6 posts tagged “postcard”

Are you thinking of effective designs to match your postcard marketing tricks? If you have the extra bucks, you might as well go find the service of the highest paid actors these days. Anyway, they wouldn’t attain that for no good reason, right?

We’ve all heard about the babes, it is Reese Witherspoon now who had dethroned Julia Roberts on top of the list. But what about the men? Are you wondering who the highest paid actors are these days? What was the last movie you’ve paid to watch? Maybe the leading man on that film is among the list.

Here are the top three for those of you who are interested to know who are making a mark and hitting it big in the world of Hollywood. Here are the top three earners as of this writing.

1.    The most hardworking actor in Hollywood definitely deserves to be in this position. Will Smith has an estimated $80 million earnings through the year. This man who will go from sci-fi, to drama, even comedy and action, never seem to lack the drive to try all the genres. This is one lucky guy, with his movies earning well in the box office, reason why he is being trusted to do what he has done and the projects still lined up for him to accomplish.

2.    Johnny Depp is on number two with $72 million already on his pocket for the year. He should thank his lucky stars that he is still being given good commercial projects like the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels while being part of artsy films every now and then. Such materials will definitely land him on the top earner’s list.

3.    Forget about Scary Spice. Eddie Murphy thrives on intrigues but he also earns well enough to be on number three with $55 million. Thanks to his versatility to do varied roles and do voices to unforgettable characters like Donkey on Shrek.

And tied with Mr. Murphy on number three is Shrek himself, Mike Myers with $55 million up his sleeves for this year. It really pays to have the talent even if you don’t look as good as Leo DiCaprio, who by the way follows on the list with $45 million earnings.

So there you go. That is the list of the actors whose films you may have watched in the past months or so. And they will continue their reign as long as there are people who are paying to watch as they do their best on their crafts.

Travelling is a luxury we cannot afford regularly.

Any plain Joe or Jane would know just how regular trips would dent one’s pockets and savings. And with the continuous increase of oil prices, who can truly afford to go so far? And so, I have resigned myself to watching television programs that featured all these must-see places, must-sample foods, and must-try activities.

I love and hate television this way.

This ambivalence, of course, can only spring from the fact that you are sitting at home watching these people visit one destination after another when it could have been you. All the while, you mutter under your breath “You lucky people.” And you think about this, time and again, and the irony presents itself louder each time. You think - how can I just sit here and watch these travel programs? Why cannot I just go and wander off? It’s not as though I am chained to this couch. Besides, am I not working to earn enough and fund what I love to do? But in the end, the reality just bites you in the ass. There are bills to pay, work to go to, a cat to feed, and so on.

Then you pity yourself and reality sticks its head back in the room. Reality hangs around as you mull over thoughts that prick your ego like needles. You think you want to stop watching travel programs but you can’t. You know how this cycle is insufferable yet you still do it. This sado-masochistic activity pulls your heart two ways.  

And so, once you have had your fill, you retire to your bed and wonder how you’ll boost yourself for the next day.

*      *      *

That’s me right there. The person who can’t seem to have anything going. And funny thing is, I’m sure I’m not the only. I’m sure this isn’t my story alone.

So while I can’t afford to go to a private island just yet, I’ve decided to do what two things that will help me through. As inspired by a program by Giada de Laurentis, I will do even the most cliché things that any tourist would do – I might, hopefully, learn a few things that way. I’ll do this by visiting select places that a particular town or city is famous for – be it by their frozen custard ice cream or by a local lake. When that is not an option, I can go on a little adventure and can look for a postcard perfect view of my own – even if I am in an urban landscape.

And so, as inspired by Giada de Laurentis, I do these things: 1) At the River Side café, I will sit under the Brooklyn Bridge with a Manhattan cocktail in hand, watching the sunset fade out into the night while the skyscrapers’ lights fill the skyline. 2) Wait in line at Grimaldis and order a whole Margherita pizza; 3) I will find a heavenly spot in the acres of sprawling space that is Central Park and have a breakfast of bagels with smoked salmon or cream cheese, foamy cappuccino, and fresh strawberries. 4) Go up the Empire State Building and capture my own picture, postcard design perfect image of New York.

