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Feng Shui, for the uninitiated, is an oriental concept of arranging the elements in one?s surroundings to achieve various positive conditions in one?s life. I am a positive person. I have some fine qualities. I am loyal, courteous, kind, and quick to hold the door for people carrying packages. Alas, however, discipline is not high among my virtues. Do not think I haven?t tried. Despite having my own home office (where I ran my own business for several years), a grown and out-of-the-house family, and sweet little dog who seldom barks, and a husband who works capricious hours and is not home during the day?. Despite good light, an ergonomic chair, proper tools for the craft, a fairly simple-to-use computer set-up, friends who only call at night and recently updated eyeglasses?..Despite all this, I absolutely cannot write at home. Laundry is calling. The dishwasher is calling. Chores I loathe call to me. Computer games call me. Everything in the world calls me, except my Muse. It has taken me countless years (and I am no longer a youngster) to discover that I need to work in a public area. I know it sounds goofy. I wrote three shows in Burger King ? and they were good shows. I don?t do Burger King now that I am home ? it is too far from the house, and besides, I don?t need the calories. But I do find a wonderful writing place very conveniently in our town library. Even when I ran my own advertising business, when I needed to write press releases, or brochure copy, or proposals or anything else that required concentration, I packed up all my gear and went to the library. I find that a) I can spread out, and I am a mega-spreader-outer; and b) the distractions there provide the white noise that turns me into a dynamo. I can get more work done there in two or three hours ? and good work, at that ?than I could in my cute little office in a week. I have also discovered my peak times. Are you ready, ladies? Between 4 and 6 pm. Seriously weird. But that is my peak energy time. It has taken me years to discover that little fact, mainly because those hours were always devoted to home/family. It is only now that I have the luxury of being able to utilize those precious high-energy peaks for myself. My husband doesn?t come till home till around seven and the grill, the microwave and the crockpot are my best friends. I can spend half a day writing at the library (and I do it longhand, the old-fashioned way), and then I come home around 4 or 4:30 and spend an hour or so retyping it into my computer, editing as I go. And when I am done, I feel like I have accomplished a lot. In reality, it may not be such a lot, but it is five times as much as I would have accomplished had I stayed home in my ergonomic chair. Finally, I am also a sprawler. Not only do I like to physically spread out, but I like to spread out my writing. A half a dozen legal pads, a looseleaf binder, pens of various colors. Tools of the trade. Again, it has taken me years to discover the habits that work for me. I like to write in longhand during the first stages of creativity. I also am a big thinker-about-what-will-be-in-the-next-section of my new book. By the time I actually pick up the pen, I have already thought it out a great deal, so I have a fair idea of where I am going. I type it up at home, print it out double spaced, three-hold-drill it, and put it in my binder. Then, if the Muse is catnapping or on vacation, I can edit what I?ve already done. I edit in red or green or bright blue pens. Each day, I use a different color, so I can tell where I left off. I scribble all over the typewritten pages, back, front, and margins. The paper is full of arrows, circles, and ?see A? sections or ?pick up paragraph 3 on page 46?. I love it! I am sure I am the only one who can figure it all out. When I have created sufficient mess, I use my 4-6 time to re-edit and reprint out a new draft, which I put a date on, so I can keep track of my latest revisions. I keep the old copy in a separate looseleaf, and put the new pages in my ?working? looseleaf. Strange. But this is one habit I really like. So the moral of the story (and of course there is a moral!) is: despite what everyone tells you about how to form good habits or break bad ones, it will ultimately be your own body and your own temperament that will find the right level. Don?t think for a moment that because the habit is unorthodox that it is a bad one. Hemingway wrote standing up at a podium; Thomas Jefferson wrote at a slanted lap-desk of his own design. There are probably countless others who wrote in bed, or in the bathtub, or at 3 in the morning, or only using green pencils. Feng shui, shmui. It is whatever works for you. It may take you a while and you may need to try many variations, but once you find the feng shui for your Muse, she will snuggle in for the duration. Feather Schwartz Foster is the author of LADIES: A Conjecture of Personalities, (ISBN #1-59286-361-2) about the First Ladies between Martha Washington and Mamie Eisenhower. They each ?write? their own chapters and everyone (including the moderns) chime in with commentary. Mrs. Foster has also written as more than a dozen children?s musicals and spent more than 30 years in advertising and public relations before ?retiring? to completely creative efforts. Her second novel click here . ?GARFIELD?S TRAIN? about the death of President James Garfield in Long Branch, New Jersey, will be published in 2005. Feather Schwartz Foster may be contacted at http://www.authorsden.com/featherschwartzfoster fsf@comcast.netFeather Schwartz Foster is the author of “LADIES: A Conjecture of Personalities, a unique look at First Ladies between Martha Washington and Mamie Eisenhower. She frequently lectures in NJ, and her second book will be available in 2005 business .

