Spike lee top films and unforgettable controversies

Spike Lee is one of the most influential and provocative American moviemakers. Recently, he celebrated the 20 year anniversary for the release of his remarkable debut film Shes Gotta Have It. His films are groundbreaking in their controversial approach towards social and political issues and offer different perspective on race, class and gender issues in contemporary America.

Spike Lee was born as Shelton Jackson Lee in 1957 in Atlanta, Georgia to a jazz musician and an art teacher. When Lee was a young child, the family relocated to Brooklyn, which was used as a background for many of Spike Lee's movies. Lee's talent was recognized while he was still a film student in NYU. His thesis film Joes Bed Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads won 1983 Student Academy Award for best director.

Spike Lee's debut movie Shes Gotta Have It was released in 1986. The movie was shot in 12 days in a budget of 175,000 dollars. The film was written, produced and directed by Spike Lee. Shes Gotta Have It tells the story of Nora Darling, a young, independent African American graphic designer who cannot commit to any of her three lovers. Tracy Camilla Jones played the role of Nora Darling. Tommy Redmond Hicks and John Canada Terrell along with Lee himself played the three men in Noras life.

Shes Gotta Have It was a landmark film in its presentation of African American characters in an American movie and part of the explosion of 80s independent movie industry. The African American community embraced the movie, which displayed a non stereotypical group of young, intelligent black American people. The film won the Prix de Jeuness at the Cannes film festival for the best new film by a newcomer.

The 1992 biographic epic Malcolm X is considered by many as Lee's best film. The 195 minutes movie depicts the story of the African American activist Malcolm X, from his early childhood to his assassination. Lee uses the Malcolm X story to confront the audience with the racial discrimination and violence that black people went through during the 1950s and 1960s in America.

Spike Lee's name was associated with many controversies. He was often accused of anti Semitism and racism for portraying Jews and Italians in his films a stereotypical manner. His 2001 television miniseries about one of the Black Panthers founders, Huey P. Newton, stirred another controversy, which helped establish Lee's image as a provocative and radical figures in the American film industry.

Lee's latest project is the documentary When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, which tells the story of New Orleans post and pre hurricane Katrina. The four hours documentary is about the New Orleans culture, the damage caused by hurricane Katrina and the recovery efforts. Lee does not spare his critic on the government inadequate reaction to the destruction.

5 Top Movies Directed by Spike Lee

Do The Right Thing: this 1989 comic drama shows what happens in Brookline when the interracial tension heats up during the hottest day of the year. Starring: Spike Lee, Danny Aiello, John Turturro

Mo Better Blues: Denzel Washington as a jazz trumpeter who makes all the wrong decisions regarding his musical career and relationships.

Jungle Fever tells a pessimistic interracial love story between an African American man and an Italian American woman.

Girl 6 looks at the life of a young black actress who prefers working as a phone girl than being abused by movie directors

25th Hour is dedicated to the last 24 hours in the life of a New York drug dealer before his jail term begins.

How to make a living online - and how not to

"I make a living online!"

That's a statement right? Right!

But is it a statement of fact?

Who knows?

Well, I do because I know it's true, but how do you know I'm telling the truth?

You don't of course. But there are some things you can look for that will help you decide.

How often have you seen something like:

"Make a ton of cash - now!

No selling

No MLM

No stock to buy

No customers to deal with

Join our upside-down, instant-cash matrix now and get rich!

It goes without saying that the above is dubious to say the least. Yet, many people fall for ads like this on a regular basis.

So, the old saying "If it looks too good to be true, it probably is", could be words of wisdom.

Golden Rule: Go with your gut feeling.

Let's get down to brass tacks (sorry about that, my parents are English and they talk in a strange tongue which rubs off on me sometimes).

Grade these statements:

1. Anyone can make a living online!

2. You don't need capital to start a business!

3. It's much cheaper to start a business online than in the 'real world'!

4. You don't need to sell products or services to make money online!

5. You can make money instantly online!

These are my thoughts on the above:

1, 3 & 4 - generally speaking, true.

2 & 5 - generally speaking, false.

An observation about 1 above is to make a distinction between 'making money' and 'earning a living'. The former could be a one-off 5 cents, while the latter could need to be $100 per day, depending, of course on individual requirements.

My dad often say's; "you don't get owt for nowt!"

Translated into American English it means; "there's no such thing as a free lunch!"

Never invest in an opportunity that you are not sure about. Instead, find something that you are interested in and will enjoy doing. In other words; do what you like doing, and the money will follow.

"Okay Adam", I hear you say, "get to the point".

