Wickedfacts

Rome in 3D

There is a new world class sightseeing venue in Rome and when visiting the eternal city it must be part of your experience. I got a VIP tour of the new virtual journey through imperial Rome during my trip to the eternal city in September.

The facility is modern well lit and clean. Get your advanced tickets online and when you arrive pick up you stereo audio headset available in several different languages. Join your guide as they take you through a modern archeological dig and into a recreation of the famous Tunnel of Commodus.

Decorated with majestic frescoes, stuccos and mosaics the tunnel connected the gladiator warm up area to the coliseum in ancient times and was also used by the emperors to secretly enter the coliseum to enjoy the game of the blood sport.

After the Tunnel of Commodus, enter an interactive area with moving floor, ancient artifacts and a high definition video ceiling that opens up to bring to life the feeling of being lifted to fight the lions as the roaring crowds cheer above.

The shows main attraction is revealed through secret doors where you enter a modern and comfortable 3d theater. Unfortunately at the time of this article it was standing room only, but the management tells me that seating is planned for the future.

Relax and dawn your 3d glasses as you are taken by a virtual Roman citizen through the famous forum on an interactive tour of ancient Rome.

Experience life in Rome in 310 AD, see what the city looked like in its prime and experience a front row seat to a gladiator battle that will send chills up your spine.

The tour continues to the modern and air conditioned lower floor that contains interactive games, mini documentaries, the wheel of time and other ways to learn about the history of ancient Rome.

The gift shop has lots of unique items and has a cafe for a refreshing drink or coffee. When you finish you can latterly walk across the street to the real coliseum and Roman forum. Until now Rome had no modern world-class sightseeing venue; but now it does and I recommend it be a part of any itinerary.…

Watching Movie Trailers

Watching movies are some peoples favorite past time. They like to watch movie to kill boredom and some just loves watching movies especially on their favorite celebrity or celebrities. All new movies sometimes come out every week or even in just less than a week a new movie is coming out.

For people who like watch they tend to go on the cinema if the schedule they want to watch is on a “Now Showing” in those cinemas they are going. Well some just rent a Digital Video Disc(DVD) copy that are not showing anymore on cinemas.

They can go on a video marathon as long as they want depending on how many copies they have. This have more advantage because they can control the flow; pause, rewind or skip a scene. Another is on a television movie channel, they are a lot of these channels on most of all countries. These channels post a schedule on what title is it and what time it will be shown.

Now the question is how do we know if it is a good one to watch? Well you can ask your friends who already saw it for their feed backs, or look for a critic site and read the reviews of some analysts. For me the best idea is to watch its Movie Trailers. With Trailers who can have a better glimpse on how the it really looks like. Better than anyone else feed backs. Some Trailers are being selected to be shown to really attract viewers and yes it does not guarantee if the movie is worth watching unless you really watch the whole film, but watching Movie Trailers is considered to be the best way to know the movie rather than anything else.…

Online Movie Rentals – The Number of Titles on Offer at Blockbuster

Best known for traditional bricks and mortar stores, Blockbuster also offers online movie rentals. There is a huge range of titles on offer at Blockbuster. Not just movies, but TV shows too.

What titles are on offer? Blockbuster has a wide variety of movies. There are over 90,000 titles in their online catalog. Categories include action/adventure, animated films, comedy, films from many different countries, documentaries, drama, horror, comedy, music, performing arts, romance, childrens TV shows/films (for all ages), romance, mystery, suspense, sci-fi, fantasy, sports, fitness, westerns, war films and special interest with a varied range of titles.

With this range of titles on offer, you can never get bored. There is something for everyone at Blockbuster.

There is also a huge range of TV shows to watch. Full seasons as well as individual episodes. You can also rent on Blu Ray at no extra cost. And, if you have trouble finding something to rent, movies come with reviews and recommendations. There are also featured lists showing the most popular films. All titles are well organised including new releases so you can find them easily.

