Have you ever asked yourself - what do I really know about wine and ways it is produced? Probably even those who consider themselves to be experts in this field are not aware of all the intricate system which runs the process of wine production until it comes to our tables.

Wine Library TV will help you to find out the most interesting facts about the history of wine production, sorts of grapes used to make the most delicious and superb drinks, it will teach you how to degust wine properly so that to feel its bouquet at full rate.

In fact a wine-grower work begins far earlier before the harvest is collected. A good wine-grower works hardly for the whole year, daily attends his vineyard and uses all his knowledge and experience to grow quality “material” for the wine producing.

The whole process requires preserved ancient techniques combined with modern technologies. The traditions of wine producing are the main factor which determines its quality and as a result unsurpassed taste and bouquet.

Gary Vaynerchuk, the tar of Wine Library TV, is a real expert in the field, whose parents have their own liquor store when he was growing up, and he’ll guide viewers in amazing world of wine. To visit various countries and to find “back-door” secrets of wine-growers you just need to click several buttons on you PC:

• Nightline’s Interview of Gary Vaynerchuk
• How Does the Weather Affect Wine?
• How to Get Your Wine Palate Trained?

Viewers have also a great opportunity to chat at the forum and discuss what they have seen recently.

Scandinavians gave the whole world a great collection of sagas and other manuscripts as a keepsake. This is nothing compared with what has to come. It turns out that Norway is a land full of mysterious godsends and discoveries. What am I telling about? Ancient Germans left not only memory traces, but Hitler’s paintings.

The Director of Norway’s World War Memorial Museum William Hakvaag announced about rare findings. According to William, Adolf Hitler had many abilities, namely he used to draw dwarfs (Walt Disney characters of the fairy tale ‘Snow White and the seven dwarfs’) and other heroes of Disney.

At the same time there’s no vivid evidence that Hitler is an author of these pictures. But William Hakvaag is convinced of authorship. It’s known of a mysterious 1935 meeting between Walt Disney and Adolf Hitler.

The young American was looking for an idea of Disney Land. Disney realized his subconscious intention to learn from Hitler how to create a fantasyland that he could shape to fit his vision of a utopian society. Compare the following photos.

Pic.1. Das Schloss Neuschwanstein, fotografiert von Schwangau am Freitag, 2. Maerz 2007.

Source

Watercolor paintings of characters from the Disney classic were recently revealed behind a water color painting, and signed like ‘A.Hitler’. The picture made by Hitler in 1940 was bought by William via web auction.

Sure thing, Fuerer was better at painting than military strategy. How world would have looked like today if Hitler hadn’t given up painting before the war? It’s a pity, but we lost a gifted chap.

Technorati Tags: walt disney, disney land, hitler, characters, animator, Snow White and the seven dwarfs, painting, norway, museum, fantasyland, cartoons, movies, video, online, web, tv

At least several online media sources of information sounded the trumpet regarding TV ads. They consider this kind of ads has become less impactful than two years ago. According to the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and Forrester Research, about 78% of marketers feel that traditional TV advertising is exhausted.

According to survey:

· advertisers are eager to try new ad formats, including ads in online TV shows (65%), inVideo ads (55%), interactive television ads (43%), and ads within the set top box menu (32%)
· almost 70% of advertisers think DVRs and VOD will reduce or destroy the effectiveness of traditional 30-second commercials
· 85 % of advertisers believe branded entertainment will play a stronger role in TV advertising over the next year

Marketers and advertisers offer their goods and services wherever we are! What shall we do now? It’s just another sign for all of us (viewers, bloggers, common people, gamers, shopkeepers, caretakers, etc.) to put up with this tendency and treat accordingly. The web made all its best that even wild horses couldn’t drag us away from participating in online forums, chats, social life, watching (uploading, downloading) videos as well as playing video games.

