It must have been a crushing blow. It was 1934, the depths of the Great Depression. Charles Darrow was unemployed. But, he had an idea. Actually, he had a board game. He called the game Monopoly. He liked the board game and felt it was his ticket to financial success and out of the desperation of the depression. Darrow had taken his game to the famous Parker Brothers game company to publish and help him sell.
The Parker Brothers had agreed to look at the board game for Darrow. They were not impressed. Formed in 1883, by 16-year-old George Parker, the game publishing company had been making and selling games and puzzles for 51 years. During that time they had seen success and failure. Parker Brothers knew the game business. They knew what worked and what didn't. They knew what sold and what didn't. Representatives of the giant game company found 59 reasons why they did not think Darrow's game could be successful.
Charles Darrow simply didn't agree. He believed. He decided to publish Monopoly himself and market it through department stores. He had 5,000 copies of the board game printed.
Hope was scarce during that harsh Christmas of 1934. Money was even scarcer. And, Monopoly was a hit. Nearly all 5,000 copies of the board game sold. Within a year Parker Brothers was publishing the game. It was the best selling game in America by 1936.
Monopoly is now published in 89 languages and over 200 million copies of the board game have been sold. More than 500 million people have played the game. It has also been adapted as an electronic game. Monopoly is firmly entrenched as the best selling board game of all time.
Monopoly is a relative upstart compared to other popular board games.
The oldest known board game is called "The Royal Game of Ur" or the "Game of 20 Squares". This game was discovered in a 4,500-year-old tomb in southern Iraq. This game was played throughout the Middle East for perhaps 1,000 years or more. In fact, the rules of the game have been found in cuneiform tablets. Game aficionados can play this ancient game yet today, even though it has long ago faded from popularity.
Perhaps the oldest board game still popular today is chess, which first appeared in India by the sixth century A.D. By the year 1,000 it was being played throughout the Middle East and in Europe. The rules and game board design have evolved somewhat over the centuries, but the game is still very much the same as the ancient Indians played it. They could hardly have dreamed, however, of the world-class chess match play or the electronic versions of the game we enjoy today.
Another very old, yet immensely popular board game is checkers, also known as draughts. A form of checkers was being played by the Egyptian Pharaohs as early as 1600 B.C. This game has also evolved over the centuries. By the 12th century the game was adapted to the 64-square chessboard. Four hundred years later the rules involving capture were added, yielding essentially the same game we play today.
There is simply no way to tell how many copies of chess or checkers have been sold or how many people have played these games. If the numbers were known, they would have to be truly staggering.
Popular Board Games Share Common Traits
Other top selling board games include Yahtzee, Scrabble, Mahjong, Trivial Pursuit, Battleship and the Risk game. Most of these games were developed during the 20th century and all are still big sellers and tremendously popular.
These popular board games share some similar traits. Most of them involve specific strategies of play. When these strategies are employed successfully, the games are fun, challenging and intensely rewarding as players attempt to capture portions of the board and/or each other. Another common element in most of these board games is chance, or luck. Luck is introduced usually by drawing cards or rolling dice. The element of chance opens up possibilities for even more strategies of play. A final important trait of these games is that in one way or another they reflect the lessons of life. They teach competition and sportsmanship. They teach strategy and the lesson of never giving up.
Perhaps that is why Charles Darrow was so attracted to Monopoly. He believed that success comes by employing sound strategies to following a dream and never giving up. We are glad that Darrow didn't give up. We are glad he didn't throw the board game with 59 things wrong in the trash bin as he left the Parker Brothers plant in 1934.
About the author: Royce Armstrong is a successful freelance writer with a business and banking background who believes consumers should get the best value for their money when shopping for board games [http://www.a1-in-toys.com/board-games.html], family games [http://www.a1-in-toys.com/electronic-games.html] and learning games [http://www.a1-in-toys.com/index.html].
Best known for his striking, controversial - sometimes, outrageous collection - Jean-Paul Gaultier (born April 24, 1952 in Arcueil, France) never received formal education as a designer. He started creating sketches at a young age and was designing clothes for his mother and grandmother by age 13. At 17, he sent the sketches to renowned couture stylists including Pierre Cardin. His talents impressed Cardin who then hired him as an assistant.
Gaultier spent the next two years working for Cardin before he became a designer for Jacques Estrel and later on, for the House of Patou in Paris where he worked for three years. In 1976, French fashion magazine Mode Internationale featured a number of Gaultier's sketches which received favorable reviews by designers all over the world. That same year he launched his own designer label under Mayagor, while engaging in freelance RTW furs, swimsuits and leather.
Since 1981, Gaultier has been known to produce avant-garden designs, which bore him the name enfant terrible, or the bad boy of French fashion. His style is mainly focused on street wear and popular culture. A popular example would be the conical bra that he designed for Madonna's Blond Ambition Tour. Kilts are also a significant part of his menswear collection, even using them himself on TV events and shows where he acts as presenter, such as Eurotrash. Similarly, his choice of models remains unconventional - from older men and plus-size women to pierced and tattoo-ridden youngsters. Occasionally, he toys with gender roles for exhibitions.
In 1987, Gaultier was awarded French designer of the year. A year after, he launched an affordable sportswear line named Junior Gaultier in Paris, then later to department stores in the United States. In contrast, he planted another store of ready-to-wear clothes for men and women in Paris with high-end prices that were exported to boutiques in uptown Miami, Los Angeles and New York.
The French designer is also known to design wardrobes for motion pictures, including Greenaway's "The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover" and the sci-fi thriller "The Fifth Element". He has also created outfits for artists like Madonna, Marilyn Manson and Les Fatals Picards. During the 90s, New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art hosted an exhibit for him, entitled "Bravehearts - Men in Skirts."
Currently he serves as designer for three collections: his own haute couture and RTWs, and leather clothing for French line Hermes. He also has a fragrance collection which began with Classique for women in 1993, followed by Le Male for men in 1995. Le Male is the highest grossing men's perfume in Europe and holds an equally competitive position in Australia and the US. A third perfume, Fragrance for women, was launched in 2000 although it received relatively low sales. This was followed by a unisex fragrance, Gaultier in 2005. His latest fragrance for men, Fleur du Male was launched in 2007.
Find Jean Paul Gaultier perfumes and colognes and many others like Obsession cologne at perfume center.
Soy candle making supplies have several advantages over other supplies, not the least of which is the light carbon footprint these supplies leave - and they do so at a smaller cost than my favorite "green" luminary: beeswax. Soy candle making supplies, like beeswax supplies, produce luminaries that burn cleanly, with little of the black soot given off by paraffin wax. Yet they cost much less.
Soy supplies yield other benefits, too, for the caring chandler. These supplies let you create lights that burn more slowly, lasting longer than other types of similar size. In fact, one six-inch soy pillar is likely to last thirty to fifty percent longer than a six-inch paraffin pillar.
Soy candle making supplies actually cost less, in the long run, than others. When brand new chandlers include in their cost calculations the number of hours their creations can be expected to burn, they are often surprised to find that soy gives them nearly twice as many hours of beauty and fragrance for their money. To put it another way, you get twice as many beautiful candles (in burn hours) from soy candle making supplies as you do from other types of wax supplies.
Wicks Can Be Eco-Friendly
The most beautiful and fragrant luminary will never pulse with life until it has a wick, of course. The wick is the heart of your candle. A wick turns that cold, hard, soy wax into a warm, beautifully pulsating light.
Since soy candle making supplies such as soft wax, bright dyes, and sweet fragrances can all be totally eco-friendly, an environmentally sensitive chandler will want to put eco-friendly wicks on his or her list of soy candle making supplies, too. You might want to look at the two types of wicking below:
· Cotton core wicking - is a good choice when using environment-conscious soy wax. Cotton core wicks produce a hot flame that reduces carbon buildup. Made of one hundred percent natural, renewable cotton fibers, these eco-friendly wicks use a rigid inner core to make them stand straight and remain straight.
