TECH NEWSS

The Surprises in Snoopys Reunion by Phoenix Delray
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If you are a big Peanuts fan, Snoopys Reunion is one special that you wont want to miss. It originally aired on May 1, 1991 on CBS and joined the others as a comic strip turned animated show that the Peanuts collection has become famous for. In this particular special, fans discover some of the truth behind the story of everyones favorite beagle, and some of the background of this pooch as well, which makes for a heartwarming and interesting special.

In Snoopys Reunion, we find that the cute pup is homesick and misses his days that he spent with family at the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm. Charlie Brown decides to help the pooch organize a reunion with some of the dogs family members at the farm. Some of these siblings that we meet include Spike, Molly, Rover, Marbles, Olaf, Belle, and Andy.

When the big day of the reunion at the puppy farm arrives, we find unfortunately that a large concrete parking garage has been erected right where the puppy farm used to be located at. However, it doesnt take long for us to see that despite the urbanization that has taken over the little plot of old farmland, the reunion is still a great success. All of the family members have come there for Snoopys Reunion, and they all begin to dance and play each of their little musical instruments that have been brought. Even though the farmland has changed drastically, they understand that what is important is the fact that they are all there together, and they are content enough to be standing on the sidewalk in front of the garage as long as they are standing together.

A lot of fans really enjoy this particular special because it answers some of the questions that fans have been wondering for years about Charlie Browns little best friend. Many people have no idea that Snoopy has siblings and are also not aware that he has so many. Five of those siblings that come to Snoopys Reunion have appeared in Charles Schulzs strips at some point or another at different times. We also find mention in the show about someone named Lila, and this is actually the second time that she is referenced. The first time we heard of her was during another special that is titled Snoopy Come Home. The siblings Molly and Rover were created specifically for the reunion special because they have never been mentioned by name by Schulz in his strips. He didnt ever consider material from the TV specials to coincide with the world that was in the comic strips that he created.

As far as Lila goes, we discover that Linus is the one that found Snoopys records lying on a desk during the reunion, and we find out at Snoopys Reunion that the owner of the little beagle before he came to Charlie Brown was in fact someone named Lila.






Good News For Cigar Smokers by Ann Knapp

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And cigar aficionados could use some. With the economic crisis causing many state legislatures to consider tobacco tax hikes, smoking bans continuing to gain popular support, and bad stock market news making us all a little more conscious of the price of our favorite stogies, we need to hear that something is going right in the little world of those who love premium cigars. So, without further ado, here are some recent developments in the world of cigars that smokers can take to heart.

1. Smoking bans may be getting more popular--but they're also getting more reasonable and flexible. More and more existing public-smoking smoking bans are being modified, and new bans being written, so as to include clear exemptions to the laws, so that cigar lovers are still allowed to light up in some bars, cigar lounges, casinos, or other places, depending on local policies. For an example, look no further than Laguna Beach--yes, the same Laguna Beach that passed one of the toughest anti-smoking laws in the country back in 1993. The local City Council has recently decided to start allowing smoking again at tobacco shops and lounges. This is good news for those who love to have a smoke with like-minded cigar lovers, and it's also good news for area tobacco shops, which can now offer customers just such an experience (and reap the benefits in increased customer interest, retention, and loyalty). Nebraska is considering such an exception to its own smoking ban,

And in any case, the tendency toward greater regulation of public smoking isn't universal. North Dakota's state colleges and universities have just (as of mid-March) rejected a proposed smoking ban.

2. The Cuba embargo, which has prevented access to high-quality Cuban smokes since 1962, may just be headed for the chopping block. The magazine Cigar Aficionado devoted its January 2009 cover story to arguing for a more nuanced trade relationship between the United States and Cuba. Recently-declassified documents show the US making repeated overtures to Cuba and vice versa, and this newly-available history gives policymakers a map for future negotiations. In 1977, for example, Jimmy Carter nearly normalized US-Cuba relationships (talks foundered over Cuban troops stationed in Africa), and he later expressed regret that he'd scuttled this plan. Republican presidents such as Ford also considered the option. The embargo, as these documents remind us, is not a fact of nature.

And as Castro ages, even hard-line anti-Castroists in the US Congress are beginning to reconsider the effectiveness of a policy that, after all, has never succeeded in its announced objectives. And as this article goes to print, President Obama has just signed into law an omnibus spending bill that includes several little-noticed policy changes toward Cuba.

Cuban-Americans are now allowed yearly visits to the island (they were previously limited to one visit every third year), and restrictions on business travel have also been somewhat eased. Is this a step toward free trade with Cuba? With a major inter-American summit looming in April, many observers are wondering whether Obama may be planning to announce further liberalization.

