Friday, December 26, 2008

Cheapest Wii Downloads


I really have to give my grandson most of the credit for helping me create this blog post. One day, while we were out mountain biking, the subject of how much his father was spending buying all of the games that I noticed in his house. I could'nt believe it! I decided to search the Internet to find the least expensive [cheap], high quality Wii download site there was out there. I looked at three such sites and decided on one!
You really should ask yourself if you are Tired of Paying Too Much for Your Wii Games? Do you wish you could Download all your favorite Wii Games and Media right from your computer and save hundreds or even thousands per year? Want to Turn your Wii into a Media Center?
If you answered YES to any of these questions, then we have found a solution for you that will change your Wii experience FOREVER! It's called My Wii Downloads which was establish in 2008 to help meet the incredible demand for downloads for the universally popular Nintendo Wii. Today, tens of thousands of users later, My Wii Downloads is the ultimate source for downloadable games, movies, TV shows, software, music, and much more.
Their mission is to help every gamer and movie enthusiast get the ultimate Wii experience.Wii Downloads are rapidly becoming a must, as gamers and movie lovers look for the perfect way to utilize the full potential of their Wii system .

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

The Worlds Most Popular Pianist


Born Philippe Pagès on December 28th, 1953, he encountered the piano early in his life. His father, a piano teacher, laid the foundation for his son's later success and began teaching him how to play at a very young age. It is said that, at the age of six, Richard Clayderman could read music more adeptly than his native French.

At the age of twelve, he was accepted at the Conservatoire of Music where, at sixteen, he won first prize of the piano. He was predicted a promising career as a classical pianist. Shortly after this, he cast aside his classical training and turned to contemporary music, because at that time his father was ill and unable to financially support his son. So, in order to earn a living, he found work as an accompanist and session musician.

In 1976 he was invited by Olivier Toussaint a French record producer and his partner Paul de Senneville to record a gentle piano ballad. Paul de Senneville had composed this ballad as a tribute to his new born daughter “Adeline”. The 23 year old Philippe Pagès was auditioned along with 20 other pianists. They liked his special and soft touch on the keyboards combined with his good looks and fine personality, and finally he got the job.
Philippe Pagès' name was changed to Richard Clayderman (he adopted his great-grandmother's last name to avoid mispronunciation of his real name outside France), and the single took off, selling an astonishing 22 million copies in 38 countries. It was called Ballade pour Adeline.

With his lush, sophisticated, instrumental, approach to pop music, Richard Clayderman is, according to -The Guinness Book of World Records, "the most successful pianist in the world." Clayderman's albums routinely sell millions of copies and his concerts are quickly sold out. In a review of his 1985 Carnegie Hall concert, ~Variety wrote, "(Clayderman's) main appeal lies in his youth and boyish good looks...coupled with his gentlemanly charm and his thick French accent, they promise to rope in the romantically inclined middle-aged Yank ladies who cotton to this ilk of soothing entertainment

Clayderman's shift from classical to popular music not only allowed for his remarkably successful career but moved him into an area of music which he feels more closely reflectshis personality. Although he still plays classical music on stage, for his United States concerts he focuses on romantic interpretations of popular American melodies. "I think there is a need for this kind of romantic music, " he told the Christian Science Monitor, "because we live in a world [where] terrible things are happening, and people need music to feel a bit cool and relaxed. I think a proportion of my audience also listens to other styles. For example, I'm sure the young people like rock 'n roll music. But through my playing they discover a new kind of music--classical, because sometimes I play that on stage."

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

The Entertaining Andre Ruie


A versatile violinist and spirited conductor, Andre Rieu capitalized on his classical music training and natural charisma to successfully recreate the uplifting atmosphere of the nineteenth-century Viennese dance halls for twentieth-century audiences worldwide. Rieu's unique classical style evolved around the notion that the audience must be involved in order to appreciate the music.