How can you watch movies instantly so you don’t have to wait for them by mail? You can watch movies instantly right on your PC, Xbox, Playstation, TV or any other internet ready device. You can also download them to watch later. This added option means you can watch shows or movies at any time of the day or night.

The number of titles with this option is not as large as the selection to rent and receive by mail. But, with the growing demand for this service, the list of titles to watch instantly is growing rapidly.

How do online movie rentals work? If you’ve never tried online movie rentals before, Blockbuster makes it easy. You just choose the movies you want to see and put them on your favourites list. Blockbuster will send them to you automatically. Once you have watched your movie, send it back to get the next one on your list. They offer rental plans to hold 1, 2 or 3 movies at a time.

What titles can you rent on the free Blockbuster trial? You can try the service free for 2 weeks with a Blockbuster trial. You can choose from any of the wide variety of movies on offer. Even TV series can be added to your list. There is no obligation to carry on and you can cancel at any time.…

8 Artistic, Striking, Memorable, Chic and Innovative Movie Production Company Logos

Below mentioned are some unique, memorable, distinct and creatively designed movie production brand marks that have made their companies swell with pride.

1. Focus features:

Most of the times movie production logos consist of symbols, letters or illustrations but this company has crafted their monogram with a photograph of slightly blurred circles in different shades of blue and gray with the business name written in the front. The business name is clearly readable which makes it relatable to the company name.

2. Capitol Films:

They have created their emblem in multi dimensions which makes it sophisticated and chic. The text has been placed diagonally so that you can see half the image in the shadow that the text creates underneath it. The black, white and silver tones make this symbol urbane and stylish.

3. Anchor Bay Entertainment:

If your company is named anchor bay then it is a very good idea to accommodate that into your brand mark and that is what this famous corporation has done. Here, you see the letter ‘A’ crafted to look like the sail of a ship. The Caribbean blue color of the text coupled with white background makes it simple and memorable.

4. The Weinstein Company:

A graphic and 3 dimensional emblem, this trademark consists of the letter ‘W’ that also doubles as the letter ‘V’. The black and silver colors of the image make it striking and dramatic.

5. Gener8Xion Entertainment:

Their emblem is big, bold and multi dimensional. It contains an image of a big sized letter X with an image of a billiard’s solid ball with number 8. The prominent colors in the image are black and dark blue with the text is silverfish beige color.

6. Possibility Pictures:

A very smart emblem, it contains a wooden box with the back lid open that is not visible to the viewers. The brown tones of the entire emblem add an earthy and imaginative touch to the symbol while the mysterious box is the perfect image to instigate curiosity of the possibilities within us.

7. First Look Studios:

It contains a close up of a human eye with the company name above and beneath the image. The green colored eyes coupled with the straightness of the fonts depicts that the company is imaginative and yet professional.

8. Triumph films:

This is probably one of the simplest production company logos ever seen yet it is pleasant to look at and memorable. It consists of the company name in straight type face with an image of a shell substituting as the dot on the letter ‘I’. The line between the words triumph and films makes the symbol clean cut and compact.

In conclusion, they might not be the best or most successful of the companies but they have certainly made a mark for themselves in the designing world.…

Changing a VHS to DVD

There are different ways of changing a VHS to DVD. Probably the most common way is to buy a capture device (usually plugs into an available USB port) and hook up a VCR to it using RCA cables. Hit play on the VCR and Capture (or Record) on the capture device. Once the video file is captured, you can easily drop it into an DVD authoring program to create a movie to share with your friends and family. You can even upload the video file to YouTube or Facebook to share with even more people than physical DVDs can reach!

The nice part about using the computer is that one can make chapters, transitions, add any words, titles, etc. that are wanted. They offer many different fonts, styles, and colors; you get a lot more choice and can make a first class movie. There is a lot of information on line so it would be worth your time to browse and compare software.

