When you hear the songs Jingle Bells Rock and Joy to the World, you know that you’re in for a rough season with the holidays – that is if you have been watching your weight.
Halloween and Thanksgiving has barely left enough room for you to burn all the calories you’ve lost count of. Imagine all those sweets, those parties, those dinner with family and friends and it really feels likes you’re losing the battle with the bulge to no avail.
And yes, it doesn’t seem quite helpful looking for and munching on carrot sticks and celery sticks while people bite into those scrumptious hors d’oeuvres. And while you hold unto your calorie counter book at night, your family and friends are busy preparing for this holiday season – looking up in cooking books, collecting recipes that come in the mail, tri fold brochures and rack cards and others.
The season is indeed ripe with Christmas and soon enough, with 5 days and counting, it will be filled with the most aromatic and appetizing smells there are. Eggnogs alone can make you weak and lose all resistance.
Nothing makes you remember good times than your fat little tongue it seems. I know, I’m guilty. One look at that golden brown Christmas ham and I’m ready to walk down the plank. I am not a man of steel, so they say.
The key they say, to avoid overeating, is to sample just a bit of everything first. A small bite will do and in the long run of tasting everything, you fill yourself up. Others say that you just have to drink a tall glass of water before you eat or chew your food for a minute.
If you ask me, there are certain things that I’d like to point out further:
1. Everything that is set on the table has to be eaten.
Mothers have consistently nagged us about this. Everything that you put on your plate should be consumed and I think that most people are very much obliged to obey this kindergarten lesson during the holidays.
2. Waste not, Want not.
Yes, there are people who ask you “Are you still interested in your roast beef?” The question is, are you the one doing the asking?
3. You have got to try this.
Yes, people will ply you with food made from recipes handed down to them by their great, great grandmothers. They will also insist that you try their famous meatloaf, their cousin’s baklava, and their mother’s famous cookies and so on. Who are you to resist? No guest should be rude enough to say no.
4. Have a little dessert.
Desserts are always fattening. Even a little goes a long way, especially if this is the third or fourth house you’ve visited. You might think, what harm will a slice of pie do? Unless you’re in a Weight Watcher’s house, you can eat worry-free. But what if that pie is your third, even fourth for the day?
5. How about coffee?
Even though you have visited numbers of houses and already eaten too much, you can at least have coffee. If you’re counting calories, it still has to count for something, especially if you prefer it with cream and sugar.
Just how does an online digital printing company celebrate the holiday season?
Simple - cater to a growing demand among clients for more individualism in greeting this festive season. Year in and year out you get these usual clichés that come with the holidays - snowmen, striped candy canes, not to mention the jolly fat man who rides in a reindeer-driven sleigh and loves going through chimneys to give children gifts. No intention to knock the holiday staples here but just how it could be vastly improved if people injected some originality into their seasonal cheer.
No snow? No problem - ditch Frosty! Diabetic recipient - there are a hundred and one substitutes for a sugar-laden candy cane. All that you need to do is inject something that best represents you into your holiday greeting. If you are a doctor, why not have The Fat Guy in olive green scrubs instead of red? Lifeguards can get away with putting Mr. Claus in red Speedos (never mind if he REALLY needs to work the gut spilling over).
It would greatly help to fly the ethnic flag - show some pride on your roots. How about an African St. Nick? That cat won't have any problems making his way down soot-filed chimneys. Chinese? No problem – just ditch the sleigh and let him leap from rooftop to rooftop like Jackie Chan's Drunken Master. You are but limited by the stretch of your imagination - a gay Santa, St. Patrick's Day leprechauns moonlighting as North Pole elves, even fresh fruits and unsweetened shakes taking place of eggnog and other fattening traditional season fare.
The growing accessibility of graphic software applications to households should bolster the acceptance of truly home-crafted seasonal greetings. No longer do you sometimes dread going to a stationery shop desperate to look for a card matching your desired recipient only to find it out of stock.
Be resourceful - draw inspiration from what is around you. Whether you're having a boatload of jolly goodness to share with friends or in such a deep funk as to shame the Grinch himself, there will always be a ready audience willing to share or commiserate with your holiday mood whatever it may be.
I guess that is what the true celebration of the holiday season is supposed to be – camaraderie amidst individual differences, a true sense of unity not just among friends and family but even with strangers.