· Hemp core wicking - will also enhance your soy candle making supplies. The one hundred percent hemp fiber forms a natural eco-friendly core that, like cotton, is rigid enough to hold the wick straight as your wax burns. The core itself is enclosed in unbleached one hundred percent cotton.
Wax Can Be Eco-friendly
Soy candle making supplies would be nothing without the soy wax that farmers derive from their soybean crops.
As the wick of your pillar or votive burns, it needs a constant supply of wax for fuel. Without wax, the wick would consume itself very quickly. The wick melts the soy wax into a liquid, which is carried to the flame. There, it is turned to vapor and burned away.
But why use soybeans? Aren't those the beans they use to make tofu and food for livestock?
True, soybeans are a food source for humans and animals, but they are also rich in oil, and that oil provides an inexpensive alternative to beeswax or other waxes. When processed, a sixty-pound bushel of soybeans will yield about eleven pounds of crude soybean oil
Between 1991 and 1992, the candle industry's Michael Richards developed soy wax to fill a growing demand for less expensive natural candles. Mr. Richards began with natural soybean wax. Into that wax, he blended partially hydrogenated soy oil, coconut oil, and palm oil. Later, Mr. Richards added a small amount of beeswax to create even more cost effective soy candle making supplies.
Softer than most other waxes, soy wax is usually used for pillars or container candles. It can be used for tapers, votives, and tea lights, but you will want to add a fair quantity of wax hardener to your list of soy candle making supplies if you want to make those.
List of Supplies
This list of soy candle making supplies will get you started. Follow good instructions and you should be able to make about 20 one-half-cup-size container chandelles.
· 5 lbs of soy wax
· 20 cotton-core or hemp-core wicks - 4" size
· 3 bottles of fragrance - 2 oz. size
· 3 bottles of dye, 1 each of red, blue, and yellow
· 20 glass or ceramic jars with lids - 4 oz. size
Soy candle making supplies such as those on our list are available from many online retailers - or visit your local craft and hobby stores. You will want to remember as you shop, though, that the higher the quality of your soy candle making supplies, the higher the quality of your finished luminaries. They will burn longer, burn more evenly, and emit far less soot. They will also fill your room with a more pleasant, longer lasting scent.
© 2009, Anna Hart. Anna Hart invites you to read more of her articles about soy candle making supplies at http://www.secretsofcandlemakingcrafts.com. Anna has posted articles on that site about other candle making crafts, too. If you want to learn secrets of getting great results with candle making wax, you won't want to miss her article on the subject.
Brett Favre is inarguably one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. In addition to holding nearly every passing record there is, he also has a Superbowl win under his belt, and he has won 3 league MVP awards.
But perhaps his most impressive accomplishment is his consecutive start record.
Brett Favre began his consecutive start streak in 1992 and kept it alive for 16 seasons, all the way up to his retirement announcement on March 4, 2008. He started in 253 consecutive regular season games. If you count the post season, then he started 275 consecutive games.
As of November 2006, the other NFL teams started 374 quarterbacks in the same time period that the Packers started 1. Chicago started 20 quarterbacks by itself in that same time period.
Favre's streak is quite an impressive record, no doubt. But, have you ever really stopped to think about it? Let me help put it in perspective.
Favre started his consecutive start streak on September 27, 1992.
In 1992:
Tony Romo was 12 years old, Eli Manning was 11 years old, and Ben Roethlisberger was 10 years old. Aaron Rodgers was an 8 year old kid growing up in Chico, California.
Donald Driver, Chad Clifton, and Mark Tauscher were already playing football - IN HIGH SCHOOL, that is.
Trolls were the best selling toy.
Nafta was signed.
CDs surpassed cassette tapes as the preferred medium for recorded music.
Cell phones were practically the size of small suitcases, so they were typically installed in vehicles as car phones.
The internet just started to become popular.
Microsoft shipped Windows 3.1
The Dodge Viper and Jeep Grand Cherokee were introduced.
The Rodney King verdict was announced.
Mike Tyson went on trial. He was charged with raping Desiree Washington, a 1991 Miss Black America contestant.
The "Long Island Lolita", Amy Fisher, was arrested for shooting her lover's wife, Mary Jo Buttafuoco.
Jeffrey Dahmer was sentenced to life in prison.
Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain married Courtney Love.
War began in the former Yugoslavia.
President George H. W. Bush ordered troops into Somalia.
Bill Clinton was elected as the 42nd president of the US.
Sam Kinison and Dick York died.
Hannah Montana (Miley Cyrus) was born in 1992.
If you had a baby on the first day of Favre's consecutive start streak, they would be driving now.
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.29; Cost of a gallon of regular gas: $1.13; Cost of a dozen eggs: $0.93; Cost of a gallon of Milk: $2.78; Cost of a car: $16,950
Prince became the highest paid pop artist in the country.
Popular songs in 1992 were: I'm Too Sexy - Right Said Fred; Baby Got Back - Sir Mix-A-Lot; This Used To Be My Playground - Madonna; End Of The Road - Boyz II Men
Popular movies in 1992 were: Wayne's World; A Few Good Men; The Bodyguard; A League Of Their Own; Sister Act
Popular TV shows in 1992 were: Murphy Brown; Coach; Cheers; Full House; Murder, She Wrote; Roseanne
'Mad About You' and 'The Real World' premiered on TV, while 'The Golden Girls' and 'Night Court' ended.
Johnny Carson retired from The Tonight Show.
Wow - that brings back a lot of memories, doesn't it? It's been a long time since Favre began his streak. The next closest player to Favre's consecutive start record is Peyton Manning, with 160 consecutive starts.
If Manning remains uninjured, he has a chance to break Favre's record 94 games from now in the 2013 season. Or maybe it will never be broken at all.
"His record for most consecutive starts will never be broken. It's one of the most amazing records in sports. I guarantee you, he gets an immense amount of respect from every quarterback in the NFL for that record." Carson Palmer - Bengals Quarterback
Chris M. Smith owns http://www.Favre4Sale.com , a Brett Favre fan and memorabilia site. He specializes in Brett Favre merchandise, including jerseys, autographs, helmets, footballs, cards, photos, game-used items, and other Brett Favre gear. He also features the latest in Brett Favre news, videos, articles, pictures, bio info, and retirement information. Visit his site: http://www.Favre4Sale.com
Copyright 2008 Chris M. Smith
The nomination of the Disney/Pixar film "UP" in the Best Picture category of the 2010 Academy Awards returns Disney to its rightful position as undisputed king of animated film, a throne it has occupied for most of the past 100 years. Putting aside arguments as to what constitutes an animated film (some claim this appellation for Up's co-nominee Avatar), this marks only the second time an animated feature has been nominated for the award (the first was another Disney film - Beauty and the Beast, of 1991, which somewhat ironically lost out to The Silence of the Lambs, which, it could be argued, resembled Beauty and the Beast in more ways than one.)
Although popular opinion has Avatar as the front runner to win Best Picture, the mere fact of Up's nomination is a vindication of Disney's purchase of the company in 2006 and testament to the courage and commitment of Pixar chairman and CEO Steve Jobs, and creative genius John Lassetter, now Chief Creative Officer of Pixar, and also of Disney Animation Studios.
Disney's wisdom not only in recognising the financial worth of Pixar, but also the artistic worth of its creative team, brings the company back almost full circle to the very earliest days of animation, when founder Walt Disney very quickly realised that he would not be able to achieve his creative and business ambitions single-handedly, and set about employing the very best artists and writers that were available.
His first major collaboration was with friend and former workmate Ub Iwerks, with whom Disney had worked at the Pesmen-Rubin Commercial Art Studio in Kansas City. Although Iwerks was not the only animator with whom Disney worked, he was the most influential on the early films, most notably in his development of the now iconic Mickey Mouse from an earlier Disney character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, rights to which he had lost in a contractual dispute. Using Iwerks' new character, Disney took the risky step of investing in the new film technology of sound, introduced the previous year in The Jazz Singer.
