stardust

Based on the Novel Written by Neil Gaiman and directed by Matthew Vaughn, STARDUST (http://www.stardustmovie.com/) features a star-studded cast including Claire Danes, Charlie Cox, Sienna Miller, Ricky Gervais, Jason Flemyng, Peter O'Toole, with Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert De Niro (http://www.stardustmovie.com/site.htm).

Coming to theaters on August 10th, 2007, Stardust Movie is set in England and goes to la-la-land, another magical world, as the story progresses.



The film, an adaptation of the novel by Neil Gaiman which was illustrated by Charles Vess, is an adventure fantasy. A young man named Tristan (Charlie Cox) woos a village beauty Victoria (Sienna Miller), promising to bring her a falling star. His journey takes him beyond the walls of his village to a mysterious and forbidden land.



When Tristan finds the star, he is star-struck, and stunned to discover that the star is not a lump of meteoric rock, but an angry, injured girl named Yvaine (Claire Danes) – who has no desire to be dragged across the world and be presented to anyone's girlfriend.



Sadly, Tristan is not the only one seeking the star. A dying King's (Peter O'Toole) four sons – not to mention the ghosts of their three dead brothers – all need the star as they vie for the throne.



Three evil witches, led by the murderous Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer) seek the star's heart to make them young again.



Tristan and Yvaine are forced to flee together, encountering the captain of a flying pirate ship (Robert De Niro) and a shady trader named Ferdy the Fence (Ricky Gervais, star of the British hit comedy TV show, The Office) along the way.



As they travel Tristan discovers the meaning of true love, but is blissfully unaware that he's leading Yvaine into even more danger...



The Story Behind Stardust: "It mostly started in 1991," explained Gaiman. "Charles and I won the world fantasy award for Sandman 19: A Midsummer Night's Dream. We were out in Tucson, Arizona where we actually astonished ourselves and everybody else by winning the award. We astonished everybody else to the point that the judges, the secret committee behind the judging, got together the following morning and changed the rules so it could never happen again.



"That night I went out to a party held by a lady by the name of Terry Windling out in the desert. And in the Tucson desert, I got to watch a falling star. In England, they're just sort of a streak of light across the sky. I discovered if you're in the Tucson desert and you watch, it's like this little diamond coming down. You go, 'My God, that was….,' just watching it. I thought, 'What if you went to get that falling star?' And then I thought, 'And what if it wasn't a star, it was a girl. And what if she had a broken leg and a foul-temper and had no desire to be dragged halfway across the world and presented to anybody's would-be fiancée?' Suddenly, there was the story."



"We did the art as a sort of presentation to publishers first," said Gaiman. "So in '93, Charles did a bunch of the paintings and so it's sort of taken a while to wend its way into the world. It was published in '98, I think, and then '99 without the pictures because we looked at our contract and discovered that DC had given us those rights without really noticing they had. The rest is history or economics or something."

Metallic Cookware

The two essential features of a cookware are that it should have good thermal conductivity and that it should be chemically unreactive with the ingredients that are cooked in it. Metallic cookware are found to possess these essential features and hence are the most widely used forms of cookware across the globe. They are generally made from a narrow range of metals. Most metals that exhibit good thermal conductivity are too reactive to be used in food preparation. Hence selection of the right type of metal for cookware is crucial. The most popular metals that find usage in cookware are:

Aluminium

Aluminium is a lightweight metal which exhibits very good thermal conductivity. The main characteristics of aluminium are that it does not rust, and is resistant to many forms of corrosion. Being a soft metal, it is commonly alloyed with magnesium, copper, or bronze to increase its strength. It is generally available in sheet, cast or anodized forms. Sheet aluminum which is spun or stamped into form is commonly used for making baking sheets, pie plate, cake pans, steamers, pasta pots, skillets etc. Cast aluminium produces a thicker product than sheet aluminium and is suitable for saucepots, dutch ovens, heavyweight baking pans etc. However, due to the microscopic pores caused by the casting process, cast aluminium possesses low thermal conductivity than sheet aluminium. Anodized aluminium, on the other hand, has the naturally occurring layer of aluminium oxide thickened by an electrolytic process to create a surface that is hard and non-reactive.


Copper is a metal which has the unique characteristic of providing good thermal conductivity, besides ensuring even heating. Due to these advantages, copper cookware has found a prominant place in Western cooking. The best copper cookware were made out of a thick layer of copper to ensure good thermal conductivity and a thin layer of tin to prevent the metal from reacting with acidic foods. However they tend to be heavy, expensive and requires occasional retinning. Copper cookware are now available with stainless steel rather than tin linings which last much longer. They are best suited for high-heat, fast-cooking techniques.