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The concept of traditional contract law understands that for a party to be bound by the terms of the contract, a party must have first agreed to it?s terms and consequently signed it. Since the 1980?s PC use has continued to grow by phenomenal amounts in both business and residential environments. It?s hardly surprising that software has been released at a similar pace to run on all these PC?s, more recently with the advent of the Internet software is easily available for direct download to the end-users machine. Software companies need to protect themselves from damages claims stemming from damage caused by improper and proper use of their software by end users and profits lost by users making illegal copies of their software among other things. This is done through a contract. It would be virtually impossible and very impractical to have the buyer of a software package to sign a traditional paper based contract relating to the software prior to purchasing it as in the IT industry software is rarely sold directly in person by the publishing company to the end-users. Thus there needed to be some mechanism whereby the purchaser agrees to the terms of the license without actually signing on the dotted line. Enter shrink-wrap and click-wrap contracts. Shrink-wrap contracts, the earlier of the two are the terms and conditions that accompany software distributed in a retail computer store. Shrink-wrap contracts usually read something like ?By opening the packaging on this box you agree to the terms and conditions of the license.? The terms and conditions of the license are more often than not located inside the box. Click-wrap contracts were developed in response to the massive growth of the Internet and Internet technology. A party enters into a click-wrap contract when they click the ?I agree? or ?I accept? button which are preceded by terms and conditions. Examples of where click-wrap contracts can be regularly seen include before you download software, before you book an airline ticket online, before you download music and many more. Both shrink-wrap and click-wrap contracts have their advantages and disadvantages for the consumer and the company offering the terms and conditions themselves. This report focuses however on the advantages of click-wrap contracts over shrink-wrap contracts and hence I will now continue to discuss this. The main advantage of click-wrap contracts over shrink-wrap contracts to me seems to be the fact that with click-wrap contracts you?re given a clear opportunity to read through the terms and conditions of the contract before you agree to them. With shrink-wrap contracts the fundamental problem is that the consumer doesn?t get to know the key terms of the contract until they open the box, by which point it is often too late to get the money back for the software product business . In traditional contract law, the parties have to come to a ?meeting of the minds? over key terms of the contract agreement. With this in mind Mark Lemley an intellectual property professor at the University of Texas school of law said: ?software licences change that assumption by saying that when you take the software home and you take it out of the box, you agree to a whole host of other terms that you didn?t agree to at the store.? Should these ?other terms? as Lemley puts it be allowed to extend the contract between the consumer and the retailer? or do these extra terms in fact create a whole new contract altogether in which case the question of does breaking open a box containing software have the same legal force as a written signature on a negotiated document? has to be raised. Well it is these questions that bring us to another advantage of click-wrap contracts over shrink-wrap contracts. Click-wrap contracts are more enforceable than shrink-wrap contracts thus offering the software company more peace of mind. Shrink-wrap contracts have questionable enforceability. Although it is true to say that shrink-wrap contracts are gaining wide acceptance, this lack of full legal acceptance is seen as a worrying fact for software companies that want to precisely control the terms and conditions for use, limitation of liabilities and warranties and warranty disclaimers of software for their protection. Click-wrap contracts on the other hand have gained almost universal acceptance as law binding contracts. The reason behind this is that with click-wrap contracts you cannot proceed unless you click the ?I agree? or ?I accept? button, if you don?t acknowledge your agreement to the terms and conditions set in front of you by pressing one of these buttons then you cannot proceed to use the downloaded software, downloaded music, you cannot book that ?18 flight to Glasgow for the Celtic match with ryanair click here .com or can?t do or use any other of the things you might expect to be protected by a click-wrap contract. If on the other hand you do agree with the terms and conditions and click on the appropriate button, the law will say that you had time to read the contract, the chance to reject the contract but you clearly have agreed to it and so are legally bound by the same. It?s not all rosy for click-wrap contracts though as along with shrink-wrap contracts, they are often referred to as adhesion contracts, whereby one party has no ability to bargain with the other. This can lead to terms and conditions, which seem very restrictive and unfair to the consumer. However it is these restrictive terms and conditions which enable software to be sold at comparatively cheap prices as if software companies had to assume the risk of the possible consequences that end-users might face, they would have to charge far greater amounts for their products in order to make the assumption of that risk financially prudent. In closing I would have to say that neither shrink-wrap nor click-wrap contracts are fully ideal for either the consumer or for businesses wishing to sell software or other intangible products online. Of the two however click-wrap is the superior, this is due mainly to the ?fairness? it offers consumers in the ability to view the terms first and also because of the level of enforcement click-wrap contracts have achieved in the courts, albeit US based. Sources: Mark Lemley ? UT School of LawArticle by David Callan. David is an Internet marketing professional and webmaster of AKA Marketing.com webmaster forums. Visit his webmaster forums for the latest discussions on search engines, website authoring and Internet marketing related issues and topics.