Malls, retailers, wholesalers and catalogs printer are all making a fortune at this time of the year where buying and selling are a must. With all the catalogs and their inviting coupons landing as thick as the snow in every mailbox, it’s no surprise everyone is on a shopping frenzy. It makes me think twice on what really makes the traffic worse, the shoppers or the snow.
Christmas is a Christian holiday but it’s a pity that the long sermons and pious teachings on generosity are also being preached by store owners and shopping malls in quite a different tune, “The season of giving is a season for shopping.” The word ‘give’ takes on a new impetuous which is buy, buy and buy!
And similar to this notion, I heard on the radio that suicide rates peak during the holidays. Indeed, you can sense it is contrapuntal, a technique used in storytelling where each point are counterpointed. Nothing is quite as tragic and even ironic that people decide to off themselves in the season where Christ offered his life to save mankind. Nothing quite like twisting the meaning of giving into buying. And nothing can quite provide the best backdrop for these situations than the jolly atmosphere of the season
Sigh.
On the first Christmas, Joseph, Mary, and Joseph barely had anything. The child barely had clothes to put on, and the stench of the manger is hardly anything like the sweet smell of cinnamon or eggnogs or pine trees. It must have smelled like the stench of sweaty, earthy and musty animals. Yet they were happy.
Fast forward to present day, what we have instead are scented wreaths and candles and fruitcakes that fill the home. Most of the things that surround us are sparkling and glittering decors like the fake gold of Christmas balls (that are conveniently just as hollow). So while the three wise men were lucky to be able to see through the poverty of the manger to find little Jesus, we continue to find our own treasures in our temples where sales and price discounts lead us to get into the “spirit” of Christmas. Wouldn’t you think that for all that sparkle and hype, the entire glimmer has blinded us to the true light of the shining star?
It’s a pity that Christmas is so cliché when the true spirit of Christmas is so meaningful and immaculate. And you can just as easily find the contrasting and startling differences that unveil themselves in today’s reality - the material versus the immaterial, the giving and the receiving versus the buying and the spending.
Sigh.
So while we are all going crazy about the gifts, the parties, and the cards we have to send out, I just hope that the light of the star of the first Christmas shines more brightly than the glare of Christmas lights that deck our halls.
Yes, it seems the entire world is covered with a veil of snow every time the Christmas season comes. It’s the time or celebration where nothing should go wrong or must go wrong that will try to dampen your spirits. If you think this way, you’re either an 8 year old or a really naïve adult to the point of absurdity.
People will tell you that Christmas can be the loneliest and the saddest time of the year. I wouldn’t blame them. Fact is, it can be more than that because Christmas, is a lot of things other being merry. It is about putting all the stress in one, where all people panic to buy at least one gift. Talk about all the busy shoppers about. Indeed! Grabbing items off the shelf and pushing grocery carts and hauling next off to your parked car. And before you get home, you need that Christmas tree.
I’m not a pessimist about Christmas. I ain’t no Grinch either. There are just some things that I find unusual or odd about certain things in celebration of Christmas that I just don’t get. It’s like trying to understand a complicated printing service that I will just not get no matter I try.
So I give up people. I will not try to understand the silliness, the absurdity of things that occur when the season comes. Instead, I will share with you my own list of things that I just want to know but I’m afraid to ask.
1. Why do people always make their own 12 Days of Christmas Song? What does the song mean anyway? I remember Janice Dickinson’s commercial about it, promoting her fledging modeling agency and all. I have to give it to her, it was gutsy but it was not original.
2. What does a model’s snow angel look like? They’re so thin, it’s like a discrepancy that if they fall on the snow and made snow angels that are similar to yours, it makes you think you are either thin or a miracle just happened.
3. Home Alone 1 and 2 and maybe even 3 are your classic movies this season. No matter the millions of movies made in our entire history, they just have to present these film like you have to watch another film about Christmas. Macaulay Culkin was really adorable here in a Dennis the Menace sort of way, but really, do you want to give your kids any more ideas?
4. Noisiest time of the year. Sometimes, when you think of just easing into a quiet and relaxing Christmas night, you just can’t plain do it. You have to go to a party or entertain guests, watch the children, sneak down their toys and more.
5. The people I take most pity on during Christmas are not only the homeless, but that guy in the red fat suit, talking to children in malls and setting them down on his lap.
6. This is just the best time for people to ask you, “Have you gained weight?” Could the season be more painful?
7. Couldn’t the neighbors put more lights on their house?! I mean really, why must the house look a theme park? Why oh why?
