PréParâT

Looking for a unique gift for someone who is rich? Whether it's for a relative or a friend, it's tough to find that special gift that is useful and means something. If your friend is rich, then that makes it even harder. Here are some ideas of what you can get them.

Framed Personalized World Traveler Map Set -$169.95 from Signals - Your rich friend can record their travels - past, planned, and hoped for - on this grandly-sized, full-color map. Foam-core-mounted map comes with colored pins to mark your travels. Framed in wood, 26.5″ x 34″. Personalize the metal crest.

Motorized Monocycle -$12999.95 from Hammacher Schlemmer - The Motorized Monocycle is an enjoyable ride for people of any age. Made in the Netherlands, it propels a single rider up to 25 MPH. Can run up to two hours on less than a 1/2-gallon of gasoline. Not a street-legal vehicle.

Gourmet Chocolate of the Month Club -$61.90 from C & H Monthly Clubs - Each month, this club feature one exceptional, world class, chocolatier and send a variety of their favorite creations with an informative newsletter. Savor the world's most unique chocolate creations. Gift memberships: 2-12 months.

Golden Bubbles 25 oz. Sparkling Wine with 24 Karat Edible Gold -$94.50 from DeLafée International SARL - DeLafée's Golden Bubbles is a Swiss sparkling wine Rosé Brut with 24 karat edible gold. DeLafées Golden Bubbles will add unforgettable magic and luxury to all events.

Power-Plate Pro5 AIRdaptive Vibration Training Machine -$10500.00 from Brookstone - Whatever your muscle mass or bone density, get a better body in only 15 minutes a day, three times a week. Power Plate pro5 AIRdaptive adjusts to your frame.

Jay Strongwater Turtle Bottle Stopper -$150.00 from Siena Julia - This exclusive design is hand-enameled on metal and adorned with Swarovski crystals. Handcrafted in the US, every piece is a treasure and a collectible. This turtle wine stopper is a great gift idea for a special occasion.

Cashmere Travel Throw Set -$149.00 from BoutiqueJewels.com - This stunning travel set, made in 100% pure cashmere, consists of a travel throw, an eye mask and a carrying/pillow case. This unique travel set is a luxurious travel accessory for the discerning traveller.

Zero Gravity Xperience at Kennedy Space Center -$5197.00 from Xperience Days - This a once in a lifetime Xperience, weightless flight just like astronauts, without leaving the atmosphere. In G-Force One, a modified Boeing 727, you'll perform 15 parabolas to produce your amazing zero gravity sensation.

So those are some ideas. The rest is up to you. Get creative and get some gifts.

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In a press release, Nintendo reveals that it had successfully completed a raid on Supreme Factory Limited, a software piracy company. With the help of the Hong Kong
 High Court, Nintendo manage to stop a global distribution of pirated software of its products. In addition, the Hong Kong High Court also froze Supreme Factory Limited's assets.

This was the latest attempt for Nintendo at stopping video game piracy. Nintendo has previously won cases against other distributors of pirated games.

The raid lasted three days, from October 8th till October 10th. Nintendo managed to siege over 10,000 devices that let you copy and play Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii games. Documents were also found connecting Supreme Factory Limited with French-based company, Divineo SARL. Assets for Divineo SARL were also frozen by the Hong Kong High Court.

Among the devices are mod chips for the Nintendo Wii. Mod chips are infamous for allowing gamers the ability to play pirated games on their systems. Mod chips became popular due to the advent of disc media storage on video game consoles. Before disc media, video game consoles used the proprietary cartridges to store game data, which are harder to pirate.

With disc media, blank discs are not only readily availble to buy, but also very cheap. Not to mention that gamers can easily pirate games by using disc-burning programs on their own computer.

Mod chips require you to open up your video game system and manually solder different wires. If done successfully, it allows the system to override the copy right protection and other anti-privacy data that prevents pirated games from running.

The Nintendo Gamecube was notoriously hard to develop a mod chip for. This is mainly due to the mini-DVDs storage and complex file system for games.

In addition, mod chips development for next-generation consoles in the Nintendo Wii, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 have been hampered due to all three systems ability to update their firmware. By doing this, mod chips can easily be disabled.

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I'm a mom, but I also like to drive a stylish, sporty car. The 2007 Dodge Charger with a 3.5L V6 is the answer - eye catching and fast enough to get you in trouble but also roomy enough for 5 people to fit comfortably. The 3.5L V6 Dodge Charger with the base option package lists for around $24,000 but with the current incentives you can get one for closer to $21,000. In my opinion, you don't more car for your money than with this car.

