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Without the writers and performers behind the National Lampoon Radio Hour, comedy today would be an altogether different beast. In truth, it wouldn’t be nearly so beastly. For a time, overeducated, chemically altered white boys with attitudes were an extraordinary font of humor, and they didn’t come much more educated, altered, white, and boyish than the Nat Lamp crew. Led first by Michael O’Donoughue and later by John Belushi, the radio program lasted from 1973 to 1975, with many of its creators then moving on to the inaugural company of Saturday Night Live. But if TV proffered innately impertinent, un-P.C. types like O’Donoughue, Belushi, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, and Gilda Radner in slightly deluded form, and movies would further water down their personas, radio served them up in all their concentrated glory. The show, as this astonishing 3 CD box demonstrates, was the comic equivalent of a lethal speedball. –Steven Stolder

Customer Reviews

Review date : 2008-07-11
The National Lampoon Radio Hour was a radio comedy show that ran from late 1973 to late 1974. It originally was an hour long, but was soon cut to half an hour when they started to run low on material (while still being titled The National Lampoon Radio Hour). Here we have over three hours of highlights from the show. This is very funny stuff. In a way, the show was a precursor to Saturday Night Live, using many of the performers and writers that later worked on that show. Buy this box.

Review date : 2005-01-26
I recently went to nationallampoon.com and contacted them, asking if "Radio Dinner" and "Goodbye Pop" would ever be released on CD. The answer I got back was from somebody who apparently never even heard of the albums because he said that those titles may someday be re-released on CD… but they never have been! If you read the liner credits on some of the recent compilations, you’ll know that Radio Dinner and Goodbye Pop were probably the best NatLamp albums ever! One even says that Radio Dinner is still the best-selling NatLamp album to date!!!

This box set is the best you’re gonna get until those albums come out… if they ever do! You can get a track here and there on the recent compilation releases, but where oh where is my beloved "Art Rock Suite", arguably the most ambitiously produced musical satire ever produced!

Radio Dinner is scheduled for release in May 2005 at amazon.co.uk so hopefully in the USA as well.

Now come on NatLamp and release my personal favorite Good Bye Pop!

Review date : 2004-02-08
This collection of Radio Hour skits is great stuff, but it leaves out the most over-the-top material from this era. Who can forget the spot-on send-ups of Joan Baez, John Lennon or Helen Reddy? How about the travel commercial for Haiti or the C&W song "Clap Is Just The B Side Of Love"? Or "Kung Fu Christmas"?
Are we too repressed now to handle it?
Too dumb? Too many lawyers?

Review date : 2002-12-12
Yes, this is gorgeous humor. But honestly, WHEN will they re-release the old "Radio Dinner" album? Us baby boomers wanna re-live the exciting days of the Nixon/McGovern campaign:
"Some of you are asking, why, in announcing our complete withdrawal from Vietnam, and the legalization of marijuana, I am wearing these ludicrous headlamps on my ears. Well, let me explain."

::sigh::

But this one will do until that happy day.

wistfully,

Review date : 2002-09-30
This three volume set is so funny. I just with it was longer (that is my only complaint). The funny thing is, the more you listen to it, the funnier it gets.

Not only did I buy a copy for myself, but two months later I got a copy for my sister (we share the same type of humor).

Hearing John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Christopher Guest, and alumni doing spoofs of Marlon Brando, Charles Bronson, Joni Mitchell, Clint Eastwood, Gregory Peck, and James Taylor are simply hilarious.

Surprisingly, the jokes have held up very well, and not as out of date as I would have thought. A smart, refreshing, hilarious send up of just about everything, National Lampoon delivers the goods.
 

In life, there is no such thing as a free lunch, but amazingly one can watch free movies. Free movies are those movies that are made for free distribution or have entered the public domain. Sometimes free movies may be downloaded from the Internet, which may be done legally or illegally.

Initially, this business started with free movie clips. Movie clips may be screened in a theatre before or after a full-length feature or advertised on certain sites on the Internet, but technology has changed. Movie players can now be downloaded free of charge over the Internet, including the Apple Quick Time Player, The Windows Media Player and The Real Media Player.