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Remember when radio stations played great music? OK, before you accuse me of sounding like your dad, I?ll rephrase that. Remember when radio stations played an exciting variety of music and artists and you never knew what they would play and when? Well my friends if you do remember that, you?ve probably been around awhile. And if you don?t know what I?m talking about, I?ll explain. Years ago, privately owned radio stations and their local disc jockeys would choose the music or content they wanted to play, when they wanted to play it, whatever came to mind. And if someone called the station for a request and it felt right, they?d play that too. What? You mean they don?t do it that way now? Well in a word, no. In fact let me add no, no, no, and more no all-derby.co.uk . These days, the majority of American radio stations are owned by mega corporations like Clear Channel and Infinity Broadcasting. These corporations hire programmers who decide exactly what songs to play and in what order they will be played. Then in many cases they do what is called, ?Voice-tracking?. Voice tracking is a process where someone records the programming in one city and then distributes it to the many stations owned by the mega corporation throughout the country. So what you hear in San Francisco may be exactly what you hear in New York City or Atlanta. Often they?ll throw in content like local weather, traffic and sports to give the illusion that the DJ is local. Fooled ya! Unlike the FM band, AM radio is made up of mainly news and talk stations and relies on listener involvement as its core strength. AM has been relying more and more on syndicated programming and I have nothing against that for many of the programs are very well done like Clark Howard?s informative consumer action show and the Kim Komando Show, another very informative show about computers and the Internet. But as for FM?s move to mass music programming, many listeners have grown tired of the predictable playlists and have turned to ipods, podcasting and satellite radio. Not only does this mega programming squeeze out the possibility of new artists and their music from being heard, but it also makes many stations sound cookie cutter identical. Like a particular Top 40 song? No problem. Just switch to the four or five stations in any given market sharing a similar format and you can be assured it will be played, again and again. Today?s stations still classify themselves in formats like Country, Top 40, and Rock and some are even experimenting with what they call ?whatever? playlists trying to mimic the popular ipods and podcasts. But the station?s playlists are still preprogrammed into hard drives that spit them out along with the commercials in a precise, predictable, business like order. And although the powers that be tried in vain to slow or even stop the progress of satellite radio, it harkens back to the days when VHS and then later CDs came to be. The bottom line is that if the consumer wants it, it?s going to happen. What will eventually cause conventional radio listenership to decline won?t be satellite or mp3 players. It will be the watered down, mass market approach these mega companies are taking. Because they've changed what was once exciting, unpredictable radio into what should now be called the, “FM Bland” business . Hal Eisenberg is an award winning copywriter, producer, voice over talent, and owner of The Eisenberg Agency, a full service advertising agency specializing in creative ads that get results. Visit his web site at http://www.eisenbergagency.com; mailto: halacious@eisenbergagency.com.

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CORRECT PRACTICE IS INDISPENSABLE! Your success or failure at the keyboard may well hinge on how quickly and accurately you can memorize a new chord.  To be really efficient at this you must use your eyes, your ears, and the muscles of your hands.  You mustlearn a chord so that you can recognize and play that chord the next day without hesitation.  Let me explain how to practice to gain this three-way control. VISUAL CONTROL - After playing a chord, take your hands off the keyboard.  Then return to the chord remembering visually where the fingers were positioned.  Notice particularly the pattern that was formed by the black and white keys and the location of the melody and root notes business .  (No two chords look exactly alike.)  Repeat this procedure at least four or five times to learn a chord visually.  And, as you are playing the chord, say its name OUT LOUD all-walsall.co.uk .  You must associate the name of the chord with the actual notes you are playing, if the chord symbol is to have any real meaning later on. TACTILE CONTROL - As you are playing the chord, try to feel it muscularly.  Play each note of the chord, one note at a time, so that you use the muscles of the hand.  You will develop a muscular memory for chords. AURAL CONTROL - Listen to the chord.  You'll want to know its sound so you can instantly recognize and use it later on … “by ear”!http://www.mrronsmusic.com