The base model comes with all the accessories you really need - power door locks, power windows, CD player, an Electronic Stability Program (ESP), rear seat air vent, and keyless entry on the key itself. The cloth seats are attractive as is the display panel. There is a storage area between the seats big enough to hold a whole lot of CD's or what ever else you like to keep in your car. The steering wheel can be tilted and pulled out or in to wherever is comfortable. You hear virtually no noise from outside the car when you are driving. The engine purrs like a kitten and runs so quiet you sometimes wonder if it is running at all. In the backseat, both the windows roll down all the way, but the car has child locks for the windows if necessary.

The power of the 3.5L V6 engine makes this car a blast to drive. It handles great, making driving down those curvy country roads an exciting adventure. For as heavy and solid as this car is, the engine responds very well and you get immediate reaction when you press the gas. On the highway, it is difficult not to speed because the car just seems to want to go faster! That's where the cruise control comes in, I suppose.

This is a car that appeals to both men and women. My husband, a truck man, takes every opportunity to drive my new car. Be prepared for compliments on the looks and styling of the 2007 Dodge Charger. Be prepared to fall in love with this car!

megaupload film

The new movie, Silent Hill , has just been released. 
    
I won’t be seeing it. 
    
I never subjected myself to Cabin Fever, The Hills Have Eyes, Hostel, Saw, High Tension or The Devil’s Rejects either. I won’t go to a movie theater to see any type of splatter flick, or rent one from Netflix. Sometimes I’ll accidentally watch part of a horror movie when I’m at a friend’s house and I can’t get a ride home. If he doesn’t change it, I won’t be happy.
    
I'll confess: I'm an obsessive, unrepentant, doomed-beyond-any-twelve-step-program Film Junkie. How bad is it? I know the difference between “letterboxed” and “pan-and-scan” and why it's important. I'm addicted to TCM, IFC, and Sundance. And when the movie is over, I'm usually the only person still in my seat after the lights go on and the audience is walking out because I want to read the credits. 
    
When it comes to cinema, I try to be open-minded. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed Dances With Wolves,2001: A Space Odyssey, Singing In The Rain, Yojimbo, and Bananas. And I don’t usually care how the Blockbuster Videos down the street chooses to file these films on their shelves. Genres are meaningless to me. Either I like it or I don’t. 
    
However, except for films by the brilliant and subversive David Cronenberg (The Fly, Dead Ringers, Naked Lunch), I despise the horror movie genre. Yes, intellectually, I know I’m prejudiced. As with Cronenberg, there are exceptions. Se7en, for one, comes to mind. I’ll admit it’s unique, luminous and powerful. Still, after I saw David Fincher’s brooding, gore-splattered thriller, I knew I never wanted to see it again. 
    
Why? Well, because the majority of them remind me of bad pornography. And whether it’s a big-budget motion picture from a major studio or an amateurish pile of shit finished in a weekend by a hack who’s destined not to be the next Eli Roth, there’s a nasty but familiar subtext underneath that I recognize and I just don’t like it. What horror movies and pornography have in common is in how much it hates us.
    
Pornography is misogynistic, clumsy, vulgar, simplistic, and mean-spirited, and doesn't pretend to be about anything else but sex. As long as you're willing to lower your expectations, leave nuance and genuine human feelings behind and enter an ugly world of anonymous genitalia and meaningless orgasms, you'll never be disappointed. 
    
In horror movies, these same principles apply, except you replace sex with violence. Blood 'n' Gore 'n' Guts is the fuel which runs this infernal machine. In Cronenberg’s oeuvre, there’s nuance and a rigorous intellectual philosophy behind the violence. But for everybody else, violence is all there is. The only artistic utensil to be found in their toolbox is an old hammer encrusted with dried blood and a few blonde hairs from a dead cheerleader.
    
And most of the time, other than the occasional token male becoming a screaming, bone-splintered lump of hamburger, it's always violence against women, isn't it? Just substitute scenes of women being gangbanged for scenes of women being stabbed and tortured to death. Women are objectified and turned into meat puppets that exist solely to be used as toys for naughty little boys with chainsaws. 
    
Remember that repulsive scene in the beginning of High Tension when the homicidal psycho fellates himself with a women's disembodied head? And how much do you want to bet there were idiots - male, of course - who probably laughed their asses off? Did they smoke a cigarette afterwards?
    