3. Another sign that lawmakers have grown a bit more sympathetic to smokers, despite budget squeezes that make users of tobacco and other "nonessentials" an attractive possible source of revenue, comes from Maryland. This state's cigar-sale restrictions were among the toughest in the country; most notably, they don't allow the purchase of single cigars. That's right: you can buy boxes, but not cigars. The rationale for this odd law, which passed in November of 2008? Well, the local constabulary were worried that high school kids would use hollowed-out single cigars to smoke marijuana. So the state legislature banned the sale of single cigars.

Aside from the fact that, on the same logical grounds, you could justify banning just about any form of cigar or cigarette--as well as hollow tube-shaped objects generally--this goofy law has faced challenges on constitutional grounds. The state legislature, facing lawsuits, is looking at getting rid of the restriction on single-cigar sales. Chalk up another victory for common sense.

4. Recession or not, tasty is still tasty.







Cinema Appreciation For The Aficionado Cigar Smoker by Ann Knapp

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With the economy doing what it's doing, more and more people are opting to celebrate that big night out - at home. As the much-hyped, feature-story-subject "staycation" is to the traditional bags-in-the-car-and-on-the-road-at-four-AM "vacation," so is the Chill-At-Home Night to the old-fashioned, expensive date.

So why not line up a premium cigar sampler, buy some decent liquor, and arrange your own one- or two-person film festival? The following films have been recommended time and again to the aficionado cigar smoker as films especially likely to go well with a premium cigar.

First stop is Fritz Lang's masterpiece of 1931, M. This psychological crime thriller, starring Peter Lorre as a hopelessly insane, tormented child murderer, may seem an odd choice as an aural/visual accompaniment to relaxing with a fine, rich-tasting premium cigar. However, an aspect of this classic overlooked by critics and film scholars (who celebrate it as a pioneering crime and suspense film, made by a great director at the peak of his powers) is that it reflects its origins in a time period when everybody, it seems, smoked cigars. Cigars or cigar paraphernalia seem to pop up in one scene after another of this film. Unlike so many classic Hollywood flicks--in which iconic superstars like Humphrey Bogart or Robert Mitchum light up repeatedly throughout the film, but they're smoking cigarettes (boo!)--this film, made before Fritz Lang's departure for the United States (he was afraid of Hitler, and he was right), reflects a stogie- rather than a cigarette-centric milieu. So, while you're enjoying Peter Lorre's frighteningly intense (and weirdly sympathetic) performance as a monster who can't help himself, you can also wonder at the one-time near-ubiquity of cigar smoking.

Then feats your eyes on Smoke and Blue in the Face, a pair of indie classics made in the 1990s by a collaboration between cult novelist Paul Auster and auteur director Wayne Wang. Smoke takes place in a cigar shop, and studies the little interactions that are fostered in a place where strangers gather together in pursuit of a simple pleasure. It falls into a category popular among innovative filmmakers during the 1990s--the disparate-characters-in-a-single-place genre, which celebrates fleeting or evanescent connections between characters whose lives ordinarily wouldn't touch.

For other examples, think of Lawrence Kasdan's Grand Canyon (1992); Robert Altman's Short Cuts (1993); Jim Jarmusch's five-short-vignettes-that-take-place-in-cabs drama Night on Earth (1992), with its smoky Tom Waits soundtrack; think Kevin Smith's Clerks (1994); and finally, think of P.T. Anderson's Magnolia (1999), the culmination of this tendency. But whatever you do, don't think of Crash (2005). At any rate, Smoke is a successful example of this formula, and the connections it celebrates are ones that any aficionado cigar smoker will know intimately. With a script by Paul Auster, you can hardly go wrong, and this movie doesn't. Being an aficionado cigar smoker who hasn't seen Smoke is like being a boxer who's never seen Million Dollar Baby.

Finally, end your film festival with The Big Lebowski (1998), the Coen Brothers' epic of slacking, in which Jeff Bridges spends two hours continually saving the same stump of an already-smoked stogie from the garbage bin. This parody of 1940s crime films absolutely refuses to take itself seriously, just as its hero, the oddly-named The Dude, refuses to take his life seriously. Though he's pursued by crazed German techno fans (with killer marmots!), harassed by hired goons who micturate on his favorite rug, and driven nearly to the brink of insanity by the machinations of the dysfunctional Lebowski family (angry faux-capitalist Jeffrey Lebowski, who even looks like Dick Cheney; sublimely pretentious performance artist Maude, who actually made all the family money), he and his nub of a premium cigar will win the day in the most quotable American film since Casablanca. She kidnapped herself, Dude!







