The most critical lesson in writing a love scene is that it is similar to making love in the real world: when done well, it is messy, chaotic and somewhat animalistic. The civilized approach does not work; it leads to the greatest drawback of all: predictability.
Does this sound familiar? The leading man and woman dislike one another intensely; something happens and they see another side of the other; in spite of their best efforts to deny it, they find themselves attracted to one another; and they ultimately fall into a passionate embrace. Do you really want to write that one again?
The Best Love Scenes
The best love scenes are the ones in which the participants are not perfect specimens and the circumstances are obscure and somewhat confused. They are the scenes in which the reader has to work for it. In a word, they are authentic.
For example, here is the opening paragraph of my book, Point and Shoot:
This is how you make love to a woman undergoing cancer treatments. You ignore the metallic taste of her kiss; the slight snorting sound she makes when you press into her; the bony feel of her body, covered by skin that lacks tensile strength; the hairless scalp. You close your eyes and remember what it was like before. You move gently, until you forget yourself, as you should. You savor the moment because there might not be many more. And one more thing: you move very gently.
How to Get Started on Your Love Scene
I would suggest that you start by imagining your most interesting and emotionally-moving encounter with the opposite (or the same) sex. Write out a free association narrative about the images; scents; colorings; texture; dialogue; weather; and other aspects that trigger your memory.
Then, complicate it. You must assume that your memory of the event has been neutered by the passage of time. You remember your past, as we all tend to do, in an unrealistic light, obscuring and shading over the petty annoyances (Could you stop that whistling?); the inconvenient bodily functions (I have to pee.); and the wanderings of your mind (Did I lock the car door?) . So instead of writing that simplistic and ultimately, predictable story, shake it up.
Have your female character imagining a former lover, while her words are only about the man in her arms. Have your male character fear that he will not achieve arousal, and keep this truth from his lover until it can no longer be hidden. Have your characters wear blindfolds, so that all of the narrative description is tactile. In other words, create some kind of slanted, asymmetrical aspect to the story. Make your characters, and the reader, work for it.
Sure, Sex Sells, But Don’t Make it Porn
One of the most frequently asked questions is how explicit to make the love scene. The answer is simple: less explicit than what you would want to read.
It is axiomatic that the most sexually-charged organ of the body is the mind. That is where your story will be experienced, and you need to cater to the mind’s unique way of perceiving. The best caricaturists will use nothing more than a curved line or a geometric shape to suggest an instantly recognizable celebrity. They draw the most memorable aspect of the person’s face, for example the ears. By that alone, the viewer can instantly discern the subject’s identity.
Likewise, a writer must suggest rather than explain. Describe how it feels to run a finger along a thigh; to feel blankets bunched between your body and your lover’s; to be out of breath and not really know why. To paraphrase a long-ago Presidential campaign, make it subtle, stupid.
Here is another excerpt from that scene in Point and Shoot which illustrates the point:
“Are you getting there?”
“I told you never to ask me that question. It doesn’t matter. Keep going. Finish.”
“If I’m hurting you.”
“Keep going.”
I sped up. She shifted her hips to make it easier. After a while, I could see a tear well up at the corner of her eye. The tip of her nose flushed. She patted my shoulder again. “I said keep going.”
A wave of remorse and self-pity, a heavy, deadening feeling, yanked me back.
I stopped for good and rolled off her.
She lay there, splayed out, staring at the ceiling. Unmoving.
I propped myself on one elbow, stroking her abdomen.
We were silent for a long while.
Conclusion
To sum up, love scenes are done best when they follow no particular formula, but instead, come from the heart. Less is more. Of course, you should also keep in mind that the research is frequently much more fun than the actual writing. But take a few moments to get it down on paper, anyway. We readers like to watch.
G.D. Baum
Please read disclaimer noted farther down.. all you have to do is scroll… Scene 13 Little Shop of Horrors Starring; Rick Moranis and Ellen Greene Featuring; Steve Martin Lyrics; Howard Ashman Disclaimer; This channel has the Little Shop of Horrors (LSOH) Movie. I do not own the movie, the music, or any part of it. All rights go to the original owners. Please, do not get this taken down for the people who do love this movie. This is just here for the fans. I am not gaining anything from this, and neither are you for reporting it. The only ones who are gaining anything from this experience is the fans who might be able to learn something by watching it and talking to other fans. Thank you.
In this day and age women have their own plans, goals, and careers. With all of these things weighing on her time judging a man suitable has become a short process of determining whether his character is reasonable and pleasing.
Lets place an image in your mind; a woman who has accomplished her short-term goals of a college degree and securing the job of her dreams. Now she is thinking of starting a long-term committed relationship. The process of finding the right man will be done thoroughly, just as she picked the perfect college and job. What would this woman be looking for in a man? That all depends on her values, personality, and her past relationships.
These relationships include romantic as well as those with friends and family. She may look for a man who has been as thorough in choosing his college and career as she was. She may also look for a man who has had similar experiences with his family as she has. These things make the man seem familiar and she is comfortable because of it. Although she may look for a man who is opposite of her; a man who will push and challenge her into experiencing new things in her life.
With all of these options, her choice will be different as all women are. If she finds a man similar to herself she would expect him not to be lazy, to exert strong effort into his goals and life. She would find a man who works hard and does not view quitting as an option. She would be attracted to a man who puts himself first.
Women who look for relationships similar to those of their parents look for specific qualities. If she saw a man and woman completely committed to each other who put loyalty and faith above all she would find a man that could be that for her. She may also have viewed a relationship where the man and woman were comfortable living their own lives and letting each other in by sharing there experiences of the day. There is also the possibility that she viewed a relationship without love and loyalty. If this is so she would be fine with a relationship like this. She would look for a man who is unable to get close and let her in, a man who only shares his life with her by going through the motions.
Other women desire excitement and inspiration. This woman would desire to be pushed in thought and actions. A man suitable for her would be eclectic, always moving from thought to thought, seeming to be anonymous. He would be imaginative, bold, and defiant. It may never be determined what women look for in the perfect man, because she might not have found the perfect characters for her. She might be looking for a man with several or all of the aforementioned qualities. A hard working man with a meticulous character but also tends to be adventurous.
One thing never to be forgotten is that women as well as men look for things that they find attractive the qualities that draw them in. She will look for a man that she finds appealing mentally as well as physically.Women are complicated, mysterious, and very difficult creatures. When men understand that women are a mystery they will be one step closer to figuring out what women want in a man.
Chris Jensen
Islams prophet Muhammad got married to a 6 year old girl & had sex with her when she was ONLY 9. He was over 50. Here’s one verse & theres many others. Sahih Bukhari Volume 7 Book 62 Number 64 Narrated Aisha: that the prophet married her when she was six years? old, and he consummated his marriage when she was nine years old, and then she remained with him for nine years.India is the birth place of the oldest & still living religion & culture in the World – Hinduism. Hindu religious scriptures date back up to 10000 years. Buddhism & Sikhism were also born in India, Buddhism’s birth place is now in modern day Nepal. Buddhism is over 2500 years old and Sikhism is over 500 years old. These 3 religions are PEACEFUL religions, they believe their is more than one path to God. (in other words they respect & acknowledge other faiths) Hinduism, Buddhism & Sikhism are not one dimensional religious ideologies like Christianity & Islam. Christians & Muslims have for centuries to present day tried & are trying to take over the World, with their religious ideologies. They have tried & are still trying to wipe out other religions of this World. They only want their religions to rain supreme. Christians & Muslims DO NOT respect & acknowledge other faiths. Through my carefully selected video’s I will try to convey this message, to the willing to listen World viewers. Although I feel obliged & understand to respect other religions, due to the actions of Christians & Muslims over the <b>…</b>
FROM BARCELONA TO BILBAO, THE SPANISH LANDS ARE THE PLACE TO CHILL IN STYLEBudget airlines have brought us a step closer to Europe and the climate has always been a pull for us pasty northerners, but recently, the Iberian cities don’t seem to be out of the press. A whole new world of style has been born in Spain. Chef Ferran Adria leads the Spanish cullinary scene with his globally revered, triple-Michelin-starred restaurant, El Bulli, situated on a remote, rocky beach 2 hours from Barcelona. His vociferous support for Spanish produce, Sherry and wines has made the rest of the gastronomic world sit up and take note and has propelled Spain to new heights of international respect. The list of fantastic restaurants and bars within Spanish borders is endless, but we’ve put together a selection of not-to-be-missed venues for a weekend in the sun.
