting it to become methodically dry before moving on to the next step.

2. Tie the stencil to the side of the Halloween pumpkin, which you have selected to be the face. Tie the top left area first, then the top right, bottom left and only then bottom right. Bring the stencil out as you are tying the same.

3. Using an ice pick or a locate punch tool, slowly poke holes through the stencil and then into the pumpkin. Follow all the lines of the stencil cautiously. It' is simply like playing connect-the-dots games.

4. Check cautiously to make certain that you have moved the whole pattern and then take away the stencil. Keep the stencil practical to refer to in case you get puzzled while cutting.

You heard right. Not Sparta, but AFRICA! I finally watched Blood Diamond last night, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Danny Archer, Djimon Hounsou as Solomon Vandy, and Jennifer Connelly as Maddy Bowen. The movie is about the illegal trafficking of diamonds in Africa: diamonds are harvested in Sierra Leone, smuggled into Liberia, and from there, sold to the rest of the world. The film tries to take on a documentary approach, meant to inform the world about the horrors behind those pretty little stones, but who are they kidding. Leonard DiCaprio doesn't do documentaries. This movie is meant to entertain the masses. And that it does, quite well in fact; Blood Diamond was nominated for 5 Oscars and a Golden Globe.

Now onto the plot: Danny Archer is a white man that likes to smuggle diamonds. Solomon Vandy is a black man that likes to catch fish. Maddy Bowen is a white woman that likes to write stories. How do they all fit together? Let me tell you. Actually, I won't. Watch the movie and find out, because describing plot is painfully boring for me; I'm here to write about what I thought of the movie. But since I'm a nice guy, and some of you may not have seen the movie, I'll give a brief run-through of what happens. Revolutionary United Front (RUF) insurgents attack Solomon's fishing village. Guns are fired, villagers are killed. RUF kidnap Solomon's son, and Solomon is forced to become a slave. Imagine that, slavery in Africa. While slaving away near a diamond mine, Solomon finds a big diamond. He buries it. Government soldiers find the RUF mine, and more guns are fired. Solomon ends up in jail.

Archer trades illegal arms to RUF forces for diamonds. He tries to bring the diamonds across the Liberian border, but is caught. Archer ends up in jail. Archer and Solomon meet. Archer learns of the big diamond, and offers to help Solomon find his family in return for the diamond. Both agree, and the adventure begins. Oh, and somewhere along the way they meet Maddy Bowen, who exchanges her services as a reporter, including the ability to cut lines, obtain helicopter rides, and make peace with random African tribes, for Archer's secrets on diamond smuggling. That pretty much sums it up.

Note: Here come some possible spoilers.


The themes of the story are rather cliche. Archer fits the role of bad guy turns good guy. Initially, he is a ruthless, greedy, and all around shady character. The audience is led to believe that as soon as he has his hands on the diamond, he will get rid of Solomon. Or at least I was. Up to the very end, I kept thinking that Archer would pull a gun on Solomon at any moment. I even had a theory that when Archer handed the diamond over to Solomon, it was a fake one, and that he was still planning to betray him. Shows how much I believe in humanity. But alas, morality and humanity triumphs! Archer becomes a changed man, and gives up his personal dreams for the greater good of Africa.

This leads us to the next theme: destiny. Early on in the film, Archer has a conversation with his long time mentor, Colonel Coetzee, played by Arnold Vosloo. Coetzee points out that they are both tied to the land, namely Africa. They were born there, lived there, and will die there. And that's exactly what happens. Despite Archer's best efforts at getting off the continent, he does not make it out alive. He gets very close, and in fact, I think with the help of Solomon, he could have made it out of Africa. But instead, he surrenders to fate. Destiny, once again, prevails.

I thought the cinematography was nothing special. The special effects used were rather ordinary, with no particularly clever usage of the camera. Don't get me wrong, the film still looked great. It just wasn't very impressive in the technical sense. But the location and setting was another story. It was both impressive and fitting, really capturing the mood of the story. The rugged mountains and dense jungles show that Mother Nature still dominates Africa. Society has not yet taken hold; man is still wild and lawless. Blood is shed indiscriminately to fuel greed and lust for power. What results is a mixture of beauty and fear. Nature is beautiful in her raw form, while man is to be feared in his raw form. The amount of sheer chaos and disorder in Africa makes the average American, or me at least, feel uncomfortable. The fact that a person can do nearly anything with little or no consequence is a foreign concept. All of this lends a very exotic and dangerous feel to the film.