The point is this:

If you expect to make a living online without doing any work and without spending any cash upfront, go get a 'proper' job instead - preferably one that allows you to daydream a lot.

Hwever, if you're prepared to spend some time, researching, listening & learning and have allocated some kind of budget (we're not talking megabucks here), then it's perfectly feasible to make a living online.

I started an enterprise about seven months ago with $300 and it's now earning me $500 per month residual income and growing. It took some hard work and a steep learning curve at first but now it's got into gear and I could virtually leave it alone to keep increasing month on month.

The Internet is a fantastic source of information - it's up to you to find that information and decide whether it's worth using or just more 'pie in the sky'.

Comment resserer les liens de l amitie

Lors de multiples discussions avec de nombreuses femmes combinant vie professionnelle et vie familiale, il est toujours apparu le regret de ne pas avoir assez de temps pour soi. L'abandon au fur et a mesure du temps de ses amies d'antan, il en est ressorti que ce qui motive une personne a jouer de plus en plus au casino et autres jeux d'argent est son rapport a la vie.

Pour ces dernieres, la vie elle meme est un jeu. Respirer est un jeu, sortir hors de chez soi est un jeu, bref, meme le quotidien est un jeu. mais le casino, quant a lui, nous offre des sensations uniques car les paris ne sont, contrairement aux mouvemet quotidiens, bases que sur le fruit du hasard. Le casino procure a l'homme une montee d'adrenaline hors norme. Le risque est donc plus fort.

Ainsi, de cette etude. il en est ressorti les resultats suivants:

Le temps des vacances:

Ces 10 dernieres annees, Las Vegas est devenue l'endroit populaire pour jouer en famille car a la mise en place de systeme de resort et d'attractions familiales.

Pour gagner et devenir riche :

De toutes personnes interviewees ces personnes sont les plus representatives du phenomene. Elles sont venues au casino avec l'espoir de devenir riches et de pouvoir changer le cours de leur destin.

Problиmes d'argent :

Rejoint l'idee precedente. Beaucoup semble croire qu'ils peuvent regler leurs problemes d'argent en jouant. Or, il y a aussi de forte chance, si madame chance n'est pas la, qu'elles engrangent d'avantages de pertes et de problemes si elles ne peuvent gerer leurs jeux et leurs mises.

Salle de Mariage:

Pour certains, se rendre au casino est l'endroit ideal pour celebrer son mariage. Un peu comme dans une eglise quoi. Et de preference a Las Vegas ou Salt Lake City. Leurs salles deviennent a la mode pour ce genre d'evenement en raison de leur prix rentable, l'originalite de leur hall d'accueil et l'espace de la salle pouvant accueillir grand nombre d'invites.

Leurs revenus.

Pour certains, le casino est comme un metier. Certains y passent toute leur journee pour pouvoir remporter une sorte de "salaire" plus ou moins eleve d'ici la fin du mois.

Pour trouver l'ame soeur:

Vous n'imagineriez pas le nombre de personnes celibataires se rendant en casino lors de parties de celibataires, uniquement dns l'espoir de trouver l'ame soeur et pourtant. Grand nombre de personnes interrogees y ont mentionne ce desir.

Pour fuir de chez soi :

La majorite des personnes interrogees ayant repondu pour sortir de chez soi sont essentiellement des gens de la gente masculine, tous maries depuis plus de 10 ans et peres de famille. Ces derniers se rendent generalement au casino en moyenne une fois par mois pendant quelques heures avant de rentrer.

Pour le plaisir :

Ces personnes auraient eu la bonne reponse. Toutefois, j'ai du mal a croire que cette categorie, qui devrait apparaitre en premiere place, ne se trouve au final qu'au bas de la liste. En effet, jouer au casino devrait etre avant tout une partie de plaisir. Integrer une ambiance hors pair d'un casino reel, avoir des boissons gratuites et ameliorer leur techniques de jeux, telles sont leurs principales preoccupations.

Smart online shopping

If you're like me and millions of other Internet users, you are doing more of your shopping online these days. There are many reasons more people are shopping online today. People want to avoid the crowds at the mall, find lower prices, have the convenience of 24 hour shopping and find a wider selection. There are some pitfalls and drawbacks to online shopping but these can be avoided if you're a smart online shopper.

You have an idea of a product you want to buy. You go to one of the big 3 search engines online, Google, Yahoo and MSN, to do some research. Or perhaps you use one of the many comparison shopping sites to find a store that carries the product you are looking for. Now that you've found the store and the product at the price you're happy with, what's next?