I could go on and on about the things that I just find as blah during Christmas. I’m sure it’ll rev up as the days get shorter and shorter to the big night. I’m sure you have your own set of things to pick on during this season, so go ahead. Be merry and them.
The sheer scale and breadth of wholesale print jobs have long daunted potential corporate customers. They often fear not just process and shipping delays but also possible loss of quality.
Not anymore!
Technological developments in large scale printing processes have not just streamlined and simplified operations but also made them more affordable for cost-conscious clients. Whether it be manuals and folders for a major sales seminar, seasonal greeting cards (name a holiday of your choice) to promote goodwill or glossy brochures and postcards promoting a brand-new product line, the business potentials for wholesale printing are endless.
Take a look at the life-size standees and giveaway souvenir programs prominently displayed at the entrance of exhibition halls or movie theatres during trade shows or gala premieres. These are some of the examples in which full color, wholesale prints have become very accessible - not to mention useful - to most businesses in general. In effect, it no longer becomes a financially daunting proposition to get one's organization or company noticed.
The secret all lies in the crisp, rich colors turned out by full color printing service. It contributes a lot in improving one's corporate image while boosting bottom lines through increased sales. The effect is evident when producing flyers, booklets and other presentation pieces for marketing purposes.
A printing service does not have to begin and end with the print run itself; elements such as graphic and layout design as well as customization of print material also play great roles. Designs and templates are provided representing the widest range of industries and specializations; no matter what line of business you are with, there will always be a theme that will best highlight your product or service’s strengths or represent the objectives of your event.
Anyone can fully liberate one’s creativity with such printing service to give quality prints, for business or personal use. The range of available products and their own multiplicity allows you to create business cards, postcards, greeting cards, invitations, flyers, posters, booklets, magazines and calendars among so many others.
All of these are perfect for building up the business portfolio or for use in press kits. These are also substantial too for aggressive marketing campaigns for direct mail or advertising. From postcards to catalogs, to promotional stickers and calendars, to signage vinyl banners and window signs and so much more.
Indeed, having one's reliable printing service stands as a worthwhile business expense.
Current advances in technology – including the online presence of commercial printing services – has thoroughly democratized the business of printing. All it takes nowadays is Internet access and diligent Google search skills to be able to come up with a set of printing quotes for careful comparison.
Printing quotes are a necessary feature or service provided by printing companies to give you a working figure for your printing project. Be it a business or a postcard. Such printing quotes can easily be obtained through emails, phone calls or a simple online visit where a price generator would instantly show you the printing quote for your specified set of product specifications.
You can easily obtain this and more with online printing. Yes, printing has definitely gone a long since it has taken the plunge to make itself more accessible to almost everyone. Looking back, how has it gone that printing - once the exclusive domain of the learned clergy - has become accessible to Joe and Jane Q. Public?
Quotes on Printing (Really, it is different from the term printing quotes)
Here are a number of quotes taken from widely diverse sources about the sociological impact of printing.
"The printing press is either the greatest blessing or the greatest curse of modern times, one sometimes forgets which" - J. M. (James Matthew) Barrie, Scottish writer best known for giving the world the green-clad, eternally youthful Peter Pan and his adventures with hook-handed pirates, mermaids and Red Indians.
"The greatest inventions were produced in the times of ignorance, as the use of the compass, gunpowder, and printing" - Jonathan Swift, Irish writer and satirist best known for giving the world Lemuel Gulliver and his exploits with the Lilliputians, Brobdingagians and Yahoos.
"The printing press was at first mistaken for an engine of immortality by everybody except Shakespeare." - Marshall McLuhan, Canadian sociologist noted for his pioneering studies on media theory as well as coining the phrases "the medium is the message" and "global village".
"What gunpowder did for war the printing press has done for the mind." - Wendell Phillips, American activist, champion of social rights for Native Americans and African Americans.
"Before printing was discovered, a century was equal to a thousand years." - Henry David Thoreau, American writer and philosopher whose works were influential in the civil rights and environmental movements.
“The three great elements of modern civilization - gunpowder, printing, and the Protestant religion.” - Thomas Carlyle, Scottish philosopher whose major work, "Sartor Resartus" has been acknowledged as a unique masterpiece that anticipated the Existential and Postmodern movements among others.
"The printing press is either the greatest blessing or the greatest curse of modern times, sometimes one forgets which it is." - E. F. Schumacher, German-born British economist and author of the book "Small is Beautiful" best known for his advocacy of human-scale, decentralized and appropriate technologies as well as his espousal of wholistic Buddhist philosophies on Western economic models.