All in all, I would recommend seeing Blood Diamond. Its strong point is in the plot. The story is unique, and based on events that occurred in the not so distant past, thus making it seem somewhat plausible. There were, of course, a few exceptions; some of the scenes were so coincidental that I almost laughed. All I have to say is that Solomon is one lucky son of a gun. The characters were fairly well developed, so misfortunes for the main characters cause an emotional stir in the audience. It was a tragedy from the point of view of Archer, but Solomon and Maddy triumph. The film concludes that illegal diamond exporting and the exploiting of African peoples has been downsized, but still has not completely ceased.

The moral of the story, girls, is to stop demanding all those diamonds. By not asking for anymore diamonds, you can save countless African children. Forget donating a penny a day. When you buy diamonds, you support terrorists! Not to mention you can save us, guys, a pretty penny. In all seriousness, America is the largest consumer on the diamond market; nearly two-thirds of all diamonds sold are to the United States. If terrorist organizations are able to get their hands on even just a small portion of the multi-billion dollar industry, it will be enough to fuel further violence.

Oh, and what's with the tag line "TIA - This is Africa?" We already have "This is Sparta!" from 300. Both turned out to be very successful. This might be a trend. I wonder what the next "This is Fill in the Blank!" movie will be.

HDTV or high definition televisions are finally entering the arena where it can be considered mainstream. Literally every single day we see that the prices on high definition television sets are falling or even dropping. Luckily the available supporting technology like the digital video recorders has no problem handling HDTV programs.

Today, in at totally different industry, we see that the video game systems are using the advantage that high definition technology provides. And as a bonus we are seeing that more and more channels become available in the HDTV format now than ever before in the history of the technology.

While all of this is considered good news in the of the high definition television market a few of the giant technology companies are fighting a format war in the market for the HD digital video disc. As in the old days with the Beta-max vs. VHS format war there are now two opposing formats that both utilize the blue laser technology in order to encode enough data for a full length movie in high definition. And on top of that there are the bonus features and materials that are added onto a disc that's the same size as a normal DVD. The challenge is that most of the available players of today are only supporting one format and therefore won't play discs in the other format. You can say that the formats are incompatible.

Consumers avoiding the Beta-max failure

Due to this conflict there is currently a lot of trouble in regards to the widespread adoption of just one of the formats. Consumers can easily remember the last time there was a format war and where many people got stuck with a bunch of useless Beta-max cassette players and tapes. Therefore we are now seeing consumers being more cautious and are therefore holding out to see which of the two formats that comes out on top before investing into new technology.

The technical specifications of the two formats are pretty close to being equal, but the Blu-ray disc format from Sony is the winner in terms of the amount of data that it can store. On a disc from Sony you can store up to fifty gigabytes or as much as twenty five gigabytes on each side of the disc. On the other side you have rival of Toshiba with their HD-DVD format. It can only store fifteen gigabytes per side for a total of thirty, but it has the advantage in terms of players being sold about half the price of Blu-ray disc players.

Due to the fact that the Blu-ray format can store the most data, it would seem obvious that it would be the winner on purely technical grounds. However time has shown us that the market for these things isn't quite that simple. In order to win the battle both Sony and Toshiba are trying to win by making their technology more attractive than the other's which in the end will only benifit the consumers.

To make the picture complete one must know that there are some really big names in the electronics, software, and movies industry have gotten behind each of the two formats. On one side the huge company of Microsoft favors HD-DVD and offers an HD-DVD drive that attaches to its popular Xbox 360 gaming system

On the other side there are the major movie studios like 20th Century Fox that are currently releasing a lot of movies on Blu-ray disc while yet other movie companies are releasing movies on HD-DVD. Some of the major film producers are going the safe route and are releasing movies in both formats just to hedge their bets.

So when it looks like high definition television is ready to become mainstream the DVD format war is becoming more and more ugly every day and at this point it doesn't seem like there will be found any solution in the near future.