First, take a look at the store contact information. Do they have a toll free number you can call and talk to a real person if any problems arise? Perhaps they are a very small or new operation, if they don't have a toll free number, do they at least have a regular telephone number to call? The very least a store should have is an e-mail address where you can contact them. If all you find for contact information is a web form to fill out, leave quickly!

Second, take a look at the return policy of the store you're considering. Sometimes the store owners make this more difficult than it should be. If you don't see a button on the main page saying, Return Policy, look for an info page. A reputable store will give you at least 30 days in which to return your purchase for a full refund of the purchase price. Don't expect the shipping cost to be refunded. The merchant has already paid that amount to the shipping company. Look out for stores that shorten the return time to 7 or 10 days. Many of these also have a restock fee that they charge. If you return an item to them, the restock fee can range from 10 to 30% or higher. You should never have to pay a restock fee.

Third, take a look at the stores privacy policy. They should never share the information you give them when making a purchase with any 3rd party. If you have any questions or something isn't clear up to this point, call the store. You should expect to talk to a real person during business hours and after hours you should be able to leave a message and they should return your call the next day. If you contact them via e-mail, they should reply within 24 hours. If you have any trouble contacting the store before a sale, you can be assured that they won't be easily reached after a sale. So it's time to find another merchant.

One of my pet peeves is unsolicited e-mails from online stores where I've made a purchase. If they send newsletters or sale notices they should have an opt in signup. If you didn't sign up for any promotional material to be e-mailed to you, you should never be contacted by them, unless it regards a problem with your order being completed and shipped. Personally, when I receive unsolicited e-mail from a store where I've made a purchase, I contact them. I tell them to take me off their contact list and that I will never do business with them again. If enough of us do this, maybe they'll take the hint.

There are many reputable companies, both large and small, online. You can buy great products at low prices and receive wonderful service. Just keep your eyes open for the few bad actors online who try to take advantage of you.

Internet shopping up again

Shopping on the internet has been increasing every year over the last five years, a new survey predicts another busy year for internet shopping in the UK. According to the results of an online survey of 3,012 shoppers by PriceGrabber. com, this Christmas shopping season promises to be the busiest yet for internet shopping.

We thought you may be interested to see what fellow internet shoppers are up to and why, or just enjoy the amusement value!

Key findings

- The average shopper will spend GBP 768 on their Christmas goodies, of which 50% will be purchased online (hmm...sounds rather high!)

- 93% of respondents expect to do more online shopping this year than last year, citing a growing dislike of stressful high street Christmas shopping and soaring petrol prices as two of the main reasons behind this move.

- Comfort and satisfaction with the online experience has also increased dramatically and 88% stated they would spend substantial time researching products and prices online before making offline purchases.

- Over 50% of those surveyed will have started their Christmas shopping by November 1st, with 40.1% having already started by early October. But despite this "pre-planning" mentality, 75% of respondents expect that they will still be buying gifts as late as five days before Christmas.

The top 3 reasons shoppers are most likely to buy their Christmas gifts online:

1. Convenience - eliminate hassle of driving/parking/crowds (36%)

2. Flexibility - shop 24 hours of the day (33%)

3. Finding low prices (19%)

The top 3 things shoppers dislike about shopping for gifts on the high street:

1. Waiting in lines (30%)

2. Finding the right selection of gifts for everyone (28%)

3. Lack of time to get it all done (20%)

Additional finding

- 46% answered yes when asked if they would do more Christmas gift shopping online specifically because of high petrol prices

- 42% of respondents say they will shop for gifts online while at work. 45.2% of men surveyed admitted that they will shop online

while at work, while only 34.7% of women will count on shopping online while at work as an option

- About the same percentage of respondents answered that they will buy Christmas gifts online this year for pets (17%) as they will for co-workers (18%)

Survey Methodology

This Christmas shopping survey was conducted by PriceGrabber. com in October 2005. The survey ran from October 12-19 October 2005. It was administered online among a random sample of individuals. The total sample size was 3,012 respondents, 1,045 females and 1967 males. The confidence interval for all results is 95% with a margin of error of approximately +/-3 percentage points for the entire sample. LONDON - BUSINESS WIRE Nov. 2, 2005

The big website question if you build it they will come

Q: I recently launched a website for my sporting goods business. Do I need to do anything special to attract customers to my website? I know nothing about search engines and marketing as such. Please tell me where to begin.

A: That is a question that has been asked by every business person who has ever launched a website. If I build it, will they come? Of course they will -- if you've built a website that appeals to dead baseball players.