I believe the task for traditional TV owners is to properly create and realize advertising campaign for attaining the targeted audience, and entice both the young and the old from online consuming activities. Sure thing viewers will never be the same, because people show preference exactly to online digital media and TV networks. Why? Being on the go and for lack of time…

The TV & Technology research was conducted in January 2008 and is based on a survey of 133 leading advertisers (Charles Schwab, Colgate, Dunkin’ Donuts, Johnson & Johnson, Mattel, Pfizer, and Verizon), across all major industries and categories.

The complete survey results will be revealed during the ANA’s TV & Everything Video Forum on Feb. 28 in New York.

Technorati Tags: tv ads, television, web, video, online, Charles Schwab, Colgate, Dunkin’ Donuts, Johnson & Johnson, Mattel, Pfizer, Verizon, formats, VOD, DVD, entertainment, research, inVideo ads, DVRs, media, digital, consuming activities

If you”ll be asked a question, “How many card games movies can you name?”, - what would you answer? I believe just about everybody can easily remember a pair of films related to card-players or gambling somehow or other. Surely, professional gamblers probably know many more motion pictures. Okay, what playing-card games you can recollect? Put out of your head!

All movies display big bets and winnings with great hands. Writers and producers have an intention to attract and delight by arousing interest to this kind of activity. Hollywood often uses gambling, but rarely shows realistic card playing. I believe, real aces and amateurs at poker, fool, bridge, preference, etc. probably take advantage of such movies.

The most important point, however, is that such card-playing movies are great helpers if you have an eager desire to learn these technical skills. Live and learn. At the same time, you see only the most spectabulous moments in movies, that’s why, for example, poker films are not realistic, but very exciting. By the way, a number of films are poker oriented ones.

What else? Main heroes and characters put up a show of how they’re skilled at gambling. I picked up a great many movies devoted to the best card playing scenes. I tried to sort out those ones that related to gambling one way or another. (Most of these movies can be ordered via Amazon.com and imdb.com).

• Rounders (1998). In The Game Of Life… Play The Cards You’re Dealt. I find this film really exciting, but the main character leaves much to be desired. By the way, the term “rounder” refers to a person whose sole means of earning a living is by playing cards. Some poker scenes are useful, some – absurd. But with the growing popularity of Texas Hold’em and other poker games, Rounders has become a cult hit. That’s we don’t pay much attention to slip-ups.

• The cooler (2003). When your life depends on losing… the last thing you need is lady luck. The film follows a so-called Las Vegas casino “cooler” who spreads bad luck to those who are winning. William H. Macy plays the titular character, whose luck takes a turn for the better when he begins a relationship with a waitress at the casino, played by Maria Bello. This causes friction between him and his boss, played by Alec Baldwin. “The Cooler” is a must to see just for Alec Baldwin’s memorable play.

• Maverick (1994). The greatest gambler in the West has finally met his match. I bet you won’t find any realistic poker scenes in this movie, but still Mel Gibson does all his best (as usually) to win the heart of the audience following his own style of performance. Bret Maverick (as Mel Gibson) is a professional card-player traveling to a major poker game. He wants to win the poker championship for money and to prove that he is the best. The plot is rather shabby, but the play is too funny. All of the poker episodes are Five Card Draw.

• The Cincinnati Kid (1965). He’d take on anyone, at anything, anytime ….it was only a matter of who came first! Eric Stoner or The Cincinnati Kid (as Steve McQueen) is a professional card-player who travels to New Orleans to play in the high stakes poker game against Lancey Howard (as Edward G. Robbins). Surely, The Cincinnati Kid tries to prove himself in this high-stakes match. The game throughout the film is Five Card Stud. It should be mentioned, that the play is quite realistic. But even look back those days we can’t but agree that poker was considered a sport.

• The Big Blind (1999). “This remarkable adventure will keep you guessing. Who cashes in, and who cashes out… Who will live, and who will die?” This movie is truly shot for poker players. It’s not for guys who are interested in actions and like watching films in general, but for curious about poker. To tell the truth the Big Blind offers a lot of training scenes. The motion picture tells us about the lives of poker players at a California card room. The drama of the situation is that most of the characters are losers and crooks. It is of great value due to realistic scenes and actors’ play. Nothing unnecessary, nothing colors the truth.