Although Steamboat Willie of 1928, starring Mickey Mouse in his third appearance, is often cited as the first synchronised sound cartoon, it was in fact preceded in 1926 by Max and Dave Fleischer's My Old Kentucky Home, and in 1928 by Dinner Time, created by Paul Terry, later founder of Terrytoons. Neither of these predecessors were successful at the box office, but Steamboat Willie was a sensation. With it, Disney moved into the big time, and embarked on a hugely productive phase in which several Mickey Mouse cartoons (including his first two - Plane Crazy, and The Gallopin' Gaucho - remade with sound) were released each year, along with a number of other titles featuring a growing stable of popular characters.
Disney had combined technical superiority with artistic excellence and business acumen, and this combination of attributes earned him and his company's place at the forefront of the animation industry, a position he cemented four years later when he signed Technicolor to a two year contract for his exclusive use of their new colour processing technique for cartoons.
By the end of the 1930s, Walt Disney was ambitious to develop animation even further. He took the risky, but ultimately profitable leap into animated feature films with the vastly popular and successful Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1938, a film which began several decades of box office domination for Disney, with such iconic films as Bambi (1942), Song of the South (1946), and Cinderella (1950) joining modern classics like The Little Mermaid of 1989, and Beauty and the Beast (1991), in the pantheon of great films - animated and otherwise.
It is no surprise then, that the Disney company recognised the potential of the groundbreaking new medium of computer animation when Pixar made its first feature film Toy Story in 1995. Disney and Pixar entered into a distribution partnership for Toy Story and subsequent Pixar output which, although not without the occasional contractual disputes and personality clashes, eventually led to Disney's purchase of a majority share in Pixar. True to the history of both of these leaders in film animation, the quality of Pixar's work has steadily progressed, and with the appointment of John Lassiter (also a one time Disney animator) as creative director of both companies, there is no reason to doubt that this will continue. It can only be a matter of time until a Disney/Pixar film is given the recognition and respect that this often underrated art form has deserved since the early days of animation.
Andy McScott loves watching films, reading about film history, and writing about film. He has a degree in American Studies, specialising in film, and has even appeared in a film (a 'blink and you'll miss it' extra role in Peter Jackson's "The Frighteners" that is now visible due to advances in DVD freeze frame technology.) His favourite film genres are Western, Gangster, and Animated. Check out some more of his film writing at: http://www.squidoo.com/Top10BestNosesinFilmandTelevision or http://www.squidoo.com/Top10CartoonBirds.
Actors, athletes and mass murderers - it takes all sorts to drive lorries. With brief details of their involvement in the trade and subsequent celebrity, here is a countdown of the top 10 stars who worked as lorry drivers before they were famous, with varying degrees of success.
# 10 Chris Tarrant:
This radio and television presenter, best known for hosting the TV game show 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?', pursued a number of jobs before finding his feet in television. Tarrant's former roles include long-distance lorry driver, security officer and schoolteacher.
# 9 Chris Eubank:
Chris Eubank is notable for being the only member of our list to have taken up lorry driving after he become famous. October 2003 saw a politically motivated Eubank descending on Whitehall in his personal HGV to protest against the war in Iraq. The former world middleweight champion boxer ended up being arrested for blocking the entrance gates to Downing Street, driving around Parliament Square sounding his horn, with a knife in his pocket, and reversing into a delivery van.
# 8 Rock Hudson:
Hudson was a popular American film and television actor and a romantic leading man in the 1950s and 1960s. During WW II, Hudson served as a Navy airplane mechanic and after the war he was a truck driver. His size and good looks got him into movies.
# 7 Chevy Chase:
Our number seven is an Emmy Award-winning American comedian, writer, and television and film actor. Before his breakthrough as a comedian, Chase worked as a truck driver, cab driver, motorcycle messenger, waiter, busboy, construction worker, audio engineer, produce manager in a supermarket, salesman in a wine store and theatre usher.
# 6 Long Distance Clara:
The only woman on our list and, unfortunately, fictional, juggernaut-driving Clara was the star of 80s children's cartoon 'Pigeon Street'. Some see Long Distance Clara as an unsung feminist icon - her marriage to chef Hugo demonstrated a refreshing reversal of gender stereotypes.
# 5 Charles Bronson:
Charles Bronson was an American actor of 'tough guy' roles who made his name starring in a number of major Hollywood flicks including 'The Great Escape' and 'The Dirty Dozen'. Before becoming famous, Bronson was drafted into the army and was assigned to the Air Corps in 1943. He started as a truck driver and then trained as a pilot, winning awards for good service.
# 4 Richard Pryor:
Pryor was the first African American stand-up comedian to speak candidly to mixed audiences using the language and jokes of the black community. He worked in numerous jobs before finding fame, including truck driving and meatpacking.
# 3 Liam Neeson:
Liam Neeson is a movie star most well known for his role as Oskar Schindler in the 1993 blockbuster 'Schindler's List'. Irish-born Neeson once worked as a truck driver as well as a forklift operator for Guinness, an assistant architect and an amateur boxer.
# 2 Sean Connery:
This retired Scottish actor is best known for starring as James Bond in seven Bond films. Heart-throb Connery joined the Royal Navy after leaving school but was discharged on medical grounds. He went on to a succession of jobs, including lorry driver, labourer and lifeguard.
# 1 Elvis Presley:
The American singer, musician, actor and cultural icon took up truck driving as one of his jobs after graduation. The future 'King' drove a truck for the aptly named 'Crown Electric Company'. Presley even took up wearing his hair longer with a 'ducktail' - the style of truck drivers at the time. A musician for whom a young Elvis Presley auditioned advised him to 'Stick to driving a truck, because you'll never make it as a singer'.
The Mass Murderer - Peter Sutcliffe:
Quite possibly the most evil and deranged presence in the history of lorry driving, the 'Yorkshire Ripper' is far too nasty to make it into our top 10. Between 1975 and 1984, this lorry driver and former gravedigger killed 13 women in a five-year reign of terror before being sentenced to a minimum of 30 years in jail. On his arrest, Sutcliffe claimed that God had told him to go out and kill prostitutes. A sad blemish on the good name of lorry driving.
Celebrities who were lorry drivers before they were famous - a heady mixture of the talented, the eccentric, the unpleasant and the downright brilliant. Who knows what magical creatures are sitting behind the wheels of our country's lorries today?
Luke Humble is the Website manager for The Transport Exchange Group. Their two exchanges, Courier Exchange and Haulage Exchange, provide more backloads for their members and are two of the UK's largest and fastest growing independent freight exchanges. The exchanges are neutral, actively managed and with strict quality control to ensure smooth running.
The United States fast food market has seen a healthy rise in growth within the last three years which forecasts can be sustained. The fast food market is forecast to maintain its current growth expectations, with an anticipated Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 2.3% for the five-year period 2005-2010. This is expected to drive the market to a value of $57.6 billion by the end of 2010. Drivers of growth include increasing numbers of Americans in the workplace, which reduces the amount of time spent on preparing meals at home. In 2010, the United States fast food market is forecast to have a value of $57.6 billion, an increase of 12.1% since 2005.
Forecast Volume
In 2010, the United States fast food market is forecast to have a volume of 37 billion transactions (Figure 1). This represents an increase of 5.3% since 2005. The CAGR of the market volume in the period 2005-2010 is predicted to be 1%.
Success Factors
Success factors for fast food franchisees will include products and marketing targeted to healthier menu selections, brand consistency, low start-up costs, franchisee support, and consumer convenience. Subway ® represents a poignant example of a fast food franchisee ready for success in the future fast food market. Their strategies transcend the fast food market and apply to many other markets and products.
SWOT Analysis
Subway sandwich shops are well positioned to leverage their strengths and address reasonable threats, weaknesses, and opportunities. The table below highlights these Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
Strengths
Subway is not without competitive pressures. Chief competitors include Yum! Brands, McDonalds, Wendy's, and Jack in the Box. Yum! Brands are the world's largest, with 33,000 restaurants in over 100 countries. Four of the company's highly recognizable brands, KFC, Pizza Hut, Long John Silver's and Taco Bell, are global leaders of the Mexican, chicken, pizza, quick-service seafood categories. Yum! has a workforce of 272,000 employees and is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.