IBIZA
Ibiza or Eivissa, depending on where you emanate from, is Spain’s most famous island and its double name is mirrored in a peculiar split personality that has developed over the last ten years. It is known as the clubbing capital of the world, drawing music connoisseurs from across the globe for its jaw-dropping DJ line-ups and its range of superclubs that hold thousands. At the same time, thanks to reality shows like ‘Ibiza Uncovered’, the so-called Isla Bonita is burdened with a reputation for attracting the worst element of Brits abroad. Lary lads and loose lasses stumble through the streets of San Antonio wreaking havock, making mischief and collapsing in a heap at the end of the night. But beyond all of this, there is a very sophisticated element of Ibizan life – a third personality that escapes most of the tourist trade. A new generation of bars have evolved into world class venues with slick interior design, atmospheric lighting, extensive cocktail menus and some of the best resident DJs in Europe.
When the Warhol bar opened in December 2001, its mission was to attract the stylish and beautiful, and now anyone who’s in the know in the music, fashion or media worlds can be found flocking to it for album launches, catwalk collections or photoshoots. The Base Bar continues to draw the music buffs and Café Mambo on the opposite side of the island has stolen the glory from Café Del Mar next door as the best place to watch the sun go down. Wine Bar is a new development, whose proximity to Pacha nightclub has sealed its future as an all-year fashion hang-out where you can dump vodka limóns in favour of fine wines and Fino. Then there’s cushion-strewn Mao Rooms, from London’s Chinawhite crew, which has become a first class lounge on the Ibiza scene.
For food, L’Elephant is the island’s top French restaurant, located in the small town of San Rafael just outside of Ibiza Town. Sa Capella is a beautiful and impressive restaurant housed in a 16th Century church resplendent with stone statues, foliage and faultless service. La Casita in Cala Llonga is a sleek and stylish terrace restaurant serving gastronomically inventive dishes from its old farmhouse location.
BARCELONA
Physically compact, yet culturally enormous; bohemian, and at the same time ultra chic. Barcelona is one of those cities that is all things to all men. It’s hub of creativity, with internationally renowned art galleries, designer shops and architectural delights that are second to none. Glitzy modern façades juxtaposed with the unique contorted architecture that is Gaudi’s legacy. Delightful squares and meandering boulevards that invite you to amble along for hours, glancing in the designer shops north of Plaça Catalunya. Then break your journey in the basement bodegas and tapas bars of La Rambla. In the summer, you can relax beachside at one of the scores of bars and restaurants along the Mediterranean coast of the Olympic port, dining on morning fresh seafood with a cold Manzanilla at your side. Aqua is a favourite hangout with bleached wooden tables and chairs spilling onto the beach front. For something more urban, Lupino, in one of the grafitti-ridden backstreets of the Raval district, is a fashionable spot with an alfresco terrace in similar style to one of London’s Hoxton haunts. Its slick, warmly lit interior is in direct contrast to the industrial carpark and the boqueria market that it looks out onto. The gourmands would prefer to venture into the commercial district to critically acclaimed Comerç 24 (closed in August), where the El Bulli trained chef, Carles Abellan, serves fantastic modern style tapas to a well-to-do professional crowd. For those of a more adventurous nature, a trip into Mount Tibidabo will provide views over the bustling city. A day at the theme park on high can be followed with drinks at Mirabelle and then completed with cocktails and dancing at the converted mansion known as Partycular. The sophisticated Eixample area offers a number of trendy escapes such as lounge bar Smooth, with its awesome selection of wines and Sherry, and velvet-clad Snooker, which won design awards when it opened a decade ago. El Ascensor in Ribera attracts the beautiful young things and with any luck you’ll be caught in the lift with one of them as you ascend to the modern designer club.
MADRID
It’s big and bustling, it’s loud and crowded, lascivious characters skulk in dark corners, and taxi drivers will try to rip you off. It’s a capital city and no mistaking it. Slap bang in the middle of the Spanish mainland, Madrid is hot – and with none of the forgiving sea breeze that blesses Barcelona, the teracotta cityscape looks practically kiln-baked. But it’s not all stress and strife. The best place to start relaxing is in Paseo del Prado, the expansive promenade that puts all of the city stress on hold. Down the spine of the Prado are three gurgling fountains that are fed by a subterranean stream. Adjacent to Prado is the beautiful, landscaped Retiro park, alive with street performers, bandstand and boat rides on its artificial lake. Sandwiched between the two is the botanical garden, an oasis of peace at the nucleus of the city. Café Miranda captures the spirit and colour of Madrid. Modern European cooking accompanied by a vampish dinner show with drag queens and a psychadelic decor. Drag queens feature at Gula Gula (Gran Via 1) too, where eating at the self-service buffet is a colourful and entertaining experience. A more sophisticated option is La Vaca Veronica where market-fresh ingredients are combined to terrific results. For something on the fashionable tip, Larios Café is a glamorous spot and its delicious Cuban cuisine is popular with the arty designer crowd. But if you’re looking up-market then Salamanca is the area to head for. The Beverley Hills of Madrid, Salamanca is awash with high class restaurants and glitzy bars. El Mentidero de la Villa (C/Santo Tomé 6) or grandiose Pedro Larumbe (C/Serrano 61) for exquisite fish, Estay for contemporary tapas or Boulevard for quaffing with any A-listers that are in town. Another trendy getaway is El Viso Madrid (C/Juan Bravo 31) set on a number of floors with a beautiful terrace bar, basement club and a very well-heeled young clientele. For a change from the norm, La Ida is a funky, chilled bar with no signage to give it away and an unconventional interior design. Frequented only by those ‘in the know’, it’s definitely worth seeking out.
SEVILLE
It is the flamboyant heart and soul of Spanish culture and a city that lives for tradition. From religion, which is embedded in its very essence, to football, politics, food and drink, the Andalusian capital thrives on its roots. Bull-fighting and flamenco are at the centre of its cultural calendar. And tapas is simply the done thing, for it was in Seville that the global obsession was born.Languishing at Spain’s southern tip, the sun-baked streets bask in the glory of a near-tropical heat. It is explosively colourful and architecturally stunning, its foundations carved from a multitude of occupations that span three millennia. The people smile, things move ever so slowly and mañana never seems to come. A weekend is simply not enough in Seville. You need time to stroll around from tapas bar to tapas bar, soaking up the atmosphere and the locally made Sherry; to meander along the river at sunset, stopping to crack open a bottle of Amontillado to mix with the rays of a sinking sun; to wander through the charming squares and the winding, cobbled streets of the Jewish quarter; and to drift from one hip bar to the next in trendy Alameda. Restaurants are less commonplace than in Barcelona or Madrid and Tapas bars take precedence. Egaña Oriza (C/San Fernando 41) combines bar and restaurant with elegance blending Basque and Andalusian cuisine in an expansive early 20th Century terazza. Another magnificient dining experience is La Albahaca – an exclusive townhouse which serves imaginative Spanish fusion dishes. Casa Robles serves gourmet Sevillian cuisine and is favoured by the Spanish royal family. Its sister restaurants Robles Placentines and Robles Tapas offer a less formal environment. La Colonial de Vinos y Viandas (C/Valpaiso 13) is the place to head for Spanish wine lovers – an amazing array of wines are accompanied by Cuban cigars and tasty tapas. Or try the inventive Mediterranean cuisine at La Madraza (C/Peris Mencheta 21), where you can titilate your taste-buds while gazing at the artworks on the walls which double as a gallery space.