I don't know if anyone will remember this most unusual happening that took place sometime in the late 1950's in Monticello, Arkansas. Although I don't remember any special occasion, all the school is there, waiting to hear a small country and western band perform in the local high school gymnasium.

In those days the gym was located between the grammar school buildings on the east and the junior high school building on the west. The two-story red brick high school building was located nearby on the north with other miscellaneous buildings scattered about on the west side of town.

The gym, built several years before was constructed in the style of the day with steep wood bleachers that creaked with your every move and a small elevated stage area at the east end of a highly buffed hardwood floor. A basketball goal majestically hung at each end of the court leaving no doubt as to the purpose for the man made arena.

That day, the old building is bursting at the seams. There is not a crack to be seen in the row after row of anxious faces where you could place another single child. Teachers, faculty and a few staff members occupy several brown metal folding chairs, arranged at the east end of the hardwood floor.

Near the outside entrance between the stands and the stage, Mr. Ross, the superintendent of schools, stood with his arms folded, patiently waiting his turn to introduce the band and explain the purpose for everyone being there. Meanwhile, piece by piece, the band members set up their equipment under the east basketball goal, properly arranging the instruments and cables so that so that they are orderly and convenient.

The band leader, a very good looking tall individual wearing a white cowboy hat and sporting a wonderful dark tan, would seem to be every girl's dream. He smiles broadly as the stands erupt into a loud roar as each member of his group is recognized.

Once his supporting cast is introduced, the leader takes his turn and steps forward. He removes his hat and bows to the anxious throng of fans in the traditional cowboy manner, revealing a neatly trimmed but almost completely bald head.

In an instant the moment is changed. The audience is hushed and stunned. But just as quickly the singer whirls and sails his white sombrero through the nearby basketball goal and retrieves it on the first try. A trick obviously meant to take an over anxious audience's mind off his shinning pate and put it on his music, a part of him that also shined.

As he returned the hat to his head and struck a chord on his guitar, the band is again greeted by a loud uproar with everyone standing and clapping to show their approval for the band being there.

I'm sure we had a wonderful time listening to the events that followed, but what I remember most was the instantaneous change in tempo from the roaring applause to dead silence, just for a moment as the overhead lights bounced off the smartly dressed cowboy's head into our eyes and into our minds.

Once upon a time the cable TV has the first choice for watching TV shows as it was supreme to any other technology on the market at the time. Cable TV was spread out into homes all over the country. It had many advantages of which providing a wide selection of channels and doing it through air and without any affect caused by atmospheric disturbances.

They're doing something else. Paying for a specific program to have it run in the background would be ridiculous.

Sure the technology wasn't a hundred percent perfect and even at the time there were other ways of getting TV into the common homes. Some of these were "over the air broadcasting", satellite TV and video cassettes, but for TV watching populace (or the majority of them), cable TV had the right balance of practicality, cost and variety of programs and shows.

In the beginning of the 1990s there was a giant advance in satellite TV technology and all of a sudden it became cheap enough to have the ordinary people subscribe to hundreds of channels without having the break the bank. This instantly removed the ten foot antennae that a lot of people had planted in both the front- and backyards. Even the people living in the country side (where the cables didn't run and where "over the air broadcasts" couldn't reach) could now afford the same TV options as everyone else. How it when on is still a mystery, but somehow the concept of cable TV managed to survive the new satellite outburst. It has actually, with great effort, started to make something of a rebound as you read these lines. It'll be interesting to see how it is going to unfold.

Today's Biggest Threat


Today the biggest threat to both cable TV and satellite TV is the increasing capacity to transmit video over the Internet. The spread of computers in every home (and most homes have more that one computer already) and the increasing prevalence of high speed Internet connections has made people turn more and more to this solution. The average human spend hours behind the computer every day and the companies behind the technology are quite to take advantage of that. If they could just keep people a little longer that would mean more money for them.

So they reason for the advance in computer technology is simple and we can see that it is constantly getting better at processing the massive amounts of information that go along with broadcasting and streaming both video and music.