At least the guys who sell pornography pretend to try and keep children away. Or don’t make it easy anyway. So, if they’re smart, the more reputable porno movie houses won’t let anyone in without checking their I.D. For those X-rated sites online there‘s parental control software you can use like Net Nanny. Blockbuster Video doesn’t have “adult” DVDs available at their stores, and the ones that do keep them in a separate section. 
    
On the other hand, since horror movies are usually  rated “PG” and playing at your local cineplex, they’re wholesome mainstream entertainment the entire family can enjoy. And yes, I swear to God, while I stood in line I’ve seen families wheeling in their baby carriages to see Wolf Creek. The kids don’t know any better, of course. The parents I want to punch in the head.
    
These movies scare the hell out of me. They’re nightmares that don’t go away when you wake up but instead follow you the rest of the day. And what frightens me the most is knowing that there are people who will watch Silent Hill and react as though it’s a sitcom. Worse, there are others in the audience who’ll be turned on by it.
    
So, was it good, huh baby?
    
Did you come?

Création site internet

megaupload.com

Thanks to merging interests of a Washington Heights resident and Coliseum Cinemas business owners, Northern Manhattanites get to view first-run, non-commercial art, documentary, and independent films close to home these days.

Together, Michael Kassin and the owners of the historic Coliseum Cinemas on 181st Street launched, against industry odds, the successful Coliseum Cinemas Movie Club on a cold January night in 2005 and will screen as their first club film of 2006, the Oscar-hopeful Johnny Cash story, “Walk the Line,” Thursday, January 26 at 8 p.m.

Kassin, husband and father of three-year-old twins, part-time screenwriter and full-time public relations partner, courts a full schedule and was looking for a way to streamline commitments when he approached Coliseum owners in late 2004 asking what it would take to get some of the movies he’s required to vote on for awards as a member of the Screenwriter’s Guild.

Co-owner Mark Burgios explained that he and his business partners Jesus Nova and Nick Guadagno who had recently purchased and renovated the theatre had already been considering the idea of devoting one of their screens to art movies when Kassin approached them, so it was a no-brainer to give a green light as long as he could attract enough interest to make it financially feasible.

Kassin proved the neighborhood was eager for this type of venue by bringing in 180 people for a screening of “Ray,” and the film club was off to an illustrious, red carpet start: They had to use two theatres that first night to accommodate everyone.

Since “Ray” the film club has screened at least one movie per month, often more. Burgio elaborates, “We don’t just show movies. We try to get one of the writers, directors, or one of the main actors to come speak.” When the club viewed “Mad, Hot, Ballroom,” the acclaimed 2005 documentary featuring Washington Heights school kids, the film’s director Marilyn Agrelo spoke and fielded questions from club members.

The club strives to make the film events social and community-oriented, often serving wine and cheese beforehand. Kassin remembers one of the couples who joined last year said the movie was their first night out since having a baby three months earlier and that they were excited that they could walk just a few blocks to get away for a date in their neighborhood.

The club creates a win-win situation for everyone. Burgio notes, “It exposes the theatre to people who wouldn’t necessarily be interested in Hollywood flicks.”

Kassin emphatically details the irony of the club’s success, “This club is everything Hollywood says you can’t do. Here you have people over twenty-five making advanced reservations to come to art films on a week night.”

And it is pretty remarkable considering also that movie theatres today usually show either commercial hits or art films, rarely daring to mix competing audiences as the Coliseum does.

Viewed in historical context it seems apt that Coliseum Cinemas should be experiencing stellar heights with their movie club. The once grand theatre opened in 1920 was then the second largest movie theatre seating-wise in New York City, second only to Madison Square Gardens. Though now the theatre is split into four theatres sporting stadium seating for 125-177, back then it sat nearly 4,000 and took up all the current adjacent ground floor business spaces. Today it is the only movie theatre in the city north of 125th Street and the only theatre showing art movies on the West side north of 66th Street.

The club’s future is bright. January and February the club will devote to their Oscar series. After January’s “Walk The Line” they will feature two or three club nights in February. March is slated for short documentaries and beyond that they are discussing a classics series. In the future Kassin hopes to have a whole year’s worth of club films scheduled, and a club website is currently in testing. Kassin excitedly reported that New Line Cinema approached the club and expressed interest in working with them.