BILBAO
Fifteen years ago, Bilbao was just a busy port and an old iron mining town. Fondly called ‘Botxo’ by the locals (Basque for ‘hole’), Bilbao escaped becoming a hole (literally) in the 90s with the gentrification of the dock area and the creation of such cultural magnets as the Guggenheim Museum and the concert hall, the development of the park, and the Sir Norman Foster designed metro system. The best way to get the most out of Bilbao is by way of a Txikiteo (the local version of a pub crawl) with a glass of Sherry and a plate of tapas in each bar. Alternatively, go top-end with Michelin-starred Zortzika – the lunch menu is best value. There’s also relaxed, but fashionable El Perro Chico, which looks out onto the recently cleaned river. Tapas bars tend to be more on the dark traditional side, but Harizki (Ledesma 7) goes against the grain offering gourmet style dishes in a slick, bright interior. As with other bars around Calle Ledesma, this place stays open a little later than the rest of the city. Worth a visit too is Artajo (Ledesma 4), where locals swear by the mussels in anchovy sauce.
JEREZ
The people of Jerez live for Sherry. Flamenco is a favourite pass-time and while drinking and dancing are woven into the fabric of life, it still remains a relatively peaceful and unspoilt part of Spain. Beaches and mountains are within reach at either side, vineyards and orange groves surround it and the ruins of once magnificent castles punctuate the landscape. It is a beautiful and ancient city, which despite being serviced by the no-frills airlines, still manages to evade mass tourism.The wide avenues of the city centre are full of shops and tapas bars are everywhere. Pass by Las Bridas for the kind of portions that you can share around or head for La Abacerio (Plaza Rafel Rivero) for a lively evening in alfresco surrounds. Good tradicional cuisine is to be had at Gaitán or El Gallo Azul (Calle Larga) for something a little more experimental. And whatever you do, make time to visit one of a many bodegas that are open for Sherry-tasting tours. It’s an unforgettable experience and one that will ensure you go away itching to come back.
SAN SEBASTIAN
One of the most fashionable places in Spain to holiday, San Sebastian couldn’t be further removed from the cheap resorts of the south. Golden beaches are beautifully maintained, landscaped parks and gardens, majestic mountains and the thrashing seas of the Bay of Biscay combine to dramatic effect. Designer shops keep the spendthrift upper classes happy as do some of the finest bars and restaurants in the country. Arzak is at the top of the list of restaurants to visit for the foodies (you are recommended to book at least a month in advance). Chef Juan Mari Arzak is often at your side to help you decide on dishes which change daily. Akelarre with its mountain location and views over the Atlantic offers a combination of traditional local cuisine and modern Basque interpretations and is not to be missed. All of the late night action happens in Parte Vieja, where tapas bars line the streets (try La Cepa, Martinez, Ormazabel and Gaztelu all on C/Agosto) and you can dance and drink until the very early hours.
Jeremy Mascarenhas
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Romance writing has always been a popular genre of literature. This is because it is a subject that is very close to people’s hearts. Romance writing has always been undertaken by people who feel they have a passion for setting the stage and directing the drama all in writing romance. It is a field that has very many players and, the results have been very impressive. Writers have been able to draw an audience from dry readers with their juicy narrations which can only be described as captivating; many writers have achieved this. The bar was set very high by writers who are long gone. Their creative tales of the past romance is covered with an erotic innocence that will not fade away soon. Writers like William Shakespeare were known for their artistic seventh sense as they ventured into the world of fiction and reality combined. There is so much history to look at when it comes to writing. For any writing to progress, it is vital to look at history for the purpose of judging how far we have come. We have come from far and, the good news is that romance gets better with age.
Contemporary romance writing has taken center stage. This is becoming the specialty of all age groups and genders. The diversity has only brought progress to the world of romance fiction. There are writers who have decided to use that historical edge to totally bring out real life characters who are able to make a better impression. Writers like Virginia Henley have done this perfectly. She is known to blend her work and set the romance with a historical theme and influence. If you are the kind of person who enjoys this kind of realism, the romance writing is for you. There are so many categories of subgenres that come with this kind of writing. As I have just mention, historical romance is still very popular in the modern day. We also have the modern or contemporary genres which are becoming more and more dynamic. Erotic romance is another form of writing that mainly focuses of the strong sexual urge between main characters. Many really appreciate this kind of writing because it is considered more practical.
Paranormal romance literature and science fiction romance are other categories of the writing. They literally feature extra ordinary stuff which is all intertwined in a romantic story. In the modern world, people are becoming more and more interested in the paranormal. The twists have definitely brought romance writing to another level. There are very many categories to choose from and, you can be assured of amazing reads. Get to know the kind of writing you are more interested in. This ay, you will be able to cut to the chase and know the kind of story you want to read. For more insight or guidance on reading such writings, you can join a book club. If you do not have time to meet, you can join an online book club which will provide you with the support and guidelines you need to start reading.
Francis Githinji
Drawing graffiti letters can be done in hundreds of different ways, but drawing on graph paper helps the letters stay to scale, and using a brush pen creates a flared effect. Draw a few different types of graffiti letters with a demonstration from an experienced artist and art supply store employee in this free video on drawing
Please check out our web site … http://www.gillhamsfishingresorts.com for all the latest news and info about fishing in Thailand at Gillhams Fishing Resorts.
Hi everyone and welcome to 2009. Let’s all hope this recession ends soon – it’s really crippling us, as the first thing people do in troubled times is not take an exotic holiday. Don’t forget to cheer yourselves up and come and see me at the Carpin’ On show 2009 at Five Lakes near Maldon in Essex – see the link on our website. We are on Stand 10A, and if you book and pay on the day you receive a 10% discount. If you bring a Big Carp Magazine and show me, we will give you a further 5% discount, so that’s a massive 15% off the best fishing holiday on the planet. If you buy your tickets in advance for the show you automatically go into the free draw for a week for two with flights, fishing and accommodation at Gillhams Krabi. Just click on the link above.
The first few days of January saw the end of a holiday for a few people who spent Christmas with us. It’s always a sad moment, as people who came as clients and leave as friends depart, but most rebook so we all meet again. As I write this report the heatwave continues; we are having the hottest January on record, the sun is relentless, and every day is over 100 degrees. We haven’t had a drop of rain in five weeks; the lake has dropped a foot as we water the gardens twice a day from the lake. The gardens are struggling in the heat in the jungle around us; the trees are going brown so I just hope there isn’t a fire! The intense heat and flat calm conditions are making the fishing very hard, especially for the arapaima; they are just not feeding hard at all, just taking the odd snack. The Mekong catfish have started to feed in earnest again though, and it seems the stingray like the hot weather also. Talking of stingray, I was landing one for angler Eric Keogh, and stingrays are hard to net – it takes two or three of us to manhandle them into the net. As I was shoving the fish into the net, it swished its tail, impaling its sting into my foot, and I have never in my life experienced pain like it! Within seconds my whole leg was on fire; it was like someone pushing a red-hot poker up my leg, and all my muscles started to seize up as I went into shock.