A quick note about kits that advertise as VHS to DVD conversion kits: be careful when buying them. A number of them are over-priced and don’t work as well as advertised. Do your research on Amazon or by Googling “review”. Stick to well-known brands with good reviews if you go this route, though it’s often cheaper and almost as easy to buy a simple 30-40 dollar capture device and use free software like Windows Movie Maker or iMovie to create your movies.

Another option is to purchase a transfer machine that is a combination of DVD writer and VCR. These are much more costly than buying the equipment for the computer. They can be hooked up to a TV, be sure you have the correct imputs, so you can view what you are copying. A tape is inserted in one side and a DVD in the other side. However long the movie is that is how long it takes to copy. These devices work well if you have a lot of VHS tapes and don’t want to deal with the hassle including a computer in the process can introduce. These are easy to use and generally well documented to just read the instruction manual and you should be good to go.

You can also use a professional service where you can just drop your big box of tapes off and they’ll return to you a big box of DVDs. These cost the most but are the easiest way to go about it.

Time is running out! VHS tapes degrade over time and become completely unwatchable. The first signs of this is often a very dark image, so you want to make the change quickly!…

The Social Network – A Facebook Movie Showing How It Got Started

Do you ever cruise the Internet and wonder how some of the more popular sites got their start? Can you imagine yourself creating the next MySpace or Facebook? If all of this sounds interesting to you there is a new movie that is a must see, The Social Network is the unofficial biography of how the social networking giant Facebook got started. The Facebook Movie may not be a golden globe winner, but it will definitely shake up commonly held ideas about what it takes to start a business and make it successful.

What is Social Networking?

There are a few people on the planet who are still unsure why these sites are so wildly popular. Facebook and MySpace are giants on the World Wide Web, nearly everyone has one or the other and some people have both. These sites are used to connect with friend and family both near and far as well as making new “friends”. Depending on the site you use you will have some latitude in designing your profile page, MySpace allows a great deal of creativity including backgrounds and music, where Facebook is a bit more plain Jane.

What most of these social network sites do have in common is the ability for you to share your life in pictures, comments and messages to a broad number of people all around the globe. That is the draw and appeal today though in the beginning Facebook was merely used among certain colleges, beginning with Harvard.

Today, however Facebook is the way people interact, both good and bad. It is not uncommon to see an all out war on the pages of the site between two or more people. Pictures, comments and messages can become extremely revealing and ugly and it is hard to imagine just how many people are watching the drama from afar silently.

The Social Network – A Facebook Movie

The Social Network is a movie about how all of this got started. The plot and script are based on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich and neither have been sanctioned by the people closest to the top at Facebook. This tale of money, genius, betrayal and sex should make for a great guilty pleasure, even if the facts are not 100% verified by the people they are about! It is very unlikely the people portrayed would be absolutely honest about their character flaws or weaknesses anyway.

There is a great cast set for The Social Network including Brenda Song and Justin Timberlake. If you have always wondered what it would take to start an extremely popular and prosperous website this is the movie for you! Of course, most of us will go see the Facebook Movie just to revel in the money, betrayal and intimate relationships but either way it should be a blast!…

Freaky Friday – A Fantastic Mother-Daughter Comedy

Jamie Lee Curtis plays the mother of Lindsay Lohan, Anna. Anna has the usual high school disconnection with her mother. Anna is in a band that plays in the garage. Anna’s mother is soon going to remarry only three years after her father died, which Anna is not emotionally ready to accept. Mr. Bates, her English teacher has something against Anna and is failing her. Her mother believes that failing is purely Anna’s fault. For dinner her mom decides to go out for dinner as a family, and includes her new fiance.

Anna is in a bad mood so her mother pulls her aside to talk to her. The whole discussion goes out of control. One of the owners of the Chinese restaurant gives them both a fortune cookie. Anna locks herself in the bathroom and they both read their identical fortune. Instantly there is an earth quake, but no one else feels it. The next morning, Anna and her mother have switched bodies. Anna goes to her office job as a psychologist. Her mom goes to high school. Anna goes on a shopping spree before work and even gets her ear pierced. Anna’s mother begins to think negatively of the other band members when they have the discussion about if Anna is allowed to perform with her band during the rehearsal dinner.