You can join the Coliseum Cinemas Film Club for an annual fee of $25 per individual or $35 for couples and families. As a club member you receive discounted rates ($6 per person, $4 per senior) on films the club screenings. For more information or to join the club contact Michael Kassin at mkassin@stantoncrenshaw.com or call the Coliseum Cinemas at 212-740-1541.

films megaupload

Well I have been reading some of the tutorials on how to copy dvds but so far each and every one of those are suggesting you pay for some sort of program or another. I don't know about you but I already spent the 20 bucks on a dvd, I don't want to incur any more charges to make sure my 4 year old doesn't put peanut butter on my copy of shrek 3.

Step 1. Get the programs

OK this is the easy part I am going to link you to the programs and give a little description of each. These are the easiest user friendly programs you can use (oh and free). There are plenty of other programs out there but if you are reading this you want the easiest way. And if you are like me you like your programs like I like my women cheap and easy.

First program is dvddecrypter. It does just what the name implies. It decrypts the dvd copy protection. Some movie companies have added protection to their dvds so you can't copy them because of those nasty pirates out there. Obviously they didn't take into account honest upstanding citizens like you and I that just want a LEGAL backup so the original won't be ruined by the cat. And here is the link

Second program is dvdshrink. Again this does just what the name implies. It shrinks a dvd so it is able to be burned. Basically newer dvds are on what is called DVD9. Its a dvd that carries 9 gig or is dual layered. and the link

And thats all you need for programs. For the hardware you need about 15-20 gig free space, a dvd writer (if you don't have one go get one I'll wait), and of course a blank dvd-r/+r.

Step 2. Get wit da program

After installing the programs, pop in the original dvd in your dvd drive and start up dvddecrypter. Your source drive should be the dvd drive you plan to copy from. Next on the menu bar click Mode-iso-read. Next click the folder in the middle to chose your destination for the disk image. I personally set up a new folder for this process then just delete it after I am done. After your destination is chosen click the icon that looks like a dvd with an arrow pointing to a hard drive.
After decrypter (thats what the kids are calling it) is done run dvdshrink. On the menu click File-Open disc image. Then find the *.iso file you just made with decrypter. After its done doing its analyzing thing you should see the dvd structure on your screen. Some times it is already done for you and you can just back up right there. But other times you may have to do a few things to get it the right size. At the top of the screen you should see the green bar. If there is any bit of red the file will be too big for a regular dvd-r. IF there is no red then close shrink and skip right to the burning.

Step 3. Shrinkage

First get rid of crap.

I personally don't need the Korean subtitles or Russian sound dubbing so uncheck all that you KNOW you won't need. For the audio you normally only need the 5.1 stuff thats the actual movie anything else is the director or actors commentary. I personally don't listen to those so they take a hike.

Second changing the video.

The main reason movies are on dual layered disks is because they put both versions (wide screen and full screen) I personally prefer the wide screen version. To see which is which just click one of the titles and press the play button you will see the little preview. The one you decide NOT to keep go to the video and select “still pictures”. That will drastically reduce the size of your finished product. Now go to all the extras (these are outtakes special features and such). I always chose the lowest quality for these because I tend to watch the movie not the special features. Just go to the video section chose “custom ration” and bring the slider all the way down. then go to the main movie do the same thing except bring the slider all the way up as far as you can go without getting a little red on the bar.

There is another way to just put the movie on a disk called “reauthor” but like i said i am giving you the easy way. I only use reauthor for multi movie dvd when i want to put the whole harry potter series on one dvd or something. I will post a tutorial on that later for those that wish to see it.
Finally back that up.

click the back up button and make sure the settings are like so… target device is iso image…target image file is the folder you started with (make it a different file name of course). put in a blank dvd-r and check the box “launch dvd decrypt…” then click OK and go make some lunch. By the time you come back you will have a working copy of your movie. Go ahead and delete the folder to make room for another

Step 4. Burn baby burn
If you have the *.iso image ready and the right size just change the mode in decrypter to mode-iso-write. Chose the lowest speed setting and click the icon.

Téléchargement Megaupload

A lot of people backup their DVD's now because lets face it DVD's are nice but they get scratched easily and then don't work in your DVD player anymore and then you are out $20 bucks. So if you make a backup copy of your DVD and store it in a safe place you can simply replace the scratched one with your burned copy. This is all good if you know the right way to burn a DVD and can get around all of the security that the companies put on the DVD's these days. I have a few simple free programs for you to download and use so you can successfully burn backups of your movies so you can have an extra for when you're original gets scratched or broken.