The lads on the lake bundled me into our car and drove like lunatics to the local hospital, where they had been pre-warned of our arrival. The hospital had staff waiting, and I was rushed into emergency. By now the pain was excruciating, and my shirt was soaked with sweat. Immediately two doctors appeared and started injecting my foot wit Easy Cartoon Drawing : How to Draw a Cartoon Mouse
h anesthetics and an anti-venom type substance. Next, the doctor cut open the wound and removed the sting and a black skin that covers the sting. The wound was then packed out with antibiotics and cotton wool. I had to go to hospital every day for over a week for more injections, and to have the wound opened and cleaned. All our stingrays in the lake had their stings removed, but we did not realize that every so often a stingray has two stings. This one had been overlooked and had two; the sting folds flat to the tail and we had missed this one. The 110lb fish had its sting removed this time. We have stingray to over 200lb in the lake, and in future we will no longer net them in this way until we are sure the sting is absent. Fishing at the lake is perfectly safe as stingrays stay away from people. They are like any creature – if cornered and panicked they lash out. The only time they will sting is when you start annoying them. It was my own fault for being blas? about these beautiful fish. I will have more respect for them next time, and for our customer’s safety no angler is allowed in the lake until any fish has been contained and made safe. This ensures that our customers are 100% safe at all times. For the record freshwater stingray are believed to reach 1,000lbs with 5m wingspans, so this fish was a baby really at 110lb. Mind you, can you imagine a 110lb hornet? We have five different species of fish in Gillhams over 100lb, and landing these huge fish is dangerous. We are professionals but we still get hurt; a moment’s lapse in concentration is all it takes. I will repeat our customers are safe as long as they take our advice and do not enter the water ‘til we say it is 100% safe to do so.
We are still getting the odd person, with the emphasis on odd, who come here, get a huge fish, and feel let down because they wanted one bigger. One guy this month had a 60lb Chao Phraya catfish, which is only 4lb off the world record, but he did not want a photo because in his words he will wait for a big fish. He even admitted it was the biggest fish he had ever caught! Mind you the same guy had his biggest carp, but waited for a bigger one, then when he had an arapaima and a big red tail catfish in a day, he was also disappointed because he had to wait a whole seven hours between fish! Oh where do they come from? Luckily the real nice guys who appreciate catching fish outweigh these so-called fishermen. Some people just want a trophy shot, and do not wish to put in any effort. We even get some that are gutted they don’t get several 100lb fish a day with a couple of 300lb-plus fish thrown in. We are thinking of starting a new service for these people where people can order their fish online; we will enhance their mug behind a fish and send them the picture of their prize without them even having to take the trouble to come here, and I bet we would have some takers! The other annoying people who come here who really wind us up are the litter louts. Last week we had a prat come here who actually called his self Gayland (I kid you not) with his two boyfriends, who I presume were called Ben Dover and Phil McCavity! Now he (it) was the typical berk who only wanted a trophy shot. On arrival they commented how beautiful the place is, only to throw rubbish all around their swim! Luckily I was out all day and just missed them leaving, because their swim was an absolute tip with rubbish strewn everywhere. It took the boys ten minutes to clear the mess of food wrappers, fag ends and general crap! If I had been there I would have donned the rubber gloves and dragged them by their blouses to clear up the mess themselves! We supply rubbish bags and have sand pots in the swims for faggot ends, so please use them. I personally get really angry about cigarette ends thrown on the ground or tossed in the lake. It makes me wonder what these people’s houses are like. That’s it – monthly whinge over!
Back to a bit of humor – my manager Watt, bless him, is very gullible and Sean got him a treat this month. Watt wanted to know how he could increase the size of his manhood, so Sean informed him of a cream called 3-in-1 that triples the size of your tackle, and poor young Watt fell for it. My daughter Becca bought some Immac hair remover over at Christmas, so we put it in a plain bottle and presented it to Watt. He went off with our security man the local policeman; they smeared the cream around their parts, and sat around for an hour talking of what they were going to do with their new king size weapons! After an hour they washed the cream off, along with all their forest. They came to see me in a state of horror and shock, but were very relieved when I told them it is the first stage of growth and to repeat it next month. Oh what a horrid person I am! Roll on next month!
The top method this month looks alien to European anglers, but lots of Siamese carp are coming out to a method feeder fished 3ft below a float with a golf ball sized fishmeal boilie suspended under it. Now I just wonder, would this method work in European waters? The first of the new arrivals were our dear friends Wil and Betty from Holland, who came last year for a few days and stayed a few weeks before setting off on an epic motorcycle journey from India back to Holland. This time their trip was tame, coming straight to Thailand and back by plane. We are planning a trip together now for June when we are going into the jungle fishing for Thai mahseer, that’s if the troubles in the Congo don’t end, because the minute they do we are all planning to race to catch a Goliath tiger fish. Last year Wil and Betty came as clients, and this year, as with many of our guests, they returned as friends. They planned a five-day trip here, and once again stayed longer – as Wil got into the fishing, the trip grew to ten days. We were dreading another group that came to us, as there were 30 people. We had to arrange a speedboat to collect them from an Island 50 miles away, and minibuses to transport them from the beach to here, but they were an absolute joy to host. The whole day went smoothly, and we even managed to accommodate them for the night when they didn’t wish to leave. There was not one person in the group who was the slightest problem, but the fish kept their nuts down though, as there had never been so many lines in the lake at once. Paul and Lorraine, it was a pleasure hosting you all, and we are looking forward to you all returning this year for a holiday. As for Lorraine, she deserved a medal organizing the whole holiday for 30.
We also had a visit from two brothers who we nicknamed The Wurzels, a really nice pair of lads who lived on a farm in the country, and decided to have an adventure. They had never been out of their county, let alone the country, and they had never heard of a place called Oxford where our guide Kevin hails from. Imagine the boys’ surprise when they landed in Thailand! Apparently at home they don’t go out drinking, “We’ze don’ts goes out dranking, we’ze stays in wiz a noice cup orf tea.” We asked one brother if he saw the guy opposite land the big Mekong catfish. He replied, “Nooooooo, I warz wachin’ der arnts – oi loike arnts, they is fazinating indzects.” Yes they were proper characters, really nice lads on an adventure, and imagine their return home to the farm explaining all the things they had seen to their family, “Duz yoo nowz in that Thailand theyz eats frags snakez an bugz, and even der gals haz got willies, not likes our sis aat all, yer nowz!” I must stop, but they kept us amused and were real nice guys.
So now enough of my twaddle and onto the fishing. This month has seen 45 day tickets (30 in one group) and 38 guests on Thailand fishing holidays, fishing in Thailand from a few days to a couple of weeks. Between them they landed 465 fish of 15 species, made up as follows… 25 arapaima to 400lbs, 12 Mekong catfish to 180lbs, 255 Siamese carp to 120lbs, 72 red tail catfish to 80lbs, five alligator gar to 15lbs, four Asian red tail catfish to 30lbs, 13 black pacu to 30lbs, seven Chao Phraya catfish to 65lbs, 19 spotted sorubim to 35lbs, four Julian’s golden prize carp to 25lbs, eight spotted featherback to 10lbs, 17 rohu carp to 16lbs, 18 striped snakehead to 4lbs, five giant stingray to 120lbs, and one wallago attu of 24lb.
As mentioned earlier Wil, with his much better half Betty, from Holland were the first new guests in after Christmas. The fishing this year was slower than last, but as Wil targets big fish it suited him and his style of fishing. Wil’s target this year was to fish Siam carp. Betty once again was chief photographer, reporter, general gopher, and live bait catcher. Betty loves float fishing for our lesser species, but Wil made strict rules – no float fishing before 9am so as not to spook the fish! Wil ended his session with five arapaima to 200lb, 13 Siamese carp to 110lb, and three Mekong catfish to 130lb. That’s three species in one trip exceeding 100lb! Plus he had five red tail catfish to 45lb, and some rohu and pacu.
The next new arrivals who came to us via Siam fishing tours, were totally laid back Mark with his non-fishing wife Carol. I have never in my life met someone as chilled out as Mark, a lovely guy who just got taken in by the peace and tranquility of Gillhams. We actually had to pick up Mark and all his equipment and move him to a different spot, as for four days Mark sat gazing in awe at the beauty of our resort, failing to cast at showing fish or sometimes for that matter even failing to cast. Poor Mark ended the trip with just one fish (mind you that was one more than Siam fishing tours managed to get him). He has vowed to return with his fishing head on next time, but mind you, Mark showed that you do not need to catch fish to enjoy a trip here. Day-ticket visitor pearl necklace Terry came for a day on the busiest day of the month when we had the group of 30 in, but he saw enough to fit a four-hour session in the next morning before leaving Krabi, and his keenness paid off with a 55lb Chao Phraya catfish and three Siamese carp to 40lb. Ian Norris, an ex-pat living in Australia did the usual, a 24-hour trip, and left it ‘til the last hour to catch, but it was worth the wait when first he landed a rare wallago attu at 24lb, followed by the ever-friendly Siamese carp, Black Spot, at 70lb.
