How to photograph absolutely Everything

No Comments Written by whizzbang on June 16, 2008 in newspaper DVD/CD/Offers, photography.

as from June 14th the Daily Telegraph newspaper is doing a series of seven Photography Guides. Being a keen photographer I am interested to see what techniques I could pick up. Guides in the series are:

* Introduction to Photography: The guide describes the building blocks that make up all photographs, such as light, focus, contrast and software.

* People: This guide shows you how to utilize the basic elements of photography to make engaging pictures of people. From silhouettes to portraits the guide will enable even beginners to capture that perfect family portrait.

* Landscapes & Nature: This guide shows you how to take photographs of stunning vistas aswell as close-ups of flowers, Panoramic Views & Gardens in bloom.

* Animals: This guide shows you how to take wildlife photographs from pet portraits to birds in flight, photographing wildlife from a car.

* Architecture: This guide shows you how to photograph architechture properly, from Focussing on Details, form & space, to how to photograph interiors without it being too dark.

* Events: This guide shows you how to capture those once-in-a-lifetime, never-to-be-repeated events such as parties, carnivals & Weddings

* Expressions: This guide shows you how to add an artistic impression to your photos such as adding sharpness & blur or adding texture or altering the hues to create an interesting effect


“My name is Michael Caine”

No Comments Written by whizzbang on June 16, 2008 in newspaper DVD/CD/Offers.

The Daily Mail newspaper is offering a series of Michael Caine DVDs for readers to collect when they buy the paper. I’ve already got a few such as “The Ipcress File, Too Late The Hero, Mona Lisa, The Eagle has Landed & Educating Rita, but I’d like too get these too.

Films offered in this series are:

*The Whistle Blower
* Half Moon Street
* Water
* Shiner
* Quicksand
* Shadow Man
* Jack the Ripper
* Without a Clue
* The Holcroft Covenant
* A Shock to the System
* The Romantic Englishwoman
* Silver Bears
* Then There Were Giants
* The Statement


The Rain Before It Falls by Jonathan Coe

No Comments Written by whizzbang on June 16, 2008 in books.

Having read all the positive reviews about The Rotters Club, I thought I would try another novel by Jonathan Coe.

The Rain Before it Falls is the deeply moving tale of a woman named Rosamund who just before her death, records her life story onto tape for the benefit of a blind relative named Imogen. Her neice Gill finds these tapes whilst sorting out her belongings and decides to listen to them.

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She hears an amazing story of how her Aunt was relocated to a remote farm in Shropshire During World War II and how she came to find love while she was there and what happened afterwards


The Rotters Club by Jonathan Coe

No Comments Written by whizzbang on June 16, 2008 in books, newspaper DVD/CD/Offers.

This book was also being given away with the Times newspaper a while back, but I haven’t had chance to read it yet.

Rotters Club

It’s the painfully funny tale of a lad named Benjamin Trotter growing up in 70’s Britain, amid the backdrop of IRA Bombs, Prog Rock, Punk Rock, Bad poetry, first love, love on the side, prefects, school detention, industrial strife, power cuts and divine intervention in the form of a pair of swimming trunks.

I, myself, grew up in the seventies, so I can relate to book and Judging by the reviews it sounds like a great read


Vodka Martini, Shaken not stirred

No Comments Written by whizzbang on June 16, 2008 in books, newspaper DVD/CD/Offers.

To tie in with the latest Bond novel “Devil May Care” written by Sebastian Faulkes the Times Newspaper recently offered readers the chance to collect some James Bond Novels written by Ian Fleming, These were:

Casino Royale
Live & Let Die
Moonraker
Diamonds Are Forever
From Russia With Love

So far I’ve read

Casino Royale
Casino Royale
James Bond is sent to stop A Villain known as “Le Chiffre” who Is winning vast mounts of money at the titular casino, and is using the money to finance the criminal activities of a sinister organisation known as SMERSH, but Bond soon finds that the web of deciet goes deeper than he thought & that some of the people he is meant to trust are not what they seem to be.

Live & Let Die
Live & Let Die
James Bond is sent to deal with a dangerous SMERSH Operative known as “MR Big” – A master of fear, artist in crime & a voodoo baron of death. He tracks him from the jazz joints of Harlem, through the Everglades & on to the Carribean, where he discovers that he is also holding a beautiful fortune-teller named Solitaire prisoner and is using her for his own evil purposes.

Moonraker
Moonraker
This is Another really exciting Ian Fleming novel, Where James Bond is sent to investigate a philanthropic multi-millionaire named Sir Hugo Drax, who is head of the “Moonraker” space project. Bond first meets Drax at a casino and is immediately suspicious.

This is followed by a series of unexplained deaths at the Moonraker project, and as he delves deeper Bond soon discovers decidedly dodgy goings-on, and discovers that neither the project or Sir Hugo are what they appear to be.


Prince Caspian Audio CD

No Comments Written by whizzbang on June 16, 2008 in newspaper DVD/CD/Offers.

To tie-in with the latest movie in the Chronicles of Narnia series entitled Prince Caspian, this weekend The Sunday Times Newspaper offered readers the chance to obtain an Audio CD of Prince Caspian, I daresay copies will start appearing on Ebay before too long lol :D


The Guardian & Observer Guides to Nature

No Comments Written by whizzbang on June 16, 2008 in newspaper DVD/CD/Offers.

Ever since I was young I have been fascinated by Nature, I liked nothing better than getting really grubby looking for all sorts of invertebrates or other animals, & when I saw that the Guardian & Observer newspapers were doing these fascinating guides I decided to get them all. Guides in the series were:

Animals
Birds
Britain’s Butterflies
British moths
Creepy Crawlies
Pond Life
Rock Pool Life