Such software can be used to play free movies from the Internet. There are hundreds of sites that offer movies for a small fee. Why spend a fortune on movie tickets when one can watch their favorite movies at a fraction of the price from the comfort of your personal computer? Film directories like Scour and Ifilm are like virtual multiplexes. The advent of free movie sites have made online movie watching a popular activity.

A good place to down load free movies is at ibiblio.org and archive.org. Both these sites have a growing collection of public domain movies that can be easily downloaded. It is legal to down load these movies as their copyrights have expired and hence they are in the public domain. An example is the classic Frank Capra film, ?It?s a Wonderful Life?, which was termed as a free movie in the public domain for the last several years since its copyright had not been renewed.

Some of the popular free movie sites are Watch Free Movies Online, Shared Movies, Free Movies Now, Movie Download World, 123 Movie Download, Cinema Download, Netbroadcaster.com, and Singingfish. Some low fees sites include CinemaNow.com and Movie Flix.com. Downloading a movie with a broadband connection requires only a few minutes. The flipside to the free movie phenomenon is that it has made movie piracy easy.

The Napster experience of music piracy is threatening the motion picture industry in what is known as the Wrapster phenomenon. Microsoft?s new operating system will have strong anti-movie -piracy features to prevent illegal downloads.

There are a lot of sites on the market offering free downloads. The burden is on the customer to determine whether the movie is a legal or pirated copy. Sometimes, claims on the Internet maybe false. Most DVD?s cannot be downloaded from the net without paying a fee. Only those movies released into the public domain such as when a director has not sought a copyright can be actually downloaded free of cost.

Free Movies provides detailed information about free movies, free anime movies, free movie clips, and more. Free Movies is affiliated with Free Movie Downloads.

Writing the block-buster movie usually means writing an action thriller. And the formula there is pretty set, and it really works.

Start with a truly monstrous VILLAIN, and not with the hero. Period. Without a villain-on-steroids, there is no catastrophe at hand that our hero needs to conquer.

That’s why the original DIE HARD (1988) was such a success. Not only because Bruce Willis played the HERO like a dream, but also because the villain HANS GRUBER (Alan Rickman) was a world-class psychopath with Einstein’s IQ. The chilling scene where Gruber meets McClane face to face and pretends he is one of the hostages is one of those classic moments that I’ll remember as long as I live.

This is the same reason DIE HARD 2 (1990) did not work that well in my judgment because its villain, COL. STUART (William Sadler) was a half-developed psycho.

That opening scene where we see Col. Stuart practice his kung-fu moves stark naked in a hotel room while watching the news on TV, is just perfect! We know we are faced with a force of nature that McClane will have one heck of a time subduing. We fasten our seatbelts. We are ready for the ride.

But later on, Col. Stuart devolves into just another mean spirited terrorist mastermind. He turns into a cartoon of himself and the soda pop fizzles out.

I’ll maintain that it is much harder to create an ORIGINAL VILLAIN than an original hero and that’s the key to most block-buster box office hits.

Consider Dr. Hannibal Lecter in the SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991).

Lecter keeps us guessing and scaring us down to the depth of our souls until the very last second of the movie.

We know we’ll never outsmart or outrun this monster and that’s what it makes the efforts of the FBI Agent Clarice Starling so fascinating. She is trying to achieve the impossible by setting her wits and heart against those of Lecter. Without Lecter’s cosmological evil, Starling’s character arc would not be as powerful.

Remember the “horse’s head” scene in GODFATHER? Without that kind of stark cruelty setting the background, would we feel as fascinated with this family saga?

As in the case of the top-rated HBO show the SOPRANOS, we are both attracted towards the characters in GODFATHER while feeling guilty for doing so, mostly because we are aware of the monumental cruelty and violence that this family is capable of.

Our own conflicted feelings are at the heart of the “dramatic conflict” and without a good villain our emotional experience would not be as substantial. And emotional experience is what sells tickets and buys that Malibu home for the writer who can create a monstrous villain out of the depth of her basically clean soul.