Although the inspiration for his innovative musical presentations reached back over 100 years, his style was frequently categorized as "crossover" music because it combined the revered scores of the classical composers with a more informal performance atmosphere characteristic of popular music.Rieu was born in 1950 in Maastricht, Holland. His father conducted the Limburg Symphony Orchestra of Holland and the Leipzig Opera. Classical music permeated the Rieu household, and the Rieu children were well versed in the works of the great composers. Rieu and his numerous siblings were heavily involved in musical training. Each displayed some talent and learned to play an instrument. Rieu himself developed into an accomplished violinist.
As his understanding and appreciation of music grew, he developed a special fondness for the rhythms of the great Viennese waltzes. The waltzes, he maintained, stirred his emotions and created euphoria, so it was natural that he would devote his career to that style of music.

Friday, February 29, 2008

Romancing The Stone Film Review


Romancing the Stone is an American 1984 action-adventure film. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, it stars Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito. This film was one of the best adventure/humor movies of the eighties. Not only did it boost the star rating of Michael Douglas, it helped launch Kathleen Turner into stardom. It also was Robert Zemeckis's first box office hit as a director.

The plot of the movie revolves around romance writer Joan Wilder, played by KathleenTurner, who travels to Colombia to find her kidnapped sister. In time she falls in love with a soldier of fortune [Michael Douglas] and the two become romanticallyinvolved as they search for a precious stone which the kidnappers want.

The beginning of the film shows Joan receiving a package from her dead brother- in-law. Soon after the package arrives she gets a frantic call from her sisterElaine[Mary Ann Trainor] informing her that she has been kidnapped and needs the map from the package as ransom. Joan flies down to Columbia but she gets lost on the way to her destination. But eventually she runs into Jack T. Colton[Douglas] and offers him some money if he would help her find her way to Cartagena. He helps her to elude a few unsavory characters who seem to be following her. Oneof these villains just happens to be the leader of the secret police who is responsiblefor her brother-in-laws death. The other two zany characters are Ralph [Danny DeVito]and Ira [Zack Norman].

Jack uncovers the map that Joan is carrying and after some convincing she agrees to go after the treasure. They agree that after finding the treasure they can then give the worthless map to the kidnappers. After some unbelievable escapes, they eventually find the treasure which turns out to be an enormous emerald called the malevolent. Zolo and Ralph steal it from them but then the Colombian police show up. After getting the stone back from Ralph, Joan and Jack get separated but agree to meet at Joan's hotel in Cartagena, but when Jack doesn't show up, Joan starts to get worried.

She then meets her sister's captors[Ralph and Ira] and turns over the map. They are interrupted by Zolo who knows that the map is worthless. Zolo's men are holding Jack who refuses to disclose the location of the emerald. Zolo uses Joan as bait and tells Jack that if he refuses to disclose the emeralds location he will be forced to feed Joan to the crocodiles. Jack relents and gives up the gem and tosses it towards the crocodiles. Zolo catches the stone but his hand, along with the gem, ends up in one of the crocodiles stomach. A gunfight ensues between Zolo's men and Ira's men. This allows Joan, Elaine and Jack to escape. After a prolonged fight with Zolo's men, Ira and his men escape, but Ralph is left behind.

Zolo catches Joan and Elaine. Joan tries to kill Zolo with his own switchblade, but Zolo blocks the thrown knife with a piece of wood. After Elaine faints from the sight, Joan pleads for Jack's help. He must decide whether to save her or hold onto the croc which has ingested El Corazon. He decides to try to save Joan by scaling a rock wall to reach her. However, he arrives moments after Zolo falls into a pit full of crocodiles. Seeing that the women are safe, Jack leaves to pursue El Corazon once more.

Joan then returners home to New York where she is confronted with lonely feelingtowards Jack. She writes a hit novel based on her recent adventures. But one day,as she is returning home she is confronted by Jack,who is wearing crocodile skinboots, waiting for her in a sailboat that is parked on the main street in front of her apartment. It seems that Jack managed to catch the croc who had swallowed the gem. The croc had suffered a fatal case of indigestion from swallowing the gem. The ending is a not so typical love story showing Joan and Jack kissing on the deck of the Angelina, which was named for Joan's fictional heroine, as the trailer that the boat rests on drives off into the streets of N.Y. City.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Alfred Hitchcock's Finest Work


Vertigo is another one of Alfred Hitchcock's best produced movies that was released in July1958. It's a Hitchcock thriller that you have to see from the very beginning. The film features James Stewart, Kim Novak and Barbara Bel Geddes and tells the story of a retired policeman who falls in love with a mysterious woman he has been hired to follow.Although it had mixed reviews on its first release, it has since gained in esteem and is frequently listed among the greatest films ever made.