Get a Share of the Trend


More and more companies are positioning themselves to get their share of the trend. They do so by offering programs that can be instantly downloaded for free from their websites. To take an example, the company Starz (big movie provider) has put number of movies on their website to be freely downloaded and they are not the only ones that have thought of that idea.

You will even find companies that aren't into the TV industry and has no channels (e.g. AOL) that are still creating huge archives of older sporting events, music videos and TV shows and making them available to the broad audience online.

If you are wondering why all of this is a threat to satellite TV and cable TV providers, it is because the technology provides another option for people to watch their favorite TV shows and movies, which will largely cut them out of the grand picture. The TV people fear that if anyone can download any TV show that they want in order to watch it when they feel like it, then they won't bother to subscribe to a TV service. It might seem a little extreme but the companies are "better safe than sorry".

It might not end up in as bad a scenario as the cable companies prepare for and one major reason is that a lot of people like having the TV on simply as background noise while tus to most people.

Flowers play an important role during the Easter season. Some flowers are even called Easter flowers because of the significance and symbology they hold in relating to this time of year. Most common is the Easter lily; these white flowers represent the spiritual essences of not just the Christian holiday of Easter but the older more traditional meaning. They are the delicate embodiment of renewed life, hope and purity.

Easter lilies are the most frequently associated Easter flower and are a native of the Ryukyu Islands in southern Japan, however the US currently controls the growth market of the Easter lily. Currently the most commonly found and grown Easter lily is a variety known as Nellie white, this variety has the traditional Easter flower shape of large, white, trumpet shaped flowers. These Easter flowers are also often called the "white robed apostles of hope" and are found on altars everywhere during the Easter season.

Easter lilies are not the only Easter flowers, in the United Kingdom and Russia it's the pussy willow that is there traditional Easter flower. Another still commonly found Easter flower is the Narcissus. Commonly given flowers at Easter time are Daffodils, tulips and in Germany some types of red flowers, red symbolizing the blood of Christ.

Still out of all the Easter flowers the Easter lily reigns supreme mentioned many times in the bible, from the Garden of Eden to the Sermon on the Mount, the traditional Easter lily has been mentioned. Lilies have often played a significant role in allegorical tales and are related to motherhood and is closely associated with the Virgin Mary, paintings show the Angel Gabriel offering Mary lilies, when he came to speak to her passing the message that she was to the be mother of Christ. Some legends state that when the Virgin Mary's tomb was visited three days after her burial just like with her son, it was empty of her body and only bunches of lilies remained.

Lilies are often associated with the Annunciation, or the resurrection of the Virgin, tying them in closely with the spirit of Easter. Another reason why flowers are bulb flowers like the lily are closely associated with Easter is the type of care they require, bulb plants need a freeze in order to bloom successfully, this ties in perfectly with the traditional meaning of the Easter season. After the frozen time of winter they are renewed and reborn, just as people of ancient times believed spring to be. The pure white color and gentle tones remind us of the innocence and purity of renewed and new life.

As such Easter lilies make the perfect Easter flower. They bring together traditions of the old and the new, representing both worlds and means for the Easter holiday season. They are also a great Easter gift that keeps on giving year after year. Less often used flowers are the chrysanthemum, carnation, daisy and even sunflowers have found their way into the Easter flower tradition.

If I asked you to think of a modern movie star who has helped re-ignite the world's interest in kung fu, Jet Li would undoubtedly be high on the list. What might surprise you is how much of a struggle it has been for the forty-four year old to become the household name that he is today. I know that I had always thought that Jet Li was naturally graceful and powerful from way back when I first saw his amazing talent for melding numerous martial arts in the 1982 remake of Shaolin Temple. However, I discovered that this was far from the case. He was actually worked extremely hard by his mentor, the Wushu master Wu Bin, from the age of 8 at Beijing's Amateur Martial Arts School.

At one point, there was some doubt that he would ever develop powerful enough kicks and punches to become a champion in kung fu; Jet Li appeared weak. I was amazed to discover that Jet actually suffered from a serious protein deficiency as a child. This was largely due to the fact that his grandmother had been advised to give up eating meat on health grounds and the entire family had also become vegetarians. Once Wu Bin discovered this and introduced protein back into his diet, Jet Li began to develop rapidly.

