Highly Overrated Actors on TV

February 11, 2012 / mutong posted in Style / No Comments

David Spade
Just Shoot Me! before I do, as David Spade keeps attempting to suck the joy out of television! Saturday Night Live showed us the amusingly sarcastic side of David Spade. After Rules of Engagement, the audiences decided that they have had enough versions of his sharp-tongued, dwarfy and skirt-chasing characters.

David Caruso
Take a bow, Lieutenant Horatio Caine, as David Caruso enters this list with honors. He chooses to portray every complex emotion by wearing and removing his sunglasses. To that, he adds some crass one-liners delivered in a deep monotone. Crime solving on CSI: Miami hits a hilarious low.

Sarah Jessica Parker
Sex and the City may have created a sartorial revolution, but the equine-faced Sarah deserves a lot of flak for portraying the thirty plus Carrie as a giddy sixteen year old. Thank heavens for the Vivienne Westwood outfits and the Manolo Blahnik footwear that shifted the spotlight from Ms. Parker’s juvenile attempts at acting.

Jennifer Love Hewitt
This Ghost Whisperer had her job all sorted out. A maximum of two expressions fleeted across Jennifer Love Hewitt’s face throughout the time the show was aired. A collective sigh of relief was heard in some quarters when this show was abruptly pulled off the air.

Miley Cyrus
A chubby face that sings in a high school, Miley Cyrus fulfills the requirements for being a preteen idol. As far as her acting abilities are concerned, the less said, the better. Let us hope she manages to gain some of that when she loses her baby fat.

Charlie Sheen
Was Charlie Sheen actually acting on Two And A Half Men? If not for the laughter track, it seemed like a reality show, giving a glimpse into his personal world. The slow speech, the lost eyes looked so natural, it could be termed ‘method acting’, except for the fact that it was not.

Ashton Kutcher
The role of Michael Kelso on That 70′s Show embodied the spirit of Ashton Kutcher. He followed it with Punk’d, which reinstated the fact that Ashton Kutcher equalled bad television. He seemed to have done a huge favor to television audiences by moving over to the big screen. We can now touch our remote without the fear of getting punk’d. Rejoice!

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Basics of Scales in Music

December 30, 2011 / mutong posted in Writing / No Comments

Before understanding the construction of modes in music, few concepts related to musical scales need to be understood.

♫ Chromatic Scale
When 12 musical notes are used subsequent to each other, the sequence becomes the chromatic scale for the first note in that sequence. The first note is called the Root.
Example: The chromatic scale for C is: C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B
♫ Diatonic Scale
A scale of seven notes which has 6 major or minor triads and one tritone is called a diatonic scale. Triads are three alternate notes and tritones are three augmented or diminished notes.
Example: The C diatonic Scale is: C D E F G A B
♫ Steps for Key Construction
The key construction for musical notes involve 12 steps: R – m2nd – M2nd – m3rd – M3rd – P4th – D5th – P5th – m6th – M6th – m7th – M7th – R
Here ‘R’ stands for ‘Root Note’, ‘m’ stands for ‘minor note’, ‘M’ for ‘major note’, ‘P’ for ‘Perfect’ and ‘D’ for ‘diminished’. The musical notes in this formula increase successively by half note till the octave.
♫ Intervals in Notes
Scales or modes are formed by taking any musical key as the root and giving intervals between the notes. Another way of understanding the intervals in music is through breaks of whole notes and half notes.
•The well-known ‘major scales’ is formed by intervals (or exclusion) of all the minors and using only the majors and perfects from the key construction formula.
•The other formula for major scales using the second method is: W-W-H-W-W-W-H (where W is a Whole Note and H is a Half Note). »Read More

Ways to Get Album Artwork for iTunes on Your iPod

November 27, 2011 / mutong posted in Introduction / No Comments

iTunes Artwork Recovery
First up, you need to activate the album artwork panel. There’s a button on the bottom right corner of the iTunes window, that says, “Show or hide item artwork and window viewer”. Click on it to see the artwork for any song.