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Generation Y–The second-largest crop of young people in America's history, offspring of the Boomers?80 million of them, nearly 27 percent of the U.S. population?are in their late teens and 20s, and already a market force to be reckoned with. The Millennials are here big time! ?They?re demanding their own music, defining their own trends and starting to matter to advertisers, to retailers, to politicians,? chirped a recent Chicago Tribune editorial. What?s more, they are (or soon will be) buying cars and homes, getting married, starting families–and are going to matter very much to American business. Neo-traditionalist in many ways, the Millennials are not cynical about marriage and having families. These young people value such intangibles as personal fulfillment, family well-being, freedom, security?lives on track. As a result, count on the Millennials to step up to the issues and needs most of us have no matter which generational cohort, market segment, or stage of life we're in. ?They don't want to make the mistakes of either Generation X or the Boomers, to wait until the panic stage to have babies,? writes columnist, Suzanne Fields. A High Dose of Reality But no matter how great their marketing potential, Millennials with ground-floor incomes may be struggling to negotiate rent and other living expenses on top of college loans that the Christian Science Monitor estimates average $17,000. Or they may still be living with Mom and Dad! So all is not a bed of roses, and even the most astute members of this (or any) generation will find the choices marketers ask them to make confusing. Or (worse) they may think they know it all or imagine they can get everything they need online, and don?t need help. With so much at stake, indecision, inaction or mistakes born of misplaced self-confidence (?It can?t happen to me?) can be expensive–especially in periods of economic uncertainty. Yet this generation, which has known nothing but prosperity, is not used to doing without. Handed the choice of paying health insurance premiums or maintaining their savings and other financial security plans–and forgoing their cell phones or hanging up their social lives, many of these young people make the wrong call. Setting priorities can be critical and shouldn?t be ignored no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in, That?s one reason why realistic expectations should be communicated to consumers in this or any other age group. A difficult pill to swallow, but exactly the advice young families in that difficult position should hear. How to Reach The Millennials Generation Y is generally more comfortable using the Internet as a research tool to aid in making saving and investment decisions, rather than as a means for on-line banking or trading. ?To effectively reach the youngest generation of adult Americans, whose lives are being shaped by digital media, marketers must deliver smarter, more sophisticated messages and build brands with them rather than for them,? a study by advertising firm, Saatchi and Saatchi suggests. As described by Jane Levere in ?Generation Shaped by Digital Media Presents Fresh Marketing Challenges,? in the The New York Times: ?Saatchi and Saatchi, a unit of Saatchi and Saatchi PLC, based its study on interviews by child psychologists with 84 people ages 6 to 20 across the United States. They were asked what they thought about digital media like personal computers, the Internet, CD-ROMs, video games and cellular phones and other communication devices, and how these media affected their lives. Cultural anthropologists also observed 10 families at home for 50 hours each. According to the agency, the digital media have several functions for the 80 million Americans born since 1977, the largest generation in the nation's history. ?The media serve as toys for these young people but also provide developmental challenges. Digital media also function as a virtual hearth at home,? the study said. It found that “most families have their digital media set up in a public room of the house; consequently, a lot of digital activities are shared by the family, making these media a center of family life. ?In addition, the study learned that the new media could function as a ?cool library? for the new generation.”Generation Y uses digital media as an extension of self socially, intellectually and emotionally,” the study said. ?By extending the self in these ways, the new media help young people find their identity.? It concluded that digital media act as “power tools” for the Millennials, giving them tremendous access to knowledge. Generation Y is generally more comfortable using the Internet as a research tool to aid in making saving and investment decisions, rather than as a means for on-line banking or trading. ?To effectively reach the youngest generation of Americans, whose lives are being shaped by digital media, marketers must deliver smarter, more sophisticated messages and build brands with them rather than for them,? a study by advertising firm, Saatchi and Saatchi suggests. Social Security Reality Check Despite Democrat and MSM protestations, many young adults are pushing for a privatized or partially privatized Social Security program, which would maximize their two greatest wealth accumulation assets — time and compounding returns. Prediction: Petulently refusing any mention of privatizing Social Security won?t cut it for long. Washington must find the stones either to a) call time-out and switch over to a privatized Social Security system for everyone over a certain age, b) permit wage earners to invest x-percentage of their payroll tax into personal accounts, or c) come up with some other fiscally feasible, politically palatable version of Social Security reform. Failing that, the discontent of Millennials and Generation Xers will become the political time bomb for future presidents and Congresses that Social Security had been until George Bush?s bold 2005 initiative. Want More? Send questions and comments to w.willard3@knology all-stourbridge.co.uk .net. Bill Willard has also been writing high-impact marketing and sales training primarily for the financial services industry for 30 years. Through interactive, Web-based “Do-While-Learning?” programs, enewsletters and straight-talking articles, Bill helps small-business owners and independent professionals profitably improve performance and grow your business.