However, Anna’s mom does still trust one of Anna’s childhood friends, who later stabs her in the back by turning her in for cheating. Luckily, Anna’s new boyfriend comes to the rescue and allows her mom to finish the test. Her mom also writes all over the back stabbers test, which is a new side to “Anna” he has never seen and doesn’t like. Find out if they are stuck like this for life or if they can figure out the riddle to change back.…

Wrist Grab and Hit Choice

You see this move in action movies all of the time. In fact, it has reared its ugly head so often recently, that I wonder if the martial choreographers in Hollywood just don’t have a clue.

Warning: We will be contrasting two variations on the move. One is acceptable. The other is not. Give me a chance to prove the logic in this… and help some readers develop a safer way to trap and hit.

I don’t want to talk about getting into the move. If you are interested, just look for the examples that lead to an arm bar. This time, instead of flowing into an arm bar, you’ll follow up with a back fist punch.

Let’s start from where you are actually performing the technique:

Grab and Hit Choice

Your partner extends one of his arms toward you. For this example, let’s assume that your partner’s left arm is extended toward you. (Maybe after a punch???)

You are going to grab his (or her) wrist with one hand, while simultaneously back-fisting his face with your other hand. But you have a choice: You can grab the inside of the wrist with your right hand and back fist with your left fist, or you can grab the back of his hand with your left hand and back fist with your right fist.

Basically, the two moves are the same… just mirror images of each other.

So, which is good and which is bad?

Which Wrist-Grab Orientation is Bad?

Which move keeps you in a safer position and which puts you at risk?

Which move do the movie choreographers seem to know, and which variation are they unaware of?

The key to finding the correct answer to all of those questions lies in your opponent’s free hand.

When you grab the inside of your opponent’s wrist, in this case with your right hand, you put yourself in danger. Your opponent’s right fist is in the perfect position to tag you with a solid hit.

On the other hand, if you grab to the outside, your opponent can’t reach you with his free hand. It’s awkward to try to cross over or under the other arm.

You are in a much safer position, when you check on the back of the wrist as you back-fist punch with the other hand.

Bad Movie Martial Arts

Unfortunately, for them, the movie choreographers have their actors check to the inside more often than not, which could expose them to the right fist… uh… if the Hollywood guys knew to follow up with that natural hit. (Ah, my kingdom for… a little more Hollywood efficiency, which is closer to “my” reality.)

What does all of this mean?

Well, if you are studying a Bruce Lee philosophy, then you’d make every effort to eliminate moves from your style where by checking, you expose yourself instantly to your opponent’s “other” weapon.

Are you wondering what happens if you accidentally check to the inside?

What If You Accidentally Grab to The Inside?

My answer is… don’t. Eliminate it from your repertoire. But if you absolutely have to, then there “are” ways to control by hitting, as you pass yourself back to an outside position (relative to your opponent’s extended arm).

Still, better not to put a blind side to his right fist in the first place.

And if your thinking is fossilized enough that you are still defending putting your face into the line of your opponent’s free fist, then……

Movie Review: The Dilemma (2011)

Vince Vaughn and Kevin James seem like a perfect duo for a straightforward comedy heavy on slapstick and crazed antics. It’s surprising then that The Dilemma masks much of its laugh-out-loud funniness with dark humor, subtle jests and highly serious drama. Vaughn’s fast-paced ramblings and James’ general goofiness are still present, but the staid business of infidelity and work-related pressures are rarely laughed at. The cast is certainly capable, but based on your expectations of the leading comedians you’ll either be pleasantly surprised by the film’s favor of examining realistic relationship tragedies or disappointed by the unfulfilled potential for supreme silliness.