By the age of 11 he had won his first gold at the Chinese National Wushu Championships and he went on to win it a further 4 times. He joined the professional Wushu team in Beijing. This is where he first gained international exposure and toured the globe, even performing for President Nixon on the White House Lawn. It was now that he was truly being appreciated for his intelligent combination of many styles of martial arts including monkey boxing, chanquan, taichiquan, gun boxing, tongbeiquan. Not only adept in kung fu; Jet Li was also superb with both sword and spear.

Rocky Law filmed a documentary, Dragons Of The Orient, showed the 11-year-old Jet Li on the White House lawn. However, I most enjoyed the more informative side of the film, especially how it revealed some of Jet Li's innovative training techniques. One that particularly stuck in my mind and I have used ever since, if slightly modified, is one exercise where he hangs numerous footballs from a tree then wheels and spins to strike each as it swings towards him.

You can probably name a number of Jet Li's films, so I will not bore you by doing the same. However, the most impressive for me has to be 'Hero', or 'Ying xiong' to give it its Chinese title. Although it had been made in 2002, it wasn't an International hit for another 2 years. If you haven't seen it then I recommend you buy a copy – you won't want to take a rental one back! It is a stunning Chinese martial arts epic and shows exquisite pieces of kung fu; Jet Li being outstanding. The film took a lot of time and hard work to make, especially as the director, Yimou Zhang, was a perfectionist. You will find it hard not to love this classic movie, I promise you.

Yoshi E Kundagawa is a freelance journalist. He covers the
mixed martial arts industry. For a free report on kung fu jet li visit his blog.

Normally I am a huge fan of Russell Crowe's work which is probably why I was so disappointed with this film. Its central plot revolves around Max Skinner (Russell Crowe) and his vacations to his Uncle Henry's villa and vineyard. Max has since moved on and is now dominating the financial world in London. However in doing so has he missed the point about what life is really about. The film sees him inheriting the vineyard off his now dead Uncle. His first thought is to sell it for the maximum profit possible.

Whilst visiting the farm things conspire to keep him there, with plenty of flashbacks to when he was a youth on the farm - played by Freddie Highmore who while a good young actor can not possibly be thought of as a young Russell Crowe - whilst the director may have wanted to show an awkward young child and Freddie Highmore fitted the storyline its a very long stretch of the bow to believe this weedy kid could grown into Russell Crowe's character.

The film has some nice subplots playing on the 'French' and the cinematographicy is like a collection of fine landscape shots however the story line is very slow and the film somewhat 'arty'.

The film made a loss and was savaged by the critics. Although Russell Crowe is a great actor is requires more than just that to make a good film.

Unless your very bored or have a thing vineyards I'd give this a miss.

The moral of the story - of what you are doing with your life is important and a question you need to ask on a regular basis.

A gift basket is versatile. It can be adapted for any occasion and the types and sizes of the basket items can range from the frugal and small to the extravagant and large. It all depends on the gift giver and the basket receiver. Try on a few of these ideas for Easter for the wee ones in your life.

Newborns are so small and adorable. They rely on mom and dad for everything that they need. Make life a little easier for new parents. The gifts in an Easter basket for babies are mostly for the parents and others who will be sharing in the care of the child.

Let's start with the layout of the basket. Depending on how many gifts you plan to give, make sure that the basket is deep and wide enough to accommodate all of the goodies. Keep in mind that the season is spring and the holiday is Easter. Instead of the traditional green grass that normally lines an Easter basket, fill the bottom of the gift basket with a layer of rolled up washcloths and baby bath towels in spring pastel colors. The towels should be lined up along the outer edge of the basket and the washcloths should fill the center.

Put in the bigger items starting at the outer edge of the basket and working your way towards the center. Include coffee mugs in pastel colors and a jar of instant coffee along with a box of sugar packets. Getting up in the morning is hard with a baby that wakes several times during the night. Slippers for mom and dad would help during those long nights. Include an outfit for baby that can be worn on Easter morning if they choose. If you have any pictures of baby, have them mounted in a lapel pin or brooch so that the proud parents can showcase their precious little one on Easter Sunday morning.

