NEW YEAR CINEMA - 5

I. History of Bollywood

At the turn of this century, when the country was poised for major social and political reforms, a new entertainment form dawned in India-the Cinema. The first exposure to motion pictures which India received was in 1896, when the Lumiere Brothers' Chinematographe unveiled six soundless short films at Watson Hotel, Esplanade Mansion, Bombay on July 7. And the first exposing of celluloid in camera by an Indian and its consequent screening took place in 1899, when Harishchandra Bhatvadekar (Save Dada) shot two short films and exhibited them under Edison's projecting kinetoscope. Hiralal Sen and F.B. Thanawalla were two other Indian pioneers engaged in the production of short films in Calcutta and Bombay in 1900. Around 1902, J.F. Madan and Abdullah Esoofally launched their career with Bioscope shows of imported short films. In 1912 , N.G. Chitre and R.G. Torney made a silent feature film Pundalik which was released on May 18, and it was half British in its make.

Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, more generally known as Dada Saheb Phalke was responsible for the production of India's first fully indigenous silent feature film Raja Harishchandra which heralded the birth of the Indian film industry. The film had titles in Hindi and English and was released on May 3, 1913 at the Coronation Cinema, Bombay. In 1917, Bengal saw the birth of its first feature film-Satyabadi Raja Harishchandra made by Madan's Elphinstone Bioscope Company. In Madras, the first feature film of South India Keechaka Vadham was made by Nataraja Mudaliar in 1919.

After stepping into 1920, the Indian cinema gradually assumed the shape of a regular industry. The industry also came within the purview of the law. The new decade saw the arrival of many new companies and film makers. Dhiren Ganguly (England Returned), Baburao Painter (Savkari Pash), Suchet Singh (Sakuntala), Chandulal Shah (Guna Sundari), Ardershir Israni, and V. Santharam were the prominent film makers of the twenties.

The most remarkable things about the birth of the sound film in India is that it came with a bang and quickly displaced the silent movies. The first Indian talkie Alam Ara produced by the Imperial film company and directed by Ardershir Irani was released on March 14, 1931 at the Majestic Cinema in Bombay; The talkie had brought revolutionary changes in the whole set up of the industry. The year 1931 marked the beginning of the talking ear in Bengal and South India. The first talkie films in Bengali (Jumai Shasthi), Telugu (Bhakta Prahlad) and Tamil (Kalidass) were released in the same year.

The thirties is recognised as the decade of social protests in the history of Indian Cinema. Three big banners-Prabhat, Bombay Talkies and New Theatres gave the lead in making serious but gripping sand entertaining films for all classes of the wide audience. A number of films making a strong plea against social injustice were also made in this period like V.Santharam's Duniya Na Mane, Aadmi and Padosi, Franz Osten's Achut Kanya, Damle & Fatehlal's Sant Thukaram, Mehboob's Watan, Ek hi Raasta and Aurat. For the first time Ardeshir Irani attempted a colour picture in 1937 with Kisan Kanya.

The decade also witnessed the release of the first talkie films in Marathi (Ayodhiyecha Raja 1932), Gujarathi (Narasinh Mehta-32), Kannada (Dhurvkumar-34); Oriya (Sita Bibaha-34); Assamese (Joymati-35); Punjabi (Sheila-35) and Malayalam(Balan-38).

The decade during which the second world was fought and Indian independence won, was a momentous one for cinematography all over India. Some memorable films were produced during the forties such as Shantharam's Dr. Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani, Mehboob's Roti, Chetan Anand's Neecha Nagar, Uday Shanker's Kalpana, Abbas's Dharti Ke Lal, Sohrab Modi's Sikander, Pukar and Prithvi Vallabh, J.B.H. Wadia's Court Dancer, S.S. Vasan's Chandralekha, Vijay Bhatt's Bharat Milap and Ram Rajya, Rajkapoor's Barsaat and Aag.

The first International Film Festival of India held in early 1952 at Bombay had great impact of Indian Cinema. The big turning point camp in 1955 with the arrival of Satyajit Ray and his classic Pather Panchali which opened up a new path leading the Indian film to the World Film Scene. International recognition came to it with the Cannes award for best human document followed by an unprecedented crop of foreign and national awards. In Hindi Cinema too, the impact of neorealism was evident in some distinguished films like Bimal Roy's Do Bigha Zamin, Devadas and Madhumati, Rajkapoor's Boot Polish, Shri-420 and Jagte Raho, V. Shantharam's Do Aankhen Barah Haath and Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje, Mehbood's Mother India.