That’s the HARDEST aspect of writing a block-buster action thriller. There is a clear need to create an evil-incarnate maniac yet we writers on the whole are the good guys. We basically mean well towards all creation and most of the time hanker after sublime aesthetic experiences.

This is a problem that most inexperienced writer think they’ll circumvent by writing a GOOD HERO. Think again.

———————————————

Ugur Akinci, Ph.D. is a Creative Copywriter, Editor, an experienced and award-winning Technical Communicator specializing in fundraising packages, direct sales copy, web content, press releases and hi-tech documentation.

He has worked as a Technical Writer for Fortune 100 companies for the last 7 years.

You can reach him at mailto:writer111@gmail.com writer111@gmail.com for a FREE consultation on all your copywriting needs.

Please visit his official web site writer111.com writer111.com for customer testimonials and more information on his multidisciplinary background and career.

The last book he has edited: lulu.com/content/263630 lulu.com/content/263630

Whether you are playing poker at the tables in a brick and mortar establishment or you have ventured into the exciting world of online gambling, it is always a good step when you know your limits beforehand. Knowing your limits beforehand can save you a considerable amount of trouble and financial distress. If you keep your gambling in check, you will ensure that all of your gambling ventures remain exciting and fun, not a source of stress and anxiety.

Knowing your limits beforehand helps you in preventing the possibility that you will become an overzealous bettor. An overzealous bettor often thinks, (and falsely so) that “just one more hand is all that is needed to rake in the big winnings.” Yet, that next hand can help break you financially, and poker, even with all the skill and knowledge that goes into the game, relies on the element of luck. Luck is not something you should ever base your financial dealings on: instead, set a limit and stick to it. You’ll find that relying on luck is a bad maneuver each and every time you do so: luck has a way on turning on the overzealous bettor.

To set a limit for yourself you will need to decide what you want to spend. Establish a bankroll and do not spend more than you planned. Of course, this does not mean that you have to spend your entire bankroll in one sitting. In fact, it is better if you pace your gambling carefully: create a bankroll that will last you a certain number of days or weeks. Knowing your limits beforehand can ensure that you get to gamble again in the future because you are gambling sensibly and in moderation.

It is also important to know your limits so that you can identify more significant gambling issues: gambling can become an addiction if it really gets out of control. Remember, playing poker is not about being financially devastated by foolish money management, it’s about enjoying the game. If gambling becomes something that is a source of financial stress, you will need to reconsider your pastime. You should never be willing to jeopardize your financial position to play poker. If you find that you have gone beyond your limits time and time again, it is a good idea to seek help for gambling addiction and to refrain from gambling at all.

Fawzia Awwad is the founder of freecasinos.ws/ Free Casinos, a comprehensive online gambling directory featuring quality casinos, casinos accepting U.S players, multi language casinos, and land casinos.

Throughout the history of Spain, the historical center of the country was known as Castile, where the beginnings of the Spanish language (Castillian) developed.

It is the Spanish Constitution that names the official language of the country as Castillian, which is known by the rest of the world as Spanish. The language is quite important in Spain, as all Spaniards are expected to learn it and exercise their right to use it. Close to 350 million people speak the authorized cultural language of Castillian (or Spanish) with a majority of residents claiming it as their first language. It is through these numbers that this Spanish language is one of the most widely spoken of all Romance languages. Castillian is also spoken in other countries (former colonies of Spain) that are located in Central and South America.

Since 1982, Euskera has been known as the official language of the Basque provinces (along with Castillian). El Euskera (also known as the Basque language) is spoken in the northern central part of Spain, where the Pyrennes melds into the Catabrian Sea. In the north of Spain, about 600,000 speakers proudly display the dialect that is now written using the Latin alphabet. Today, the language thrives in provinces, such as Guipúzcoa, Vizcaya, Navarra, and some parts of Alava. In addition to Basque being a language spoken in Spain, it is also found in the French Atlantic Pyrenees.