Steve Cox made a return visit for a three-day trip with his mate Colin and two Thai friends, Kuan and Jay, who are regulars at Bungsamlan Lake in Bangkok. The Thai lads gave the two Brits a proper lesson in fishing with their knowledge of Thai species, landing 25 fish to the Britt’s 11 fish! Whenever Coxie leaves Gillhams, a big Siamese carp comes out, and this trip was no exception because as he left Wil had a 110lb carp. Another 48-hour visitor was builder Steve Holberry from Manchester with his mate Mark. They landed 12 fish between them, with the icing on the cake going to Steve in the shape of a 90lb Siamese carp. The cobblers from Manchester, Ross and Slim John, made the short drive from Phuket for a 1? day trip. Slim John only made part of the first day, and retired knackered after landing seven carp in a short flurry of action, deciding to stop while ahead, and work his way through our restaurant menu! Ross meanwhile gave his all, fishing ‘til the final whistle for a haul of six Siamese carp to 60lb, one 50lb red tail catfish, and a 150lb Mekong catfish. This fish took him all over the lake while Slim sat eating a box of pies. Judging by the amount consumed by Slim, we estimated the fight took one hour, or 10 pies, 11 cakes, a bucket of ice cream, and 20 fags!
Then came the incredible hulk brothers Ricky and Terry Clark. These two giants were spot-on sound guys who came and enjoyed every moment of their stay. They came hoping for an arapaima, but whatever they caught was a bonus – just the attitude needed to fish here. Now the first day Ricky, who is about 10ft tall with a physique that makes Arnie look a wimp, caught a nice Mekong catfish. He plucked it from the landing net as if it was a minnow, “How big,” he asked? Well judging by the ease with which he had just lifted, it I would have said 5lb, but went for 120lb instead so as not to offend him! “No,” he stated, “I reckon 180lb,” and who was I to argue? But to humour him, I went to lift it, and amidst laughter from all around, I nearly followed through, and for sure it was easily 180lb. Ricky went on to take three Mekong, 17 Siamese carp, two red tail catfish, one pacu, and his target species, a nice 200lb arapaima. Terry, who is the same size as Ricky, with arms like hams, caught ten fish including two 100lb-plus arapaima. I am very glad the brothers were here when they were, as during this time I had the mishap with the stingray, and the lads plucked me from the lake like a feather and ran with me to the waiting car. Thanks you two, I owe you one. The hot weather was certainly bringing the stingrays on the feed, as two days later Keith from Liverpool landed another one, minus a sting! This fish weighed in at 120lb, and compensated for a lost arapaima.
Another laid back Mr. Nice Guy, Ken Weeks, booked in for a week. Ken came to chill out and hopefully catch a few fish. He was great fun to be with, and thoroughly enjoyed his stay here. The first few days Ken just chilled in the wrong swim, but was not bothered. Later in the week he moved to the other end of the lake, landing 31 fish for the week. He got into a shoal of Siamese carp, and took 18 to 50lb. At the same time my dear friends Jamie and Carol Mclean arrived just for a quiet break to see us. Jamie did manage a couple of short sessions between the swimming pool and sightseeing, while Carol divulged her secret steak and kidney pudding and bacon pudding recopies to Steve. Oh mate, these are to die for, and are now on the menu here at Gillhams – I have already put on another 20lbs! Jamie’s best fish from five was a red tail of 65lb. I had an enquiry before Christmas from a guy by the name of Jerker who wished to visit for a 48-hour trip. I thought it was a wind-up from a mate, but actually it turns out to be a popular name in Scandinavian countries – apparently there are lots of Jerkers over there! I suppose when they leave they say Jerker’s off! Sorry couldn’t resist that; it’s a bit like the lad called Wayne Kerr. OK back to the story… Jerker was a fishing fanatic; he booked three rods, and was buzzing from the moment he arrived. He had his better half Ida with him, and what a pair! He said that Ida could fish, but he only wanted her to use maize or boilies so as not to catch bigger fish than him. The first day Ida was a machine, taking eight Siamese carp in a short feeding spell, but the next day she properly gave Jerker a spanking with a 150lb Mekong catfish in the morning, followed by three more Siamese carp to 120lb. While all this was happening, poor Jerker in the next swim landed just two fish. The following week Jerker returned for a day’s fishing, and to save face poor Ida was not allowed to fish! He had a better day, probably because Ida was showing him what to do, landing five fish with some small carp, by Ida’s standards, up to 55lb, along with a nice featherback around 12lb.
Reiner from Dream Lake in Chiang Mai sent his Austrian client Andreas to us. By the time he arrived we were in the middle of a heatwave and the fishing was slow, but in a week he still managed 21 fish of five species. His target featherback eluded him, but on the final day, in the last hour of fishing, Andreas landed a dream fish in the shape of a 400lb arapaima! This was the same fish that rescued Len Gurd’s trip last month, again in the last hour of the last day. This arapaima is just packing on the weight – it was stocked at 300lb and avoided capture for 18 months. We are sure if it avoids capture for the next 18 months, it will reach 500lbs! At the same time as Andreas we had German client Peter in for three days. Peter’s target were predators, and he scored with two arapaima, best 160lb-plus, an 85lb stingray, and also took three red tail catfish. Germany has been making a good appearance here this month, and our final German client for the month was catfish fanatic Michael Zellner, who came for four days, and immediately rebooked for July when the heatwave will be well and truly over, as it will be our rainy season by then. Michael only landed nine fish due to the extreme heat, as we suffered the hottest January on record, but he did land his dream fish, an arapaima of 120lb. Michael’s attitude was what we wish everyone’s would be, enjoy the holiday – one big fish makes the holiday, and he could see enough potential here if the weather is kind to re book.
A bit of a sad one is the way to describe the next visitors. Here at Gillhams we want everyone to enjoy the peace and tranquility of the lake. We designed a fishery for the specialist angler where patience is rewarded with the biggest fish of your dreams. Most people catch a dream fish in a week, and sometimes two or three. We have never claimed Gillhams as a mackerel fishing location where you catch a fish a chuck from an overcrowded stock pond where all the fish are starving and emaciated. Our fish are the biggest and best-conditioned fish in Asia due to a low stocking density and an abundance of natural food. You should expect around four fish a day with a dream fish as a bonus. Henk and Job from Holland had not done their homework because if you look through our website you will see we are not a single specie overstocked bowl, and we chose the area for its peace, quiet and beauty, not like Bungsamlan in Bangkok where you can sit with crowds of muppets crossing lines amongst skyscrapers and fumes, hauling out vast bags of starved, badly beaten catfish before heading back to your hotel through traffic jams for a night of debauchery in the girlie bars. Unfortunately Gillhams was not for Henk and Job, so after a few days of only fishing part time they landed six fish, with a stingray of 80lb and Siamese carp to 50lb, before they headed back to Bangkok for a wild time in the bars, plus sticking hooks in numerous half starved and tatty Mekong and striped catfish amongst the crowds.
By contrast to Henk and Job, the next guest had read up on us, and wanted peace, quiet and big fish in beautiful surroundings. The spritely 70-years-young Arthur Hawkins, with his delightful fishing partner and wife Angie, came for a week on their way home from visiting their daughter and grandchildren in Australia. Arthur first noticed Gillhams via the article by Gary Newman in Anglers Mail after the Anglers Mail visit here. Arthur’s target was a big fish of any species, as he wanted to win a Jonny foreigner hat. In a week of chilling out and a second honeymoon, Arthur landed 13 fish of five species, the best being two arapaima to 220lb, and four red tail catfish to 75lb. Not to be outdone, Angie showed just what the women can do; she was a very competent and experienced fisherwoman who is thoroughly enjoying retirement with Arthur, fishing around the world. Angie landed 12 fish of four species, the best being four red tail catfish to 80lb, and six Siamese carp to 45lb. If poor Angie had not lost a couple of big fish, one being an arapaima, she would have upstaged Arthur. The couple both realized that the extreme heat was slowing the fishing, but agreed that Gillhams would still be paradise without the fish – in their words the fish were a bonus. Top couple, top fishing – we will see them both later in the year.