Cast Iron

Cast iron cookware is slow to heat, but once heated, provides even heating. It is cost effective and can withstand very high temperatures. Being a reactive material, cast iron is known to react with high acid foods. Cast iron, being a porous material, requires seasoning before use. Though cast iron cookware can be washed with soap, it should not be soaked in water or left wet for long.

Stainless Steel

Stainless steel is an alloy of iron containing a minimum of 11.5 % chromium. It is resistant to corrosion and does not react with either alkaline or acidic foods. Stainless steel cookware though are light, cannot be easily scratched or dented. Though stainless steel finds general acceptance in cookware industry, its main drawback is its relatively poor heat conductivity. To overcome this, stainless steel cookware is generally made with a metal insert of copper or aluminium at the base.

Baby Boomers Sports And Gym Injury Risks|avoid Over 40s Exercise Injuries

Due to health care education, more people, who are over forty, those born in 1946 to 1964, commonly known as the baby boomers, are realizing the benefits of taking up sports or exercising in a gym.

This is well and good since exercising regularly severely cut the risks of contracting aging and obesity related potentially killer diseases such as diabetes, heart diseases, stroke, some forms of cancers and many other diseases.

It is indeed heartening to know that more baby boomers are taking charge of their health through regularly exercise to improve their cardiovascular health thus becoming fitter and stronger. However, with more middle aged people exercising and playing some form of sports, instances of injuries sustained from these activities have risen substantially.

In the United States, these gym or sports injuries have become the number 2 reason for people visiting the doctor's office just behind the common cold, reported by the National Ambulatory Medical Care in 2003.

A Consumer Product Safety Commission research in 1998 found that sports related injuries to baby boomers had risen by 33 percent since 1991 and contributed to US$18.7 billion in medical costs.

Outdoor sports such as tennis, jogging and golf are very popular with people over forties. Not to be outdone, the more body conscious over forties baby boomers are also joining gym memberships in the multitudes.

Gyms all over the developed world are happily reporting booming new memberships year after year with a large pool of their members being the over forty baby boomers brigade, male or female baby boomers irrespective.

As baby boomers get older, their susceptibility to sports injuries rise proportionately. As people age, their body degenerate along with the aging process, although exercising regularly is known to slow down this very degeneration process.

This is particularly so for the risky weekend warriors who take to the running tracks or lifting weights to build their body with gusto during the weekend putting their aging bodies and joints to sudden busts of unaccustomed stressful activities, causing damages to their own bodies unknowingly.

What Makes Ashtanga Yoga Different?

Ashtanga Yoga is the type of yoga which was created and established by a master named K. Pattabhi Jois. Due to it's theory containing eight different limbs, or components, it is also known as "Eight-Limb Yoga". It doesn't imply that the practitioner has a double set of limbs, but master Pattabhi Jois showed that the optimum path of purification is made up of the eight spiritual practices.

The basic idea is that these limbs only can be kept in balance by the appropriate application of the Ashtanga Yoga method.


The first four limbs that symbolize Ashtanga Yoga, and are considered externally correctable are (original names within double quotes):
- Moral codes or "yama"
- Self-purification or "niyama"
- Posture or "asana"
- Breath control or "pranayama"

Then there is the other set of limbs which are the internal practices:
- Sense control or "pratyahara"
- Meditation or "dhyana"
- Concentration or "dharana"
- Contemplation or "samadhi"


K. Pattabhi Jois declared that practicing these Eight Limbs as well as its sub-limbs of the external practices which contain the niyama and yama is impossible. In doing so, the body should be strong so that it can technically perform the methods well enough. If the body is weak, and the sense organs are not functioning well, practicing will never be productive at all.

This is a primary philosophy that K. Pattabhi Jois has applied, it is of prime importance for the Asthanga practitioner to learn and understand this way of thinking. This will make you confident in that the body will significantly improve and become stronger and healthier.




Vinsaya and Tristhana are performed in Ashtanga Yoga.

The Vinsaya is a style that makes Ashtanga and its fundamental principles different from the others. Vinsaya basically means the movement and breathing which is used effectively together in order to cleanse the body. Each movement done is accompanied by only one breath. Sweat is the most important product of Vinsaya. When you produce sweat, it only indicates that you are successfully applying the method. When you perform the Asanas, or postures, the body produces heat which causes your blood to "boil" and excrete the toxins outside of your body. The contaminations are found in your sweat. So the more sweat you produce, the more toxins are released. This is the natural way for the body to get rid of unwanted substances.