• Honeymoon in Vegas (1992). It’s a love that’s All Shook Up! The film is opposite to the previous one due to its attitude to poker. Jack Singer (as Nicholas Cage) teamed up with a wealthy gambler (as James Caan) love the one girl. The problem is that Singer’s fiancé reminds the gambler of his ex-wife. Tommy Korman arranges for Singer to lose $65k to him a poker game (they’re playing no limit five card draw). Thus, Singer has to break his word given to his mother on her death bed that he would never get married.

• The Sting (1973). Doyle, I KNOW I gave him four THREES. He had to make a SWITCH. We can’t let him get away with that. The Sting should be estimated at its true worth being among the best poker pictures ever made. Frankly speaking, it’s not about poker, but it contains one famous poker scene where Henry Gondorff (as Paul Newman) cheats the crime boss in a high-stakes game onboard a train, and also a scene where he shows off a very skilled cheat shuffling. As I have said there was not that much poker playing shown, and most of it revolved around cheating. The poker was limited to five card draw.

• High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story (2003). Gambler. Addict. Loser. Legend. The movie is about the life of master card-player, self-destructive junkie, Stu Ungar (as Michael Imperioli). Ungar was known as “The Kid”, who high-rolled himself to an unequalled three World Series of Poker championships, winning a reported $30 million is his brief career. Viewship can’t but agree that Unger had a special gift with cards.

• The Madison Kid (2007). In 1989, the 24-year-old Phil Hellmuth became the youngest World Champion of Poker by defeating the two-time defending champion, Johnny Chan, in the World Series of Poker main event. Hellmuth attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison for three years before dropping out to play poker full time much to the chagrin of his father, a professor at the school.

• 21 (2008). This film is based on a true story, telling us about a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor (Kevin Spacey) who teaches a group of students to use mathematics to count cards and increase their odds of winning at Las Vegas casinos. The students are able to bring home millions as a result.

Decide on a film approppriate to your mood. Find out more about those card-playing movies that you still didn’t watch. Keep an eye open for the next poker movie selection.

Technorati Tags: poker, card games, watch, online, live tv, videos, gambling, media, digital audio, films

Wow! Here they are! They gained their end! I can’t wait anymore for new episodes, seasons and TV series. I’m sure writers could be hungry and without money during these long three months, but they didn’t sit around doing nothing. Creative persons like writers, artists, singers, dancers never fritter their time away on trifles.

What can I say about this day? Right, this day will be added to history. Some time later we’ll Google and find an article related to this memorable event in the entertainment industry. What this day look like? What feelings? Feel a sense of relief, optimism, happiness and satisfaction? A long period of breathless expectation is officially over.

Who is in the lead? Majority of writers (3,492) voted for returning to work and the rest minor part (283 votes) voted against. As a result, the strike has cost the county of Los Angeles $3.2 billion in direct and indirect lost revenue.

According to Patrick Verrone (president of WGAW), “these advances now give us a foothold in the digital age. Rather than being shut out of the future of content creation and delivery, writers will lead the way as television migrates to the Internet.”

In conclusion I should say that this agreement between writers and producers made us happy. Sure thing, writers will receive compensation for streaming stuff on the web in accordance with their demands.

The agreement would let writers claim to have bettered a similar deal achieved last month between the production companies and the Directors Guild of America. In the third year of the Writers Guild deal, writers will be paid a percentage of the distributor’s revenue rather than the flat fee for Web-streamed television shows granted to the directors. The writers had insisted on this issue to ensure they not lose out on any new-media windfall the studios and networks may get from Web video. The producers yielded on this point — and the directors did not push it — arguing that Internet distribution is unlikely to become a significant business during the length of these contracts. (Boingboing)

Watch your fave TV shows and series as soon as they will be available.

Happy Valentine’s Day! Wish you confidence in the future and tremendous positive!

Technorati Tags: strike, show, tv, series, episodes, seasons, nwes, streamed television, web, videos, online, on demand