"Since the printing press came into being, poetry has ceased to be the delight of the whole community of man; it has become the amusement and delight of the few." - John Masefield, British poet laureate from 1930 to 1967.
To compare the recent Warner Bros. release "Beowulf" with DreamWorks' similarly-produced "Shrek" would be just like comparing a CMYK (cyan-magenta-yellow-black) image, the kind usually turned out by four color printing services, with the negatives produced by a standard RGB (red-green-blue) image.
Even while buzz has been building about the film as early as the second half of last year, it was only during the last couple of months to the run-up of the film's theatrical release when still images of the film started turning up. They were thinking this would set a new benchmark in the field of CGI-animated films in Hollywood (at least, outside the Walt Disney system, with its own built-in loyal following).
The ensuing success of the historical comic-book adaptation "300" with its CGI-assisted visual flourishes amping up the gore factor to the delight of audiences worldwide only served to spark further anticipation for this adaptation of one of the most beloved epic poems in the English language.
For one, they have managed to arouse (no pun intended) interest once again in this work of verse, with a powerhouse cast including Academy Award winners Sir Anthony Hopkins and Angelina Jolie (reuniting once again after Oliver Stone's sword-and-sandal suckfest "Alexander") as well as John Malkovich, Robin Wright Penn and British actor Ray Winstone as the titular beast slayer.
Before one can say "a-WOOOHH! a-WOOOOHH!!", Winstone channels his inner King Leonidas when he introduces himself to Hopkins' King Hrothgar. His Beowulf, as it turns out, is a bit of an egomaniac out for self-aggrandizement. He knows that Grendel is an unarmed, simpering mama's boy (but whatta MAMA-Angelina Jolie with a tentacular-looking tail and anachronistic high heels!!!!) so he faces the ugly mofo buck naked - much to the consternation (and shock) of his "thanes".
Director Robert Zemeckis - himself no stranger in blending animation with live-action players (see "Who Framed Roger Rabbit") delivers his promise in pushing the genre to its limits - or as far as the bottom line would have it. Screenwriters Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary manage to work in some snarky elements of lowbrow humor (like one of Beowulf's "thanes" and his courtship of an amply-endowed barmaid) into the epic story without necessarily distracting from the plot. Even as the opening scenes at the Meadhall do have a "Shrek"-y feel (especially if Shrek spent a year buffing up at Gold's Gym), once Grendel thunders in and turns one of the punters into human shrimp cocktail, you have this feeling you're not in Far Far Away anymore.
Arrows fly, limbs get severed from bodies, the hero faces his share of monsters to slay...the eye candy potential is already there ready to be harnessed (many say that the film is best enjoyed in an IMAX 3D theater where the graphics practically LEAP right in front of you); yet one leaves the theatre with the feeling that beneath all the technological wizardry, the soul of a true epic manages to beat in the hero's body as he lays dying on the beach.
Are digital prints “high” art?
As Duchamp presents his toilet bowl to the rest of the world, digital artists also beg the same question: What is high art?
Art history can be amusing. Whereas the standard of good painting used to be verisimilitude, or life like, it castigated photography as unworthy of being called high art. This then set the battle for photography to prove itself against paintings. Instead of concentrating on its strength with lifelike portraits, it opted to create surrealism. Elaborate tableaus are put-together, imitating common painting subjects. Petroleum oil is spread on glass plates to soften the edges of the prints, strobe lights were played around with, and different settings were studied.
Many traditional artists are crossing over to the digital world as artists slowly emerge in this world without ever touching a paintbrush. Most professional photographers are quick to extol its virtues. Digital art is a combination of painting, photography, and so much more.
Despite these strengths, few people will consider digital prints high art. For one thing, four color printing allows mass reproduction. I would hardly believe a mass produced poster, regardless of how well designed, or how new the concept, will fetch nearly as much as a painting of the same caliber. There is the Mona Lisa, and there are other Mona Lisas. While one is priceless, others can be bought cheaply in a souvenir shop.
Digital art can now be printed on an artist canvas, evoking the same feel and texture of a painting. Brush strokes can be imitated in Photoshop and transferred unto print. A 4 Color Printing Company can expertly do all these with the full color process having a gamut of colors that can imitate paint and numerous color combinations. From a distance of several meters, digital print can look like a painting. You may alter a photograph, or start from scratch. You may have anything as elaborate as a surrealist concept or a simple illustration.