I confess. I am a bibliophile. I scourge book shops and thrift stores for books that I can afford. I hoard books even when I cannot read them all at once. I devour books and rarely update my shelf to chuck out books I have gone tired of reading or those that may have been better off to someone else’s hands.

There are all sorts of bibliophiles. Just are there are different types of readers and writers. I, for one, love the presence of books, and read them when I can. Once I open a book and go beyond 20 pages, I am hooked.

Currently, I hold a rough estimate of 300 books. Since I do not catalogue them one by one, I have really no idea whether my collection is nearing 400 – though it definitely feels like it. For years, I have rarely met anyone who religiously went to book sales and thrift shops in search for new titles or old treasures. What I thought wasn’t possible, is possible. The gates have been opened and I am now initiated to the site www.shelfari.com and www.bookmooch.com

It has only been days when I joined in these communities. Shelfari is your online bookshelf where you get to catalogue your books, create a wishlist, and of course, meet people with similar passion for books. Simply search the author or the title of the book you currently hold and you can click options such as Own, Read, Planning to Read, Wish, and Favorite to mark where you want these books to appear in your online book shelf. You can make multiple selections for each book and enter as much as you want.

Now, I can’t wait to get my itchy fingers to type on the keyboard to look for books and put them on my wishlist. I also want to catalogue my books and organize them on the excel file so I can finally keep track of them. Shelfari is the trophy case of bibliophiles. It is also the room where readers can gather and discuss a similar passion for stories.

So while you can stack up your collection of books at Shelfari, you can acquire more books at Bookmooch from booklovers all over the world who aren’t afraid to share, exchange, and swap books. Through a network of people, you can tap into lists of books that they are willing to give away and have it mailed to you. However, you can’t get something in return without giving.

Bookmooch relies on a point-system basis where you can only start mooching for books once you have points. In order to garner points, you have to have a stack of book people would want to mooch from you. In this manner, there is a fair exchange going on and people can have exactly what they want.

I am just giddy with excitement to start screening and organizing my bookshelf so I can start mooching already. Just imagine being able to get great books in return for the stuff you no longer want!

These sites are just too good to be true that sometimes, blogs seem to be insufficient to spread the word around. Postcard printing mailings may just do the thing, but I have to figure out who would really want to belong in these communities. And whether you are a children’s books lover, an avid comic collector, or a classic fiction reader, you will surely belong to both of these sites without difficulty, as once again, they open themselves freely to all kinds of book lovers.

The little frame that held such a big voice – Ramiele Malubay has been sadly eliminated from the competition American Idol. The Dolly Parton song, Do I Ever Cross Your Mind, failed to win her a safe spot that would have brought closer to her dream of becoming the first Asian-American Idol. More specifically, the first Filipina-American Idol in history.

Contests, I must say, are a gamble one must take. It does not matter that you have a singing voice in American Idol, what matters is that you are still left standing no matter what they throw at you. It’s a battery of tests, a roller coaster ride with many twists and turns, and a lottery game all in one.

It is just unfortunate to see how compassion can only be brought out in television through someone else’s loss. And she stood there, crying and sobbing, and there was really nothing Ryan Seacrest could say to sincerely offer her any consolation. All he could really do was soften the blow by giving her a squeeze in the shoulder as he tries to wrap up the show for an encore, saying they wouldn’t let Ramiele leave crying like that or to that effect. The poor guy had no idea what to do and that just left him cold. If someone had cued him what were the right things to say, he could have ended up saying more sincere words.

But as for Rachelle Malubay – your voice has a distinct character. You’ve shown the world you’ve got it, so flaunt it. My heart just goes out to her and frankly, it is a bit surprising to see her leave. I think it is just one of those times where Simon Cowell’s words had rung far and wide and had brought heavy influence of viewers’ votes.

It’s even quite ironic how she chose to sang that song and it still fails to reverberate throughout the American audience in a way that would and should have been positive for her. “Do I Ever Cross Your Mind?” has become as song that has been begging a question which has been ultimately answered.