•You will then click on the “Advanced” panel on the top tool bar on iTunes. There is an option “Get Album Artwork” in the panel. Click on it. It’s preferred you’re not listening to music or using any application that consumes too much RAM. You should get “Processing Album Artwork” on the top middle status bar.
•This takes time according to the number of non-artwork songs you have. A point here is to try to remove any and all duplicate songs from your iTunes. Having to download the same image for a song and its copy will only delay the process. Also, the songs must be tagged properly, with no spelling mistakes in the song name, album name or genre.
•After the process is done, you’ll get a notification for all the songs for whom artwork couldn’t be retrieved. You can also use Coverflow to double-check if there are any more songs left.
Manually Adding Artwork
The songs that iTunes failed to get images for, are probably the ones you didn’t buy from iTunes. In this case, you’ll have to search for the images manually through the Internet. You’ll have to either get the songs from your iPod to your computer, add the image and send them back to the iPod afterwards to maintain the artwork on both your computer and the iPod.
•The best places to get the images from are the record label site, Amazon.com, Wikipedia and discogs.com. You will most likely find the image on Wikipedia, and if you don’t, search the others. Download the image onto your computer when you have found the right one. Another way is to scan the CD front image and using that scanned image. »Read More

List of Dog Movies for Families

August 23, 2011 / mutong posted in Introduction / No Comments

This list features various types of dogs in pivotal roles. Dogs have been an integral part of film making since the birth of cinema and here are some of those remarkable films where animals have shown their extraordinary acting skills.
•Balto, 1995
•A Dog of Flanders, 1999
•Lady and the Tramp, 1955
•The Fox and the Hound, 1981
•Roger Dangerfield, 1991
•All Dogs Go to Heaven, 1989
•Eight Below, 2006
•Iron Will, 1994
•White Fang, 1991
•Big Red, 1962
•Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey, 1993
•A Goofy Movie, 1995
•See Spot Run, 2001
•Air Buddies, 2006
•Benji, 1974
•Beverly Hills Chihuahua, 2008
•Cats & Dogs, 2001
There’s no doubt that a dog movie is great fun to watch, especially for dog lovers. So get a hold of these films and see the amazing tricks that man’s best friend performs to save the day.

7 Unusual Beauty Pageant Talent Ideas

August 16, 2011 / mutong posted in Uncategorized / No Comments

Dance, singing, playing a musical instrument – these are some of the most common beauty pageant talent ideas. But add an interesting twist to these acts, and they could turn the picture over and make it far more interesting than it would have been otherwise. Enlisted and explained below are some unusual, unconventional beauty pageant talent ideas.

Mime
Everybody can dance, but only the most sensitive and most expressive of persons can pull off a mime. Miming takes a lot of talent and self control. A well prepared and choreographed mime-act has the power to make even the toughest of persons shed a few tears. A miming act can be a nice change from the typical ballet, classical or street dance performances that most other contestants are bound to put up.
It Showcases: Your sensitive side, your ability to express emotions, how well you can ‘dance with your face’.

Stand-up Comedy
Whoever said humor is a male gene? You can pull it off too! A few of the most essential qualities a stand-up comedian needs to posses are frankness, sportsmanship and a keen observation. Stand-up comedy would be a great way to release the tension in the auditorium and give everybody a breather and a good laugh! Stand-up comedy is not something many girls will attempt, so it is bound to make you stand out.
It Showcases: Your sense of humor, your sporting attitude, your ready wit.

Gymnast or Acrobat
A wonderfully choreographed gymnastic or acrobatic performance could be just the thing to surprise everybody with a pleasant shock! Gymnastics are an absolute treat to watch. I do not know of a person who has seen an acrobatic or gymnastic performance and NOT wished to be able to do at least half the things the acrobat/gymnast does! You are sure to win everyone’s envy – and hearts too.
It Showcases: Your above average motor coordination, your agility, your amazing balancing abilities.