Gurudutt's Pyaasa, and Kagaz Ke Phool and B.R. Chopra's Kanoon; The first Indo-Soviet co-production Pardesi by K.A.Abbas was also made during the fifties. The transition to colour and the consequent preference for escapist entertainment and greater reliance on stars brought about a complete change in the film industry. The sixties was a decade of mediocre films made mostly to please the distributors and to some extent, meet the demands of the box office. The sixties began with a bang with the release of K. Asif's Mughal-E-Azam which set a record at the box-office. It was followed by notable productions which include romantic musical and melodramas of a better quality. Rajkapoor's Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai, Sangam, Dilip Kumar's Gunga Jamna, Gurudutt's Sahib Bibi Aur Gulam, Dev Anand's Guide; Bimal Roy's Bandini, S.Mukherji's Junglee, Sunil Dutt's Mujhe Jeene Do and the experimental Yaadein, Basu Bhatacharya's Teesri Kasam, Pramod Chakravorthy's Love in Tokyo, Ramanand Sagar's Arzoo, Sakhti Samantha's Aradhana, Hrishikesh Mukherji's Aashirwad and Anand, B.R. Chopra's Waqt, Manoj Kumar's Upkar, and Prasad Productions Milan were the significant Hindi films of the decade.

Among the regional languages, Malayalam cinema derived much of its strength from literature during the sixties. Malayalam cinema hit the head lines for the first time when Ramu Kariat's Chemmeen (1965) won the President's Gold Medal. Towards the end of the decade, Mrinal Sen's Bhuvan Shome, signalled the beginnings of the new wave in Indian Cinema.

The New Indian Cinema emerged as a reaction to the popular cinema's Other Worldiness. It is a cinema of social significance and artistic sincerity, presenting a modern, humanist perspective more durable than the fantasy world of the popular cinema.

Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak and Mrinal Sen were the founding fathers of the new cinema in India. Acclaimed as India's foremost director Satyajit Ray has made 30 feature films and five documentaries, tacking a wide range of rural, urban historical themes. His cinematography places him away form the inheritors of the neorealist school, and yet his films are infused with an unusual humaneness. Pather Panchali, Apur Sansar, Charulata, Jalsaghar, Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne, Seemabadha, Jana Aranya, Ashani Sanket and Agantuk are some of his outstanding films. He was fortunate enough to present his films in almost all the leading films festivals of the world. The national and international awards won by Ray are numerous.

Ritwik Ghatak swooped on the Indian scene with new dynamism. His films constitute a record of the traumas of change form the desperation of the rootless and deprived refugees from East Bengal .(Meghe Dhaka Tara, Ajantrik, Komal Ghandhar, Subarnarekha). Mrinal Sen is the ebullient one-experimenting with neorealism as well as new wave and fantasy. His notable films are Bhuvan Shome, Chorus, Mrigaya, Ek Din Pratidin, Akaler Sandhane, Kharij & Khandahar. He has also won several national an international awards.

In Bombay, a new group of film makers emerged on the Hindi cinema. Notable amongst them are Basu Chatterji (Sara Akash), Rajinder Singh Bedi (Dastak), Mani Kaul (Uski Roti, Duvidha), Kumar Shahani (Maya Darpan), Avtar Kaul (27-Down), Basu Bhattacharya (Anubhav), M.S. Sathyu (Garam Hawa), Shyam Benegal (Ankur), and Kanthilal Rathod (Kanku). In Calcutta, following the trend set by Ray, Ghatak and Sen, Tapan Sinha and Tarun Majumdar also made some note worthy films. (Kabuliwala, Hatey Bazarey, Harmonium, Safed Haathi; Balika Bodhu, Nimantran, Ganadevta, Dadar Kirti).

The seventies has further-widened the gap between multistar big budgeted off beat films. The popular Hindi hits of the decade include Kamal Amrohis Pakeeza, Rajkapoor's Bobby , Devar's Haathi Mere Saathi, Ramesh Sippy's Sholay, Zanjeer, Deewar, Khoon Pasina, Yaadon Ki Baarat, Kabhi Kabhi, Dharamveer, Amar Akbar Anthony, Hum Kisise Kum Nahin, and Muqaddar ka Sikandar. Of these majority of the films were action oriented with revenge as the dominating theme.

Down in the South, the new wave cinema originated in Karnataka and Kerala. Pattabhi Rama Reddy's Damskara (70) and Adoor Gopalakrishnan's Swayamvaram (72) were the trend setters in Kannada and Malayalam respectively. This continued with a series of socially conspicuous films like M.T. Vasidevan Nair's Nirmalyam, B.V.Karanth's Chomana Dudi, Girish Karnad's Kaadu, Girish Kasara Valli's Ghatasradha, G. Aravindan's Uttarayanam and Thamp, K. Balachander's Arangetram, Avargal and Apoorva Ragangal, Adoor's Kodyettam, K.G. George's Swapnadanam and P.A. Backer's Chuvanna Vithukal and G.V.Iyer's Hamsageethe.

