VampireS SUMO

Have you ever had viewings where the customer seemed very excited about the images but then didn’t spend very much? Maybe they just didn’t have very much money to spend - but there’s often another reason.

However fabulous it may be, an image on a screen doesn’t actually represent a physical thing that a customer could buy. It’s small but important point – the image might provoke a strong and positive emotional reaction, which would readily convert into a desire to buy, but the desire won’t turn into action unless you can show them a very specific object they can focus that desire on.

As a photographer, you’re likely to be a highly visually-oriented person. That fact, together with being familiar with your own products, means you as an individual will easily be able to visualize any particular finished product yourself - and you probably do that routinely. Most customers aren’t able to do that though; they don’t have your skills or experience - that’s one reason why they’ve come to you.

Plus, other businesses competing for consumer’s disposable income are making life more difficult in this respect. In working hard to be easy to do business with, many companies are actively ‘training’ customers to sit back and do a lot less of the work in the buying process. Kitchen companies provide 3D walkthroughs of new kitchens Pizza companies will bring you fresh, hot pizza within minutes of you pressing a button on your TV remote. So, fewer and fewer people will be coming to you with any expectation of having to help you sell them things – they’re used to getting everything ‘on a plate’.

In the context of portrait photography, this means that not being able to quickly and accurately visualize real buyable products represents a significant and growing psychological hurdle in the buying process for your customers. If you don’t do something about that, you could be inadvertently denying them any number of opportunities to buy from you and that could be costing you hundreds, maybe thousands of pounds a week in lost sales.

In contrast, if you were to actually show people a lifelike, life-sized simulation of an image they love, as a framed portrait maybe, then they can see vividly for themselves how it’s going to look at home and you’ve given them something absolutely tangible to want - and to buy.

It might seem like this could be achieved by showing the customer similar examples of framed portraits you already have, of other families, but in practice it’s ineffective. By introducing strangers, you immediately lose the impact of connecting the customers’ own image, which they’ve now formed an emotional connection with, and the tangible version they could take home. It’s also pretty impractical to do this anyway if you don’t have a permanent area to hang samples in; and then there’s the cost – a decent range of finished prints in mounts and mouldings could easily add up to several hundred pounds.

Creating simulations in Photoshop would work; but even if you’re really handy, it will still be relatively time-consuming to go through a variety of options which will mean that a) the viewing takes longer than your customer’s got patience for and b), that you limit the number of viewings you can get through in a day. Maybe not a problem when you’re starting out and have plenty of time but it’s never a good idea to undervalue your time and if you’re lucky enough to get really busy, it’ll be a problem.

A better solution is to use purpose-built software for Viewings: a product with the capability to show single images, multi-mounts, panoramics and collages, as well as simulating real-life mounts and mouldings, all calibrated to life-size – ideally shown via a data projector.

Real-world results from more than 100 UK photographic businesses using such software in this way have shown significant increases in customer purchasing – increases of more than 150% in portrait averages are not unusual.

Simon Birkby
bowride.co.uk bowride.co.uk
44 (0)207 871 2570

Beneath This Gruff Exterior is the latest Rock CD put out by the very talented guitar playing John Hiatt who once again has delivered a brilliant collection of tracks. I’m confident John Hiatt fans, and Rock fans alike will be pleased with this one.

It’s a rare day indeed that I get a CD from an artist that I can truthfully say does not have a bad track in the bunch. I’m more than happy to announce that’s exactly what I must say about this one. There simply isn’t a bad one in the bunch. No fillers here at all.

If you’re a John Hiatt fan this is a CD your collection flat cannot be without. In fact, this is one of those CDs that you don’t even have to be a fan of Hiatt, or even Rock to know is good. It’s just good music. Period.

While this entire CD is really very good some of my favorites are track 2, How Bad’s The Coffee, track 4, My Baby Blue, and track 11, The Last Time.

My SmoothLee Bonus Pick, and the one that got Sore [...as in "Stuck On REpeat"] is track 8, Window On The World. Good stuff!

Beneath This Gruff Exterior Release Notes:

John Hiatt originally released Beneath This Gruff Exterior on May 06, 2003 on the New West Records, Inc. label.

CD Track List Follows:

1. Uncommon Connection
2. How Bad’s The Coffee
3. Nagging Dark
4. My Baby Blue
5. My Dog And Me
6. Almost Fed Up With The Blues
7. Circle Back 8. Window On The World
9. Missing Pieces
10. Fly Back Home
11. The Last Time
12. The Most Unoriginal Sin

Personnel: John Hiatt (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars); Sonny Landreth (electric & slide guitars, dobro, background vocals); Dave Ranson (bass); Kenneth Blevins (drums, background vocals). Additional personnel: Bobby Keys (baritone saxophone). Recorded at Blackbird Studios, Berry Hill, Tennessee.