Gillhams is starting to get noticed in Singapore, so if any of our Singaporean followers are reading this and know the dates of the Singapore fishing show, please email me so we can attend and show just what we have, only a 1? hour flight from Singapore. One guy who made the trip this month was Nick Wheeler, an ex-pat Englishman working and living there, Nick came with his wife and one-year-old daughter for a week’s holiday with three days fishing, and landed ten fish in the three days of six species, with arapaima to 120lb, Chao Phraya catfish to 60lb, a baby Mekong catfish of 65lb, plus red tail catfish to 65lb along with Siamese carp and sorubim, all in all a fair bit of sport for a short trip.
So that’s me running out of space folks, but don’t forget the Five Lakes show on the 7/8 March. By the time you get next month’s newsletter I will be freezing in the UK, wearing shoes, long trousers and jackets for the first time in a year! If your fishing club want a talk on Thailand fishing holidays or fishing in Thailand, please contact me, as I still have some dates available. Forget the recession, and treat yourself to the fishing trip of a lifetime here at www.gillhamsfishingresorts.com Phone +66861644554. So, ‘til next month, from all of us at Gillhams, bye for now, thanks for your support, and catch a whacker.
Stuart and the team.
Please check out our web site … http://www.gillhamsfishingresorts.com for all the latest news and info about fishing in Thailand at Gillhams Fishing Resorts.
If the same amount of system were applied to the teaching of various forms of drawing that is devoted to the teaching of writing, You wouldn’t so often hear people say, “Oh no, I could never learn to draw! They tried to teach me at school, but I was no good, I had to give it up as a bad job.”
What would you think about the same person who said the same thing about learning to write? You’d probably think that it was a pretty stupid thing to say, and you’d be right. Now, that’s not necessarily the students fault. The number of failures in drawing classes is no doubt due to an almost total lack of system in teaching the fundamentals, and the denial to students of basic teaching aids.
Authors@Google: Corey Lee
So called “freehand drawing” is at the bottom of most failures to grasp the groundwork knowledge necessary to enable almost anyone to make simple, accurate, drawings from copies or other models. “Freehand” drawing should probably becalled “Hap-Hazard” drawing.
A teacher of handwriting instructs according to a recognised system. He/she requires the use of guide lines for the formation of the written characters
Any skillful writer will tell you that at the beginning his text looked clumsy, too. He’ll say that when he now reads his first writings, he can’t help a smile. But he will also tell you that now he feels absolutely comfortable when writing, and the only mistakes that leave him unsatisfied refer to content or main idea, as it happens to a lot of writers, and some editing job has to be done to eliminate them.
If you plan to become a writer or journalist, or simply want to improve your academic writing in order to receive a better grade, there’s the only way out – write, write, and write. The secret is very easy. The thing is that the more you practice, the better you get acquainted with your typical mistakes. The better you know them, the more you will look for the ways to correct them. And this leads to the only possible result – successful writing. A sense for text comes with time, but once you get it, nothing will go wrong about your stylistics. With time you will also notice (and this is surprising to a lot of writers) that when reading a newspaper, you subconsciously edit the news story the way it should’ve been written, or mark good passages of an item.
There are several ways to improve your writing. One of them is by using online blogs. They have become very popular recently. The reason why you should use one is clear: independent critics will leave comments concerning your writing. You can even ask them to do it. However, don’t try to narrow it down to writing exercises. Express yourself. Write about something that bothers, surprises, inspires, or upsets you. Try to make your blog interesting to read. This is also a good option for those who are afraid of the fact that someone may find their papers with “clumsy writing”. Blogs leave you relevantly anonymous.
Pictures can be a way to practice, too. Make an album where you will have a separate page for every picture. Write comments, short stories, or jokes. Pictures are a good way to practice satire. It is a very valuable skill that is not commonly found today. With a practice like this who knows, maybe you will be the next famous satirical writer?
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Some of you might be used to diaries; therefore, it’s a good idea to make a feedback diary, where you will leave your impressions of the day. Every day. Put it in whichever form you prefer, but avoid using simple language, or abbreviations. Instead, draw bright and colorful pictures. Usually days in a regular life don’t differ much, and sometimes it’s even hard to remember what happened last Friday. Imagine that in two years you will find your writing diary, read any note, and remember in details what happened that Wednesday in January.
If you don’t feel like committing yourself to everyday writing, make a writing journal. Use it whenever something significant happens to you. You can write in a style of a novel – with some prehistory, background details, and a vivid description of an event. Don’t put limitations like, “I need to write five pages on this event”. Try to avoid brevity, but make yourself comfortable with what you have to do.
If you feel more or less confident, but you know that there still has to be some practice, you can start compiling your own essay volume. It differs from both a diary and a journal, because here you let your imagination go wild and untamed. Create topics, make up stories, work on characters, and conduct researches. You can choose an issue that bothers you, and work on it systematically. Big projects are good for they teach you to organize notes (to keep track of all descriptions and characters), and to finish stories.
Whatever you choose – blogs, pictures, diaries, journals, or essay collections – remember that practice makes perfect. Something that sounds clumsy will look better with time. You will see that your style of writing and shaping the texts will change dramatically. Who knows, maybe some day you will switch blogs for editors and start earning money on writing books? You will probably want to publish a book called “How I Managed to Become a Successful Writer”.
Jail movie is based on the character Parag Dixit who is living a dream life with a great job and his loving girlfriend Maansi! However things take an ugly turn when after a series of unfortunate events the suddenly wakes up in jail; handcuffed and randomly beaten up by the cops. Parag is perplexed and in a place far from his utopian life. He tries hard to face away from the ugly truth and wish it’s all a bad dream but soon succumbs to the prison anarchy. The only salvation he finds is in Nawab, a convict and a warder who believes that Parag is innocent. Soon, Parag discovers the inner mechanism and the science responsible for the wretched status inside the prison and hordes of broken hearts and shattered souls which managed to find comfort amidst the four prison walls. He is left with a choice, to either live a life that controlled and exploited or fight against the system!
Ask any child what their favorite part of any story they have ever heard is and they aren’t going to tell you that it was the pretty flowers outside grandma’s house or the way the birds sang in the background. Their most favorite part of all is going to be the character that they identified with and related to the most. Even children as young as two have a favorite character in a story. This is why it is very important that you learn to write children’s characters specifically aimed for children.
There are the obvious reasons as to why as a writer you should focus on your characters, such as plot creation. Think about it… can you really deliver a story that is going to draw your reader in and make them connect with what is happening if you have flat characters, or worse, no characters? It may be possible, but very difficult. Characters give a story life. Think about a few of the classics, Winnie the Pooh, who do you identify with in that story? Is it Eeyore the lovably sad donkey, or Pooh the eternal optimist? The funny thing is that if you know the characters in Winnie the Pooh, you can look at the people in your life and admit that you know a Piglet, a Rabbit, a Kanga and Roo. While they are stuffed animals that come to life in Christopher Robin’s imagination they are believable.
Another reason that you want to learn to write children’s characters well is that characters can stand on their own. While there is no story without the characters, there is always characters even if there is no story. A wonderful example of this is in the Wizard of Oz. Toto is Dorothy’s dog, he has no lines accept for an occasional bark here or there… yet he has a story of his own. He takes on the evil witch on the farm, is able to run away from the witch… takes on the big lion… and really saves Dorothy as he goes out to find the Scarecrow, Tin Man and the Lion. No, the Wizard of Oz is not about Toto. He is a character all on his own, who created his own story.