The Hindi avante garde or new wave seems to have reached its bloom period towards the end of the seventies with the coming of film makers like Govind Nihalani (Aakrosh), Saeed Mirza (Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Aata Hai, Aravind Desai ki Ajeeb Daastan), Rabindra Dharmaraj (Chakra), Sai Paranjpe (Sparsh), Muzafar Ali (Gaman) and Biplab Roy Chowdhari (Shodh). The movement spread to the other regional cinemas such as Marathi, Gujarathi, Assamese, Oriya and Telugu. Directors like Jabbar Patel (Samna, Simhasan), Ramdas Phuttane (Sarvasakshi), Ketan Mehta (Bhavni Bhavai). Babendranath Saikia(Sandhya Rag), Jahanu Barua (Aparoopa, Papori), Manmohan Mohapatra (Klanta Aparanha, Majhi Pahacha), Nirad Mohapatra (Maya Miriga) and Gautam Ghose (Ma Bhoomi) came to the scene with their films.


Also from the South came film makers such as Jayakantan, John Abraham, Bharathan, Padmarajan, Balu Mahendra, Bharathi Raja, T.S. Ranga, T.S. Nagabharana, K.R. Mohanan, G.S. Panicker, Chandrasekhar Kambar, P.Lankesh, C. Radhakrishnan and Bhagyaraj who presented significant films like Unnai Pol Oruvan, Agraharathil Kazhuthai, Prayanam, Peruvazhiambalam and Oridathsoru Phayalvan, Kokila, 16 Vayathinile and Kizhakke Pokum Rail , Geejegand Goodu, Grahana, Aswathama, Ekakini, Kaadu Kudre, Pallavi, Agni, Suvar Illatha Chithrangal and Mundani Mudichu.

The new cinema movement continued with full spirit in. the next decade (eighties) also . Shyam Benegal presented some good movies like Manthan, Bhumika, Nishant, Janoon , and Trikal. Nihlani's Aaghat and Tamas were remarkable works. Other important films with new style of treatment include Damul (Prakash Jha), 36-Chowringhee Lane (Aparna Sen), New Delhi Times (Ramesh Sharma), Mirch Masala (Ketan Mehta), Rao Saheb (Vijaya Mehta), Debshishu (Utpalendu Chakraborthy), Massey Saheb (Pradeep Kishna), Trishagni (Nabayendu Ghosh), Ijaazat (Gulzar), Umrao Jaan (Muzafar Ali), Dakhal, Paar (Gautam Ghose), Dooratwa, Neem Annapurana, Andhi Gali (Buddhadeb Dasgupta), Aajka Robin Hood (Tapan Sinha), Tabarana Kathe, Bannada Vesha (Girish Kasara Valli), Accident & Swamy (Shanker Naag), Daasi (B. Narasinga Rao) and Phaniyamma (Prema Karanth).

The new wave masters of Kerala, Adoor and Arvindan, consolidated their position in the eighties with their films Elippathayam, Mukha Mukham, Anantharam, Esthappan, Pokkuveyil, Chidambaram, and Oridath, Elippathayam has won the prestigious British film Institute award for 1982. Shaji N.Karun's maiden film Piravi(1988) bagged several national and international awards and was shown in nearly forty film festivals. Meera Nair, the young woman director, won the Golden Camera award at Cannes for her first film Salaam Bombay in 1989. In 1990, Adoor Gopalakrishnan's Mathilukal won the FIPRESCI and UNICEF awards.

The late eighties and early nineties saw the revival of the musical love stories in Hindi cinema. Mr. India, Tezaab, Qayamat se Qayamat Tak, Main Pyar Kiya, Chandni, Tridev, Hum, Ghayal, Saudagar, Rakhwala, Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander, Hum Hain Rahi Pyarke, Baazigar, Aaina, Yeh Dillagi, Hum Apake Hai Kaun, Krantiveer, Raja and Rangeela were some of the popular Hindi films of the last decade.