Young children get store-bought Easter baskets each year. Surprise them this Easter with a homemade creation that comes from the heart. Be mindful of the age of the child when choosing edible additions and toys.

The Easter gift basket itself can be use all year round after the goodies are gone. The basket can hold clothes, toys, or other items in the child's room. Instead of the usual grass, use pastel tissue paper to line the Easter basket. Cut several sheets into thin strips. Use the sharp edge of a pair of scissors to curl them.

Fill the gift basket with coloring books and crayons, small plush rabbits or baby chicks, and, depending on whether you are giving to a girl or a boy, action figures or small dolls. Since it is spring, the addition of a pair of plastic binoculars, a butterfly net, and/or bubbles would give children something to do during playtime outdoors. Fill plastic eggs with fun size packs of M&M® candies and small candy bars. Include small boxes of raisins and dried fruits for a change from jelly beans and marshmallow treats.

Easter gift baskets are an excellent idea for babies and children. The children receive a greater variety of gifts than they ever would from a pre-made basket. Gift givers have to do a little more work, but the smiling faces will make it worthwhile.

Valentine's Day has, for more than six hundred years, signified that special time for expressing one's love. It originated in recognition of St. Valentine, a bishop martyred in 270 AD. He was known for going from house to house, leaving food on the doorsteps of the poor. Valentine's Day became popular in England, Scotland and France, evolving in significance over the years. Chaucer and other early English poets wrote of the country "notion" that birds chose their mates on this day.

VALENTINE'S DAY


Muse, bid the morn awake,


Sad winter now declines,


Each bird doth choose a mate


This day—St. Valentine's;


For that good bishop's sake


Get up, and let us see,


What beauty it shall be


That fortune us assigns.

Drayton (1563-1631)

Valentine's Day, like love itself, was as popular among the lower classes as it was at many European courts. On St Valentine's Eve in Scotland, young people assembled and wrote the names of their acquaintances on slips of paper, placing the names of young men and maidens in separate bags. The maidens drew from the former, the young men from the latter, three times in succession (returning the names after the first and second drawings). Legend said that if one took out the same name three times consecutively, that person would become the future husband or wife.

A custom of the time also suggests that the younger people in a household were allowed, early in the morning, to catch some senior relative or a friend of the family, and utter the salutation, "Good morrow, Valentine." It was then expected that a present would be offered. On St. Valentine's morning, young British women would look through the keyhole of the house door. If they saw only a single object or person, they would remain unmarried all that year. If they saw, however, two or more objects or persons, they would be sure to have a sweetheart; but, if by chance they saw a cock and a hen, they might be quite certain of being married before the year was out.

The "Valentine" as a note or letter appeared in the 15th century—one of the first documented instances being a drawing of a knight and lady, with Cupid in the act of sending an arrow to pierce the knight's heart. The invention of the printing press and spread of printed materials had increased common literacy. So, by the 17th century, people of all classes were exchanging notes expressing various degrees of heart-felt admiration. And thanks to a formal postal system in the 1850's, American Esther Howland's first mass-produced Valentine cards, Valentine's Day had become quite a "showy affair."

While the profusion of Valentine's cards today is commonplace, it was the advent of the Romantic Movement in English literature at the end of the 18th century that laid the groundwork for just such a romantic holiday. The Romantic Movement took the passionless logic, rationalism and pragmatic spirit of the 18th century "enlightenment" and replaced it with emotion, romantic love, and appreciation of the beauties and wonders of the world. The grandeur to which the individual and all human kind were capable became anchors to a humanizing counter-reaction to the utilitarian hard reason, science and expanding industrialization. This was a major influence on the arts and would eventually lead to more emotion-based decorative motifs such as Rococo and Art Nouveau.

Enduring gifts such as jewel boxes with symbolic embellishments became popular. Cast in metal and finished with gold or silver, these elaborate boxes conveyed the wonderful message "I love you." Cupids, cherubim, hearts and other symbols were employed to render an unmistakable and permanent message that a pretty jewelry box was such a gift. Better than a letter or a singing telegram, a jewelry box in the boudoir, where it could be viewed daily, was a permanent testament and purposeful reminder of affection, as well as a delight to the eye.