Ronny Valentine (Vince Vaughn) and Nick Brannen (Kevin James) have been best friends since college and now as adults run an electric engine manufacturing company together. They also have idyllic relationships; Nick with wife Geneva (Winona Ryder) and Ronny with soon-to-be fianc?�e Beth (Jennifer Connelly). When Ronny inadvertently spies Geneva kissing a tattooed mystery man (Channing Tatum), he is faced with a formidable dilemma – does he tell Nick about his wife’s unfaithfulness and risk losing a major business deal for their company, or wait and chance losing his best friend altogether? Ronny’s predicament only grows worse when he confronts Geneva and she threatens to expose a long kept secret. As he struggles with his increasingly troublesome situation, Ronny begins to cause more problems than he’s able to fix and soon finds himself barreling towards a head-on collision with both his friends and the inescapable truth.

Although it’s primarily a comedy, The Dilemma delves into the dark infidelities of faulty relationships, which uncovers some serious predicaments. The cheeriest of comic relief interludes can’t overcome the solemnity of disloyalty and its destructive nature. But comedians Kevin James and Vince Vaughn certainly try, bringing their trademark playful, flirtatious, speedy, back-and-forth dialogue to the table. Allan Loeb writes the film, but with Vaughn producing, it’s likely the scripting was heavily influenced. The sickly-sweet “getting to know the characters” intro is the only segment that doesn’t scream of Vaughn’s verbal work, with the moral impasse and its resolution appearing to be director Ron Howard’s material. It’s a return to comedy after a decade of dramatic projects for the filmmaker, but not devoid of tragicomic substance.

The supporting cast of Ryder and Connelly overreaches in the attempt to portray chemistry, which feels like generically perceived romances instead of an authentic union. Channing Tatum and Queen Latifah are more believable as idiosyncratic quacks, but belong in a different movie. Fortunately, awkward confrontations, uncomfortable but funny scenarios, mixed messages, riotous hypothetical situations, and challenged urination make their way into The Dilemma, which is wholly watchable but substantially forgettable.

– The Massie Twins ( )…

How Can You Rent the Latest Movie Releases Closer to the Release Date?

Usually the more popular a new release, the harder it is to rent. This is the case with traditional stores as well as online.

If the movie you want to rent is not immediately available, both Netflix and Blockbuster suggest how long your wait time will be when you add that movie to your rental queue. When you rent at Netflix, they use the terms “Short Wait”, “Long Wait”, and “Very Long Wait”.

According to Netflix, a “Short Wait” means your wait time to rent a movie will be less than two weeks. “Long Wait” means less than 30 days, and “Very Long Wait” means less than four months.

Another thing to keep in mind when you rent movies online, is what position you place the movie in your list. For example, if you list Harry Potter 6 at the very top of your favorites list, you will receive it sooner than if you rank it third or fourth.

How does Blockbuster compare to Netflix? Until recently, consumers still ranked Netflix above Blockbuster in the online movie rental business. But that may be changing. Currently, wait times for new releases at Blockbuster Online tend to be shorter than at Netflix.

That’s especially true when it comes to Blu-ray, because Blockbuster has a greater volume of Blu-ray discs than Netflix. And you may know that you get charged extra for Blu Ray at Netflix.

With Blockbuster, this is not the case. Blockbuster also has a list of high-demand new releases which are guaranteed to be in-stock, but Netflix does not offer such a guarantee. Furthermore, Blockbuster’s “Guaranteed In-Stock” policy applies whether you rent movies online or from a store.

Game rentals are also offered at Blockbuster. So if you like to play games, only blockbuster offer them.

How much do rental plans cost? Rental plans at both Netflix and Blockbuster cost the same. You can rent either 1, 2 or 3 movies at a time. These plans cost $8.99, $13.99 and $16.99. Both companies offer the usual options to keep the movie as long as you want with no late fees. If you want to rent and return movies in store, Blockbuster will charge a little extra. These plans cost $11.99, $16.99 and $19.99 per month.

Why choose Blockbuster? If you’re deciding where to rent movies online, the availability of Blu-ray at no additional cost and the “Guaranteed In-Stock” policies are two good reasons to choose Blockbuster over Netflix.…