We can use Toto as an example of how characters control the plot and the twist and turns in the story. Had Toto not gone to find the Scarecrow and everyone, would the witch have gotten the shoes from Dorothy in a malicious manner? If it wasn’t for Rabbit, would Pooh Bear have ever gotten out of the honey pot he was stuck upside down in? We would have completely different stories if it wasn’t for the characters in the stories we love.
The next question you should be asking now is, “how to write children’s characters that are believable?” Good that you asked, because believable characters are so important. This isn’t to say that you can’t have a mouse that can cook and save a restaurant. It means that you have to think about who your reader is. So best way to learn to write children’s characters is to think about the children reading the book. If you are writing for 14 year olds, then your approach to character development is going to be quite different then if you are writing for 4 year olds. The reason is because at 14 children have more experience to draw from then a 4 year old. So while at 4 years old, believing that eating spinach can give you incredible muscles so that you can pick up a truck and save your best friend… while at 14 the child is going to go “Yeah right,” and put the book down not to pick it up again.
Another item to consider is the goal of your characters. When you are thinking about how to write children’s characters you need to think about what each character is after. Let’s go back to our earlier examples, Pooh is always after honey. Young children can relate to Pooh because at 4, 5 and 6 they can relate to wanting their one favorite thing all the time, so badly it hurts. Or maybe it’s Piglet who is afraid of everything, like dark places…most kids that age are afraid of the dark. In the Wizard of Oz, which has characters that kids of all ages can relate to, they relate to them for different reasons. Young kids relate to Dorothy because of the magic shoes that can take her home. Older kids because her aunt and uncle are unfair and didn’t give her what she wanted so she ran away.
This is only the beginning of learning how to write children’s characters. There is so much more the goes into creating children’s characters so that your story reaches out and grabs your young readers. Don’t you want to learn to write the next Harry Potter… or Winnie the Pooh? Create believable children’s characters to ensure your story gets their attention.
Here are six simple and very important tools you need to know and have to learn before you master photoshop. Starting with the Brush Tool, Pencil Tool, Eraser Tool, Paint Bucket Tool, Gradient Tool, Text Tool each tool has it’s own part to play in photoshop
The Brush Tool (B) is suitable for softedged painting or drawing. Draw strokes by clicking and dragging the mouse over the canvas. You can change the brush size and other settings in the options bar at the top of the window.
The Pencil Tool (B) is suitable for hard-edged drawing or painting and has similar options to the Brush Tool for setting its size, opacity, and more. The Pencil Tool is often used for drawing on, and editing individual pixels in, zoomed-in images.
The Eraser Tool (E) removes pixels from the canvas. You can choose between Pencil, Brush, or Block mode from the Mode drop-down menu in the options bar.
The Paint Bucket Tool (G) fills a selection with a flat color. To use the Paint Bucket Tool, click once in the area that you wish to fill. If the chosen area is not within a selection, the Paint Bucket Tool will fill all similarly-colored pixels within the vicinity of the clicked area.
The Gradient Tool (G) fills a selection with a blend of two or more colors, known as a gradient. You can easily create your own gradient, or use any of the preset gradients available in Photoshop.Display the gradient presets and tools by clicking on the small triangle on the righthand
side of the Gradient Tool. Apply a gradient by setting your desired colors, choosing your gradient style, then clicking and dragging the cursor over the area to be filled.
The Text Tool (T), true to its name, creates text layers. This one’s easy to use-just select the Text Tool, click on the canvas, and start typing! You can also click and drag to create a rectangular text area that will force text to wrap within its boundaries.
You can change the font size, color, and other text properties using the options bar along the top of the window. When the Text Tool is active, you can move the cursor outside of the text area. The cursor will change from the “text insert” cursor to the “move” cursor, and you’ll be able to move the text layer around.
It’s worth noting that when the Text Tool is active, you can’t use keyboard shortcuts to access other tools. This may seem like an obvious thing to point out now, but it won’t always be so apparent-especially when your text mysteriously starts spurting strange characters because you’ve been trying to use the shortcut keys!
To finish using the Text Tool, press Ctrl-Enter (Command-Return on a Mac). You can then resume your regular keyboard shortcutting!
David Peters
Here is a great little effect that adds a whole lot of “mood” to an image by softening and increasing contrast and also features a vignette around the focal point of your choosing. The beauty of this technique is that by using adjustment layers we have full control over the final effect’s strength and color. This one is a great tip for Photographers of any type. If you enjoy the video please rate, comment, and subscribe! Check out www.tutvid.com for more great video tutorials! Check out the blog @ http Check this video out in Hi-Res here: www.tutvid.com
Drawing comic book characters requires dynamics in the positioning of the figure and the details. Learn to draw comic book characters with tips from a professional illustrator and graphic artist in this free video on drawing. Expert: Jay French Contact: www.jayfrenchstudios.com Bio: Jay French is a lifelong artist with 19 years of experience as a professional illustrator and graphic artist. Filmmaker: Todd Green
- Large variety of skills to upgrade and use in combat
- World is vast and beautiful
Cons
- Combat system is repetitive and easy to manipulate
- Far too many side quests, none of which are fun
- The countless choices have little impact on actual gameplay
- Buying houses, furniture, vegetables and getting jobs don’t belong in games
by Rabid Rabbit
Fable 2 is yet another over-rated game that focuses too much on side quests that simply aren’t fun and leaves the main campaign boring and repetitive. Similar to the distractions that made Metal Gear Solid 4, Spore and Grand Theft Auto IV boring games, Fable 2 gets distracted from providing meaningful and interesting gameplay. Far too much effort was placed on meaningless tasks that don’t materially affect gameplay, such as getting married, choices between good and evil and jobs to earn money. The main campaign involves traversing a large world and fighting a series of non-descript enemies that lack variety. The actual fighting mechanics quickly devolve into button mashing regardless of your preferred method of dispensing with your foes. The end result is a game that strays into many different gameplay elements but never makes any of them particularly fun. The developers simply forgot to make the game fun. Apparently they knew this was a problem when they released a statement asking people to have non-gamers try the game. Apparently it was made for people who don’t know what to demand from a game rather than traditional gamers who have more discerning tastes and demand higher forms of entertainment.
The crux of Fable 2 is choices. The main adventure is littered with a myriad of choices to help or harm people. If you choose to help people, then you are revered by citizens and gain their favor. If you choose the path of the dark side, then people will fear and despise you. It’s amazing that so much time was spent on this gameplay element, but it actually has very little impact on the actual game. The only material effect is how people react to you and evil characters’ complexions will deteriorate into a purple monster with horns. When you go into town, citizens will run in fear from evil heroes and may charge you higher prices for goods. You can reduce any price hikes by simply scaring them into lower prices though.
Any benefits from being a good person can be earned as an evil hero by scaring people or stealing from them as an evil person. There are just different means to the same ends. Without a material impact to your choices other than people calling you a murderer and running from you, it’s really hard to take these choices seriously. The entire system falls apart and becomes more of a nuisance than a unique aspect to tinker with.
The Fable 2 world is vast and includes a number of towns and people to interact with. You can choose to be a law-abiding citizen or you can just kill people for their goods, money and gifts. If you kill people or get caught stealing, then you should expect the police to quickly arrive to keep the peace. They will give you the choice to pay a fine, complete a community service task, or you can resist arrest. The community service is typically just a simple task to help someone or kill some bandits. If you resist arrest, then expect to be constantly chased by guards in town that you must fight.
This entire crime punishment system is extremely easy to circumvent. All you have to do is continually commit to community service tasks that you don’t ever complete. After choosing to complete one of these tasks, the guards will leave you alone and give you a few days to finish your work. If you don’t finish the task, you can simply request another task. The result is that you can do whatever you want in town without ever suffering any negative consequence. The only other noticeable effect is that your reputation follows you to every town you visit and people will fear you and call you a thief or a murderer. For a game so focused on choices, that seems like an easy choice to me: just steal and kill as much as you want without ever getting punished.