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Storytelling - It?s a hot topic these days. What do I mean by storytelling? One website says that it is ?a narrative account of a real or imagined event or events? That same website (http://www.eldrbarry.net/roos/st_defn.htm) says ?Stories connect us with our humanness and link past, present, and future by teaching us to anticipate the possible consequences of our actions.? Once a month I read to a local first grade. The children get very excited when they see me because they know we will spend a wonderful hour together using our imaginations. We do that by looking at the pictures in the book and then making up a story to go with them. Sometimes I stop in the middle of the story and ask them what they think is going to happen. When I read the poem Casey at the Bat, they preferred their ending with Casey hitting a home run! Aside from its entertainment value stories help us to connect to others. There is a certain amount of shared intimacy when one person shares a story with another. In addition to that some stories help a person to learn something new. Business leaders are just beginning to see storytelling as a way to deal with change. It can be used to produce a practical outcome that changes an individual, a community and/or an organization. A story is told about a student and his master. Everyday the student spent learning from his master. The student noticed that the master always taught him through stories so one day he asked the master if it wouldn?t be faster if the master taught him directly. The master responded by asking the student to bring him some water. The student thought this response was odd but dutifully got a pot and filled it with water for his master. Seeing the pot of water, the master asked the student why he brought him the pot when all he asked for was water. To me that story says so much more than a direct answer and that is just the point of the story, isn?t it? How does one gain the insight necessary to find just the right story? I always envy musicians and actors in their ability to improvise. A jazz musician for example can pick up the melody and improvise wonderful variations. Actors in the same way can get the barest of facts and then create a monologue or dialogue right in the moment. To me improvisation is amazing! I am in awe of those who do it. Creating something in the moment is a skill to cultivate if one wants to use the art of storytelling effectively. As a child I remember that at camp we used to sit in a circle and the counselor would start a story. In the middle of the story (sometimes in mid-sentence) she would stop and the person beside her would continue the story. Each person in the circle would add to the story until the last person got to end the story. I haven?t done that in years but what a great exercise to flex the storytelling muscle! Recently I listened to a wonderful interview between Dovid Grossman (www.DovidGrossman.com) and Jack Canfield (www.JackCanfield business .com). Both men had stories to share and the conversation went back and forth very much like a dance business . One way to learn to tell a good story is to listen to great storytellers. I?m planning to hone my storytelling skills by participating in a teleclass called The Hero?s Journey for Parents with Dovid Grossman, a rabbi, youth leader and father of nine children and Christopher Vogler, author of The Writer?s Journey. What child doesn?t like to hear stories about his/her growing up years! My grandchildren at 2 and 5 already love to hear about what they did as babies. For more information on the program go to www.HerosJourneyForParents.com. Whether you are a business leader, a parent, or a student, connecting with others and learning through a powerful story can be rewarding and fun. Learning the art of storytelling is a skill we all will need to develop in the 21st century. About Alvah Parker Alvah Parker is a Business and Career Coach as well as publisher of Parker?s Points, an email tip list and Road to Success, an ezine. Parker?s Value Program© enables her clients to find their own way to work that is more fulfilling and profitable. Her clients are managers, business owners, sole practioners, attorneys and people in transition. Alvah is found on the web at www.asparker.com. She may also be reached at 781-598-0388.

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When it comes to search engine optimization, copywriting plays a big role. You want to have excellent copy that appeals to both your visitors and the engines in order to create pages that will rank highly. However, sometimes there can be potential problems with fitting copy into certain types of sites. Due to space constraints, page layout requirements or other issues, some site owners hesitate to include SEO copy thinking it will detract from the visitor's experience. It won't if you do it right! Gigmasters.com is a database site that allows visitors to search for any number of entertainment options then book them directly from the site. They segmented their target audience by the events visitors would book entertainment for (i.e., wedding entertainment, birthday party entertainment, etc.) Pages were then created for each entertainment type. The Problems Gigmasters.com wasn't ranking highly for its keyphrases on a number of pages. In fact, for the page we're focusing on in this article (see the original copy here: http://www click here .copywritingcourse.com/gigmasters-original-wedding.pdf), Gigmasters.com wasn't ranking in the top 50. The page desperately needed more copy. The concern was that visitors would be distracted by the addition of more text. After all, customers who come to a site to book entertainment are going to focus on the information in each performer's bio? not the copy on the category page, right? As we found out, this was not at all true. In addition to quantity (word count), the page also needed quality. The one paragraph of copy that was on the page was rough and sounded awkward. The Solutions Writing copy that appeals to the site visitors and the search engines should be the goal of every SEO copywriter. You never want to sacrifice one for the other. However, I knew that adding a long block of copy right in the middle of the page would not be using good judgment. Good thing nobody ever said all your copy had to be in one place! By breaking the copy up and adding short blips under each section of the page, we were able to include enough text to support the chosen keyphrases. At the same time, we were able to help visitors make the best choices for their wedding entertainment. The Rewrite For this particular page, the target customer was someone in need of wedding entertainment. The visitor might be a bride or the mother of a bride looking for a wedding band (a wedding music band, that is), a DJ or some other form of wedding reception music. Most often the site visitor was a bride, however. I never want to include copy strictly for SEO purposes if possible. The copy should always have a dual purpose: to help the visitor and to boost rankings. To accomplish this with Gigmasters.com, the introductory paragraph of copy spoke directly to the bride-to-be. It gave her the feeling that Gigmasters.com understood how important the music for her wedding and reception are. Under each music classification, the bride was given ideas or suggestions. Statements like, “The gentle melodies played by a harpist or flutist during the prelude to your ceremony can add an air of distinction” and ” Do you want your guests to dance? Consider a Latin band or swing band to pick up the beat” prompted visitors to think through their selections and evaluate all their options before deciding. Each section of copy used at least one primary keyphrase to boost support of those terms with the engines. The copy was carefully written so as not to sound forced or stiff when including search terms. The Results You can view the updated copy here: http://www.copywritingcourse.com/gigmasters-updated-wedding.pdf. What happened after the changes? Within just a few weeks the page began to rise in rankings dramatically! Currently, the page has great rankings with various engines for various keyphrases - several in the top 10 with Google and Yahoo. And conversions? They are holding steady if not increased some according to site partner Kevin Kinyon, further proving that search engine copywriting can be helpful to real people, too. Copy not getting results? Learn to write SEO copy that impresses the engines and your visitors at http://www.copywritingcourse.com. Be sure to also check out Karon?s latest e-report ?How To Increase Keyword Saturation (Without Destroying the Flow of Your Copy)? at http://www business .copywritingcourse.com/keyword.