The first half of nineties witnessed the release of some better films in Hindi as well as in other regional languages. Drishti and Drohkal (Nihalani), Lekin (Gulzar), Disha (Sai Paranjpe), Prahar (Nana Patekar), Parinda (Vinod Chopra), Diskha (Arun Kaul), Kasba (Kumar Shahani), Rudaali (Kalpana Lajmi), Maya Memsaab (Ketan Mehta), Mujhse Dosti Karoge (Gopi Desai), Suraj Ka Satwan Ghoda & Mammo (Benegal), Who Chokri (Subhankar Ghosh)&Ek Doctor Ki Maut (Tapan Sinha), were some of the notable Hindi films from Bengal, Orissa, Assam and Manipur came films like Tahader Katha, Bagh Bahadur, Charachar (Buddhadeb Dasgupta), Uttoran (Sandip Ray), Wheel Chair (Tapan Sinha), Unishe April (Rituparno Ghosh), Adi Mimansa, Lalvanya Preethi (A.K. Bir), Nirbachana (Biplab Roy Chowdhari), Halodhia Choraya Baodhan Khai, Firingoti (Jahau Barua), Haladhar (Sanjeev Hazarika), and Ishanou (Aribam Shayam Sharma). In the South Malayalam Cinema presented some notable films. They include Vasthuhara (Aravindan)_, Vidheyan (Adoor) Kireedom, Bharatham (Siby Mmalayil), Amaram (Bharathan) Innale (Padmarajan), Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha, Sargam, Parinayam (Hariharan), Devasuram (I..V.Sasi). Kilukkam, Thenmavin Kombath (Priyadarsan), Perumthachan (Ajayan), Daivathinte Vikurthikal (Lenin Rajendran), (Sivan), Manichithrathazu (Fazil), Ponthanmada (T.V. Chandran) and Swaham (Shaji), From Tamil and Telugu cinema, there came few films like Anjali, Roja and Bombay (Mani Ratnam) ,Marupakkam and Nammavar (Sethsumadhavan),Karuthamma (Bharathi Raja), Surigadu (Dasari Narayana Rao), Swathi Kiranam (K.Viswanath), Mogha Mul (G.Rajasekharan) etc. English film like Miss Beatty's Children (Pamela Rooks), and English August (Dev Benegal) were also produced during this period.

All in all, it has been a long story of nearly nine decades, with the early shaky screen images turning into a multi pronged and multi winged empire of its own, that has yielded about 27,000 feature films and thousands of documented short films. Cinema has raised India's flag high in the world as the consistently largest film producer. But when it comes to quality the flag has to fly half mast.
All the above information is courtesy of: All India.

CHRISTMAS PARTIES - 4

I. Great Ideas For Christmas Costumes and Holiday Party Outfits

Christmas costumes are here and it is that time of year again to get excited and be ready for trips to the malls, the office parties, and being the host of one at your house. The parties start the day after Thanksgiving and go until the new year.

Here are some ideas on wonderful costumes you can wear for all these occasions?

The most famous costumes is Santa Clause of course. To get the jolly suit plan ahead and order online, or you can rent it at a costume store. They will have everything you need to make you look just like the ho, ho, ho, man himself.

Just know that with the Santa suit if you start looking before Halloween you will be able to find it. But if you decide to do this at last minute you can always look at the stores where they sell Christmas lights and other holiday products.

Santa always needs a helper to hand out that wonderful candy cane after the children see the big guy. The elf is the second best person in the holiday season. They are helpful and funny, and always lets the kids see Santa.

There are green outfits and big shoes help topped with a little green hat. And of course you have to paint a little red on your cheeks to make you look happy as you can be. Green tights help top off the ensemble.

Who gets Santa and the elves to the mall? It is the famous reindeer! They do have these costumes available at the costume store. If you are good at sewing you just need fur brown cloth and a big red nose for the most famous of them all.

Mrs. Claus is the right hand lady that keeps everything running smoothing. You need a red dress that goes down to the ankles, a white lace apron, and a old fashion hat that looks like the pioneers wore to bed at night. You always want to put a little red circle on each cheek to make her look rosy.

Angels are very easy costumes to make. Get a white gown, put a gold wrap around your waist, a beautiful gold halo on the top of your head, and some very nice wings on your back.

Frosty the snowman is always nice to sing with in the snow. He would be easy to find on the internet. Frosty would be good to have at an office party, or at a party you are going to have for children. They would love to have him. Just make sure he has a big black top hat with a flower on it. Add a pipe and you are set.

The Grinch that stole Christmas is always a great costume for office parties, kids parties, or when you have one at your house. If you host one just remember that he is green with fur all over, and he is mean at first. When he is nice you can put a huge heart on his chest to say I am nice and I love Christmas.

Churches always have the kids do events with the nativity. Characters include The famous Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus, You also have the angels who float around, and the wise men that have important parts in these scenes. With the animals you have camels, goats, horses, lambs.

When making the nativity costumes they are usually made by hand by the church kids. This let's them take pride in what they did by themselves.

Christmas costume theme parties are very popular now. You just host a party and have every one dress in there character they love the most and have a wonderful themed party. Dressing up is not just for Halloween and for kids any more.

Remember the Christmas season is to have fun and being at a theme party where every one wears a Christmas costume will be festive and will remembered for a long time.

II. Chinese New Year - 2008 Chinese New Year Eve

Chinese New Year follows the track of Chinese calendar and the people of China give it a hearty welcome in the cheerful season of spring. And therefore, the entire month of February brings in exciting holiday time for all parts of East India. The entire fervor attached to the Chinese New Year 2008 that is about to begin with 7th February, is bound to stretch to the next 15 days that comprise to form the time when the New Year seeps in. And the last day of Chinese New Year celebrations touches its culminating mode with the bright celebrations of Lantern festival, which adds glitter to the overwhelming celebration mood with an array of bright and colorful lanterns.