Clyde Lee Dennis is a life long music enthusiast and in addition to writing music reviews he is also the Food Editor at Oklahoma City: eNewsBriefs.com where he covers topics like oklahomacitysmoothjazz.com/local-business/restaurants.htm Oklahoma City Restaurants and more. Visit oklahomacity.enewsbriefs.com/ OklahomaCity.eNewsBriefs.com for the latest oklahomacity.enewsbriefs.com/ Oklahoma City news and information.

Beautiful older women galleries
do I fit in?
I line my paintings in a hallway
see them there
anywhere
does magic come their way?
Have I met the master of my own heart?

My gothic angel art
my whimsical angels of crystal
a pegasus I did ride here.
I see beginnings
the gate that leads me to survival
knowing my own being.
My lessons are in the doing.
Art is who I am.

I set out to meet the day
creativity reaches for me
rainbows or storm
I cannot tell as yet.
Fine art paintings
reproduction of my heart.
The sun is showing its head
I smile on past accomplishments.
Art is who I am.

It is a toss up
will my frailties trump me
will I bend
will I fly like a pegasus?
will I swim like a mermaid?
I lean toward opportunities
beautiful older women
and their galleries of age
timeless and ageless.
The Universe does smile on them
and hand them notes in the hallway.
I patiently wait for mine.
Art is who I am.

There is a darkness in me
late at night
still.
I paint by candles
ablaze by my own passion.
Gothic angels
whimsical angels
and older woman
I guess I am all of them.
Art is who I am.

I can be anything
still
it is never too late!
Fine art
painting reproductions
not my aim
I search to find my inner being.
An artist’s brush full of paint
colors new and brilliant
I become everything new.
Art is who I am.

ABOUT Kathy Ostman-Magnusen
I paint and sculpt female fantasy art and map faery tale adventures. I dream of beautiful women on canvas and art of exotic women.
I have illustrated for Hay House Inc.,”Women Who Do Too Much″ CARDS taken from Anne Wilson Schaef’s book. I also illustrated for Neil Davidson, who was considered for the Pulitzer Prize in feature writing, and several other publications. My paintings are collected worldwide.

Giclee canvas art work, greeting cards and posters are available for sale on my website:
kathysart.com kathysart.com
Sign up for my mailing list for FREE ART GIFTS: Drawings of whimsical angel pictures, legends of mermaids and fairies in art. Tiny angels whisper fantasy art for shrink art, or coloring pages. Also a “Letter From the Tooth Fairy”. Ya just never know when you might need one! New free magical gifts are in my newsletter along with stories, poems and good thoughts.
Check out my new Squidoo too! Fantasy Art Woman|Beautiful Women Goddess Art squidoo.com/kathysart/ squidoo.com/kathysart/

Sit n’ go tournaments are a new form of poker that have resulted because of the boom in online poker. Sit n’ go tournaments are among my favorites because it is a rare form of game where solid strategy trumps luck so often that a good player, so long as they avoid an incredible streak of bad luck, can find winnings as high as seventy or eighty percent of the time based on the game, and many fish love the low level games, making even a moderately good player a shark at many of these tourneys.

The first thing I always keep in mind going into a sit n’ go tournament is to play tight aggressive early on. The most important aspect of any sit n’ go game is to figure out what kind of a table you have, and which players are the main threats. I almost always play tight aggressive early on, meaning I throw away almost any hand that is not dominant until I know who I’m playing with.

A good example of this sit n′ go tournament strategy is highlighted in a recent online game I played, my first hand was pocket 10’s, and I was the small blind. In this game every player starts with $1,500 in chips, and the blinds are $5/$10 to start. The first player raised half their chip stack. Three players folded, then the next went all in, and the next player called, also going all in. I threw away my tens like they were the plague. The first bettor ended up calling, making it a three person hand. In that situation pocket A’s are only a coin flip, and sure enough a guy who played J-Q suited backed into a flush which beat another player’s trips. Now the table was down to eight, and I knew that the player who was now the chip leader was a loose aggressive player, which is poor sit n′ go strategy. This also meant this player was probably used to cash games.

The more players who are eliminated, the better your advantage. Early on I stay out of any hand that can’t give me a dominant lead. Especially in early position, I wouldn’t play anything worse than A-Q suited or a pair of queens and even then you want to play it really cautiously. Wait until your table is a few opponents short and the blinds are higher, when you gain much more with aggressive play, and the risk reward is more balanced.