The poses are used to fully develop the physical strength and health of the body. It is the sequence of practices that make this possible. There are three postures used in Ashtaga Yoga.

The three are grouped on different levels:

- The first is the Primary Series which aims on aligning the body and also detoxifying it.

- The second is the Intermediate Series opening and cleansing the energy channels which comes to the process of purifying the Nervous System.

- The last series would be the Advanced Series from A to D. In this set, the grace and strength are assessed.

The Tristhana is another yoga principle which symbolizes the close union of the three places of action and attention. First is the posture, second is the breathing technique ad last is the Dristhi of the Looking Place. All these three should work altogether to perform a function.

The breathing is always controlled and synchronized with the movements, in such a way that each movement is accompanied by breath. Ujjayi Breathing is the Yoga Breathing Technique used in the implementation of Ashtanga Yoga. Applying this ancient technique is something that you should work on gradually in your daily practise. What you need to master is holding your pose longer at the same time hold your breath. This is an amazing breathing exercise that will intensify your internal fire and will toughen the Nervous System.

Both Ashtanga and Tristhana deal with the series of Dristhi. The Dristhi is defined as the point on which you acquire your focus or concentration while doing the Asana. This allows your mind to be purified and stabilized clearly.

Clearing your mind (that is sometimes compared to an over active monkey) and cleansing it is the ultimate goal in the Eight-Limb Yoga or Ashtanga Yoga.

Cameras Of Tomorrow

One time you had only to look into a little lens and press a button to take a photo, but these days cameras are more complicated. Much advertising money is spent on telling us all just how simple and easy it is to take a photo, and it is certainly easier to load a film in the average camera now than it used to be, but you still have to know more about it. You can't just pick up that brownie box and ready, aim, fire. There are warning lights that tell you to change your angle or adjust your exposure, to mention just a few.

So what is the camera of the tomorrow going to be like? Will it be so complicated that only a rocket scientist will be able to operate it? Probably not, since manufacturers must get good sales for their products. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that there are more sales in the masses than in an elite group of rocket scientists.

So come on guys, make it simple. How about a talking camera to tell us what to do? Just imagine Great-aunt Ethel lining up her new camera to take a picture of the latest nephew. The sun slides behind a cloud and the camera growls, "Hold it, stupid!" Ethel retrieves the camera from the grass, dusts it off and focuses again. "Beep-beep-beep! The subject is not smiling!" As the family gathers around with fans and cool drinks for Aunt Ethel, little Johnny grabs the camera and drops it into the fishpond, where it happily snaps the goldfish every time they wiggle.

The camera of the tomorrow may not talk, but at a recent exhibition in New York Canon had a prototype that waits until all the subjects are smiling before taking the picture. Another can tell if you're blinking. These are expected to be commercial within a year. Fuji has already announced it has a digital camera far superior to most in clarity and resolution.

We think of the digital camera as possessing the most modern technology, but what if it is simply the Model T of cameras? Perhaps today's digital cameras are the forerunners of some amazing new technology hiding around the corner, just waiting for someone with vision to invent it? Some time in the future, there will surely be moving 3D images that can be clicked into being on our desktops, in mid-air, or beamed to the other side of the world in less than a second. They'll be in full color and at the click of a button, we'll be able to hear what is being said. I can hardly wait!

A 21" LCD TV - A Versatile Mid-Range Size

Some consumers consider a 21" LCD TV to be the perfect size: for TV viewing and for use as a computer monitor. Some take it one step further: they integrate their 21" LCD TV with a home theater PC. It's easier than you think, and a home theater PC setup lets you access any media files like digital image files, audio files, and videos. You can also watch your favorite television shows or DVDs, and you can even use the 21" LCD TV as a computer monitor. It's no surprise, then, that some consumers feel a 21" LCD TV is one of the most versatile screen sizes available.

If you watch digital TV on your 21" LCD TV, you could be already taking advantage of the possibilities of Digital Video Recorders (DVR) or TiVo. You can go one step farther; integrating your 21" LCD TV with a home theater PC setup is the ultimate in versatility. And it's not that hard – here are a few ways available to you.

1. Buy a PC with the Media Center version of Windows XP and make sure it has a TV tuner card capable of capturing digital signals from your cable or satellite box. Once it's installed, it works just like a DVR. You won't need to buy a high-end PC to integrate with your 21" LCD TV if you just want to record and play shows and movies – if you also want to play graphics-intensive video games, you may need a more expensive PC with greater graphics capability. Just make sure you get plenty of memory.