The Romance language of Catalan is also spoken in Spain, where the earliest accounts are seen in text written by Homilies d’Organya, dating back to the middle of the 12th century. Throughout the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries, Catalan was the primary language of literature. Restrictions set by the Spanish royals caused a period of decline for Catalan from the 16th to 18th centuries. It wasn’t until the 19th century that the Renaixenca Renaissance movement brought back an interest in the language. Today, Catalan is the official language of Catalunya, the Balearic Islands, and in some parts of Aragon and Murcia. About 5 to 6 million people consider Catalan their mother tongue.

With a history dating back to the start of the Middle Ages, Galician-Portuguese is another Romance language spoken in Spain. Today, almost 2 million people speak Galician (which is quite similar to Castillian).

Throughout Spain, the richness in culture continues with many variations of verbal communication. Depending on the location, numerous provinces are currently known to possess their own dialects and language. Overall, the most popular language is the official tongue of the country – Castillian (Spanish).

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Ads served will be usually be travel related, for example, offering a uk-insurance-travel.co.uk cheap UK travel insurance quote. This is easy to do as the site uses ‘contextual advertising’. This means that whatever you write about in your post the ads on that page will be relevant to whatever you have written about.

So visit the site, publish your own travel blogs and worldtraveldirect.co.uk become a travel writer today.

What message should an online think tank give to its potential members or the general public for that matter? What could they say that would illuminate or stress the importance of such an endeavor? One of my retirement projects is to seek other thinkers out there who are “turned on” so to speak, able to discuss a wide variety of subjects and use all that brainpower to help the forward progression of mankind.

So, I came up with a few words to say about our fledgling Think Tank and started it out something like this; The Online Think Tank is the most unique and qualified mastermind group on Earth, as we are “Time Neutral” thinking beyond the confines of time. Our members might be discussing the thoughts or Aristotle and Plato one moment and then in the same sentence the future concepts of Isaac Asimov and Arthur C Clarke.

In fact we have caught glimpses of conversations where Leonardo da Vinci, Darwin, Einstein were mentioned and then subsequently heard the names of Ray Kurzweil, Burt Rutan, Steven Hawking, Stephen Wolfram and Matt Ridley. And what is so exciting about these dialogues is that it isn’t even the names referenced as much as the methods of their creative genius and the brilliance of their concepts.

As we solve mankind’s challenges in the present we draw from all periods; past, current and future to do so. And yet we do this without partisan politics or cultural infighting destroying the flow of thought. We are focused on solving problems previously caused by linear thought, unintended consequences or the innate ego driven characteristics of the species. In doing this we also develop ideas, concepts and strategies which eliminate future problems in advance.

Nearly every modern dilemma humankind faces today is addressed here and there are solutions for each. Since our Think Tanks exist with small net-centric groups, as well as globally online we have no barriers of locality. The flow of thought should not have to endure barriers of regionalism, confines of the planet or even dimensional space-time for that matter. Our teams consist of people from all walks of life, all professions and academia as well. Our goal is to propel unlimited thought and unlimited thinking.

Our local groups often meet once per week at a local coffee shop and then join us with their thoughts online. Having access to specialized domains allows our members to ask questions of the experts and challenge them too. We are leveling the playing field for input into the system and bypassing the restrictive fields of academic sciences, political venues or large non-profit organizations.

Our mission is to Win and foster a can do attitude because we believe no challenge is too great for the unlimited mind. As our Think Tank grows we wish to change the World and insure the continued forward progression of the human race. Now will you bring us your creative genius, open mind, perseverance and strength of character and help in the cause? Well that was the message, now let us see if anyone understands it? I sincerely hope this article propels thought in 2007.

Lance is a guest writer for ourspokanemagazine.com/ Our Spokane Magazine in Spokane, Washington

Price : $5.95

Product Description

This digital document is an article from Proceso, published by CISA Comunicacion e Informacion, S.A. de C.V. on December 22, 2002. The length of the article is 1270 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Autor de best-sellers: Noah Gordon: soy un escritor comercial y soy rico. (Libros).
Author: Sanjuana Martnez
Publication: Proceso (Magazine/Journal)
Date: December 22, 2002
Publisher: CISA Comunicacion e Informacion, S.A. de C.V.
Page: 70(2)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

It’s hard to say where old Hollywood ended and new Hollywood began. People in the industry don’t think of themselves as making history, they are just going to work. But the day in 1967 that Jack Warner cleaned out his desk at Warner Bros. studio, George Lucas and Frances Ford Coppola arrived on the lot.