At this table, half the players were very loose when they had large chip stacks, and timid when they didn’t, and the other half were just timid. After seeing this, I hammered the table with my favorite play at an extremely weak table: doubling up on a dominant hand followed by continuation bets. Since the two large stacks were willing to call about anything, I waited for a giant hand. With pocket tens I limped in, and caught a third ten for trips. To my delight, an ace and a two landed on the board.

After a raise I went all in, and was called. Sure enough, he hit had hit the ace and my trips doubled me up. After that I bet every hand that was even moderate or better, and bet after every flop. That one big hand scared everyone, and even half the time I missed completely everybody folded after one bet. At the end I finished second with this sit n’ go strategy, losing a couple coin flip all ins to keep me from first, but it shows how to play: tight and aggressive until you know your opponents, then attack them accordingly.

Mayoor Patel is the writer for the website squidoo.com/sit-n-go-strategy/ squidoo.com/sit-n-go-strategy/. Please visit for information on all things concerned with squidoo.com/sit-n-go-strategy/ Sit N Go

My family has a discussion going on, whether to fix my Uncle Sam’s old barn. It was a huge old three-story barn, a left over relic when my uncle bought the property he never farmed the property but he kept horses so the building did have some purpose. All of our families except for Uncle Sam were city people. None of us were from around there we came from all over, so to us as kids that barn was a magical place. A three-story playhouse, with stairways ladders trap doors. So large we played Frisbee and even wiffle ball upstairs complete with indoor rope swing. We played hide an go seek and don’t know for sure we ever found everyone. So much room the boys would play upstairs and the girls down or vice versa but there was always room for everyone.

Now my Uncle was getting on in age and wanted to move south and the question was is the barn an asset or an eyesore could or should it be repaired? Or should they just tear it down and sell the hand-hewn beams as architectural heirlooms. When it was built it was an incredible endeavor, easily over a hundred years old hand made with hand tools by craftsmen who put more than sweat in their work with more concerns of more than just payday It was so old and needed so much repair, it would cost a fortune. But should their toil and efforts be torn down to be sold off as just novelties? Wasn’t their effort to build such a structure with only their bare hands in the wilderness worthy of note and salvation?

Money we didn’t have and couldn’t recoup, but we loved the place it was precious to our hearts for us children it was freedom it was our free country. To adults it was just a dirty old barn they didn’t like it was off the muddy path from the house to them it was just a way to keep us out of their hair, a means to and end so it was all ours we could do what we liked. I will never get to play there again but if torn down no one will. The children of future generations will miss so much and never taste the freedom that existed there. Was it past its prime and just too late or could it be saved?

The cynical among us said its just and old barn not worth saving an impediment to their plans and just in the way, to hell with it! They claimed it wasn’t safe that barriers and signs should be put up to restrict access to it. Was the structure unsafe? Or did they just envy what they couldn’t control? The said it was out of date, obsolete a relic of past glories that the world had moved on and these structures were holding the future back

Some of us saw it only as a resource what we could get out of it, to hell with future generations take the money and run. I in my idealism thought of the joy to have had this place in my life. Didn’t I owe anything to future generations? Hadn’t they preserved it for me at great expense? I can still close my eyes and think back to those times and remember to feel for just one second what it was like to be free.

The debate goes on, to fix a beautiful old barn a useful structure from an earlier time and return her to her former glory, to tear her down to say her days are done, or just let her collapse under the weight of neglect denial and self interest. But as I close my eyes and think of her now I see in fading paint barely legible on it’s side in tall letters it said The United States of America

There are good songs. There are bad songs. Then, there are ear worms, songs that get stuck in your head and stay there: no amount of amnesia will remove them. These kinds of songs aren’t necessarily bad, but they aren’t something you want sharing your brain space for 24 hours a day. Yet, there they remain, fermented in the crevices of your mind like the frosting of a sticky bun.

With some sticking more than others, the following is our list of top five worst songs to have stuck in your head, ear worms that no amount of digging with a Q-tip will remove.

I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles): By far the best well known song from The Proclaimers, “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” is a song with a lot of miles under its belt, miles spent in your memory. Released in 1988, this song is one you don′t need to know the words to, all you need to know is that you would, in fact, walk 500 miles. You should also know that the second set of “Da-da-da’s” sounds just like Michael J. Fox. Listen, I swear it’s him.