Lighting numerous lanterns is similar to glorifying all the newfangled things coming our way with New Year. Also, the days preceding the Lantern festival are filled with the illumination of candles of varied sizes. People consider it auspicious to refurbish their surroundings through and through so that their homes exude good vibes to influence their future days. Along with candles, all the bulbs and chandeliers at home are turned on to burnish every pocket of home. Thus, we can say that all the jolly fifteen days marked by New Year gaiety witness the sparkle of lights that New Year brings with it.

Apart from lights, a variety of flowers are drizzled over varied parts of our house and all of them together add the scent of New Year to everyone’s life. Beautiful flowers like Plum blossom, Sunflower, Narcissus and many others promise to bring in loads of good fortune. Their fragrant bunches spill over the display areas of almost all the markets.

Other than flowers and lights, there are a host of multifarious objects that hold immense significance in all Chinese New Year celebrations. Embroidered decors surfacing various colorful fabrics are used to spruce up different walls of your home. They showcase wonderful Chinese calligraphy that is used to convey wishful New Year messages. Chinese people make it a point to shape up such pretty wall adornments and many traditional designs along with rich Chinese idioms find their space on the whatever material they use to make them. Such compelling adornments with their indigenous Chinese element diffuse every aspect of our home with their compelling beauty and ensure to remain close to us throughout the year.

Another thing that Chinese people consider extremely felicitous is Koi Fish. Even the artificial image of this fish stands for brighter fortune. Also, this fish has direct associations with the inflow of money. They appear to be extremely lively and their cheerful posture along with their slanting tail brings in bundles of money and good luck. Because of their high significance in the beliefs of the people of China, beautiful figures of these fishes can be easily spotted as the attractive toppings of several Chinese dishes.

Moreover, Chinese New Year celebrations cannot be imagined without being redolent with elegant Lion dances that team up with the rhythm of complementing musical drums. The entire dance is rejuvenating and symbolizes happiness to accompany us in the upcoming Chinese New Year 2008.

How to make an impressive Christmas gift? -3

I. All people like to receive gifts on holidays, birthdays, New Year, Christmas, and other significant events , or so called “just because gifts” without any special reason (from a beloved, for example). Now I will give you some ideas how to choose Christmas gifts (or New Year gifts) for a close friend, beloved, relative that she/he would be impressed with it and said that it is a best gift she ever got.
The first important thing is to get information about the test and preferences of the person you are preparing a gift for. Second thing is to know how far this person is practical. And the third thing - what is a intention of gift: to make a nice impression (how beautiful it is/ Gosh, it’s so expensive), to present a gift which has a practical usage or a thing the person where dreaming about (bag, tickets to Las Vegas, dog etc) or give a laugh (for example, binoculars including a humorous Christmas cards with a title inside, for instant “I would scout only with a real friend – and you are the one, Merry Christmas pal!”, or pink glasses with a note in funny Christmas cards “Hey, put on right glasses now – do you see, Life is not as gray as it seemed before, Merry Christmas!”).
Humorous Christmas gifts are simply ordinary things which can make you smile. Even simple inexpensive things can be a great gift – it depends on a person whom you present a gift to and how you do it. There are so many choices yet and many options. Just make sure that this person will understand your sense of humor!
So, what is a right way to present a gift… For funny gifts you need a joke photo Christmas card (for, example you can get it from a shop with different Christmas staff) or printable Christmas cards which you can find on the websites in Internet even for free. Write there your funny Christmas wishes or humorous notes. Christmas jokes and wishes are also can be found in Internet or be more creative and think it out by you. Including an appropriate photo Christmas card you can make ordinary thing to get unusual meanings. For example – gifting a clock or watch - write in chosen Christmas greeting card next expression: “Benjamin Franklin said: Time Is Money, so now you will watch a time and will make lots of money!” or presenting a pretty wallet write that “Famous George Bernard Shaw said: Money has a tendency to reproduce themselves – then this wallet definitely will stimulate them to do it”
Besides, there are thousands of funny animated Christmas cards with ready fun, jokes, so you can make your fellows laugh even before you come to visit them.
Though, I would like to give you one warning: sociologists determined that many women do not like humorous gifts. But it’s not because they don’t have a sense of humor… Asking why? We will tell it the next article!
Merry Christmas, everyone!


II. Events and Entertainment in Dublin

Dublin is a cosmopolitan city having never-ending potentials for the provision of round the clock entertainment and fun to its tourist. The reason behind this is its electrifying entertaining attitude and a long list of events happening every next day. Dublin is the capital city and is the centre of entertainment and amusement in Ireland. The cheerful Dubliners believe in “If you’re not having fun… what are you having". Entertainment is something they live for. Just think about any branch of entertainment and you will definitely find it in Dublin-Theatres, cinemas, festivals, exhibitions, bars, clubs, concerts, comedy, and sports. Let’s talk about each one of these one by one:

Dublin Cinema

The cinema in Dublin is a fascinating instrument to entertain locals and visitors at low costs. The magic and magnetism of the silver screen inspires everyone. Cinema is not only a source of entertainment but it also plays an influential role in the education of children and teenagers. When in comes to building up a healthy society the cinema can offer and accomplish much in this regard. Dublin hosts its own international film festival every year. Dublin cinema gives its spectator a complete parcel of action, romance, thrill, adventure and fun.

