Dish Network Has Entertainment Packages for Everyone

Dish Network has a ton of different features that everyone from the casual television viewer to the full fledged HDTV aficionado will appreciate. Of course Dish Network also has options for everyone in between too.

The full full fledged HDTV aficionado will appreciate Dish Network's selection of High Definition Television entertainment packages. Even the entry level one, the Bronze Package, comes with twenty five High Definition channels, which is more than any of Dish Network's competitors can offer. It also comes with eighty standard definition channels. The Silver level has the same twenty five High Definition channels but adds another one hundred and twenty standard definition ones. The Gold Package adds National Geographic HD and another forty standard definition channels. And the Platinum Package adds Starz HDTV, Showtime HD, and HBO HD for a total of twenty nine High Definition channels and two hundred and forty standard definition ones. With a total of two hundred and sixty nine channels the Platinum Level HDTV entertainment package is Dish Network's largest plan.

The casual television viewer who just wants a few channels in order to stay informed and entertained at a fair price will appreciate Dish Family. Dish Family is Dish Network's economy plan which comes with forty channels including C-SPAN, Angel One, Animal Planet, the Hallmark Movie channels, Discovery Kids, and the Food Network.

Programming options for everyone between these two extremes consists of America's Top Entertainment Packages, which include versions with sixty channels, one hundred and twenty channels, and one hundred and eighty channels. These plans include great channels like TeleFutura, The Movie Channels Extra, seven different Encore movie channel, the Independent Film Channel, the FOX Movie Channel, Turner Classic Movies, CNN, Headline News, CNBC and CNBC World, Comedy Central, a slew of Discovery Channels, The Science Channel, The Learning Channel, National Geographic, Nick at Nite and Nickelodeon, Nick Toons, Toon Disney, The Disney Channel, Cartoon Network, Arts & Entertainment, E! Entertainment, Country Music Television, Great American Country, MTV and MTV2, VH1 and VH1 Classic, all of the shopping channels, TNT, USA Network, TBS, TBN, FX, Fuse, and many more.

If you need more than one hundred and eighty channels, consider America's Everything Pak, which has everything form the America's Top Entertainment Packages listed above plus four movie packages. The movie packages from HBO, Showtime, Starz, and Cinemax include channels like Starz Theater, Starz Cinema, Action Max, HBO Signature, Showtime Beyond, and FLIX.

Dish Network also delivers bilingual programing through Dish Latino Packages. Dish Latino Basic has thirty channels of Spanish language programming including TV Chile, HTV, Univision, TV Azteca, mun2, Telehit, TV Espanola Internacional, De Pelicula Clasico, MTV Espanol, Fox Sports Espanol, and more. Dish Latino Dos adds eighty nine channels in English onto the thirty in Spanish. Latino Max has the same thirty Spanish channels plus one hundred thirty English ones. DishNetwork's Latino Everything Pak has the same programming as Dish Latino Max, but with the addition of the same movie packages that top off America's Everything Pak.

Dish Network also has plenty of additional programming to customize any entertainment package. Dish Network's additional programming includes seasonal sports subscriptions like NHL On the Ice, MLB Extra Innings, NBA League Pass, and ESPN Game Day. Regional sports networks are also a great choice for hard core sports fans. DishNetwork also offers more international programming in nineteen languages including Chinese with Great Wall TV, Armenian, Hebrew, French, Italian, Portuguese, German, Korean, Japanese, and Urdu. Local channels can be added to help you keep up with what's going on in your community, and SIRIUS satellite radio is a great choice for talk and music when you're doing something that keeps your eyes off the television screen.

Whatever your entertainment needs are, Dish Network will be their to meet them with it's great programming options.

Stress Free in 15 Minutes - The Arts and Sciences of Guided Meditation

If you are like most people, you will understand how stressful modern life can be. Work is stressful, and now we have to deal with a recession. The good news is we can relax with meditation. Not only is it a great form of entertainment and relaxation, most importantly, it is free and you can do it anytime, anywhere.

If you are sad, lonely and depressed, I want you to do yourself a favor and give yourself a special treat today. You can do anything that make you feel good. If your budget allows, go to your favorite restaurant and order your favorite dishes. Go to a luxury spa and totally unwind. Visit your favorite shops. If you prefer free entertainment, consider a long bath at home, have a cup of herbal tea, light some candles, read, or even go to bed early. Love yourself, give yourself the permission to be happy and be in touch with your true feelings.