San Francisco detective John "Scottie" Ferguson (James Stewart) develops acrophobia after a fellow police officer (Fred Graham) falls to his death while trying to save him during a rooftop chase. His acrophobia causes vertigo. He is forced to retire from policework, and is unable even to stand on a step-stool in the apartment of his friend MarjorieWood (Barbara Bel Geddes) without being paralyzed by fear and dizziness.

He is eventually hired as a private detective by one of his old friends who wantshis own wife Madeleine,who is played by Kim Novak, followed. He informs Scottie that he thinks that his wife is suffering from some sort of mental illness or demonic possession. Scottie follows Madeleine to a cemetery where she is seen visiting the grave of a woman named Carlotta Valdes who had killed herself one hundred years earlier.Madeleine wanders around as if she is in some sort of a trance.

Scottie is strongly attracted to Madeleine. He follows her to Fort Point at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge where he observes her jumping into the San FranciscoBay in what appears to be a suicide attempt. She is saved by Scottie and returns with him to his apartment. They end up taking a trip to see the coastal redwoods at Big Basin Redwoods State Park. She confines in Scottie that she has dreamed of Mission San Juan Bautista and he takes her there in an effort to conquer her dreams, but she suddenly runs into the bell tower, climbs the stairs, and appears to commit suicide by jumping off the tower to her death.

Scottie suffers a nervous breakdown and runs away. At the inquest that was looking into Madeleine's death, Scottie is accused of negligence but is cleared of prosecution. Elsteris is seen reassuring him when he tells Scottie "we both know who really killed Madeleine,"referring to the fact that she was possessed by Carlotta's spirit. Scottie eventually ends up in a mental hospital where he sufferers from terrifying nightmares. His friend Midge tries her best to comfort him but soon realizes that he is still in love with Madeleine.After leaving the hospital Scottie continues to visit the places where he and Madeleine used to visit together. Then one day he notices a women [Judy Barton] who has an uncanny resemblance to Madeleine. However she is quite different in her mannerisms than Madeleine.
Scottie follows her to her hotel room where he finds out that she is a single working women who is from a little town in Kansas. She tells Scottie that she moved to San Franciscoto start a new life after a series of failed relationships. But after Scottie leaves she writes a letter confessing that she was in fact Madeleine. Elster had hired her to act as a mentally unstable false Madeleine. The women who fell from the tower was in fact Elster's real wife who was actually dead before her husband had thrown her form the tower. Elster had hired Scottie knowing full well about his Vertigo. He knew that Scottie would never be able to climb the stares of the tower. He used him to corroborate his claims of his wife's suicidal tendencies. But Judy then tears up the letter almost as soon as she had written it. She has come to the realization that she has fallen in love with Scottie.

Scottie becomes obsessed with Judy and insists that Judy even dress like Madeleine. At first she protests, but eventually gives in to the man she loves. Scotties eventuallybecomes suspicious of Judy when he notices a red jeweled pendant that he remembers thatMadeleine used to wear. Judy insists that she had inherited it. He then forces her to go the Mission Juan Bautista and forces her to climb the stairs up to the tower again.He wants her to re-enact the scene in which he failed to save Madeleine. He demands that she tell him the truth and Scottie discovers that the emotional experience has conquered his acrophobia, as he has now climbed to the top of the tower. Judy pleads with him and tells him that she is in love with him. Then suddenly a shadowy figure appears at the top of the stairs. Judy backs away from the shadow and steps off of the tower edge and plunges to her death. The shadow turns out to be a nun. Scottie who is still in shock, stares down at Judy and realizes that the emotional shock has cured him of his vertigo ,but was the cost worth it.

This is one of the few films that I had watched more than once, It may have been the combination of the plot, along with the superb acting abilities of the stares, but Iwould rate this as the best Alfred Hitchcock film that I had ever watched. It's a film that holds you in suspense from the beginning to the end.