The two young filmmakers were very different in demeanor. Coppola a legend at UCLA film school was 27, a loud boisterous mixture of mogul and marxist, who prided himself in dressing like Fidel Castro. He impressed film executives at first with his bravado, but later would upset them with his reckless overspending. Five years younger, Lucas, who went to USC, was quiet and introspective. The only guys at Warners who were below 30 and wore beards, they hit it off instantly with Coppola taking the mentor role. Lucas had made a thirteen minute science fiction film project called THX 1138, a dark look at a computer controlled future. Coppola convinced his prot?g? to extend it into a full-length film and talked Warner Bros. into financing it.

Over the next few months the wily Coppola played both sides. I’m telling you this kid Lucas is making a great film. Coppola told the Warner brass. Don’t put pressure on yourself, they don’t expect anything, He reassured Lucas. When they saw the completed THX 1138 the Suits were furious. Francis what is this? I don’t know, I’ve never seen it. replied the bewildered producer. To Lucas’s dismay the studio cut out parts from THX 1138 before they released it. They’re cutting the fingers off my baby.

THX failed at the box office and Coppola was held financially liable for $300,000, but the two filmmakers were given another chance to make a low budget movie at Universal. Impressed by the success of Easy Rider (1969) the old guard at the studio was reaching out to new talent, once again Coppola would produce and Lucas would direct. Lucas was encouraged by his wife Marsha to make the second project more positive. At USC he had studied anthropology learning that the American male has a unique mating ritual, he drives around in cars trying to pick up girls. Lucas combined this observation, with his own love of classic cars, his small town upbringing in Modesto, CA and his appreciation for top 40 songs played on the radio by disc jockeys like Wolfman Jack. The result: American Graffiti (1973).

The now beloved film got off to a rocky start. It was previewed in San Francisco to young crowd who adored it. After the show Lucas and Coppola waited for the Universal executives to come and congratulate them. Instead they were shocked by angry accusations that they had planted their friends in the crowd and American Graffiti was not releasable. True to their personas Coppola argued and Lucas stood quiet. Once again George saw his film taken away and cut up by what was in his view an interfering, know nothing studio. But there was one difference between THX-1138 and Graffiti; Graffiti was a hit, a highly profitable film that made Lucas a millionaire.

Now Lucas decided to return to science fiction, this time wanting to do a more positive story than THX. After failing to acquire the rights to Flash Gordon, he sat down to write his own screenplay. Influenced by the writings of Carlos Castaneda and the mythology of King Arthur, he based the characters on familiar figures. Luke Skywalker’s personality came from George Lucas himself, young, adventurous, and quiet from a small town, with a love of racing cars, or in this case space pods. Han Solo was based on Francis Ford Coppola. He was loud, cocky, reckless, always in debt, going through a love-hate relationship with the younger Skywalker. And the empire was actually the Hollywood studios. George Lucas striving for his creative freedom as a filmmaker would parallel Luke Skywalker’s journey to win liberty from the empire, and both would achieve it thanks to Star Wars.

About The Author

Stephen Schochet is the author and narrator of the audiobooks Fascinating Walt Disney and Tales Of Hollywood. The Saint Louis Post Dispatch says, these two elaborate productions are exceptionally entertaining. Hear realaudio samples of these great, unique gifts at http://www.hollywoodstories.com.

orgofhlly@aol.com

The Sin City DVD blew my mind, or maybe I should say,
warped my mind. I haven’t been a great fan of Graphic
Novels, but this movie encouraged me to purchase a few of
the Sin City books. Frank Miller’s now famous, series
creations have taken us into the world of a bizarre surreal
environment of death, destruction and gallows underbelly
lifestyles.

Is the story telling and artistry supposed to show a world
we hope would never exist in our white bread world? Or is
it an ultimate achievement of good (disguised as part of
the underbelly) trying to subdue evil? I prefer to think
the latter.