A fantastic way to relax and give yourself the love and joy you so needed is meditation. The best thing about meditation is that unlike going to restaurants, traveling or shopping, you can choose not to spend any money and still feel totally rejuvenated. The selection of meditation products and programs is vast. You can sign up for a $400 2-day meditation retreat, or if you have money, a $2000 trip to some sacred, faraway places like Thailand or Himalaya. You can even book a special, private spa retreat at top hotels like Four Seasons. While I am sure these journeys are great ways to help you rediscover your inner peace, I don't think it is necessary to spend that much money in order to truly benefit from meditation.

So what if you want to save money and feel relaxed at the same time? I recommend trying meditation at home with books, CDs, or online courses. Of course you can DIY and make your own meditation tapes with a recorder like some people do. While all that is fine, the problem is it is time consuming to set aside time, find a good quality microphone and special scripts, and make the tapes. Unless you already own a home studio, or have lots of experience doing audio editing, you are way better off using some aids such as books, CDs or MP3s, most meditation programs cost less than a few dollars a month anyway and you can pick up heavily discounted meditaiton books from Amazon.

If you are new to meditation I recommend guided imagery meditation. There are literally countless meditation scripts out there, some are purely for relaxation, others are more sophisticated and will guide you to learn something about yourself, your unfulfilled wants and your hidden sources of anger. If you don't have the time or money to travel, guided meditation is actually a great alternative. There are hundreds, if not thousands of meditation tracks available on the internet. There are many amazing places you can go, such as tropical island at dusk, lush rain forests or secret bamboo gardens. Most professionally produced guided meditation tracks have sound effects too, so as you close your eyes and follow the voice through the gardens, temples and rivers, you will hear the sounds of nature change as you travel in your head.

Meditation, if used properly, can help you rewrite any negative self dialogues that may exist. It is scientifically proven that meditation is linked to better concentration and empathy. Like many good things in life, it is free. Try it today and experience the power of this ancient art of relaxation.

Entertainment Publicity and Integrated Market Jobs On The Rise

Public Relations and Internet Marketing jobs are on the rise. It is a consumer revolution, where people get their news, information on demand, when ever and where ever they want it via social websites such as Facebook, MySpace or elsewhere Online.

The entertainment and advertising agencies are realizing there are billions of dollars to be had on the Internet. Broadcast news has made the switch, but not without challenges, and now the Writers Guild and TV and movie industry, and even high tech customers are switching to PR.

Each year I speak to the fall 2007 UCLA Entertainment Publicity class, Tuesday, October 23 at 8:00, Geology Building, room 3656. The class is endorsed by EPPS, the International Cinematographers Guild, Local 66 and it is taught by one of Hollywood's famed Entertainment Publicists Julian Myers. I highly recommend it for anyone seeking to go into this business.

The course provides a practical approach to the current world of entertainment public relations with the latest guidance and blog-site opportunities from leaders in these areas. I usually present state-of-the-art PR techniques that have earned MAYO Communications "Best Media Placement", Best Education Campaign" and "Best Online Tactics" from Public Relations Society of America, LA Chapter. I will specifically reveal trade secrets, how to prepare for what I describe as a "sometimes cutthroat" business, and "dog-eat-dog" world. I'm amongst a list of Hollywood's 30 top entertainment publicity pros schedule to speak to the UCLA class this year, which makes this class even more valuable. There is nothing like hearing great advice from the president of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences to entertainment publicity pros who have been practicing for four or more decades.

At every university campus the best advice I leave students with: if they major in Information Technology they'll become a millionaire overnight, if they minor in it, they'll become rich in five years. Just about everything from broadcast news to "how to find or do whatever" is discovered Online. The news media has finally caught up with technology, but now consumers are sometimes even more knowledgeable, and expect more from information resources. There are more than 2,000 widgets Online, or what I describe as your life on a desktop, where you can obtain info on just about anything your heart desires thanks to Google.

In addition to the challenges of technology, budding entertainment PR and marketing pros are soon discovering that after they enter college they need a wider skill set. I recommend to anyone majoring public relations or marketing to also take business, photography, computer science and especially creative writing classes. It just makes you that much more valuable, and you can fit into more jobs available. There are lots of new media jobs today. The career opportunities and resources are endless. Only 10 years ago when students applied for jobs they had to request company information ahead of time. Now, students can surf the employer's website and read everything from annual reports to the mission and goals of the corporation. Sometimes they know more about the company than the person interviewing them.