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Can you explain how an actor, manger and agent all work together? First let me preface my remarks: I am not a lawyer and all my comments are from my experience as a SAG Talent Agent, from what I know of entertainment law and practices. Some of the information is fact and some is informed opinion. To answer this question let me first define each role. I?ll skip to the agent first: A Theatrical Talent Agent (booking agent) takes bookings for entertainment industry jobs; primarily union affiliated productions. Their primary job is to receive casting calls for the actor and to make sure the actor gets the information they need to arrive at their auditions. Additionally, it is the agent?s privilege to facilitate the signing of union contracts between the production company and actor or in depended lawyer or on the actor?s behalf. By law talent agents are bound to a 10% commission on a union job. Strictly speaking, it is not their job to solicit work for, or to educate their clients or to develop an actor?s career. Agent's cannot produce productions and are not supposed to manage their clients. Agents will bend those rules if their client is making a significant amount of money for them. Agents would love to do nothing more than sign contracts all day because that?s all they get paid for. But that is not reality. Agents mostly do submissions all day and coordinate phone calls and auditions. As a rule, agents don?t like managers because, generally a manager?s influence overrides theirs with the actor. The key is that any agent will sign a working actor when there is a deal on the table. The reason people feel that it?s hard to find an agent is because they don?t need one, and don?t understand what an agent does. Finding an agent is the easiest thing in the world if you have a deal. Agents don?t like explaining these roles to actors. In my experience, this lack of communication causes serious expectation problems between agent's and their clients. For non-union work agents are not needed. As I have discussed more work is going non-union with the decline of SAG this redoubles the tension between managers and agents because non-union work is up for grabs between them. What qualifies as non-union? Anything that is not affiliated with SAG or AFTRA, meaning most work on commercials and music videos. A Talent Manager?s job is to take raw talent and turn that person's aspirations and turn them into a successful career both artistically and economically. Managers are prohibited from ?acting as a Talent Agent?. Managers are not bound to a specific union and therefore are not bound to a set of rules or laws. Managers can produce, educate, coach and promote their clients. They typically settle for 15% but some go to a much higher percentage, especially for new talent. Finally, actors go without saying. So how does the actor get the deal? Well, that?s the trick. 1) An actor builds a career through commercials2) They get lucky and meet the right person on the street (or a relative)3) They make a move from another career, ex. Modeling/Sports4) They get a manager who tells the right things to do to promote their career and helps them and educates them.5) A student filmmaker does something unique with them? Then they have a deal and they get an agent. Eventually, the actor will move on to a larger agency and do another deal etc? So, how do they all work together? There is not a clear cut answer to that all-newport.co.uk . Traditional arrangements are changing and the older institutions don?t have the same validity as they did in the past. Right now, it?s not clear that there will be a union industry here in Los Angeles at all in the future click here . Or more likely, it will adapt somehow. The actual arrangement that people come to today generally depends on the personalities involved and the types of jobs that are in the offing. Ideally managers do what agents cannot and agents do what managers cannot. Brent Mather Swan may be contacted at http://brentswan.com scriptmonkey@earthlink.netBrent Mather Swan is one of the most innovative producers working in Hollywood today. He is applying the accumulated knowledge of a Screenwriter, a SAG Talent Agent and a Talent Manager in his current project The Stardust Film Festival. This new festival promises to usher in a new era for Hollywood. With the Stardust festival as a stepping stone, Brent will bring the best and brightest back to Hollywood permanently and develop the quality and creativity of our output.