Dublin Theatre

Dublin has a flourishing theatre scene. Theatre is a form of performing arts which benefits a city with the flair of creativity. The young Dubliners are interested to attend concerts and music events. Theater is a part of Irish culture. Theaters play the role of acting schools. The Irish actors make their money through movies, but earn reputations by working on the stage.
The theater has always been seen as a national amusement activity. Each year around October The Dublin Theater Festival and Fringe Festival are arranged to quench the thirst of drama and arts lovers. Dublin is an extraordinarily lively theater town; major names in Dublin Theatre include the world-famous Abbey Theater, the Gaeity Theater, Civic Theatre, The Liberty Hall Centre, The Pavilion and The Lambert Puppet Theatre. The Abbey is said to be the jewel in the crown of Dublin Theater, It presents productions of works by Irish playwrights in past and present.

Dublin Comedy

"Laughter is the best medicine." Laughter is exceptionally significant for a person’s mental health. American cardiologist Dr. William Fry says a good laugh is like a mini workout and 100-200 laughs are equivalent to 10 minutes of jogging or rowing. It makes you feel good, gets your blood circulating, and makes you happy. It is a gift that you can pass it on to other people. Dublin has many offers of comedy shows that will make u laugh until your tummy gets tight.

Comedy in Dublin has grown to be a very well-liked type of entertainment over the last few years. You can find the best Irish comedic talent in Dublin. Dublin is also home to a number of big comedy clubs.

Dublin Sports

Dublin has a lot of stuff for sport lovers. Dublin presents a wealth of sports to its people and visitors. Dublin is recognized as the home of the world’s best golf courses. Golf is an individual sport. . The golf courses in Dublin can surely be marked as magnificent places for golf lovers to spend their holidays with fun and etiquettes. Dublin offers a number of world famous golf courses to play. Almost all of these courses are appropriate for beginners and experts both. The ideal time to play and to enjoy golf on the soil of Ireland is in the summer season.

Dublin is fairly known for its high breed horses and thrilling race-courses. These world class race-courses provide entertainment and exercise to the riders and the spectators. Horse racing is a popular historical game of Dublin, now it has become a great business as well.

Greyhound racing is an electrifying spectator sport and a multi-million money industry. It was introduced in Ireland in 1927 and since the day it was started it is growing. Today, this sport has become an essential part of the lives of millions of people. In the world of Greyhound Racing, Dublin holds its own identity.

There are a lot of other games like Hurling, Rugby, soccer, Gaelic football, water sport, cycling, angling and hiking. The shoreline of Dublin Bay always welcomes visitors and locals for windsurfing, sailing and fishing. The lush green magnificent mountains around the city receive the hikers whole heartedly to enjoy their walks in tranquil atmosphere. This place also invites bicyclers. The attitude of this city is warm and friendly for those who are interested in work outs. This is why we see that Dublin’s calendar is full of sporting events whole year round.

Dublin Casino

The heart beat of Dublin night life lays in casinos. Casinos can be found without difficulty all over the city, offering excitement, thrill, suspense and the passion to win. Casinos is Dublin can be called boxes of tricks presenting a diversity of gaming options, including slots, and video poker machines. The Casino Marino is the best known casino is Dublin. The interior of the Casino is entirely decorated with ornate plasterwork and richly decorated ornate floors. Casinos in Dublin ensure that you are going to have a night of absolute enthusiasm and amusement.

Dublin Clubbing

Lights, music, drink and dance is all what makes a club popular. Clubs come to life after dusk and these are associated with hanging out and high tones of music. Dublin club scene has everything you are looking for to spend a dynamic weekend; the perfect milieu, shacking music, rocking DJs and energetic crowd in the dark. There is a long queue of the clubs, bars, pubs and taverns in the electrifying city of Dublin with funky interiors, crazy lights, smoke machines and dance floors. So go to a nightclub, be a party animal and let the madness overcome you.

Dublin Exhibitions

Dublin is ready to entertain and electrify you with its resourceful exhibitions. Dublin hosts a number of exhibitions all year round. These exhibitions of great artistic work can surely mesmerize you with the quality of products and crafts displayed. Exhibitions are the best way to demonstrate and present any thing to its target audience. Dublin calendar is filled with the various exhibitions happening in the city including exhibition of paintings, book exhibitions, performing arts exhibitions, film exhibitions and flower exhibitions.