For one thing, I believe digital printing has brought visual high art to its knees. Anything can be replicated, though not exactly, it can be done pretty accurately. Art can now be created and enjoyed by more people, even those who can’t afford the expensive paint brush and acrylics. Nor does it require the expensive equipment and chemicals of photography.
The masters of digital art are mostly nameless, and will remain to be so. While paintings can have the snobbishness of high art, but digital prints only smile in amusement.
Dream a little dream. But if you dare to dream, why not dream up big ones right?
I have come to a certain point in life where the days are long and boring. I assume everyone have had these kinds of days. The hours drag on to days, days into uneventful weeks and weeks into unmemorable months.
If you were to ask, was it because of a broken heart? Certainly not. Was it because of work? No, wrong again. Was it because of health? Still the answer is no.
In the arts, there is this theory called creative tension. It is the gap that is present between our reality, the now or the present and our vision. It this momentary lapse or rest if your prefer it where it seems things that have going for sometimes ceased or lost direction. It seems that the Emerald City is a far vision as we trudge upon our own Yellow Brick Road.
Am I the Scarecrow? Am I the Tin Man? Am I the Cowardly Lion? Am I Wendy? To what end and purpose an I walking this Yellow Brick for? The Emerald City seems to be a mirage in the desert at this point.
But we must always dare to dream. Dream a little dream or dream up big ones. I guess that it is only way we learn to find ourselves and reinvent ourselves. We learn to refocus our energy and motivate ourselves.
It can be quite hard to do, if you think you have grown tired and weary, if you feel jaded and worn out. It is so easy to feel dissatisfied and disenchanted with life.
Still, what else is there to do? Start dreaming. Start dreaming small or large. Start dreaming up that diamond ring you want to personally pick out and give to you beau. Start envisioning that getaway that you always wanted to have – think of Maldives and the perfect white beaches, think of Africa and wild surrounding you, and think of Italy and that ride to countryside.
Dream perhaps of changing careers, a violinist or cello player for an orchestra, a road manager for a rock band, or a food critic touring the best restaurants all over the world. Dream of painting your own portrait you’ll be leaving behind or thousand prints of you that you’ll share to the world. Wholesale custom printing and a thousand and one print you’ll be throwing up into the air atop your apartment building.
Let your portrait, your digital artwork, your message rain down on the people below like confetti. Share your thoughts. Share your dreams. Share a little passion. Live a little drama. Live life one moment at a time.
Write a song you’ll never hear played. Study pottery without being a potter. Cook for no one but yourself. Dance like they are only playing for you. Be your own audience. Just be.
Last night, I finished three sandwiches, three cups of tea, and four articles. I work late at night now, past my bed time, past the time I crammed on college papers, past the time go home for night outs. Tonight, I’m on my first cup of coffee and on the first blog write-up for the evening.
There is nothing to write about, my mind is blank and my fingers are numb. It always feels this way at first, staring at the empty white computer screen sneering at either my laziness or incompetence. I always wrote late at night, when the world is dead and deserted. I spend the first hours courting the muses, writing a few sentences, then resting, eating, and cramming the rest before the crack of dawn.
It’s the dead of the night, I am in a different place, but everything feels the same. The erratic coughing of the air-conditioner is gone now, but I find myself rekindling old friendships with the bored hum of the fluorescent light. They were my late-night dorm room companions a lifetime ago. It still feels like a secret life, a quiet communion between my thoughts, the computer screen, and the whispering of the lights.
It’s the dead of the night, and I remember forgetting the time during movie dates and begging the dorm directress for curfew extensions. I remember the late night conversations with my roommate, a genius with glasses as thick as my arm. We used to gossip about philosophers and life, as if they were the mysterious next door neighbor. I remember midnight parties at the roof deck, drinking the night away while waiting for stars to fall down.
It’s the dead of the night, the best time for lying down and indulging in nostalgia. No, forget nostalgia. It is pointless poster printing a perfect life, glossy, full-colored but empty. It’s the dead of the night and past the time of dreaming.
It’s the dead of the night, it’s time to grab another cup of coffee, a bite of sandwich and come back for a few more sentences. I have nothing left to say, but the deadline is threateningly close. I spin my chair hoping to remember something wise or witty to say. I wrack my brains, only I feel my eyelids getting heavier, and heavier, and heavier.
It’s the dead of the night, and I should be sleeping. And my thoughts are slipping. What was I talking about? Hmmm.Oh yeah, poster printing.
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