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It is commonly believed we have a sixth sense, not just the five that are so apparent, that of sight, smell, taste, feeling and hearing. It seems to be true even though the sixth sense is quite different than the others, more mysterious and metaphysical in nature. Generally the sixth sense is known for the ability to sense danger but sometimes it is associated with one?s ?gut-instinct? when trying to choose the right course of action. The ability to sense danger is uncanny, that is, to sense something beyond the capacity of the other five senses. Further, the sixth sense doesn?t seem to be associated with any human organs such as eyeballs and eardrums or require any physical apparatus like olfactory nerves or taste buds. The sixth sense seems to operate without any help at all from the body? it seems to be entirely mental. Even though it is often known as the 'sixth sense', like everything else metaphysical? it is only a concept. Yet, everything about the metaphysical realm are concepts, whether it is the human soul or our subconscious mind. That could even apply to angels, heaven or the devil, and, of course, none seem to have physical properties. Even so, since the dawn of time, man has wanted to give them names. Probably the first to be named was the Creator. Later, when people began to believe things like spirits and heaven must exist, they were also given names. After all, these concepts needed to be referred to in some manner. In the nineteenth century, when it seemed the human brain had two separate functions, it was decided they should be called the conscious and subconscious mind and the idea of a sixth sense debuted around 1837. Other concepts were named as well, such as the human soul, guardian angels, spirits, the muse, hell and demons. The sixth sense phenomenon was one of the most recent to be labeled and, like the others, needed to be. As for the sixth sense, almost everyone has experienced it so we know it exists. We don?t know how it operates but that doesn?t matter as much that it does and most often when it should. However, we can recall a few times it failed to warn us of danger. Or maybe we didn?t listen. Sometimes, regardless of our fear or anxiety, we went ahead and did something anyway? sometimes we have to. Maybe we felt it was worth the risk. Making a move on some guy?s girlfriend might seem worth the risk or for the thrill of canoeing whitewater rapids, riding a bull. Mostly though, the sixth sense is associated with alerting us to real danger, like a stranger lurking in the shadows. More incredibly, it might be telling us not to go somewhere that day as if, somehow, it can foretell events.The sixth sense is not always reliable But the sixth sense is not always reliable, the ?bad feeling? we sometimes had turned out to be a false alarm. Since it can make mistakes, maybe the sixth sense has a human quality to it. In other words, if it represented divine guidance we would expect perfection. Perhaps then we should consider the sixth sense as ?human? even though we?re unsure whether animals have it. Sometimes their keener sense of smell, hearing and eyesight makes it seem so. Actually, some animals have senses which humans don?t, such as the ability of snakes to sense chemicals through their unique vomeronasal organ. And some, like bats, whales and dolphins have what is termed ?echolocation? and sharks have the ability to sense electrical fields generated by other fish. Yet, I don?t think anyone has ever claimed animals have a sixth sense like humans (correction: apparently the belief animals can sense looming earthquakes exists which has heightened due to the conduct of animals during the Asian tsunami of 2004). Since we don?t know what makes the sixth sense function, except that it is mental and not dependent upon a physical support apparatus like a human organ, there should be a great significance in this, as if having a deeper meaning. Actually, some people consider the sixth sense and extrasensory perception (ESP) as being the same thing, but I've always considered them two separate things because, to me, the sixth sense is more about the ability to sense danger whereas ESP is more about communicating mentally. It's a matter of semantics and preference I suppose. However, while the sixth sense wasn't called 'extrasensory perception' until about 1870 by Sir Richard Burton, then in that regard, one could probably say it was meant to mean the same thing. However, it seems the case whereby he simply recognized more functions of the 'sixth sense' and thought the term 'extrasensory perception' (or ESP) would be more apropos. I would disagree… it is a 'sense' all-wirral.co.uk . Even though 'sixth' seems to suggest is is lacking a name, and perhaps an open invitation for someone to name it, 'sixth' is good enough for me. Besides, as even more capabilities of the sixth sense began to be recognized even later during the 1800s, whereby they could be defined as separate processes. business .. and for all that which the sixth sense is capable of, or encompasses, ESP should have been clearly defined as one of those capabilities, but not to be considered a replacement name.The influence of science and religion Without citing individual cases of sixth sense experiences? what else can be said? We simply don?t know too much more. If however, some of these cases involved the foretelling of events, then that would add another dimension to it. While I can?t recall experiencing that myself, I have little doubt it has happened to others. Often the reason we cannot fathom these things, anything metaphysical, is how we perceive them. For that matter, I think how most people perceive the spirit world has been wrong for the past 2,500 years. In some detail I explained the reasons in Spirit World and Metaphysics. Mainly we?ve let the various concepts floating around, philosophical and religious, overly influence our perception of the spirit world. Further, if any one of the major concepts isn?t in the ballpark, it has the effect of distancing us from the truth even more. How would I rationalize the sixth sense then? Well, I try to look at it in a different way but in order to do that? I almost have to forget it has a name. A name has a way of boxing a concept in? in this case; the sixth sense may be a greater phenomenon that merely a ?sense?. I think we would do a lot better understanding all of nature?s wonders if we didn?t let these names influence us. We must understand that these names, as apropos as they may seem, are only representations of deeds, actions and activities? nothing more. We?d be better off to consider them verbs, that is, except for some concepts, like heaven or hell. We can?t assume names, like ?angels?, are for a ?thing? or ?entity? because such distinctions may not really exist, at least not how humans understand distinctions. Such distinctions, as humans make them, assuredly have been throwing us off. As an example, while each of the senses has a given range of capabilities, like the eardrum can hear different sounds; it?s still called ?hearing?. In other words, correctly we don?t let any particular musical