I also recommend networking and finding a mentor before students graduate. When you graduate, you should decide where you want to live, take an entry level job in that city and just move there. Check in with your mentor as you make your moves up the career ladder, and listen to what they say, because your mentor can save you the heartache of making same mistakes we did.

For More about MAYO Communications visit http://www.MayoCommunications.com or http://www.LAentertainmentPublicity.com or contact Aida Mayo, MAYO Communications.

Mc Quade also writes a monthly column as the West Coast Bureau Chief of O'Dwyer PR News, http://www.Odwyerpr.com, NY.

Artists Should Use Google Insights to Fine Tune Their Art Website

If an artist is unhappy with their website's page rank, traffic or the quality of their inquiries, then Google Insights can help an artist to fine tune their art website. Google Insights will provide an art website owner with a better understanding of internet search behavior which can then be used to improve a websites' performance. Finally, Google Insights can help an artist to improve the standing of their search results and overall effectiveness of their art website.

Google Insights provides the user with data that is compiled from all the searches for certain search terms and search phrases, relative to the total number of active domains that exist. Besides providing information about "all searches", this data and information can be broken down further into sub-categories such as web searches, news searches, image searches and product searches. Depending on the product or service that someone wants to promote, the ability to refine the search data is extremely important as I will point out later in the article.

Google Insights can provide information to the art website owner on how many times a search term has been used, in what region of the world and by what language. Why is this important? It is important as it allows an art website owner with the ability to fine tune their website with specific meta tags and meta descriptions which helps the artist to reach their target market more effectively. Online marketing and promotional messages can reach their target audience more efficiently, in greater volume and with better results when an artist uses the search data provided by Google Insights.

As an example, a West Palm Beach, Florida artist who specializes in abstract art and has been using the keyword term "abstract art" for his website title tags and with the tags for his local online advertising. If the artist was to input that term in the Google Insights tool and wanted to know where that search term is the most popular throughout the state, then this information would be provided. It would show that Tampa, Orlando and Miami were the top 3 cities or regions where this term was searched. West Palm Beach comes in a very distant 5th. This would indicate that the artist's advertising and promotional dollars would be better spent if he were to target those 3 regions in the state, rather than in West Palm Beach when using that search term.

The same type of analysis could be done for the entire United States, which would show which states or regions of the country which would have the highest search term popularity for "abstract art". In this instance, it is Arkansas, South Dakota and Idaho. Florida does not even show up in the top 10 of regional interest. Again, the artist could target those regions with this information in online advertising and promotions. Facebook advertising and Google AdWords allows the artist to target those areas precisely by towns, by zip codes and by times of the day. Why waste valuable advertising dollars by promoting their art work in any areas of little interest, when those dollars could be spent elsewhere, be more effective and provide better results?

As part of the Google Insights data it also provides a user with 10 related and alternative search terms that can be used or added to the artist's website, tags and online advertising. In the instance of "abstract art" Google insights also suggests for the first 3 keyword terms; 1. Abstract art paintings. 2. Abstract paintings. 3. Abstract painting. Another feature that Google Insights provides to the user is what they call "Rising Searches". Rising searches will provide the user with data on search words/phrases that have shown a significant increase in use since the preceding period of time. Again, in the case of "abstract art" they are showing; 1. Abstract art ideas. 2. Abstract definition. 3. Abstract art definition. Whether they make any sense to be included and used as keywords and tags is up to the art website owner.

There are a couple of other features of Google Insights that I would like to point out as well. This tool also has the ability to collect and compare data based on specific locations and by exact time periods. This data allows the user to pin point search data by cities/towns, by certain days, months or years. This can be important information which will show the highest use during times of week or days/months of high demand. Finally this data can be filtered by categories. For our example the search term "abstract art" could be filtered by all search categories or specifically by arts and humanities. This means that if abstract art were to be searched just by the art and humanities category, the results for "abstract art" in the arts and humanities search would not be skewed by the additional results of the other categories of entertainment, business and recreation. In other words, the results are just for that term in any of the searches that would be for arts and humanities.