McDonald's Corporation (McDonald's) is the world's largest foodservice retailing chain with 31,000 fast-food restaurants in 119 countries. The company also operates restaurants under the brand names 'The Boston Market' and 'Chipotle Mexican Grill'. McDonalds operates largely in the US and the UK and is headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois employing 447,000 people.
Wendy's International (Wendy's) operates three chains of fast food restaurants: Wendy's (the third largest burger chain in the world), Tim Horton's, and Baja Fresh. Wendy's operates over 9700 restaurants in 20 countries, has been included in Fortune magazine's list of top 500 US companies, is headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, and employs about 57,000 people.
Jack in the Box owns, operates, and franchises Jack in the Box quick-service hamburger restaurants and Qdoba Mexican Grill fast-casual restaurants and is headquartered in San Diego, California.
Target Markets
The increase in sales of the sandwiches has been a result of decreases in consumer interest in hamburgers and fries and increases in demand for healthier options. Sales of sandwiches are growing 15 percent annually, outpacing the 3 percent sales growth rate for burgers and steaks.
Current Marketing Program
A new breed of restaurant is making big gains against the market-saturated hamburger establishments. Termed "fast-casual," these restaurants are dominated by Mexican chains, and sandwich restaurants offering fresh-baked breads and specialty sandwiches.
Responding to evolving consumer expectations for health, fresh, custom-made sandwiches; Subway's marketing program addresses these expectations through a number of approaches. The most notable were the television commercials featuring Jared. These commercials emphasize the healthy aspects of a Subway sandwich by highlighting the 245 pounds Jared lost by eating a Subway sandwich diet. Subway also markets through a national sponsorship in events such as American Heart Association Heart Walks and local events such as triathlons, and children's sports teams.
The Subway example represents marketing and product strategies that are classic examples of focusing on market demand, consumer trends, product leveraging, and innovation. The marketing strategies of creating clear brand recognition, brand and product association, and market demands, have strategically positioned Subway to advance market share into the near future. These marketing strategies are also repeatable fundamental marketing strategies transcending the fast food market. Does your marketing strategy bind brand recognition to products that support your market's future direction?
Reference
Datamonitor Industry Market Research, (July, 2006), United States Fast Food
For more on Mr. McCarty, please refer to http://www.leadershippinnacle.com
Michael McCarty C.C.C.E, MBA
Mr. McCarty has a proven record of accomplishment in strategic leadership roles for fortune 500 companies. He is an award winning performer in the areas of large-scale operations leadership, strategic planning, senior project management, and significant contributions to the bottom line. Michael has successfully leveraged his leadership skills to provide keen insight, vision, direction, and executive support to financial services firms, information technology firms, and the automotive, credit, and insurance industries. He has been particularly effective in start-up and turnaround situations.
Insisting on integrity, self-reliance, resourcefulness, and ingenuity, Mr. McCarty is an action and solution oriented leader capable of making strong financial contributions to the bottom line. Operational leadership in the areas of process improvements, cost analysis, and innovative revenue generation characterize soundly this veteran executive's distinguished career. For more on Mr. McCarty, please refer to http://www.leadershippinnacle.com
If you're a comic book fan you've probably heard of the Spawn and may have seen the Spawn movie from the early 90's, but do you know who, or what he is?
Created in 1992 by writer/artist Todd McFarlane he has become one of the most popular and enduring anti-heroes in comic book history.
Al Simmons was once a highly decorated member of the American Secret Services and CIA, he had even saved the Presidents life at, and had a beautiful wife called Wanda. But this all came to a sudden end when he was brutally murdered by his boss, Jason Wynn, for witnessing his illegal activities.
Unfortunately for our hero, instead of dying in peace he was sent straight to Hell because of his often violent and brutal work as well as the dubious nature of his of his assignments which are rumored to have included more than one assignation. So, burning with a desire for revenge and wishing to see his wife one last time he struck a deal with the evil demon Malebolgia, a servant of Hell and the powers of Darkness, to serve him as long as he could see his wife Wanda again.
...And so he was returned to the realms of the living as a Hellspawn, badly scarred and burnt and with little memory his past.
Five years have passed since his death and his wife Wanda has remarried to his best friend Terry Fitzgerald and they have had a baby called Cyan, however Al Simmons is unaware of this until he finally finds his wife.
Al is left with two choices which are represented by a disgusting minor demon of Malebolgia's called The Clown (with the power to change into the huge, fanged, clawed Violator) and a harmless old man known as Cogliostro, to either accept his place next to Malebolgia and embrace the Devil and his cause or to renounce them.
And so, with what humanity he still has he decides to denounce the devil, in order to fight the evil on Earth using his powers as a Hellspawn for the world's good in order to try and redeem himself for his past evils.
The Spawns first battles are a frenzy of revenge and hate against the evil that has created him with little thought for what he was doing. As a result he brutally takes out and kills various street gangs as well as a pedophilic serial killer and takes over the alleys and streets of "Rat City". But the local street mobster boss "Tony Twist" Twistelli, suspects Terry Fitzgerald, the Spawns old friend, of being behind the brutal and bloody killings of his "soldiers".
Tony therefore sends a rebuilt and reprogrammed Overtkill, a mob enforcer who is half human and half cyborg, out to hunt down and kill Terry. This in turn forces the Spawn to protect his friend, by taking a bullet to the face, and eventually revealing his true identity to him.
In these early days he also faces Angela, a beautiful angel sent to hunt down and kill all Hellspawn, and the The Redeemer, a Heavenly sent Anti-Spawn, who unknown to Spawn, is his former boss and murderer Jason Wynn.
Despite his vast powers he is nearly destroyed during some of these early battles because his frenzied, unplanned attacks and because he has yet to learn the full powers he posses and how to use them.
During a crossover story arc with the Youngblood comic Spawn's friend Bobby is brutally murdered and the Spawn uses his powers to bring him back to life
But later, his friend Bobby is kidnapped to be studied by Heaven and so Spawn is forced into a confrontation with heaven to try and gain his friends freedom. Forced into entering heaven his suit turns mad and begins freaking out almost killing him and their natural aversion to each other, i.e. Heaven and Hell in the same place at the same time.
He also comes up against a new Redeemer, vastly more powerful than previously and thus the ensuing fight leaves Spawn seriously weakened and barely alive, his suit in tatters and becoming erratic and unpredictable...
... And so Spawn metamorphosis for the first time.
His suit, which had become torn and ragged, is transformed into pure black and white. With this transformation it also becomes much more powerful and gains the power to shape shift. His gloves and boots also morph becoming heavily armored with spikes and chains.
Despite these extra powers and his continued fighting and battles against evil his task seems endless.
At one point The Curse manages to capture him and after surgically removing his suit to learn its secrets. When he finally reunites with his suit he finds it has gained a mind of its own and tries to take control of Spawn.
The Spawn has to fight to regain control in a constant struggle between their "minds" and this struggle weakens him until constant battle and use of his powers result in his suit, and him with it, being summoned back to Hell.
Trapped back in the depths of Hell Spawn fights its many demons in the various circles and territories of Hell and eventually ends up back at the foot of Maleboglia's throne, who laughing and gloating at Spawn banishes him back to Earth.
And so Spawn's struggle to regain his humanity and free himself from his ties to Hell continues.
The attacks against Spawn from both Heaven and Hell become increasingly frequent and violent forcing him to be drawn even deeper into the spiraling world of carnage, violence and evil that he is trying to escape from.
Read the full story HERE
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What role do candles play in your life? Since they were first invented, their role in human societies continues to diversify. In the beginning, it was all about light. Of course, the meaning of light is as diverse as it is essential to our existence. A candle may play a different role in your life today, tomorrow or the next day. Just how profoundly have candles affected human development functionally, culturally and spiritually?