Dublin Festivals

Come and Get Rocked. Rhythmic melodies, enchanting fireworks, arty street theatres, joyful dances and the fancy parades are part of some of the festive activities in Dublin. The majestic capital city of Ireland, Dublin brings an extensive series of festivals to entertain its people and to glorify the environment like book fairs, fun fairs, food festivals, fashion festivals, film festivals and many more. If you want to treat yourself with a Christmas celebration, a New Year party, St. Patrick’s Day or any other event, then come to Dublin next time. The electrifying celebrations will be there to amuse you.

Dublin has a never ending list of celebrations and joys. So if you are planning to spend your next holiday season in the wonderful city of Dublin just go to Dublin Events before you make a vacation plan. The Dublin Events team has categorized all the major entertainment spots and events in Dublin only for your comfort and convenience.

New Year Eve - New Years Eve Party 2009 -2

Whenever New Year is on its way to reach us, we indulge in long hour waiting and find ourselves involved in buying new articles, framing new plans and resolutions, decorating our homes and doing everything to make New Years Eve a big and eventful eve. Lots of people seem to be engrossed in accumulating bric-a-brac, lots of beautiful decoration objects party gifts and many other things, which make the real charm of every New Year Eve party. And the most significant part of the entire busy thing comprises of inviting guests that are the harbingers of joy to every party. And when numerous guests chatter and live up every moment of rollicking party, the special characteristic of New Year celebrations automatically comes to fore.

Both kids and elders seek for the most happening spots that seem to be full of games, activities, dances, happy chitchat and the final dinner feast. No one can afford to stay without visiting his or her aspired destinations, where all the festivities related to New Year seem to be in their full swing. Places like penthouses situated on the top of various plush and towering buildings undoubtedly tickle the fancy of all spectators, passer-bys and a large number of party freaks. Those who feel like going for something different from the run-of-the-mill, rural cottages are the best option. They fall under some of the most distant parts: the places that are quite away from the posh surroundings of the cities and towns. Beautifully decorated cottages situated in the thick of rural areas draw people from distant areas to experience the celebrations of New Year Eve Party in a unique way.

Moreover, New Year celebrations in country cottages can be beefed up by incorporating the festive trends of the respective area, which becomes the venue comprising a number of parties. Also, the existence of so many parties increases the popularity of the areas that people consider as perfect party spots. Apart from country cottages, galore of recreation parks exist, which offer you a mixture of everything that you might need to double the fun of your New Years Eve. Such recreation parks appear to be full of a large number of restaurants containing variety of cuisines and virtual adventure spots. And all of them succeed in giving the very real feel of visiting an actual nature park. One can also spot people wearing the guise of clowns and dispensing lots of gifts that tickle the fancy of kids through and through.

However, the most important aspect of New Year celebrations is the time spent with all the family members. It is the happy get-togethers that add to the real fun, which complements all the festivities. When all family members sit together in their cozy rooms on the New Year Eve, the time spent in waiting for the arrival of New Year becomes undoubtedly memorable. Everyone in the family makes it a point to rustle up yummy recipes and then foray into ludicrous sessions of chitchat. And the joy of such festivities is similar to the joy of any New Year party.

Corporate New Year Entertainment - 1

I. Over the last five years or so, New Year corporate parties have become a most popular kind of holiday season entertainment for office employees in Russia's bigger cities. And an event of this kind would not be complete without inviting a pop star for an "exclusive" performance.

For domestic pop stars, the New Year holiday season has traditionally been a busy time. Just like in summer they heavily tour Black Sea resorts, in the last two or three weeks before the New Year, many may have a very tight schedule, performing at corporate parties of various companies.
Capture the Season's Best Memories
Get a free Sony Cybershot 10MP camera and Sony 9" Digital Picture Frame!
ElectronicsSource.us.com
LATEST NEWS
Russia urges EU to sway Kiev to ensure stable gas supplies
16:55 23/12/2008 |Moscow has called on the European Union to try and influence Ukraine to prevent a disruption in Russia gas to EU states in the new year over Kiev's gas debt, the energy minister said on Tuesday.
Russia proposes turning gas exporters forum into organization
16:35 23/12/2008 |Russia's prime minister proposed on Tuesday turning the gas exporters' forum into an official organization to be based in St. Petersburg and said Russia could cover the cost.
Gazprom approves $33 bln investment program for 2009
16:30 23/12/2008 | Russian energy giant Gazprom approved its 2009 investment program of 920.4 billion rubles ($33 billion) at a board meeting on Tuesday.
Moscow accuses Washington of backtracking on Georgia
16:26 23/12/2008 |Russia's foreign minister accused the United States on Tuesday of reneging on a promise not to allow Georgia membership in NATO if it ventured to attack breakaway South Ossetia.
more news

Incidentally, the geography of their performances has been spreading beyond Moscow and St. Petersburg, as more and more successful regional companies consider the invitation of a national pop star to their corporate event as a "status thing." And they are not deterred by the fact that in addition to an artist's regular fee, they would have to cover transportation and accommodation.