Movies That Satisfy The Aficionado Cigar Smoker by Ann Knapp

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Some people like popcorn with their movies. Others like a glass of single-malt Scotch. And still others like a good smoke.

The next time you feel like enjoying a good night of cinema combined with premium cigars, here are some films that are calculated to warm the hearts of committed aficionado cigar smokers. Each of these involves cigars in some way, whether by making them part of the film's plot, associating them inescapably with a particular iconic character, or depicting the joy of cigar smoking itself in imaginative and poetic ways.

First, feast your eyes on the successful recent string of Marvel Comics-based films. Each of these testosterone-fest action movies--including the X-Men trilogy, The Incredible Hulk, and the Spider-Man films--put the spotlight on cigar smoking characters. In The Incredible Hulk, it's General Harold Ross, the corrupt authoritarian who hopes to put the Hulk on ice--for good. (This is after one of Ross's own gone-awry projects creates the Hulk in the first place. How's that for gratitude?) The complicating factor is, of course, that Ross's daughter, Betty (does she knit flags in her spare time?), is Hulk alter ego David Banner's girlfriend. It's a complicated world we live in. Meanwhile, the Spider series features J. Jonah Jameson, a scenery-chewing newspaper editor who declares a one-man propaganda war against Spidey, while paying a salary to his alter ego, nerdy photographer Peter Parker. In the X-Men films, there's Wolverine, who, as comic book collectors know, is hardly able to breathe without his cigar. Wonder if we'll be seeing this side of Wolverine's character in the upcoming movie, X-Men Origins: Wolverine? It's iffy.

Physicians' groups protested when 2007's Incredible Hulk allowed General Ross the dignity of his showoffy stogies, on the basis that children would thus be tempted to smoke. Which kind of ignores the fact that Ross is the least likable character in the movie. What will they say to a movie whose hero loves a good premium cigar? If this part of Wolverine's character makes it to the screen, aficionado cigar smoker fans of action films will be saying, "Amen!" Switching gears completely, Little Cigars is an odd 1973 crime drama about a group of five diminutive gangsters trying to hide a mobster's girlfriend--shades of the Snow White myth. Featuring real Little People (the preferred nomenclature, as "dwarf" and especially "midget" have come to be seen as terms of abuse), this movie is a true curiosity. Not much to do with cigars, but they're in the title.

Then again, why bother with a politically-incorrect curio when you could see one of the strangest, most ravishing visions in film history? Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo (1982) tells the story of an early-twentieth-century businessman with a manic streak who decides he's going to build an opera house in the South American jungle. The movie is irredeemably racist--for the infamous sequence in which Fitzcarraldo (Klaus Kinski) orders hundreds of native South Americans to use a giant pulley to drag a boat up the side of a mountain, Herzog really did order, well, hundreds of South Americans to use a giant pulley to drag a boat up the side of a mountain, and he failed to maintain proper safety standards, risking the loss of dozens of Native lives. The movie displays the same colonial disdain for its Native cast and crew members as Fitzcarraldo does for the Native characters they play. But balanced against this is the film's total originality, its riveting action sequences (as when Fitz takes the boat over some of the most dangerous rapids in the Amazon), and its gorgeous imagery.

And, for aficionado cigar smokers, there's the long moment at the end where Fitz sucks on a giant stogie while listening to Caruso sing along the Amazon--a scene that captures, better than any other filmed, the bliss of a well-earned premium cigar. No movie is worth risking others' lives for (as Herzog certainly did in filming Fitzcarraldo), but, with the movie already in the can (and in the film canon), and available for free at any decent public library, stogie lovers might as well savor the result--perhaps with a Cohiba in hand and a glass of that single-malt scotch nearby. (They might even want to make some popcorn!)







Waste and Reycling in a Nutshell: Don't Throw it Out! by Sarah Wozniak

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In the Green RADventures of Nico, Volume 1, Nico Goes to the Mountains, a children's book designed to educate kids on Environmental Issues, we talk about the importance of efficient waste and recycling practices. More specifically, paying attention to every item that we throw out as well as reusing and recycling whenever possible. The point of purchase or acquisition almost always eventually leads to sending the item to the trash. With more permanent items like appliances, sporting equipment, tools and electronics we hope that they will be used for a long time, and then only disposed of properly when they no longer work or can't accomplish what we need them to for work, life, or fun. If you are lucky enough to have the money to spend on an upgrade like a more energy efficient washing machine or dryer and the one you have still works, then why not share your good fortune with someone who could use a second hand appliance? Free online classifieds offer people the opportunity to make some money on their old items while helping someone else find an item that is closer to their price range, and keeping the landfill smaller at the same time. If an item is broken but only needs a slight repair, it could still be sold for a great discount to someone who would be willing to pay a bit beyond your price to have it fixed, which also puts money back into the local economy because the repairman will be paid as well. If it is broken beyond repair and is made of metal, there are companies that will pay you for the metal. The engine could then be disposed of properly, and once again, almost everyone wins. Items like clothing should almost NEVER be thrown away. There is always a local thrift shop that will take them, and this again helps those who are less fortunate and keeps the items out of the landfill. www.radventuresofnico.com espouses the belief that 'One Person's Trash is Another's Pleasure', so don't think for a second that there isn't someone out there who would use those old jeans for gardening, yard work, or even to complete their own sewing projects. The oldest snowboards in the world are still holding up well as interesting benches. There will always be someone who needs a simple radio for their garage or workspace, so if the CD player quits on your unit, it STILL ISN'T TRASH!! It's just a radio, but someone will listen to it for the right price. Donating to the thrift store doesn't bring a profit or recoup what you spent on the item, but it keeps that landfill smaller. That is an effort in which we all have an investment.