Retail sails for candles in the U.S. for 2001 were approximately 2.3 billion dollars. Candles are used in seven out of 10 U.S. households. The majority of candle consumers burn candles between one and three times per week and burn one to two candles at a time. There are over 300 known commercial manufacturers of candles in the U.S. alone. These statistics are provided by the National Candle Association (NCA – [http://www.nationalcandles.org]).
What elements constitute or define a candle? The essential elements of early candles were a wick, fuel and container or mount. Aromatherapy and colorants have become common editions to most modern candles. Candles have been used for thousands of years but until the 20th century, their essential and primary purpose was to provide artificial light. Today, the applications for candles are so broad and diverse; they have become an integral part of our everyday lives. [http://www.rosecandleslive.com].
Egyptians
It is fair to assume that controlling and capturing fire to produce artificial light on demand has been an obsession since early man first discovered fire. The first known records of this process begin with the ancient Egyptians. Clay candle holders dating from the 4th century B.C. have been found in Egypt. Egyptians eventually used rush lights or torches. They made these torches by soaking the pithy core of reeds in molten tallow. Tallow is the fatty tissue or suet of animals. The tallow of cattle and sheep was routinely used because it became hard. There was no wick involved in these early candles.
Romans
The people of the Roman Empire were the first to use candle wicks. They melted tallow to a very liquid state and poured it over flax, hemp or cotton fiber which created a wick. These candles provided artificial light for utilitarian purposes and were also used in religious ceremonies. There were two primary problems with the use of tallow. It produced both a terrible odor and smoke. Tallow did not burn cleanly.
Asian
Early Asian cultures extracted wax from insects (coccos pella) and seeds and then molded it in tube containers of plant paper. The Japanese extracted wax from tree nuts to create candles. In China, beeswax was used during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.).
India
Early Indian cultures extracted wax from boiling cinnamon and created tapered candles. These candles were used in Indian Temples.
Middle Ages
By this time, beeswax had been discovered. Although harder to acquire, this was a great improvement because the beeswax produced a subtle sweet smell and burned cleanly. These candles were highly valued by the clergy and upper classes that were among those who could access/afford them.
North America
In the first century A.D., Native Americans burned oily fish that were called candlefish. Missionaries that eventually settled the southwestern United States boiled bark from the Cerio tree to extract wax for candle making. Colonial women in New England discovered they could boil the grayish green berries of bayberry bushes and extract wax. This was a difficult and tedious process but the bayberry wax burned sweetly and cleanly. In the late eighteenth century, the whaling industry developed. Spermaceti wax, a whale product that had a mild odor and was harder than both tallow and beeswax made candles available to more people. Many historians claim that the first “standard candles” were made using spermaceti wax.
The Industrial Age
1834
Mass production came to candle making. Joseph Morgan invented a machine that used a cylinder featuring a piston that ejected candles as they solidified in their molds.
1850
Paraffin wax was invented. It is processed by distilling the residues left behind by the refining of crude petroleum. This bluish-white wax burned cleanly and with no unpleasant or much odor of any kind. It was also cheap to produce.
20th Century
Eventually, stearic acid was added since it was discovered this ingredient in the original tallow candles was what maintained a higher melting point and produced a harder candle. The growth of the meatpacking and oil industries made candles a common necessity. In 1879, the electric light bulb was invented. However, history did not end for the development of the candle. This was just a temporary setback that reinvented the mission and the market for candles.
Modern Chandlers (Candle Makers)
Internationally, paraffin remains the most popular candle fuel although the use of stearic wax is mostly practiced in Europe. However, technology continues to develop candles that offer new and more benefits. In 1992, after much testing Michael Richards made the first all vegetable candle wax which has developed into our modern soy candle. The versatility of this wax allows for use in both low-melt container candles and high temperature melt for free standing pillar candles.
Gel candles
The most recent state-of-the-art technology revolves around gel candles. The gel is a combination of polymer resin and mineral oil. The patent for making gel wax is held by Penreco Corporaton (US Patent 5,879,694) and is called versagel. Gel provides exceptional safety in terms of its flash point. It is best used in creating what is known as a hurricane candle by putting it in a decorative translucent container and adding a wick. Due to the clarity of the gel, these candles produce 40% more luminescence than regular paraffin wax. Modern chandlers turned artists, now produce beautiful collectibles in the form of embedded glass candle designs. The gel can be reinstated, and the candle passed down through generations to be used again and again. Detailed pictures of these art candles are available at [http://www.rosecandleslive.com].
So…What role do candles play in your life?
Well, they can still light a room…but they can also light a heart. They can express love that lasts a lifetime and an infinite collection of special moments and appreciation. Candles are a cultural, technical, artistic, therapeutic and spiritual expression of the finest moments in human evolution and experience. That is why they are still present in our lives…in spite of the electric light bulb. This article invites you to use them to celebrate life in all its creative glory.
Author Biography
Janet K. Nelson has done research and written articles on subjects that range from the cultural to the technical. She is an author noted for integrating information and providing a fresh, clear and whole-picture perspective on her subjects. She has written articles, manuals and perspectives for marketing, cultural, media and distribution organizations. She has a Masters Degree in Business Administration. More information is available via http://www.tigereyejewels.com marketmaiden@comcast.net
Airsoft was first played in the late 1970s. It was based off of the concept of realistic looking guns that shot non-lethal projectiles for sport and simulation purposes. There were guns of this style before airsoft, such as the Mattel Shooting Shell guns of the late 1950s. The U.S. military even tinkered with ideas of this type after World War II. The BB guns that existed before shot metal BBs that could do a lot of damage to a person and in rare cases kill them. Mattels' guns were an innovation at best though.
Airsoft originated in Japan, where owning real guns was illegal. The first manufacturers were long standing toy companies like Masudaya, Fujimi, and Matsushiro. These companies saw a great business opportunity and filled a void. They believed it would be a great idea to market BB guns that could safely be shot at any one person and not seriously injure them. They got the idea from paintball guns, which were fast becoming very popular at the time. The airsoft guns were spring powered, single shot weapons. Many of the first airsoft guns used unusual ammo such as the 7mm long range and the soft rubber ammo used by Trademarks' guns. Later, they would realize that a normal size round BB would be cheaper and more proficient to manufacture.
Soon after the Daisy Company, who was known for over a century as the premiere manufacturer of BB guns in the US, decided to start marketing airsoft in North America during the 1980s. Until then, airsoft was unheard of outside Japan. Daisy had contracted the Maruzen Company of Japan to manufacture a line of spring powered guns to sell in the US. Many of which already existed in Japan and were being repackaged and sold in the States. These guns used special ammo that was loaded into shell casings. The airsoft guns included rifles, shotguns, pistols, and submachine guns. All of these were made created by Maruzen except for one model which was manufactured by the Falcon Toy Corporation. The airsoft guns that were being manufactured were so realistic in appearance that many anti-violence organizations showed disfavor towards them in America.
Several Japanese companies started to manufacture guns using BV, or bullet valve, around 1985. BV used a direct flow of gas from an external tank which usually was Co2 or compressed air. This powered the mechanism which allowed the airsoft guns to fire in a fully automatic mode.The Japanese economy hit an all-time low in 1990. A lot of large companies had invested in factories and during the recession these companies were unable to survive the debts that they had acquired and were forced to sell out. This created the end for gas driven airsoft in the 1990s.
Many companies were forced to close their doors and the most memorable of these companies had to be JAC. Their ambitious World War II line of guns, featuring the BAR and the Thompson, were made of metal and wood and used real gun parts like the mag shell, but it proved to be too expensive to produce during that period and caused them to declare bankruptcy. Now, contrary to belief, Tokyo Marui was not a factor in the closure of classic companies.
In the late 90s', classic airsoft guns began to see a bit of a new start. Companies like Youth Engineering started to manufacture guns using the old BV system. Now, in recent years the Escort Company of Japan began a vigorous campaign new gas powered guns. Escort began creating new airsoft guns in-house such as the MP5 and others. These guns appealed more to skeptics because many of them used the AEG magazines. Escort was also the first to branch out into other ideas including the first truly functional airsoft gas hand grenade and the remote detonated Claymore mine. Escort guns also offered a degree of realism that had never been seen before in airsoft when they offered the full-stroke blowback in their guns.