As you can see by the above, this type of information can be very valuable to a website owner if they are unhappy with their present search results and website performance. Google Insights may be the tool that can help an artist to not only get more searches for their art website but also provide the artist with better quality traffic and more art sales.

Artists should try Google Insights to improve their online art business. This information can be reached here at http://www.google.com/insights/search/#.

Photography and Everything Around It

Photography is the act of being able to capture pictures and permanently putting them on paper. Photography has one main equipment needed, the camera. Photography was invented in the eleventh century and ever since then photographs have been part of the human life. Because of the popularity of the media the camera gained fame as well. The camera and photography is now considered to be the main source of giving and receiving information on the news.

Different people all over the world use different styles and techniques when it comes to photography. They are classified into the following:

Ads and publicities have been a part of our everyday life. The moment we watch television or read the newspaper, advertisements pop out. These ad companies use what is called as commercial photography. Companies use pictures that are taken creatively to promote a certain product to the general population. This is used because marketing-wise, it really is effective. It informs people what the product is and what it does.

Photography is really important in the designing and fashion industry. Fashion companies hire models to wear their clothes and accessories and a pictorial would be done. The photographer has to be very skilled to be able to bring out the life in every picture. He has to take clear and beautiful pictures but at the same time make sure that the item is emphasized and not the model.

Animals and plants also benefit to photography as well. There are a lot of wildlife shows like National Geographic who focus their attention on observing, studying, and protecting wild life. They get their data mostly with the use of photography.    

Humans have a constant desire for art and it is safe to say that photography is a form of art. You can take a lot of photos; it can be an awesome scenery or beautiful landscapes or a hot car or tall buildings. As long as you can keep your imagination running, you can transform everything around you into a nice piece of art.

In conclusion, photography is very useful especially in our era. The modern world would be so boring and flat if not for photography. We are very lucky to have experienced the joys photography can bring.

Louis Wain 1860-1939 - Life Story and His Funny Cats and Dogs Art

With reference to his family he had 5 younger sisters and his father worked as a textile salesman and his mother designed Church fabrics and carpets.

Louis Wain studied and trained at The West London School of Art ( 1877- 1880 ) and remained as an assistant teacher until he left in 1882. The strange thing about Louis Wain was he could draw with his left hand but he signed his pictures with his right hand.

After his Father's death in 1880 he had to support his mother and five younger sisters and soon after, his sick wife Emily Richardson ( His youngest sister's governess ) whom he had married in 1881. Shortly after he married her she contracted Breast cancer. He brought Emily a Kitten which they called Peter and to entertain her he started drawing Peter in humorous situations and poses. To help to support his family he became a freelance artist (initially influenced by Caldecott and May) and in 1882 he joined the staff of The illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News. He began to make his name with Dog drawings at various Dog Shows including the early British National Dog show at Crystal Palace in 1882 ( which later became known as Crufts ). During this time his wife encouraged him to send some of the humorous cat pictures of Peter to various Magazines and Newspapers which started to make his reputation here in Britain and in America and where his humorous cat pictures were seen in Comics, newspapers and magazines.

In 1884 he was commissioned to produce his funny cat pictures in the Christmas edition of the illustrated London news. These pictures were so successful that his life would never be the same again. Alas, this was tinged with sadness as his wife died shortly afterwards, but knowing that Louis Wain had become a great success.

In the period from 1880's up to the start of the first world war he ruled supreme in cat and animal humor especially the 'Louis Wain Cat' which was recognized worldwide. The Louis Wain cats appeared in Art Prints, Comics, Newspapers, Books, Magazines, Post Cards and Annuals. The Wain cats are to be found in every human activity - from playing golf and other sports, digging up roads, Playing music, Ascot fashions, Driving cats plus lots more.

In 1886 he joined the staff of The Illustrated London News. He was the first illustrator to work consistently within the convention of depicting clothed and standing animals. His anthropomorphic vision of the world soon brought him fame and as a result he was elected President of the British National Cat Club in 1891.

In 1904 Louis Wain wrote a book entitled 'In Animal land with Louis Wain' which was a great success. During 1907 he invested all his savings into various Ceramic's with pictures based on his funny cats and sent most of them to America. Alas, while crossing the Atlantic the ship capsized and all Louis Wain ceramics went to the bottom of the sea. Due to this misfortune Louis Wain went bankrupt and decided to a temporary move to the United States. He produced strip cartoons for the New York American ( 1907-1910 ) and many other American comics, newspapers and magazines.