For those of you who didn't get the "Field of Dreams" reference, let me put it this way: No, Sean, if you build it they will not come, at least not without some effort on your part.

Assuming that a website will automatically attract customers is the single biggest mistake that many business owners make. It is this mistake that eventually leads them to dismiss their website as a failure and abandon their online sales efforts.

I can't tell you how many times I've heard a client say, "Well, I threw up a website, but nobody ever came to it and I didn't sell a single thing from it! Dang thing was a waste of time, if you ask me …"

Forgive me, but "threw up" is the operative term there. These short-sighted entrepreneurs (God love them) mistakenly think that all they have to do is throw up a website and that their business will automatically double overnight. And when nothing happens they blame it on the infallibility of the Internet, on El Nino, on the Bosa Nova, on their customers… everything but their own lack of marketing efforts.

If you build it, will they come? That, Sean, depends totally on you.

When it comes to attracting customers, opening an online business (or an online branch of an existing business) is no different from opening a traditional brick and mortar shop. Without a little fanfare and a well-devised marketing plan, chances are your website will become just another spot of roadkill on the Information Superhighway.

The first step in devising your marketing plan is to ask yourself this question: Who is my customer? Who is it that I want to attract to my website? Believe it or not, this is a question many entrepreneurs fail to ask. The identity of your customer is incredibly important because if you don't know who your customer is, how can you expect to market to them?

The next question concerns the locality of your customer. Do you want to attract a local or global clientele to your website? If the answer is local, then you will gear your marketing efforts toward customers in your own backyard, which means incorporating your website launch with your offline marketing efforts.

If the website is the online branch of a brick and mortar business, include the website URL in all your print materials and advertising campaigns. Consider running ads in the local paper, on radio or TV announcing the launch of your site. Use direct mail or in-store posters to announce the site launch to your existing customer base.

In short, keep doing what you're doing to attract customers to your physical store, just add your website address to the mix.

Just remember, it's important to consider your website a branch of your brick and mortar business because that's exactly what it is. A good business website will help you sell more products, widen your range of clientele, and increase your revenue without adding overhead. Don't sell your website short. Make it work for you.

If you are seeking a global audience, your marketing efforts will be quite different. Attracting customers from around the world is a more difficult task than attracting customers from around the block. Fortunately, the task is not impossible. The Internet has leveled the playing field in many ways. Now every business, no matter how large or small, has the ability to do business internationally.

In the most basic sense, an online marketing campaign to attract global customers should include the following efforts.

Register With Search Engines There's not enough room in this newspaper for a thorough discussion of search engines and their effectiveness (or lack thereof) in driving traffic to a website. Suffice it to say that 95% of search engine traffic comes from Google and Yahoo, so start there. It's also important to realize that just registering with search engines does not guarantee you traffic, but it certainly can't hurt.

Unfortunately, the free search engine lunch ran out a couple of years ago when search engines figured out that people would actually pay for listings and higher placement. Since that time the only way to guarantee a high (or at least higher than others) ranking is to pay for it. The two most popular pay-for-placement programs are Yahoo's "Yahoo Express" and Google's "Adwords." Visit their respective websites for details on these programs. Be prepared to spend several hundred dollars at a minimum to get your site listed.

Exchange Links With Similar Sites One free - and potentially effective - way to drive customers to your website is through link exchanges with sites of similar interest. Locate sites that make a good match to your own and contact the owner to ask if they will link to your site in exchange for you linking to theirs. If you sell golf balls on your website, set up a link exchange with another website that sells golf clubs. You post a link to them and they post a link to you. It's called digital back scratching, and if done properly, can work well to drive traffic your way.

Go To Where The Customers Are If the mountain won't come to Mohammed, then Mohammed must go to the mountain. One little known way to attract customers to your website is to market your products on a mega-site like eBay. There are thousands and thousands of people on eBay at any given time and each one is potentially your customer, so it's a great place to drum up business.

Your goal is not to make a living selling on eBay, but to use eBay as a marketing tool to drive traffic back to your website. Go to where the customers are, then bring them back home with you.

Let's use our golf ball example. Post a few auctions on eBay selling your golf balls at a ridiculously low price so your auction attracts plenty of attention. When customers make a purchase, add them to your client list and send them an email inviting them to visit your website for more great products. eBay also lets you create your own "About Me" page that you can use to advertise your business.

We have just scratched the surface, but hopefully this is enough to get you started. I wish I could tell you that attracting customers to your website is easy, but the truth is, it's anything but. It takes hard work, creativity and above all, perseverance.

Here's to your success!