Some of the wealthiest companies have gone as far as to invite foreign pop stars to their corporate events, paying exorbitant fees up to millions of dollars. But for a typical domestic company, regardless of how well its business is going, that would be too much, and they opt for a Russian pop artist.

Last week, the Internet show business service mmdb.ru published a top 10 list of the Russian pop stars most wanted to perform at corporate parties this holiday season, including their estimated fees.

Incidentally, there is no direct correlation between the artist's price and their popularity. For example, the most sought artists are residents of the TV show "Comedy Club," who charge at least $20,000 for a one-hour performance, while the performance by the prima donna of the domestic pop scene, Alla Pugacheva (No. 3 on the list), would cost at least 70,000 euros for a 30-minute set. Almost as expensive is Dima Bilan (No. 5), the runner-up in last year's Eurovision Song Contest, charging 60,000 euros for a half-hour performance.

Among other artist on the top 10 list are also bands Gorod 312 and A-Studio, whose prices are "only" $10,000 and the even less expensive pop group Ivanushki International, which charges $8,000.

Can this top 10 list serve as a popularity rating for domestic pop artists this year? Probably not, as individual tastes of a company's employees may differ substantially from those of their bosses or whoever makes a decision about inviting a particular artist to perform at the company's corporate party. But still, it gives an idea of how much an artist "costs."

No surprise that pop artists love to perform at corporate parties. The money is good, while requirements for the quality of performance are almost non-existent, and most artists would easily get away with lip-synching to a playback of selected hits, even without a proper accompanying band.

Basically, everyone who has ever been to a New Year corporate party in Russia, can say that the performance itself is of minor importance. As soon as a company gets the "status" artist it wants to perform at its New Year event, the very fact of the performance and the artist's name begin to matter more than anything else. Now the company can boast about its "cool" New Year party, while by the time the artist actually takes the stage, most employees will be already too drunk or busy with something else to be able to pay any attention to the performance.


II. New Year’s Resolutions for Chicago in 2009


With the end of the year just around the corner, my mind has shifted from entertainment and events to the New Year’s Resolutions 2009 that we all plan to make. I am thinking there are some New Year’s Resolutions in 2009 that Chicago should try this year too. Not just government and officials but all of us collectively as people. Well, ok some are specifically for government and elected officials since this whole Rod Blagojevich thing is out of control and so opposite how most people really are in Chicago. So, after all the New Year’s parties sit down and think about if these ideas could really improve your life and those of everyone like you in Chicago.

1. Resolve to share the power and redistribute wealth. Enough of this you pay me to do something I am legally not supposed to do bullshit. Yes, Rod Blagojevich I am looking at you, and Former Illinois Governor Ryan you too. I am guessing that Mayor Daley does this stuff ALL the time but he has enough clout that people won’t cooperate in catching him at it.

For god’s sake, if you know (work with) someone who does this kind of pay for play stuff, out them. Tell someone, tell the Tribune, Sun Times or NPR. Copy documents that verify it and send them anonymously to the press if you have to. Publish them on an anonymous blog. The only way that this behavior will stop is if people stand up to it and say no, I am not going along with this and make sure people know about it. It is your responsibility as a citizen and there are a whole lot more of us little people than there are powerful ones you know. And this was the whole point behind rallying for Barack Obama and Change. (and not just so people stopped knowing Chicago only for Al Capone, Oprah and Michael Jordan)

2. Get some more exercise. All of us, myself included could benefit from more exercise. This means walking rather than driving sometimes, going out to run once a week and generally doing things around the house to clean and fix it up. You would be surprised how much cleaning and fixing up the house can do for exercise. Walking every day to public transportation is also a great way to get exercise without knowing it. (which is pretty much the only way computer based people like me can do this) Laying off the deep dish pizza, foot long hot dogs and cold stone ice cream is probably a good idea too.

3. Save some money. Forget the economy and how 70% of the activity is from consumer spending. Just do what you need to do in order to be ready for layoffs since this is so common these days. Have 1 year of reserves in savings for daily expenses should you loose your job.

It takes a year or more for most people right now to find a new job since so many more people are looking than there are jobs. Also, have your vacation days saved up so that if they do lay you off they have to pay them out. It is the law. Most companies don’t offer any severance packages when they lay off people so your 2-3 weeks vacation time is your severance package now. Save it wisely.

4. Learn something new. This is harder the older we all get. I find it harder every year to learn something new that is an actual functional skill or knowledge useful on the job. It is just so much easier to do things the old way. It uses less energy and fewer brain cells. But you become obsolete so much faster, and in this economy that could mean a lot less money if and when you can find another job. So, whether it is community college courses, web research or just asking someone who knows cool stuff on the job if you could help out and get into a new project, it always benefits you in the long run.