Cupid’s Chokehold: More commonly known as “Take a Look at My Girlfriend,” “Cupid’s Chokehold″ was originally release by Gym Glass Heroes in 2004 and re-released in 2006. True to its title, this song has the ability to pierce our brains with the sharpness of Cupid’s arrow. Still, we can’t really put too much blame on the song itself, the invasive “Ba da da da” line is originally from the Supertramp song, “Breakfast in America.” Supertramp is where our fingers should really be pointed.

Copacabana: This 1978 hit introduced us to Lola (she was a showgirl), Rico (he wore a diamond), and Tony (he always tended bar). A staple of disco parties everywhere, Barry Manilow knew how to put a Copacabana in our Cabeza. This song, close to thirty years old, isn’t on too frequently, but when it is, look out: its music and passion is always the fashion. Though not a bad song in itself, having “Copacabana” stuck in your head is enough to make you want to patronize someplace else.

The Rhythm is Gonna Get You: Gloria Estefan, the Miami Sound Machine, and their songs just won’t go away. Released in 1987, “The Rhythm is Gonna Get You” was a huge hit for all involved. Reaching number 5 on the pop charts, this song - with huge dance beats and unique tempos -is, unfortunately, unforgettable. Having it inside your head for hours is enough to make anyone wish the rhythm would in fact get them, and just get it over with.

Chili’s Baby Back Ribs Song: Okay, so this isn’t really a song - and the “I want my baby back baby back baby back” doesn’t exactly qualify as musical genius - but this Chili’s theme song is the epitome of an ear worm, a grilled to order ear worm. Hearing this jingle is enough to ruin your day: there’s a song about ribs in your head…….. and now you’re hungry.

Jennifer Jordan is a senior editor for turbocellcharge.com turbocellcharge.com. Possessing an infatuation with pop culture – and a gift for stalking – she keeps up on the latest news of the musical world.

If you are not familiar with the Pimsleur method, it is an audio course, available on CD, Tape and Chip. The focus is on speaking and listening. They do include text with the course but very little.

The Pimsleur method lets you partake in the conversations and you learn to think in Spanish rather than just memorize words or phrases. The lessons aren’t too long which is great for holding your attention so you don’t get overwhelmed with information. Classes at the local JC last about 3 hours which is way too long to concentrate on anything if you really want to learn. At the end of each lesson I was able to understand the conversation which opened the lesson. This built my confidence as I actually felt I was understanding rather than just memorizing.

The only downside I have found with the Pimsleur method is that they use the formal way of speaking most of the time. They do use the informal occasionally, but not enough to keep it up to date. It will still teach you how to put sentences together and actually think in Spanish. I have used this along with a few other programs that use the informal. this way I am able to use either when needed.

One last thought on Pimsleur is the price. Some people who haven’t tried the Pimsleur method consider it priced high. It is more expensive than other programs but I have found that with Pimsleur it is well worth the money. This program will have you learning Spanish.

Here are some reviews of other spanish courses ecommreviews.com/spanish ecommreviews.com/spanish or visit my spanish learning blog here improveyourpanish.blogspot.com/ improveyourpanish.blogspot.com/

When you first get into Texas hold’em poker, you will hear a lot of terms being bandied about. Part of learning the game is learning these terms and what they mean. You do not want to show off your ignorance and lack of experience in front of your opponents. Let me give you a rundown of some of the basic game terms used in Texas hold’em poker.

Button. This is any object, but usually a white puck, that is used to designate the position of the dealer of the hand. In Texas hold’em, the players will alternate being the dealer, so the button rotates around the table as the players take their turns. A player whose turn it is to be the dealer is said to be “on the button.”

Pot. The pot refers to the money that the players bet in a hand of poker. The size of the pot will often increase during the course of a hand as players make calls and raises.

Rake. The rake is the commission that the poker room (or poker website) takes from the pot of every hand. The rake can be a set dollar amount per hand, or be a percentage of it.

Blinds. In Texas hold’em, each hand will have two players start out by posting blind bets or simply “blinds,” which are forced bets they have to enter in the pot before they can be dealt any cards. One player posts the small blind, which is equal to half the minimum bet, while the second player posts the big blind, which is equal to the minimum bet.

Pocket cards. These are the two cards dealt to each player at the beginning of every hand.

Board. The name given to the community cards that are dealt face-up on the table. A player who says that “The board plays” is letting the table know that the five community cards constitute the player’s entire betting hand.

Flop. These are the first three community cards dealt to the board after the first round of betting in a hand.

Turn. This is the fourth community card dealt to the board after the second round of betting in a hand. It is also known as “fourth street.”