Airsoft is a fun sport to play and the origins of airsoft are important for anyone who loves the game to know. Airsoft guns are not the real thing and they are not dangerous, but an airsoft gun should certainly be handled with caution and care!
Eric Short is owner and operator of GetSomeAirsoft.com, and he loves airsoft guns and the sport. Eric is also an Internet Consultant who helps others create websites of their own and teaches them the basics of marketing a website.
If you would like more information or would like to take a look at some great airsoft products take a look at this website: [http://www.GetSomeAirsoft.com]
"Perhaps Some Other Time", "Travelers" and "the Killing Dogs"
Woman: the contrast between tradition and modernity
This article pays to the narration analysis of three films of Bahram Beizai's cinematic works whose names are: Perhaps Some Other Time, Travelers and the Killing Dogs, having been constructed between 66 to 79 time intervals. The principle aim of this article is answering to these questions: The first thing is that: how has the woman been represented in cinematic works of Bahram Beizai who is one of the most noticeable man stage directors in the cinema of Iran and that does his masculinity influence on his kind of view towards women and their problems or not?
By reviewing the research literature, we come to this conclusion that most of the activities in the area of Iran cinema is based on the axis of artistic and aesthetics look, or in other words, on the introspective criticism of cinema and the especial activity in the field of cinema concerning the representation of women and their problems in the works of a film maker man is not seen. For this reason, the cinematic works of this prominent stage director was chosen and examined for this analysis.
Key concepts:
In this article the effort has been made to investigate the place and the picture of a woman in cinematic works of Bahram Baizai, one of the most noticeable man stage directors in the cinema of Iran. In other word, we are searching for this answer that how this stage director has represented women in his works and what features he has attributed to them?
Another aspect of this research which is very significant and can be a new horizon in the activity concerning women in mass media is the investigation of the role of a film maker and stage director's gender in representing women and their problems. That, to what extent does the gender of a film maker (either a man or woman) influence on the kind of the stage director's view on women? Is the film maker and stage director men's view towards women and their problems different from those of women?
Some of the theorists believe that generally mass media, including cinema, represents women as a means or marginal existence in such a way that this representation hasn't got to do with the reality as well as the complexity of their life. Generally, in mass media, men are regarded as wise, powerful, efficient creatures, and the source of power with high positions whereas women are considered emotional, dependent, weak and passive.
According to Tuchman: "symbolically, the cinema has ignored women, drives them to the margin and by showing the majority of men in all sorts of cinematic programs, in fact, tells the society that women are not so much important. Not only does the television tell us that women are not worth except at the status of a housekeeper and mother, but also, by depicting women as inefficient and humble individuals who are always at the service of men, symbolically despise and scorn them."(Based on the quote of Ven Zoen, 2001, page 16)
1-The representation: The meaning of representation in mass media in Richard Dyer includes: "The method of the construction of mass media about individuals, places, things, cultural identities and other abstract concepts. The manifestation of representations may be in oral, written forms or dynamic pictures."(Dyer, 1993, page 18)
"Therefore, the concept of representation in this research includes the method of the manifestation of a social reality which in this research women have been regarded as the social reality."(Sedighi Khooydaki, 1384,page12)
2-Gender: "Before the definition of the concept of gender, the meaning of the generic state should also be defined so that the meaning of the word gender becomes more obvious. There is a meaningful difference between gender and generic state whose origin should be searched in culture."
"Gender" refers to the biological differences between man and woman and generic state is the personal, psychological features that the society determines it and is along with being man or woman or so called "femininity" and "masculinity".
Femininity is a term for the description of being woman that is made up, paid to and attributed to women in society. For example, femininity is along with such features as kindness, affection, sensitiveness, dependence and roles such as mother, wife and nurse. But, masculinity is the opposite of that and features like logic, wisdom and the roles such as manager, physician, lawyer and etc. have been considered suitable for men.
Therefore, in this article, with the definition of these present concepts, we are searching for this matter that how women have been manifested and portrayed in the works of this stage director and, one the other hand, how much the experiences, awareness and characteristic features that women acquire in the society influence on the method of this representation. We will investigate this case in the chapter which is related to the analysis of this stage director's films.
The experimental background:
The focus of the researches mainly done about cinema, has been more on the investigation of technical, aesthetics and optical aspects of films having taken advantage of the method of the introspective criticism of the film. That is, they have paid to the investigation of the techniques of film taking, photo taxis, sound, picture, and montage. The reason is that in Iran the cinematic studies in the field of sociology has no place and film and cinema are treated more as an artistic, aesthetic phenomenon. In this field, after various researches, it was specified that a research under the title of "The Representation Woman in Iran Cinema" has been rare and especially a research having paid to the representation of woman in the works of a man stage director has not been done. But, some researches have been done about the sociology of Iran cinema. (Sedighi Khooydaki 1384)
The meaning of narration:
The psychological analysis of the film is the newest branch of semiotics which having been appeared from inside of the critical innovations which have presented new definition about the theory of film in the 1970's decades. Although it has created its especial terms and research methods, openly its root is in the main movements of semiotics in our period. "The narrative analysis like all the researches of semiotics intends to remove the apparently natural and justified skin between the signifier and the world of story and reveals the deeper system of associations and cultural relations which are stated from among the narrative form. If the conventional elements of narrative structure (characters), sketching the plan and conspiracy, scenery, moving point and timing are seen from behind the methodology of semeiotics, they can be regarded as the systems of signs having been organized based on different signs. Each of the signs transfers totally especial messages related to the world of story in different ways."
Mass media, including cinema, is one of the main means of representing the world and transferring it to us. One of the methods of Hayayen is the representation of the use of narration."
"Lorel Richardson" believes that: "Narration is both a method of deduction and the representation. Human beings can realize the world in a framework of narration and based on it tell about the world."
Narrations and the simplest concepts are the stories which occur at the same time. Narration includes "telling" two or more narrations (a situation or incident) logically related to each other, occur at the same time and through a fixed subject are constituted as a whole.
The analysis of the films:
Perhaps Some Other Time: The summary of the film: Modaber, the speaker of the texts of cinematic films, on a moovila page, in a scene of a documentary film sees his wife, Kian, in a stranger's car. Through his friends, he meets that stranger, named Mr. Haghnegar, who is an antique seller and infers that Vida, the woman seen in the film, is the twin sister of Kian as well as Mr Haghnegar's wife. Modaber having found a way though his friend to Hghnegar's house with the excuse of providing a film about antique works, ask Kian to join to them. After meeting with Vida, Kian finds out that their father had died in their childhood and their mother, because of poverty, had put Kian on the way and a couple had reared her up. After coming out of Haghnegar's house, she feels that she found herself.
In the movie "Perhaps Some Other Time" nightmare,insecurity,identity, disturbance, poverty, man's sensitivity, chase and escape, mother's love, dog, nursery, illness etc.
The represented women are of different kinds in the film the most principle of whom is the woman who has got too much psychological problem because of the identity crisis. This problem as well as her inner confused thoughts prevents her from having a good and normal life. This problem shows a kind of protection of women and attention to their problems for having a safe and healthy family, because women's inner confusions or their disturbances act as obstacles against them to have an ideal and suitable life, and so cover all of the aspects of their life.
In fact, in spite of all her husband's insistences and even accusations, she remains silent and we see a kind of silence and complexity which the audience accompanies it up to the end of the film. It is only at the end of the film that we infer to her piety, justice and purity. In fact, the fear of expressing the reality has caused her silence and finally complexity. Her worry and fear are not her innate characteristics, but derive from understanding the reality by her husband and having been rejected by him. All of these states are derived from her interest as well as heartily emotion towards her husband and her identity crisis is because of her past in which she was searching herself and was unaware of the reality.