America answered Ramiele and while it may not be the most pleasant response, the most important feedbacks are those from the ones who truly love you. And I personally think, while the calls here were not enough, while mails and postcard printing mailing of this news are sent out, and while this spreads online like wildfire all across the Pacific to the Philippines, I know we would still be seeing you around, for all its worth.

If you are getting tired of reading those long novels about mystery & suspense, romance, and even spine-tingling horror, then maybe you may need to have a bit of variety. Reading books is like the art of eating. You can’t always have the same thing over and over again.

Grab something peculiar. Grab something a little bit out of your comfort zone. Grab a little of something that you haven’t explored in a long time.

Many children’s books have risen in popularity. Thanks to JK Rowling and her Harry Potter series, other children-based novels have gained their fair share of recognition like CS Lewis’ Narnia and EB White’s Charlotte’s Web.

The latter books I have mentioned have been in circulation for years and only recently have they been given attention by today’s readers – both young and old. Turning them into movies is one way of popularizing these novels. In so doing, the wider the market grew for such books and children’s stories. The whole enterprise enjoyed a great boom, with toys and other fanciful items like posters, stickers, action figures, coloring books, and postcards with cheap postcard printing.

Anyway, what I am pointing at is that there are a lot of gems that you can find in children’s stories. No matter how elementary these stories may seem – that is their true nature – their simplicity. No cheesy plots. No complicated mind games. And no pretenses.

Take your imagination for a ride. Open up to worlds you’ve probably long forgotten. And yes, forget about Snow White or Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty. It’s about time you grow up and start reading really good children’s books and not some just lame fairy tale about princes and princesses. Do you really want your children to grow up waiting for a knight in shining armor to rescue them when they can do the rescuing themselves? Let them  watch Shrek 3 and they’ll enjoy themselves better.

Anyway, if you want some good stories to read to your children, here are some books that I take delight in. Some of them have already been turned into movies, but nevertheless, the books are more exciting. Let your kids exercise their imagination through books. Do not feed them with television. (Although, you still have the option of letting them watch it after you finish the book. Just don’t let them think that what they imagined is wrong compared to the television adaptation.)

1.    James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Charlie and the Glass Elevator – all by Roald Dahl
2.    Jellybeans by Sylvia Van Ommen
3.    The Missing Piece by Shel Silverstein
4.    Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
5.    Hope for the Flowers by Trina Paulus
6.    How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss

I wonder why people celebrate New Year when most of us know that time is an enemy that robs us of both our youth and beauty.  It may be a vain remark but even those who care little about their looks have a different way of looking at and talking about time.

Time steal us the beauty of our memories. While we try to hold on and grasp all the wonderful memories with us, memories can be like sand sifting through our hands. And time makes the gaps between our fingers further apart.

Every New Year, I see to it that I spend some time alone to get all sentimental and remember the events of the past year. It always makes me feel like a dog chewing on a dry bone. Yes, I can remember dates, names, and places, but I lose touch of what it felt like to be there at that moment.
 
Time can rob you even of those rare moments that make life worth living. You know they existed. You just forget how it feels. It feels like a piece of postcard that leaves you longing to be in other places. If we could only truly preserve memories in postcard printing, diary writing or even drawing, we would have been able to feel all the recorded emotions on earth.

And yes, time and again, I thought I could preserve these memories by writing them down in my diary with as much detail as possible. But I guess it really is a futile thing, trying to compress the complexity of life in an infinitesimal two dimensional objects like diaries and even blogs.

Maybe New Years are for optimists who see their glass half-full. Perhaps, it is for those people who let themselves be robbed of a past so long as they have the present and the future. I guess it’s a good philosophy to live by, to live in the present and to hope for the future.

What will this year bring me? The year of the rat, according to the Chinese horoscope is the time for activity and renewal. It sounds like a wonderful thing, activity and renewal, but it also sounds ominous. It feels like getting trapped in a rat race with no possible escape or future, but that is another story entirely.

Err, maybe I should just spend my whole New Year trying to lighten up a little.