2. Upgrade your PC. You can buy a copy of Microsoft's operating system with Media Center. Frequently it comes bundled with a TV tuner card you'll also need. If you have decent computer skills you can handle the installation fairly easily and your 21" LCD TV home theater PC setup will be running in no time.

3. If you don't want to upgrade to a new operating system, a number of software companies produce applications that perform the same chores as Media Center does. A few are available as freeware, but the features they offer tend to be limited. You'll still need to factor in the cost of a TV tuner card – a TV tuner card won't be included with the freeware.

Once you've decided how to set up your computer, you can integrate it into your home theater system so your 21" LCD TV can handle the video feed you send to it. A 21" unit is ideal for this purpose; sets that are larger sometimes deliver reduced image quality when the TV signal is sent through the computer.

What To Look For In A MP3 Player

Welcome to the digital age! Who could have thought a decade back that cassette record player will be replaced by compact and ultra-light digital audio players most popularly known as MP3 players. These days you can find MP3 players that are as small as the USB device with a dual function. There are some popular brands like the Apple I-Pod, the Microsoft Zune, Creative, Sandisk, Isonic etc. Most of the mp3 players today have a high memory capability and multiple functions. The memory can range from 1GB to 60 GB.

You can find some attractive and useful mp3 players at Fuzing.com, which is a mega store for different products and services. You will find mp3 players, mp4 players, mp3 player with a repeater and recorder and many more. You can check out the mp3 player by Elking with the following features:

* MP3 / WMA / MPX (can transfer WMA, WMV, ASF, MPEG, MPG, MOV, and AVI into AMV)
* Enhances digital voice recording and supports 8 hour of recording for 128M as well as VOX recording
* Can be used as a USB flash disk and is available in 128MB | 256MB | 512MB | 1GB built-in memory
* It has a LCD of 1.5" with 65K color display
* E-book function and image browsing capabilities
* ID3 support and lyric display
* Supports multiple languages display like English, Japanese, Chinese, French, Korean, German, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Thai, and Spanish
* Built-in 7 mode equalizer and A-B repeat function
* Requires a rechargeable lithium battery
* Comes with a 1 year warranty
* Available Colors are black and red
* Accessories include earphone, USB cable, CD drive for Windows 98, charger and user manual

Different mp3 players have different configurations and have different functional capabilities. Some of the mp3 players come with basic functions and buttons while others have complex functionalities and jazzy buttons. So when you are out there in the market to find the right mp3 player then you need to look for the following functionalities:

i. Memory: The first thing that you should consider is the memory. There is no point buying an mp3 player with 30GB memory if you are not going to use it for storing other files like videos or presentations. 30GB of memory space is a lot for storing just mp3 or audio files. Of course, it will be useless to pick up a mp3 player with 1GB of space if you love to listen to music or if you plan to transfer all your mp3 files into the player. Look for a flash memory player that has at least 64MB onboard memory.

ii. Connection: This is an important aspect of all mp3 players. Connection refers to the compatibility to your computer. There are only a few mp3 players that offer wireless transfer of files but most of the mp3 players offer two options: USB and FireWire. Whether your mp3 player has the USB option or the FireWire option, you will need a cable, which will be included in the packaging box itself. The cable will connect the mp3 player to the USB port of your computer so that you can easily transfer files from the computer to the mp3 player or vice-versa. The USB compatibility is the most popular and common connection today. It works well with both the PC and the Mac and are compliant with USB 1.1 and 2.0. FireWire primarily supports connection to the Mac.

iii. Display: The display is also an important aspect of any mp3 player. Most of the mp3 players available today have a display screen although the size of the screen will vary from player to player. If you are buying a small mp3 player then the display screen might be as small as 12x30mm or it can be as big as 2.5’". The display screen will let you know what music is being played, the time, and other important information. The display screen will also help you to operate the main menu so that you can choose a particular function.

iv. Type of files: All mp3 players can save or play particular audio files or convert a particular type of audio file into an mp3 file. So when you are shopping for an mp3 player, you need to find a player that can play Mp3 and support WMA as well as AAC audio files. Apart from that the mp3 player should also be able to support MPEG4-SP, MJPEG, WMV9, DivX 4/5, and XviD.

These are some of the most important aspects of an mp3 player that will help you to make an informed choice. Apart from these aspects, any extra functions will also be useful like FM radio, Clock & alarm, voice recorder etc.