At the end, the problem of the woman's identity in this film can be the most principle justification for her disturbances, insecurities, and worries and we see that after understanding the reality and the solution of her problem, she changes to a human with natural conditions.
The protection of woman is seen by showing the problem of identity in this film. It is in such a way that it can be said in a society whose women have the problem of identity crisis, they are not expected to have positive and ideal conditions and finally it transfers to the next generation. With this definition, it can be said that woman and the problem of her identity constitutes the most principle axes of this film.
The Travelers: the summary of the story: A house is prepared for wedding. Meanwhile, the news is given that some of the bride's relatives are killed in an accident. After some time, in accepting the news, at last the catastrophe is affirmed. The funeral ceremony is held while no one thinks about the destiny of that young couple.
Of elements and signs of the film including: mirror, the concurrence of life and death, happiness and sadness, doubt and certainty, laugh and cry, traditionalism and modernism and such contrasts can be alluded. The film is stared with its movement on the individuals and, following it, we see the cold face of a woman whose face is in front of the camera and informs about the future and death. Mahrokh is preparing herself for her wedding and meanwhile waiting for her older sister's arrival and presence in her celebration. Mahrokh is excited, kind, interested in her husband and family, hopeful, and dependent on the traditions and family beliefs.
In this film, we face with a woman who is hopeful, interested in life, as well as her husband and family. Although she has lost her family and lived with her grandmother, has still a childish and happy spirit with a hopeful look towards the future. Also, no signs of abolished relations among mother in-law, sister in-law and bride is seen in her relation with her brother's wife and even her new family.
In this film, other valuable women are seen at the beginning of which the grandmother can be alluded who, in spite of the holding of the funeral ceremony of the older daughter and her family, is still hopeful and waiting for their arrival and such a great sadness doesn't tire her out. She is a woman that is not yielded to the present condition and by asking Mahrokh to wear her wedding dress in the funeral ceremony, displays her utmost struggle and non-acceptance of the present condition. Although she is a woman dependent on the traditions, her view is not limited and traditional and still looks forward to arriving her dears.
The circles of the film from happiness to sadness, doubt to certainty, and nightmare to submission and death to hope can be felt with all one's existence. The Travelers is not the film of the dead, but the film of the live travelers in a road whose meaning is not separation. The interesting thing is that the men in the funeral ceremony are the first group who, secretly, express some sentences concerning the madness of the grandmother. The number of these men in comparison to the women, who have such murmurs, is much more.
Killing Dogs: The summary of the film: An Iranian woman writer, named Golrokh Kamali, who had left her husband, Nasar Moaser, last year because of her suspicion to his relationship with the secretary of his company, returns to Tehran at the end of war and sees her husband who has become broke and is going to prison. Golrokh understands that her husband's counterpart, by conspiracy, has taken the entire fund of the company and illegally has gone out of the border; her husband has remained alone with all the debts of the company and the pressures on behalf of the creditors. Golrokh Kamali feels responsible to hurry to save her husband, in compensation for her suspicion towards him, so she tries to pay the creditors' purchases, proves his innocence and gets the complaints' satisfaction for her husband's freedom. In fact, Golrokh Kamali, with her simplicity of heart enters the profession and the world which is too far from her thoughts, and is the world of commerce. She deals with each of the creditors and complaints to attract their satisfaction for her husband and, in this case, goes to the extent that has no way to return and understands that she has entered into a battle in which she must no longer be defeated. She tolerates everything, from despise and insult to annoyance and violence. At the end, she sets her husband free. But, as thanks to her, he gives her the divorcee letter. Golrokh finds out that all of these plays have been her husband's deceptions that by frightening and causing to escape, his counterpart possesses all the invest of the company and now by having the satisfaction letter of the complaints, Golrokh having got it for him, he is practically the legal owner of it and as the first step, he intends to go abroad with his secretary for honey moon. Golrokh tolerates her husband's stroke with patience but the plan of the Naser Moaser is failed because his counterpart has returned and others having followed Golrokh in all her efforts for her husband's freedom, and having been aware and waiting as much as Nasser Moaser, arrive.
Of major signs of this film are: cat, disturbance, anger among people, wrong doing, betrayal, the presence of traditional and modern woman. Concerning the traditional and modern woman displayed in the film, a common characteristic can be found and that is an effort for attracting the satisfaction and the love of husband. The old man's wife (one of the creditors) and Golrokh are both of those women who ignore many things on account of their interest in husband, although they live in two completely different spaces.
Golrokh is socially active, a writer who belongs to a high cultural, social family. She had left her husband because of her doubt about his secret relationship with the secretary of his company. After one year, she returns to Tehran, but doesn't find him. Through the intermediates she deals with him and in order to compensate for her separation and past improper doubt, accepts to buy one third of his husband's protest checks from the creditors to set her husband free from prison. Meanwhile, she confronts with many hardships and troubles and after getting each of the checks, goes to the prison to meet her husband to show them to him and strengthen his spirit. Meanwhile he faces with many men and their shameful suggestions, but at last, she achieves her ideal goal and when she successfully goes to her husband to release and make him happy, as a reward, her husband gives her the document of his marriage with his secretary. But, we see that she doesn't become defeated and depressed and with this beautiful expression that: "I have tried my abilities or proved myself somehow" comes out from this intolerable pressure, but after that, she doesn't stop her movement. We become witness of her quick movement in a road which is forward to the future.
In this film, we face with a social, strong, decided, flexible, pure, undefeatable, high-spirited, far-sighted, lover, hopeful woman and we see the ability of each work in her, whereas none of the men of the film have it. In fact, there is no equality and harmony between the woman and the men of the film, and the film maker, by juxtaposing the cat and the man, epitomizes the cat-like quality of the man in this film.
The women of Baizai's films are perfectionist, challenger and strong, not the shadow and the followers of women whatsoever. These women are the deviators of the tradition who don't yield to the destiny and have a main role in this film.
Conclusion:
The upward movement of women's presence in the cinema of Iran is seen in cinematic works of Bahram Baizai, and in the film "Perhaps Some other Time" we are witness of the life of a woman who has a problem with her identity crisis having created a difficult and disturbing condition for her. But, these conditions in the film "The Travelers" has improved and we face with a kind of Mahrokh who is hopeful and interested in her life and husband and although she has lost her family in her childhood and lived with her grandmother, has still a childish and happy spirit along with a hopeful view towards the future. In this film, other valuable women are seen as well at the beginning of which grandmother can be alluded. In spite of holding the funeral ceremony of the older daughter and her family, she is still hopeful and waiting for their arrival. She is a woman that is not yielded to the present condition and by asking Mahrokh to wear her wedding dress in the funeral ceremony, displays her utmost struggle and non-acceptance of the present condition. Although she is a woman dependent on the traditions, her view is not limited and traditional and still looks forward to arriving her dears.
Besides the grandmother, we see Mastan who is another strong woman. She is the witness of the economical condition of the house and continuously, in difficult and intolerable conditions, inspires her husband and makes him hopeful towards a better future. Mastan's most essential features are: patience, love for husband, flexibility and control of the affairs.
Hamdam is another woman in this film, She is a woman who is reproached by her ignorant husband, but she is so much self-sacrificed that, in spite of the 50% probability of her death, she accepts to become pregnant to satisfy her husband. She is a kind-hearted woman from whose face one cannot easily infer to her gentle spirit.
The climatic point of the strength and persistence is displayed in the film: "Killing Dogs". In this film, Golrokh, because of her love for her husband, tolerates all of the difficulties heartily, but after tolerating too many hardships and sufferings she confronts with her husband's betrayal. More noticeable thing than that is that her husband gives the document of his marriage with the secretary of his company to his wife and we still see the patience and persistence in this woman and she sets herself free from the pressure by saying that she has tried and approved herself and following it, we don't see her motionless and sad, but, she walks on the road which is towards the progress.
