Ten Trends That Will Affect The 2008 Art Market
The art market has outperformed the stock market since 2001 attracting the attention of many new collectors. In fact art at auction eve had strong gains in 2007 as sub-prime lending began to take its toll on the American economy. 2008 will prove to be a challenging year as collectors and investors wonder if a correction is imminent. It may be, but prices are likely to hold in the short term, though they may not see the strong increases that we enjoyed in 2007. Strong Global Supply - American and European works lead the art market, but collectors are searching more than ever for art from undiscovered regions.
Media Madness
I am finally convinced that the media are great for giving us the story but there seems to be exaggerations. A car crash becomes the headlines for two days and the same images are shown over and over again. I end up feeling like the actor in Clockwork Orange, being forced to watch horror on TV by having my eyelids kept open. Every channel will show the same story over and over and over and over again. I am not disrespecting the media nor the news channels but would it not be as interesting to talk about greatness happening? I would like to hear about what happened that was happy as well. It seems as if the media anticipates that the audience is thriving for horror and terror as a means of entertainment?
The Key A Fairytale - Chapter 2 - Ariya Part 2
A tremendous exhilaration began rising inside of me, as I watched Ariya disappear into the treetops. All of my unanswered questions now faded into the background. The appearance of this mystical being, whatever she was, liberated me to the point that I was ready to forge ahead with reckless abandonment regardless of what I would have to face. This implausible helper being had gained my complete trust and I just knew, in my heart, that I was on the right track. Nothing mattered to me now except this elusive key, and with the help of this astonishing creature, I was certain that I would find it.
Medieval Crossbows
A prime example of a weapon that was used by different Old World cultures at different times is the crossbow. The ancient Greeks were among the first to make use of portable one-man crossbows. These portable crossbows were never very popular with the Greeks or Romans, and it would not be until medieval times that the weapon would gain wide use in Europe. The opposite was the case in ancient China, where the crossbow had been the principal weapon of Chinese armies since at least the Han Dynasty. Several tombs dating from the 5th and 4th centuries BCE have been found which contained crossbows.
Is It Time For A Divorce? For Many It Would Be!
Uncle Bob achieved the status of Most Honorable one night in Berkley, California. As was our custom in college, we were there to watch the Cal vs. Stanford football game. His inauguration occurred the year before Stanford's band ran on the field, giving Cal that amazing victory in the final minute. Bob was eight years older and Dino was the equipment manager for Cal. He'd already reached the Most Honorable status several years before -- mainly due to drunken acts of self abuse. In college he'd passed out in his food, nearly suffocating from inhaling mashed potatoes. That was just one event of hundreds making it impossible for anybody to continue to simply call him Dino.
The Key A Fairytale - Chapter 2 - Ariya Part 1
No friendly moon was there to light this unfamiliar path; only a pitch-black night, so dark and foreboding that I could not see my hand in front of my face. Even Conqueror's sharp eyes soon lost the trail, forcing me to dismount and wrestle through heavy, wet vines, and walk on tangled roots and rocks in my bare feet; but I fought on. My life was shattered. I turned my back on the only world I knew when I relinquished my sword and took on the garb of a common beggar. My father was gone, I had given up my kingdom and all of my possessions, and I found myself lost and alone. I could have gone back, it wasn't too late.
The Pond The Kitten
Once upon a time, there was a tiny kitten called Pepin who loved to play everywhere and all the time. He played and played and played. He just could not stop playing. One day while he was playing, he suddenly heard a noise coming from inside a wall. "Someone is in need of help" Pepin said to himself. So he tried to push the wall, but nothing happened. He tried to hit the wall but he only managed to hurt his little paws. Then he called in a quiet voice "Where are you? I must come and help you! " There was no reply... but the noise continued. "Please answer me, I only want to help" Pepin said and just as he finished what he was saying, the noise completely stopped.
Medival Crossbows
A prime example of a weapon that was used by different Old World cultures at different times is the crossbow. The ancient Greeks were among the first to make use of portable one-man crossbows. These portable crossbows were never very popular with the Greeks or Romans, and it would not be until medieval times that the weapon would gain wide use in Europe. The opposite was the case in ancient China, where the crossbow had been the principal weapon of Chinese armies since at least the Han Dynasty. Several tombs dating from the 5th and 4th centuries BCE have been found which contained crossbows.
Spam Mail Responsible for New Literary Craze
Spam mail. Frustrating, time-wasting, utterly pointless. Right? Not if you're a member of a fast-growing new literary movement. Proponents of this new artform call their oeuvre 'spam lit', 'spam poetry' or just plain 'spoetry', and comb their junk mail folders for tidbits of text to turn into literature. If you've ever received spam mail (which you probably have - around 90 billion bulk messages are sent every day) you've probably noticed the unusual and often poetic paragraphs of text at the end of messages. They read something like this: Hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest at the time of year when i visited the factory, arrow, the highsouled ruler of the madras, addressing following her, These paragraphs are spammers' attempts to fool the junk filters imposed by mail providers.
The Key A Fairytale - Chapter 1 - One More Journey Part 5
He guided me down the narrow, winding stairs into the bowels of the abysmal caverns where rats ran freely and the stone floors were awash with slime. Coughing and moaning oozed from hidden chambers as we made our way through this hell that could only be described as the most horrendous nightmare a man could imagine. The jailor pointed to a dark, seeping, windowless cell, barely six feet square and five feet high, and with the lantern, I searched every inch of the room on my hands and knees until, in a corner; I found something scratched on the stone wall: Once there was a little tree. It had a special place all to itself in a beautiful forest, and with the warm winds and gentle rains;