There are also a wide variety of choices for how you interact with people in town. You can choose to be nice by telling jokes or complimenting people to gain their favor or you can be mean by insulting them or giving rude gestures to lose their favor. There are also seductive gestures to attract people of the opposite sex. If you show enough interest in someone, then you can eventually propose to them by giving them a ring. After purchasing a house, you will be married to your fiancée. If you have unprotected sex (yes the game actually has condoms to prevent pregnancy and STD transmission), then you will likely have a child.
Like the rest of the game, the entire marriage and family system is extremely simple. The main result of a family is a budget drain on your income. If you keep your spouse happy, then you will get a gift from them when you arrive home from adventuring. You can also name your child. That’s about it. For a system that took so much work to incorporate into the game, you’d hope there would be more to it, such as training your spouse and kid to aid you in your adventures. Nope, there’s nothing like that in this game. If you like this boring gameplay and are a glutton for punishment, you are able to become a polygamist and have more than one family in the world. Like the rest of Fable 2, there isn’t much interesting depth here to keep you coming back for more of these Brady Bunch antics.
Towns offer a wide variety of things to do, but almost all of them either have no point or are extremely boring. You can get a job to make money, but why would you want to do that when you could be fighting monsters and playing the main campaign. We all have jobs, and we leave them to have fun playing games rather than to start another job inside a game. If you choose to take one of these jobs, you will enter a world of hurt involving extremely repetitive tasks that require no skill. As a blacksmith or wood cutter, you are simply timing button presses to a sliding scale. If you become a bar tender, you simply hold down a button to the end of a meter to pour a full glass of beer. None of these tasks ever change no matter how much you get promoted. Other jobs involve fetching people or items, such as the bounty hunter job.
You can also earn money by playing some games. These games mimic real-world games such as craps, card games and slots. A significant amount of effort went into differentiating these games from their real life counterparts. This becomes obvious when you watch the 5 minute tutorials that teach how to play the games. All of the games involve mere chance and require no skill on your part. Why would throwing dice be more interesting than actually playing the game’s main quest? It’s really absurd how much effort went into these games rather than making the main quest more interesting.
A number of possibilities are available in towns. You can choose to steal from merchants. When you attempt to steal, an icon appears to let you know if someone is watching you. If you are seen pilfering the store, then a guard will approach to punish you.
You can also choose to buy a wide variety of food and items with a myriad of different qualities. It’s really perplexing why people would care so much about different grades of meat, fish, pies, fruits and vegetables. There’s even tofu! The only way these different types of food impacts gameplay is that you will gain weight if you eat too many fatty foods, such as meat and pies. However, gaining weight doesn’t change your speed or the amount of damage you do in combat, so why should you care unless you are a narcissist?
You can also buy houses and shops. Then you can change your properties’ rent or the shop item’s selling prices to affect your profits. Other than additional profits, the only impact to raising prices is your alignment becomes more evil. If you decide to live in a house, you can go out and buy furniture, which increases the house’s value. Yes, you can actually choose to spend your free time looking at different grades of furniture in a video game. If that doesn’t put you to sleep, I don’t know what will.
The game also gives you a dog to accompany you through most of your tasks. His main purpose is to help you find buried treasures or hidden treasure that are off the main paths. He can also be trained to improve his treasure sniffing abilities to find more valuable loot than worthless things such as rancid tofu. If you knock an enemy down in a fight, your dog will also pounce on top of him to cause some additional damage.
With so many side quests and distractions, you’d think the game is a social interactions simulator and there weren’t any problems in the world. If you ever get out of town, you’ll realize there is the typical world coming to an end plotline along with an antagonist to stop. Your main objective is to gather three other heroes to combine forces and stop the world from becoming enslaved. The story unfolds through a series of tasks strewn across a large world with various enemies to defeat.
In order to progress through the story and gain new tasks, you must increase your renown throughout the world by helping people. The world of Fable 2 is large and these tasks are scattered across its many locales. To help ensure you don’t get lost trying to find your next task, the game includes a glowing trail for you to follow to your next objective. Once you have traveled to an area, you can choose to save time by letting the game transport you to your destination.
Combat is resolved by defeating enemies with melee fighting mechanics, shooting foes or employing magic. The associated skills of strength, skill and will increase as you use them in combat. Each downed enemy drops experience based on the ability type you use to defeat them. If you perform well in a fight by winning quickly or taking little damage, then you’ll be rewarded bonus experience. Then you can spend the experience to further hone these skills. Increasing some skills can provide new abilities such as sword counters and combos, but most upgrades simply cause more damage or increase your life meter rather than adding any depth.
Strength skills include causing more melee damage, reducing damage you take and increasing your life bar. Skill abilities revolve around improving shooting accuracy, damage and your ability to avoid enemy strikes. Will abilities include a variety of spells.
Direct damage spells hurt enemies with elements, such as fire, electricity, and blades. You can choose to cause more damage to a specific target or distribute your love through an area of effect spell. There are also indirect spells, such as raise dead to summon minions to aid your cause and charm spells to temporarily remove some foes from the fight by confusing them. The magic system is oddly unbalanced. Magic spells are cast without limit because you don’t spend mana points to cast spells. The result is you can just sit back and cast unlimited spells if you create a buffer against enemy attacks, such as summoning a horde of undead creatures with the raise dead spell.
While there are a variety of different abilities, fights generally devolve into simple button mashing. You’ll either madly press buttons to hack and slash with your melee weapons, shoot with your crossbow or gun or continually cast your spells. There’s very little depth in the actual encounters. Almost all enemies are dispatched with the same maneuvers regardless of how different they look. The only exceptions are the large trolls, which have specific weaknesses to target. Most of the campaign involves these repetitive fights, which makes it more of an effort in patience to endure the game’s monotonous encounters rather than having fun.
Most fights are rather easy, but even encounters that may offer a challenge are simple because there is no real consequence to losing a fight. If you run out of health, you are knocked out rather than dying. The only downside to getting KOed is that you will lose any ungathered experience. You can eat food or drink potions to increase your health, but there’s really no point in wasting your time buying the food and eating it. Just make sure to gather any experience if you are low on health and then you won’t lose anything by being knocked out. You’ll be revived to the same fight without having to walk back to the encounter and you won’t waste any money on healing items. So you can just mash buttons without paying attention to your health level because losing a fight has no negative consequence. These ridiculous gameplay elements further reduce the point of the fights and the campaign itself.
There is also the option of join a friend’s campaign in the game’s co-op mode. As with most games, playing the game with a friend can make it more fun. It’s pretty cool that the game is flexible enough that you and your friend don’t even have to be in the same place. You can choose to take on different tasks and not be in each other’s vicinity. While co-op mode generally add to the overall experience, it’s hard to say it makes a huge difference considering it doesn’t fix the game’s numerous other problems.
If you can endure the boring main quest to the end, you are rewarded with a horrid ending. I’m not talking about an ending movie. I won’t give anything away, but it’s important to note that there isn’t a final confrontation. After pouring hours into a boring campaign and exploring mundane side quests, Fable 2 simply continues to underwhelm with a slow boring end to the game that you have little control over. Well, at least the game’s boring features are consistent from its beginning to its ultimate ending.
The game’s vast world includes a wide variety of landscapes. From the dreary swamps to the lush hilly areas to the dark caves lit by torchlight, the world of Fable 2 is a beautiful place to explore. The only downside is that its ambitious long draw distances coupled with numerous enemies do create noticeable framerate hiccups throughout the quest.
Overall, Fable 2 promises a lot. It allows you to explore towns and make many choices. There are many side quests, jobs, businesses to buy and people to interact with, but none of these distractions are interesting. The main quest and its combat system have a wide variety of skills and enemies to fight but none really differentiate themselves from each other. The end result is a game that fails to entertain or involve you regardless of what you are doing in the game. It simply isn’t fun, no matter what you do or what choices you make in its elaborate world.