With regard to the analyses done, in answering to the research questions, it can be said that women, in Bayzai's films, are represented based on the reality and the complexity of their life. These women are of high social and cultural classes and far from the social classes in which they have lied and it can be said that woman in his works are in an upward movement and the climatic point of this power and persistence can be seen in his last film "Killing Dogs"
Fixed elements such as: identity, the acceptance of tradition and modernity, the society and the stranger element concerning women are seen in his film and generally we can get to this point that in Beizai's films, the dignity of the woman is not the same as the men, and the woman has especial power and abilities which aren't found in any man. These women are able to do the works that other men cannot cope with them. Also, such contradictory features in them as: emotion, rationality, flexibility, persistence .which add to their positive value and complexity. Being undefeated, flexible, laborious for changing the unsuitable conditions, hopeful and lover of husband are the fixed characteristics of the women in his films.
sources:
Stem, Robert, Bourgeon, and Sandi Filterman (1379) narralogy of the film, Fatah Mohammadi, Farabi's Faslnameh, special letter of narration and anti narration.
Asaberger, Artour(1379), the analytical methods of the mass media, Parviz Ejlali, the center of mass media studies and researches.
Ravad Rad, Azam(1389)the changes of women's roles in society and television, a chapter concerning women's researches, the center of women's studies and researches,NO.1.
Ravad Rad, Azam (1382) cinema, the forgotten mass media, a chapter of mass media,NO. 54.
Gret,Stefani (1380) sociology, gender state, Katayoon Baghaie, Tehran.Digar. Internet sourses: 1-http://www.iranactor.com 2-R,Dyer (1991) the matter of images:essay on representation ,London,routledge
Although it seems as though the Muppet character of Elmo has been around forever, he was "born" in the early 1970's. For many years he was only a background character and wasn't given much exposure or air time. Almost 15 years after his creation, 1984, talented puppeteer Kevin Clash gave him new "life" and so began his rise to the high level of popularity that surrounds Elmo today. How popular is Elmo? To say that he's very popular would be a serious understatement, and the Elmo Live reviews definitely show how much critics love this doll.
He's so popular that many of the Elmo Live reviews predict that holiday sales eventually prove it to be more popular than the craze that followed the creation of the Tickle Me Elmo doll back in 1996. Although a relatively young character compared to original Sesame Street stars like Big Bird or the Cookie Monster, Elmo has risen to an arguably higher prominence. Several generations of children have grown up with Elmo and every day, more children become fans, but more importantly, they see Elmo as their friend. Elmo has a high pitched voice and speaks in third person. Beginning sentences with phrases such as "Elmo thinks" or "Elmo likes", many preschoolers seem to associate with his awkwardness and behavior unlike any of the adults that they know. This bond that he shares with younger children is obviously part of the reason why so many of them consider him a close friend.
According to one Elmo Live review, the new toy is a considerable improvement over the original Tickle Me Elmo doll sold back in 1996. With a much larger vocabulary and a greater range of movement, Elmo Live surpasses the original doll by a long shot. Elmo Live sings, laughs, and tells jokes. He can "stand up" and he can even introduce himself to you. One Elmo Live review said if you squeeze his nose, back, tummy, foot, or simply tickle him, you can get his attention. Children, of course, can easily do this and they always love the attention that Elmo Live will give them. He's their best friend and they will probably be able to spend hours of fun playing with him.
During the height of his popularity in the late 1990's, Elmo actually went on a speaking tour and made appearances on NBC's the Today show and the daytime talk show Ellen. The studio audiences were packed with children and their parents who were all there to see a simple puppet talk, since and dance a little. A Puppet! Very few if any of the other Sesame Street characters ever experienced such a strong following. Kids couldn't get enough of Elmo back then and they still can't get enough of him today. If you collect Elmo Live reviews from children on who have actually seen the toy, you'd get an overwhelmingly favorable response.
One Elmo Live review indicates this toy is more than an upgrade to the original Tickle Me Elmo doll. He's a significant step or leap closer to having the "real" Elmo in your home, playing with your child. They already know him and they're already his friend. Bring Elmo Live into your home and make your child's dream come true. In fact, according to most Elmo Live reviews, with advanced animatronic parts that help bring Elmo Live come to life through various movements and a wide range of vocal sayings, you might actually forget that the real Elmo isn't even real at all. The puppeteers who give life to the Muppets have always been able to get us to forget that what we're watching are often nothing more than wood, metal, and furry cloth. The Elmo Live doll has the same ability to help you forget, except instead it being on television, he'll be right in your very own home. This connection between Elmo and young children is part of the magic, and part of the reason why he's been an enduring friend for the last 30 years. Every Elmo Live review points to the fact that this is going to be the hottest Christmas toy of the year. Don't ignore it.
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If you're planning a birthday party for a baby boomer, who may be getting older in years, but certainly not in attitude, then it's time to celebrate his or her youthful spirit. This person is not a candidate for an over the hill theme. Here are eight tips to throw a great back-to-your youth celebration for his or her milestone bash.
1. Get your guests in the mood to travel back in time with fantastic party invites. You could choose photo birthday invitations that include pictures of the guest of honor in his or her youth. Another option is to select invites that feature fun facts from the year he or she was born. Finally, you could just pick up a few packs of kid's party invitations to make it clear that this event is for someone who is forever young.
2. Create a retro atmosphere. Make a list of some of the "cool" symbols from the era of the guest of honor's younger years. Things like peace signs, tie-dye, flower-power, hippies, Woodstock, VW bus, smiley faces and lava lamps are good representations of the 60's and early 70's. Disco balls and platform shoes can be used for the 70's, but only if the celebrant was a fan. Borrow items from friend's attics, search eBay or visit a party supply store to start acquiring your decorations.
3. Picture the past. Use photos from every stage of the guest of honor's life to add to the decor. You can hang poster-size prints or collages made from different pictures. Group framed old photographs for nostalgic centerpieces. You could even make individual placemats by laminating photos onto 11 x 17 inch poster board.
4. Bring back the taste of yesterday. Choose a menu with comfort foods from the birthday boy or girl's youth. What was their favorite dinner when they were growing up? Check for "foil TV dinner trays" on your favorite search engine, for a unique way of serving the meals. Another nice touch is to provide bowls on each table filled with retro candy, They are also available online from companies that specialize in nostalgic sweets.
5. Play those old familiar songs. Stir up old memories of good times with classic hits from the guest of honor's teens and twenties. You can find CDs with compilations of the top tunes from any given year. Your local library may even have them available to borrow.
6. Provide games for the young at heart. Play "name that tune" with songs from the era and watch your guests come alive. Answering trivia questions is always fun. You could challenge people with a list of quotes from the popular movies and tv shows of the day and see who can identify the most sources. If you dig up some old toys, like toss-across, twister and hungry-hungry hippo, you can have tournaments. And of course, give all the winners a prize like a tie-dyed t-shirt.
7. Favors are a nice, old-fashioned way to say, "thanks for sharing the fun". Keep with the retro theme when you give out these little tokens of appreciation to your guests These mementos can be anything from inexpensive peace-sign keyrings to smiley-face pencils. Or if you're looking for more of a keepsake, choose something personalized with the guest of honor's photo and message, like notebooks, bookmarks, magnets or candy bars. There's also a wide variety of favors available that are imprinted with statistics and events from the year of the celebrant's birth.
8. Thanks for the memories. Let the guest of honor know how special he or she is to everyone at the party. Pass out slips of paper and ask everyone to write a great memory they have of the birthday boy or girl. Collect the pieces of paper and stuff them into a memory jar to be presented to the celebrant.
So, celebrate that baby-boomer's milestone with a retro birthday party. Make it a blast from the past that brings back the good old days in style. Just follow these tips and it's guaranteed to be a fun and memorable occasion for all.
Linda Kling, as the owner of http://www.photo-party-favors.com, has offered ideas to people planning birthday parties and other celebrations since 1992. She recommends these Year You Were Born photo birthday favors, featuring your photo and fun facts from the year of your birth. Free printables, party recipes, birthday quotes, trivia, and more are available on her website.