Spend My Life With You – Eric Benét & Tamia

July 21, 2011 / mutong posted in Introduction / No Comments

Never knew such a day could come
And I never knew such a love
Could be inside of one

And I never knew what my life was for
But now that you’re here I know for sure

I never knew till I looked in your eyes
I was incomplete till the day you walked into my life
And I never knew that my heart could feel
So precious and pure
One love so real

Can I just see you every morning when
I open my eyes
Can I just feel your heart beating beside me
Every night
Can we just feel this way together
Till the end of all time
Can I just spend my life with you

TV And Our Brains

July 10, 2011 / mutong posted in Introduction / No Comments

This can indicate for instance one thing, and that is the fact that most brain parts which are responsible for logical thinking, can fade out during TV watching time. Although of course one cannot conclude after experimenting solely on one person’s brain, to assume the effects of TV on people in general, there have been many researches made after Krugman’s, which have repeatedly attested that indeed the act of TV watching has the result of producing low Alpha range brainwaves.

Of course, advertising companies have known of this for a long time now, and they also are good at taking advantage of this people’s brain state of the regular TV viewer, in order to make him/her sort of willingly be exposed to any of their products and induce in people the desire to buy their advertised on TV products. The thing about TV commercials is that in fact there is no need to use any subliminal messages whatsoever. So the advertisers’ task is simply to show a product on the TV screen, relate it to something positive and desirably, and let the viewers have their cake and eat it, so to speak, without the viewers’ realizing it wasn’t exactly to their own good.

Indeed, most people would only have to gain if they reduced their television viewing time. In addition to that, according to some more researches people suffering from ADD (attention-deficit disorder) or ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder) have their brains mostly polluted with excessive Delta, Theta and Alpha waves, and therefore would be most likely to reduce this by either reducing TV watching time, or renouncing it altogether. The real thing is (and which of course, is not said on TV) watching TV can be harmful to anyone’s attention capacity and are especially noxious for those who already overpass their number of Alpha waves.

There are many healthy alternatives to watching TV. The most obvious one is reading books and magazines, so something that is not televised. Not only reading, but also writing can stimulate the production of higher brainwaves. Other pleasant and relaxing activities would be singing or playing an instrument, simply sitting quietly for some time, painting, going for a walk in the park, spending time with your family, training your pet, and so on. Your attention is simply stuck to the screen and some very unusual, but also subtle phenomenon can happen in your brain. Everything on TV is simply poured onto your brain, without logical or defensive filtering of the information. It’s somehow similar to being hypnotized.

What is House Music?

July 2, 2011 / mutong posted in Style / No Comments

House music is an electronic dance music, a kind of genre that is believed to spawn in the early 80s in Chicago. It is not directly related to any kind of genre but is considered to come from a blend of disco and dance. There are a lot many electronic instruments used such as drum machines and samplers, synthesizers and keyboards, sequencers, and so on. The main elements of house are the bass drum sound on every beat of a bar, sometimes accompanied by the snare drum or clap sound on every second beat. With the standard tempo being in between 118 and 135 bpm, it gives an uptempo beat to the music. In the following, let us understand how to create house music.

How to Make House Music?

To create house music, you need a keyboard/ synthesizer and a DJ audio application.

Drums, Beats, and Fancy Percussions
After you put on the synth or keyboard, go to the music database and select the main beat that appeals to you to be set on the house music track. Most probably there would be a wide range of rhythm patterns for house music that you can choose from. Note the number of the same to refer to in future. Since house music consists of a tempo ranging from 118 and 135 bpm, you can set the speed anywhere in this range. If you want to make the beats any faster, simply increase the tempo by controls. You can even change the settings and add different percussion instruments to the main beat with accessing the appropriate controls.

Bassline and Loop Creation
Now that you have the beats and rhythm set, you can move on to the bassline. These are essential in a song to render a solid backing. Typically, keyboards would have accompaniment settings to play the bassline along with the main rhythm. You need to at least be familiar with playing the keys and scales on the keyboard for changing the chord of the music piece according to certain beats in a bar. Start the beat and rhythm that you selected at first by pressing the ‘Start’ button. Now give the accompaniment key, which can be a minor or a major. However, it is suggested to follow the standard chord progression such as G-C-D, G-Em-C-D, or Em-C-D. Along with the beat, rhythm and bars, play the chord combination on the bass part of the keyboard. This part of music will serve as the bassline. Keep a note of what all you have set and played.