In 1910 he returned to England and over the next few years he continued to produce books and supply pictures to various comics, newspapers and magazines.

He continued drawing fanciful cats for various newspapers and comics near the end of the first world war. During this time in 1917 he was thinking of experimenting in animation and the film was to be called 'Pussyfoot'. Alas, he decided not to pursue this project and so the world lost the chance of a genius of comic cat art moving into animation. This year was a turning point in the history of Louis Wain's cats. His sister Caroline died and he fell off an Omnibus and hit his head.

After he recovered from these set backs his cats became more frenzied, surreal, jagged and pointy. During 1917 he was also diagnosed as a schizophrenic which alas, stayed with him for the rest of his life. During the onset of his disease at 57, Wain continued to Paint, Draw and Sketch cats.

In 1924 due to the economic climate and the slow recovery of GB after WW1 Louis Wain Art became less popular and he fell into poverty when his mental health deteriorated and finally his family had him certified Insane and he was committed to a pauper ward at Springfield Hospital ( Previously Surrey County Asylum ) at Tooting, London. During 1925 he was discovered by a visitor to the hospital painting his funny cat pictures. The visitor exclaimed that the artist pictures reminded him of Louis Wain's famous cats. Imagine his surprise when the Artist turned to the visitor and exclaimed he was indeed Louis Wain. After the visitor told the world of Louis Wain's hospitalization, his admirers started a campaign which included prime minister Ramsey Macdonald, HG Wells and King George who helped set up a foundation which was set up to enable Wain to spend the last few years of his life in comfort in private asylums including Bethlehem Hospital in a private room where his treatment continued. Some time in the late 1920's he was sent to Saint James Fields, Southwark where he continued to paint and draw his cats. In 1930 he was transferred to Napsbury Hospital near Saint Albans where he continued to paint and sketch until the end of his days. Exhibitions of his work were held in London in 1931 and 1937. On 4th. July Louis Wain died at Napsbury hospital. He is buried at Saint Mary's Catholic Cemetery, Harrow Road, London NW10 ( next to Kensal Green Cemetery, London ) in the same burial plot as his 5 sisters and parents.

One of the famous quotes during his lifetime was by HG Wells who said 'He invented a cat style, a cat society and a whole cat world'.

News Writing - What Reporters Need to Know

News writing is the process of harnessing the materials that have been gathered in a logical, accurate, concise, coherent and readable manner.

Before a reporter writes news, it is expected that he or she go through a process known as news gathering. This will enable him or her gather the raw materials that make up the news. The reporter will however be familiar with the various beats that may be assigned to him or her such as the Judiciary, the State or National Assembly, the State House, Police Station, and so on.

News materials are gathered from government activities, economic matters, social and political policies which are straightforward in nature and are classified as hard news, since the reporter is obligated to report the event exactly as they happened. Also in the straightforward news stories, there are the soft news and the human interest news stories.

These include the news stories that give room for leisure and entertainment. They are concerned with stories on the lighter side of life such as social functions which include celebrations, commissioning of projects, marriages, funerals, and other forms of ceremonies.

The human interest stories deal with stories that either entertain or bring about sadness or happiness. These are stories that are meant to arouse the feelings of the viewer. These stories are normally accounts of people or organization's achievements, air crashes or hijacks, adventures, disasters, marriages, intriguing reports, and so on.

Since news stories are stories which are either expected or unexpected, the reporter is expected to equally make news from investigative stories, interpretative stories, in-depth stories and interviews. It is incumbent on every reporter to help the general public understand the storyline of a report especially in the case of budget speech which carries a lot of figures and statistics. It is the work of a reporter to breakdown the figures for easy understanding and digestion of the general public.

In interviews, it should be noted that getting information from people concerning specific events or issues is very hard. In that case, the reporter or interviewer should be able to employ techniques that would enable him or her to succeed in this area. It is very important that you know your interviewee before hand; find out certain facts about him that would help set you on a good footing. It would be necessary if you could go through some literature about him, and carry with you not just a mental but listed number of questions to be asked.

The points a reporter jots down in the cause of doing his or her job are the materials that make up his or her news stories. The exercise is what is known as news gathering. It precedes news writing. A reporter who wants to succeed in the art of news writing must be hardworking, intelligent enough to put to good use available materials and write them while the news is still fresh in the mind.