The film itself is a work of pure cinematography genius.
With the classic film noir overlay and the visual tricks
and special effects, it looks as if you would open the Sin
City graphic novel and have the pages come to life. This, I
do believe, is the closest I have seen a movie come to the
actual artwork and content of the original paper versions.

The very concept and style of Sin City, whether it be the
movie or the novels, is not for everyone. The plot and
violence are very graphic and definitely not for younger
audiences. But as graphic as the movie is, due to the
nature of the moving comic book background, it doesn’t
bring out the reality and gore that could have been
pictured. Personally, I enjoyed this toning down. I would
hate to think that I could actually condone this kind of
violent activity.

Robert Rodriguez in collaboration with series creator,
Frank Miller have ingeniously intertwined four of the
Graphic Novels into the making of Sin City. “The Customer
is Always Right”, opens the movie even before the credits
starts. Then “The Hard Goodbye”, “Big Fat Kill” and “That
Yellow Bastard” make up the rest of the movie.

I for one was impressed with the casting and how the actors
seemed to fit the characters to perfection. I am starting
to see a pattern though, in that certain actors are
starting to show up in various comic book related movies of
the new Hollywood features. The Kingpin (Michael Clarke
Duncan) from Daredevil, for example, is also a character in
Sin City. Do you think you can spot him? He is pretty hard
to miss.

It looks like by now, Jessica Alba may be vying for the
Title “Queen of the Comic Book Movies” (ha ha). She also
came out this year in The Fantastic Four and will be in the
sequel when it comes out.

With the new outcry for realistic comic book character
movies and the new Hollywood technologies that make them
possible, it looks like the original character creators
want to reap some of the exposure. Stan Lee, of Marvel
Comics fame, manages to get a cameo appearance every now
and again in his character creation movies. And now, in Sin
City, Frank Miller was justified in putting his mug on the
wide screen. He appears as the, shall we say, sinister
priest that Marv (Mickey Rourke) decides he is justified in
blowing away. How many more comic book character creators
do you think we will see in cameo rolls as more movies are
produced?

If you are an avid fan of Frank Miller and, in particular,
Sin City, then you will quite probably feel this one of the
best movies to come out of Hollywood in 2005. If you are
unfamiliar with the entire Sin City theme and series,
advance with caution and don’t watch it with the young or
the young at heart (ha). The movie, in my mind, is
definitely a visual sensation. And I hear that Sin City II
may be ready for us in the summer of 2006. Enjoy.

Dave Gieber is the owner and editor of a website built
around one of his childhood passions. Learn the basic
essentials to comic book collecting success with this
free 5-day course:
comic-book-collection-made-easy.com/5-day-course.html Sin City

Have you ever wondered what it was like to live in pre-historic times? Probably not. These are the things I think about when I have to go grocery shopping and stand in line for twenty minutes. My husband will tell you that the only time I go to the grocery store is when we run out of carrots and apples for the horses or cat food for our feline pal, Bear. As you can tell, grocery shopping isn’t one of my favorite things to do.

When I was at the store today, in addition to the treats for the four-legged animals in our family, I picked up a package of ground beef and some salad stuff…you know…roots and leaves and twigs. When cave people wanted something to eat, the women had to gather roots and leaves and twigs and pound them on rocks to tenderize them. We buy them already packaged.

Cavemen had the hardest job of all. If they wanted ground beef with their leaves, roots and twigs, they had to catch a dinosaur for dinner. I suspect that’s how they spent most of their day; gathering food, hoping to get back to their caves before becoming part of a tyrannosaurus’ main course.

So, the next time you have to go to the store for a couple of items for dinner, think about those cavemen and cavewomen. Standing in line to pay for your groceries is better than going out and catching a dinosaur and pounding your salad fixings on a rock. Go home, with groceries in hand, and give your spouse a big hug.

Happy writing!

Pamela Beers is a freelance writer, educator, and horse trainer who finds amusement in the most mundane things.
Visit her website at pamelabeers.com pamelabeers.com.