Equalizer Adjustment and Final Recording »Read More

Timeline of Music Censorship

June 25, 2011 / mutong posted in Introduction / No Comments

After studying the history and the number of incidents that affected music artists and raised public consciousness about music censorship, the following music censorship timeline can be referred to. There are a number of other incidents that may have occurred as well, and not all of these incidents are solely related to the use of profanities in music, but studying it closely will shed some light on the manner in which this censorship has prevailed in the United States music industry.
•1936: BBC Radio banned George Formby’s When I’m Cleaning Windows for objectionable lyrics.
•1955: Radio stations in Chicago receive 15,000 letters in one week which complain about the effect that rock and roll is having on youngsters.
•1956: ABC Radio banned Billie Holiday’s Love For Sale for singing about prostitution. ABC Radio also made Cole Porter change the lyrics of I Get A Kick Out Of You for mentioning the word cocaine.
•1959: Rumble by Link Wray is banned by radio stations across the country even though it is an instrumental song, because it is feared that the song will encourage teenage gang violence.
•1966: The Beatles are faced with severe public outcries and banishments after John Lennon claims that the band is more popular than Jesus Christ.
•1968: A radio station in El Paso, Texas bans all songs by Bob Dylan because they could not understand the lyrics and felt it talked about offensive matters.
•1969: BBC Radio banned Come Together by The Beatles and Lola by The Kinks because they felt that the songs could be misunderstood as advertisements for Coca-Cola.
•1973: In a major happening, the Supreme Court granted the power to local communities to ban music that they felt was obscene and was influencing the youth.
•1981: Olivia Newton John’s song Physical is banned in Salt Lake City and Provo due to the sexual messages it carried.
•1985: Tipper Gore and Susan Baker form the Parents Music Recourse Group (PMRG) to monitor and ban objectionable music.
•1987: Ozzy Osborne is sued by parents of a boy who committed suicide. They claimed that the boy was led to do so after listening to Suicide Solution.
•1990: Rap group N.W.A. are sent a letter from the FBI, informing them that the lyrics of their song Fuck the Police were not appreciated by law enforcement agencies. »Read More

Career as a Voice Over Artist

June 18, 2011 / mutong posted in Introduction / No Comments

Voice over artists generally work in big studios, and are highly in demand for their voice. They need to be perfect with their pronunciation, and of course the voice. A voice over artist can lend his / her voice to many different sources – like say for a narrative story book CD, video games, for movies, short advertisements, for animated movies, etc., The job of a cartoon voice over artist is the most creative one, as the artist has to try many voice variations.

Finding a suitable job is the real tough task for a voice over artist. Once he has mastered all the voice technicalities, he has to make a CD, which should be sent to various studios. Other means to find the perfect job are – using the job websites and employment section of the newspapers. Making contacts, and constantly honing the skills is also significant in finding the right job. The voice over artist is also sometimes expected to work round the clock.

Many of the voice over artists also prepare business cards and send them to organizations that require voice over artists. They thus lend their voice to many firms and media clips. Given below are the salary details of voice over artists.

Voice Over Artist Salary

There are no perfect salary figures for a voice over artist. There are many factors that need to be considered. Some voice over artists work on an hourly basis in different firms. The salary in this case, thus varies from one firm to the other. Big and renowned voice studios pay an amount as high as $500 for an hour. But these studios also demand that amount of skill and perfection. If you are a fresher, and join a small establishment, expect to be paid around $30 for an hour. The salary of a voice over artist in full-time employment can be anywhere between $20,000 to $90,000, yearly. The variation is huge. This is because, as one gets experience, the salary also increases. In certain areas, the salary is big. Like the states of Los Angeles and New York offer a big salary. The reason is, Los Angeles houses Hollywood, apart from other big establishments. In New York too, there are plenty of big studios that offer huge pay. Other states offer a lower salary, comparatively. Thus, for a serious career in voice over, you need to move to areas where there are plenty of voice over studios. »Read More

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