When we think of Valentine's Day today, we envision Roses, Cupid with his golden tipped arrows, and Hearts be-decked with ribbons. What we may have forgotten, is the very rich history behind these and other symbols of love. For example, the heart has long been considered in many cultures to be the seat of human emotions representing energy, devotion, health, and the innermost self. In the earliest of times, the heart shape we now commonly accept, was seen on the seed pod of the Silphium plant—a long extinct type of fennel. This rare plant had medicinal uses that were so valuable that the Greeks believed it to be a gift from Apollo. Hearts as symbols of "love" date from the late medieval period.

The Rose, "Queen of Flowers," has been a favorite throughout history for its perfect beauty. The rose was native to Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. It was diligently cultivated by the ancients, especially by the Romans. Stories abound regarding the special-ness of this flower: According to a fable, the color of the red rose may be traced to Venus. When she was hastening to the relief of her beloved Adonis, her delicate foot was pierced by a thorn that drew blood. A legend of St. Francis of Assisi relates that as he was once shivering in his room in the depths of winter, a demon whispered in his ear suggestions of ease and luxury. He fought the temptations by going outside and rolling in the snow on a heap of thorns. From these thorns, sprinkled with his blood, sprang Roses of Paradise. Still another legend suggests that Cupid, while leading a dance in heaven, stumbled and overturned a bowl of nectar which, falling upon the earth, colored the rose. Has there ever been a flower which so universally and constantly represents one idea—that of love—as the rose? It is still the ultimate emblem of true affection, love, poetry and beauty.

Cupid is another popular image of love. Today, we most commonly remember him from both Greek and Roman mythology as the son of the Goddess of Love. In those times of mythology, there lived a king whose three daughters were world-renowned for their matchless beauty. Psyche, the youngest daughter, was so lovely that the king's subjects offered to pay homage to her, rather than Venus as the Goddess of Beauty. In her jealously, Venus commanded her son Cupid to slay Psyche. Armed with his bow and arrows tipped with a deadly poison, Cupid set out to do his mother's bidding. At nightfall, Cupid crept noiselessly into Psyche's room and approached the couch where she slept. As he was about to administer the poison, a moonbeam fell upon her lovely face and caused Cupid to pause in surprise. As he did so, one of his love arrows pierced his own rosy flesh, and he fell deeply in love.

Even before the Romans and Greeks, some saw Cupid as one of the most ancient of the deities, and thought that he had no parents, but succeeded immediately from Chaos. Others thought that Night (Nox) produced an egg which, having hatched under her wings, brought forth Cupid who, with golden wings, immediately flew throughout the whole world. Cupid was usually represented naked, to show that love had nothing of its own. He was armed with a bow and quiver full of darts to show his power of the mind, and crowned with roses to show the delightful but transitory pleasures he bestows. Sometimes he was depicted blind, to denote that love sees no faults in the object beloved. He was always drawn with wings to symbolize that nothing is more fleeting than the passion he excites.

It was in the 16th century that angels were first pictured as humans with wings. Angels were considered to be messengers of God. At that time, "cherub" was the proper name of an angel but, by the 18th century, cherubs came to be represented as beautiful and innocent children (or child's head) between a pair of wings. Their celestial and protective features were "a natural" as a decorative motif on Valentines.

Another formerly common symbol of love, now mostly reduced to a symbol of remembrance, was the Poppy. It seems to have a long tradition of symbolizing fertility, regeneration and renewal, as well as remembrance. Another aspect that makes the poppy important is its very commonness. It grows virtually anywhere, and its juice was frequently administered to induce sleep and relieve pain. The ancients, who regarded sleep as the great physician and consoler of human nature, crowned Morpheus, the God of Sleep, with a wreath of poppies. The many seeds of the poppy emphasize its fertility, and nature's constant cycle of rejuvenation—in other words, the essence of memory and hope.

All these symbols, the Rose, Cupid, the Heart, Poppies and Cherubs, lavishly adorned the art metal jewelry boxes of yesteryear. There was heartfelt meaning attached to these precious gifts, and they were received as significant symbols of enduring love. A lady's jewel box was one of her most cherished possessions. For that reason, we still find that these lovely boxes have been held in families for a hundred years! Now we can better understand why.