Experience Contemporary Theater With Godspell The Broadway Musical by Al Terry

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If you have ever been to Godspell the Broadway musical, you would very well understand the experimental approach of modern theatre. Keeping up with the changing trends in theatre, Godspell is more of a performing art form rather than a full-fledged musical. In fact, the total mood of the play reminds you of the musical productions staged in art houses around Off-Broadway.

Godspell has been inspired from the Gospel as according to St. Matthew. In spite of the light-hearted treatment of a religious subject, the play has a serious tone to it. During the course of the two acts, the play subtly conveys messages on forgiveness, compassion, hypocrisy, forgiveness and sacrificing one's life for what one believes in.

The Overall Appeal

Although the scriptural references are familiar topics, the true charm of Godspell the Broadway musical lies in its fresh and wonderfully, light-hearted retelling. In one scene, you see magical appearances of papier-mâché flowers during a conversation in a field of lilies. In another scene, when the prodigal son is reprimanded, money rains down onto the stage. And at the most unexpected moments, you get to see an explosion of party favors.

However, towards the end of Godspell the Broadway musical, the mood is serious and heart-touching. The scenes of the Last Supper and bidding farewell to the disciples are especially noteworthy by the conspicuous absence of the elaborate sets that dominated the previous scenes. You can almost hear a pin drop as the audience maintains the utmost silence during these scenes. This tensed mood is sustained till the scenes of crucifixion. As the curtain falls, the disciples are seen carrying the master away and singing 'Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord' and 'Long Live God'.

See How Simple It Is

Godspell the Broadway musical that celebrates the life and teachings of Jesus Christ is also special when you consider the simplicity of its sets, music, costumes and lighting. This contemporary musical features a minimum of lighting, sound and scenery. With a small orchestra of guitar, piano, drums and bass, you can easily learn to play its simple musical score. And as for the costumes, you simply would have to turn to your closet.

This two-act show has a modest cast - usually five men and five women. So, you can easily bring the musical alive with a band of ten performers. This makes Godspell the Broadway musical a perfect choice that can be performed anywhere on a shoe-string budget. It is especially ideal for churches, schools, small production houses and for those on a tight budget. Best of all, it is a great entertainment choice for the general audiences.

Buying Godspell Tickets

Nowadays, purchasing tickets for Godspell the Broadway musical from the box office is next to impossible. With a growing number of theater enthusiasts, the tickets are sold-out in the blink of an eye. In such a situation, it is always safe to purchase your tickets from an online ticket broker. You can easily go online and browse around for certified brokers, discounted rates and seating choices.







To Play or Not to Play... Poker by Laura Brown

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Poker and specifically online poker are becoming common means of entertainment. It is a game that offers a thrill about winning & excitement of getting cash rewards. Many other types of betting are just a pseudo means of entertainment where actually winning is more a matter of chance. As far as betting on horses is concerned no one can predict what may happen. Similarly in case of gambling at casinos it is just a matter of chance if one wins. Most of them are rigged against people. Betting on matches is also dependent on luck. However in the case of poker, if an individual is good at the game & has the requisite skills to play well then it is not a matter of chance to win but a matter of choice. The better you get at the game, the more will you win.

Poker is a game which is not just played for fun but it gives a fair chance of winning and earning money in doing so. But to actually make lots of money one has to excel the skills for playing the game. The game of poker demands a lot of thinking and strategic analysis. This helps people to build on their analytical & calculative skills. It is a good brain exercise. It gives your mind a logical thought process. Poker is also seen as a mere source of entertainment just like any other sport. The thrill in the game is addictive & challenging.

One should bear in mind not to play with an amount of money that one can not afford to lose. One should take only calculative risks which allow him to enjoy the game rather than being worried about losing the money.