River. This is the fifth and final community card dealt to the board after the third round of betting in a hand. It is also known as “fifth street.” After the river has been dealt, there is a fourth and final round of betting between the players.

Learn all about the

Melissa is nearly seven years old and already she wants to help to pay the bills!
Melissa likes to do a lot of things but she especially enjoys drawing and painting along with reading a good book.

Her mother has been very ill with severe post-natal depression and her dad had to take several years off from work to look after Melissa and her younger brother Bailey while mummy went in and out of hospital. So they are still struggling financially so Melissa has decided that she wants to sell a couple of pieces of her work!

Melissa remembers the trips that she used to go on before her mummy became ill. She vividly remembers the trips to Zoo’s and parks and misses going to them. Now that her mummy is well on the way to recovery Melissa has decided that she would like to try and make some money to help towards paying the bills, go on some trips and try to make a little for her school to buy materials and books as well.

So Melissa has painted and drawn using a variety of materials like crayon, pen and felt tips, a couple of scenes depicting “The day in the Park” and “Away from the school grounds”, as she sees them. She has drawn them on size A4 paper.

Melissa says that she wants to sell 850 Special Limited Edition copies of each. So what we have done at BizeMarketing.com is put them onto digital .jpg file format. If you would like to see Melissa’s two pieces of Art then please visit the site using the link in my resource box.

You will be able to see the artist and her work for yourself!

About The Author:
Paul Evatt is the author of several articles this latest is about Melissa and her art work. You can see Melissa’s Art here at BizeMarketing.com BizeMarketing.com

Any loss perpetuates grief, and conversely, grieving is the humankind’s way of dealing with loss. William Faulkner says, “Between grief and nothing, I will take grief.” Without adequate grieving, we lose our spontaneity and our sense of being alive. Life turns into something to endure and the world feels like a hostile place.

One way to mourn loss is to write about our feelings and what we have lost, but then, there are feelings for which straight prose is not always adequate, since grief refuses to accept definition. In this instance, poetry fills the gap, because poetry has the capacity to imply a lot more than what prose can achieve. Also, a poem publicizes and legitimizes our grief, making the community draw closer to us in our pain.

Probably, poetry for loss has existed before any written history. Since poetry is originally oral, it carries within itself a very long history. One of the earliest epic poems we know of is the Sumerian Gilgamesh. Inside this poem, the mighty Gilgamesh laments the death of his friend Enkidu and orders the creation to never fall silent in mourning.

The epics of Ramayana, Iliad, and Odyssey contain serious laments about the nature of loss through poetry. In Ramayana, Raja Dasharatha grieves just before his death, lamenting:
when the the season for fruit cometh he will grieve!
So is it now with me: I die of grief for Rama’s exile.”
After Raja dies, he too is grieved by Ayodha.

In Odyssey, Homer says:
“Even his griefs are a joy

long after to one that remembers

all that he wrought and endured.

Then, in the Iliad, Achilles’ grieves.
“Why mourns my son? thy late preferr’d request
The god has granted, and the Greeks distress’d:
Why mourns my son? thy anguish let me share,
Reveal the cause, and trust a parent’s care.”

He, deeply groaning—“To this cureless grief,
Not even the Thunderer’s favour brings relief.

In the Jewish tradition, a poem was the most powerful way to express grief. It probably started with David’s dirge urging the Israelites to teach their children to weep and mourn. The same feeling is echoed in the Latin hymn Dies Irae where David’s word is mentioned in the first stanza.

A grief poem or an elegy has always been a balm against despair. Classic or Romantic Age poets and poets up to our day have used grief to announce to the world that pain eventually teaches us solid values and an understanding of the human experience.

Of all the grieving poets, Edgar Allen Poe has raised his sorrows to the altar of poetry. Who can forget the mourning in Annabel Lee, in the mystery of Ulalume, or in Raven’s bleak utterings of “nevermore″? Then, closer to our time, Whitman created a true monument for Lincoln, in “O Captain! My Captain!”

Today, contemporary poets choose a more poignant attitude towards grief. Late Stanley Kunitz’s “Night Letter,” Billy Collins’ “The Dead,” and Jane Kenyon’s “Coat,” are examples that come to mind. Rather than using expected phrases and conventional lamenting, these poets hint at their sorrow by shaping their lines around concrete images and physical objects. As a result, their poetry carries a genuine voice with a delicate and powerful expression of feeling.

Joy Cagil is an author on Writing.Com/ Writing.Com/
which is a site for Writing.Com/ Poetry. Her portfolio can be found at Writing.Com/authors/joycag Writing.Com/authors/joycag