tone influence our concept of what ?hearing? is. Although I think almost everyone perceives the sixth sense correctly? simply the ability to ?sense? things and we all know what that means. We just have to keep on guard not to let a name of any phenomenon unduly influence us.The sixth sense versus semantics… round 1 As to how the sixth sense figures in overall would be nearly impossible to explain. The difficulty of course is with semantics, the lack of terms to adequately convey metaphysical concepts. However, I must continue to say a major problem is how we make our distinctions? we?ve allowed these distinctions to affect our overall concept. It is largely religions which have made these distinctions however, and not science. Actually it was ancient man which developed the concepts, religions just tried to explain them… but too much so. Besides these distinctions failing to paint the right picture if they aren't totally correct, there might be some completely wrong. As an example, since it would be common to consider an angel a spiritual entity and ?someone else?, we might be, through the power of our mind actually creating them all along, not merely as hallucinatory manifestations, but effectively real events. To further explain… even though manifestations are generally considered hallucinatory, 'real manifestations' could actually exist, and, it seems, human created, making them (in essence), an extension of that human. If that were true, one could then see how faulty our old concept was about the spirit world. Whether my contentions are right or not, I?m mainly just pointing out how the slightest deviation from the truth can affect the whole picture. At any rate, the sixth sense, the name given in order to reference this phenomenon, is more engrained and part of the human psyche than commonly imagined. So much so, it should be considered the ?essence of man? rather than a ?part?. If we began to consider the sixth sense as us, and not just a tool, everything takes on a whole new meaning. Just like the human soul, it is us and cannot be separated. Science doesn?t know this yet but humans are greater than the sum total of their parts. For more on how the current terms are affecting our concepts, see our webpage on Imagination. With the truth being held hostage by institutionalism, both academic and religious, we are forced to discover spiritual realities for ourselves. And the simplest things seem to hold the most clues. A tree for example or a bug. A.O. Kime Resource Box: © A.O. Kime (2003) A.O. Kime is a retired farmer and author of two books plus 70+ articles on ancient history, spiritual phenomena, political issues, social issues and agriculture which can be seen at http://www.matrixbookstore.biz email: allen@matrixbookstore.com

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Storytelling - It?s a hot topic these days. What do I mean by storytelling? One website says that it is ?a narrative account of a real or imagined event or events? That same website (http://www.eldrbarry.net/roos/st_defn.htm) says ?Stories connect us with our humanness and link past, present, and future by teaching us to anticipate the possible consequences of our actions.? Once a month I read to a local first grade. The children get very excited when they see me because they know we will spend a wonderful hour together using our imaginations. We do that by looking at the pictures in the book and then making up a story to go with them. Sometimes I stop in the middle of the story and ask them what they think is going to happen. When I read the poem Casey at the Bat, they preferred their ending with Casey hitting a home run! Aside from its entertainment value stories help us to connect to others. There is a certain amount of shared intimacy when one person shares a story with another. In addition to that some stories help a person to learn something new. Business leaders are just beginning to see storytelling as a way to deal with change. It can be used to produce a practical outcome that changes an individual, a community and/or an organization. A story is told about a student and his master. Everyday the student spent learning from his master. The student noticed that the master always taught him through stories so one day he asked the master if it wouldn?t be faster if the master taught him directly. The master responded by asking the student to bring him some water. The student thought this response was odd but dutifully got a pot and filled it with water for his master. Seeing the pot of water, the master asked the student why he brought him the pot when all he asked for was water. To me that story says so much more than a direct answer and that is just the point of the story, isn?t it? How does one gain the insight necessary to find just the right story? I always envy musicians and actors in their ability to improvise. A jazz musician for example can pick up the melody and improvise wonderful variations. Actors in the same way can get the barest of facts and then create a monologue or dialogue right in the moment. To me improvisation is amazing! I am in awe of those who do it. Creating something in the moment is a skill to cultivate if one wants to use the art of storytelling effectively. As a child I remember that at camp we used to sit in a circle and the counselor would start a story. In the middle of the story (sometimes in mid-sentence) she would stop and the person beside her would continue the story. Each person in the circle would add to the story until the last person got to end the story. I haven?t done that in years but what a great exercise to flex the storytelling muscle! Recently I listened to a wonderful interview between Dovid Grossman (www click here .DovidGrossman.com) and Jack Canfield (www.JackCanfield.com). Both men had stories to share and the conversation went back and forth very much like a dance. One way to learn to tell a good story is to listen to great storytellers. I?m planning to hone my storytelling skills by participating in a teleclass called The Hero?s Journey for Parents with Dovid Grossman, a rabbi, youth leader and father of nine children and Christopher Vogler, author of The Writer?s Journey. What child doesn?t like to hear stories about his/her growing up years! My grandchildren at 2 and 5 already love to hear about what they did as babies. For more information on the program go to www.HerosJourneyForParents.com. Whether you are a business leader, a parent, or a student, connecting with others and learning through a powerful story can be rewarding and fun. Learning the art of storytelling is a skill we all will need to develop in the 21st century. About Alvah Parker Alvah Parker is a Business and Career Coach as well as publisher of Parker?s Points, an email tip list and Road to Success, an ezine. Parker?s Value Program© enables her clients to find their own way to work that is more fulfilling and profitable. Her clients are managers, business owners, sole practioners, attorneys and people in transition. Alvah is found on the web at www all-southport.co.uk .asparker.com. She may also be reached at 781-598-0388.

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