You will need five programs and all of them are totally free to get online. The programs are DVDShrink, RipIt4Me, DVDDecrypter, FixVTS and ImgBurn working with all of these programs to complete a good burn of any disk no matter what security is placed on it. I also use Nero 7.0 but that is totally up to you if you want to use a program like Nero or the free ImgBurn. To get these programs go to these websites.

DVDShrink (http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/dvd_rippers/dvd_shrink.cfm)

DVDDecrypter (http://www.mrbass.org/dvdrip/)

FixVTS (http://download.videohelp.com/FixVTS/)

ImgBurn (http://www.imgburn.com/)

RipIt4Me (http://www.ripit4me.org/download.html)

Once you have all of these programs you will need to install DVDShrink and DVDDecrypter so you will be able to use them when we start our guide. Just walk through the steps of the installation I am not going to go to in depth its just click all the defaults until it's installed and then you are done with the installation and we can get to the configuration of these programs.

Once you have the programs installed you will want to launch RipIt4Me, it will open a screen with two buttons and some menu items at the top. The first thing we will do is setup the settings, so go to Log/Settings and click on Preferences. Once in the new window you will want to make sure the paths are where you want them to be which are where ever you installed the programs, it should be correct by default but make sure the directories are pointing to the right locations for the programs of DVDShrink, DVDDecrypter, and FixVTS. After you are done with that make sure the Copy IFOs option is set to Use SPTI (this is for if you are using XP).

Now all you have to do is insert the DVD you want to backup into your DVD-Rom drive and launch RipIt4Me again. This time all you have to do is click the 1-click mode button. In the new window you don't have to do much at all just click on the drop down for Ripping settings and choose what you want, I normally choose Full DVD but you have other options like just the movie etc…when you have that right then click NEXT.

Now let the program run through it will start doing some ripping and you can walk away for about 30 minutes to an hour while it gets your DVD ready to be burned. Once the DVD is ripped it will start FixVTS automatically and get your DVD fixed up and decoded so you won't have any issues when burning the DVD. It will then open up DVDShrink for you and you can manually change the settings so you will burn a better DVD, go to Edit and options and then select the Quality Settings tab and set the options how you want them, then choose the Burn settings and change the size to a slightly smaller amount I set mine lower by 10. This will make sure DVDShrink doesn't burn to close to the edge of the DVD and you will get better quality when you watch the DVD.

Now if you want to use Nero with DVDShrink you can just go through the steps of transcoding and then burning the DVD with DVDShrink, but if you want to burn with ImgBurn then do the steps in this Forum its pretty well explained for you (http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/422740) and has step by step pictures of what you are supposed to do. I don't like using ImgBurn and think that Nero and DVDShrink produce a better DVD so I haven't used ImgBurn that often and if you want to do it the totally free way you will want to read that extra last bit in the forum I have provided you with. Hope all of your backups go well.

telecharger film

You don’t have to be a non-dom to avoid paying income tax. Over the last 12 months, I’ve paid less than 10% tax and national insurance on my income. This isn’t because I’m a non-dom – I haven’t been abroad for 15 years – or because I have a fancy accountant. It’s simply because I made a big contribution to my pension fund, which attracted tax relief.

I could afford to make such a contribution because I sold my flat in London in 2008. But it’s possible that the profits from this were the result of policy-makers’ actions. I don’t just mean that the profits were tax-free, but that house prices rose at least in part in the 1990s and 00s because of easy monetary policy and loose regulation of the banking system that allowed massive mortgages.

There’s more. I put some of the proceeds of that flat sale into the stock market at various times in 2008 and 09. I’ve therefore benefited from the fact that policy support for the banking sector – loan guarantees, QE, low interest rates and government borrowing – has helped raise share prices.

In these ways, I have been a net beneficiary of government (and Bank of England) actions, not just in the last two years but possibly – depending on your view of how much policy contributed to rising house prices – in the preceding years as well. And this is not to mention the fact that the state gave me a good education; a degree in economics from Oxford in the 80s was pretty much a licence to print money.

I don’t say this to boast. Many people have profited from these measures by vastly more than I did. Instead, I say so for three reasons.

First, to show that the state is not necessarily a force for equality. Many quite wealthy people have been net beneficiaries of policy measures.

Secondly, the idea that it is only public sector workers who benefit from big government is just silly. I’ve worked in the private sector all my life.

Thirdly, this should put complaints about high taxes into perspective. It’s quite easy to dodge those taxes quite legally, if you arrange your affairs moderately well. Such complaints – at least if they come from someone around my age – tell us about how some people have an inflated sense of their entitlements, not about how onerous the tax system is.