Cool Info Lounge

It’s a Wonderful Life, directed by Frank Capra, starring James Stewart, Donna Reed, and Lionel Barrymore is a holiday classic which regularly appears a week before Christmas. In this Christmas story, George Bailey, a regular man who, in a moment of despair and shame, thinks of committing suicide. Instead, he rediscovers the love of family and how his life made a dramatic difference to many in his community.

Former President George Bush narrated and described the scenes in the It’s a Wonderful Life film for the visually impaired through a service called Descriptive TheatreVision. When there was a pause in the action, Bush would describe what’s going on - NBC Friday, 8 p.m.

Besides being able to watch it on TV or DVD’s, you can also listen to It’s a ‘Wonderful Life’ on the radio as plays. The Ojai ACT Art Center Theater, a nonprofit community ensemble, will be presenting a live radio show of this classic story for two weekends, Dec. 14 to 16, and 21 to 23. The show includes keyboard music and advertisements about local businesses.

Source: www.OjaiACT.org

“It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play” also opens the 2007-2008 of MTC MainStage, the Westport-based Music Theatre of Connecticut’s Professional Equity Acting Company. Opening night will be December 15 and the show runs through December 23.

Source: WestportNow.com 

This weekend, the Historical Society of Porter County invites fans to dress as their favorite “Wonderful Life” character and attend a showing of the film at the Porter County Museum from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Life is indeed wonderful. Let’s celebrate life and this wonderful season!

Posted by Aiden

A Goofy Movie remake is underway. David Lynch, director of Wild at Heart, Blue Velvet, Eraserhead and Mulholland Dr. has agreed to remake the animated Disney movie.

The original “A Goofy Movie” is an animated musical film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios in 1995 featuring the characters from The Disney Afternoon television series Goof Troop. The movie, which could also be considered a “road film” (A film genre in which the action takes places during a journey) uses the voices of Bill Farmer as Goofy and Jason Marsden as Max is about father-son relationship between Goofy and Max as they struggle to find common ground despite Max’s persistence in having his own life and winning the girl of his dreams. A direct-to-video sequel, titled An Extremely Goofy Movie, was released in 2000.

So how’s the new A Goofy Movie different than the original? I mean, if you’re recreating something it’s usually because you wanna improve it, right? Well, a movie reviewer said, “The blue tones, soundtrack, editing and selection of shots make this version of A Goofy Movie seem surreal, spooky and totally unlike anything released from Disney, with the exception of The Black Cauldron.”

I have to agree. After watching the trailer of the new Goofy Movie I get the feeling that remake of this Disney animation is kind of eerie… in fact, it’s probably appropriate for Halloween? Watch the trailer and judge for yourself.

Posted by Aiden 

Charles Nelson Reily was a popular American actor, comedian, director and drama teacher known for his roles in movies, children’s television, animated cartoons, and as a panelist on the game show Match Game.

He was born in the Bronx, New York to Charles Joseph Reilly, an Irish Catholic commercial artist, and Signe Elvera Nelson, a Swedish Lutheran. Already at a young age he would create his own puppet theater to entertain himself. His mother, foreshadowing his future as an entertainer, often would tell him to “save it for the stage”.

At age 13, Charles Nelson Reily escaped the Hartford Circus Fire where tragically over a hundred people died. As a result of that traumatic experience he never sat in an audience again through the remainder of his life (Riley died on May 25, 2007 at the age of 76).

Charles Nelson Reilly made his first motion-picture appearance in 1957, playing an uncredited role in “A Face in the Crowd”, directed by Elia Kazan. Most of his work during this period was on the stage. Reilly appeared in many Off-Broadway productions.

In 1971, Charles Nelson Reilly played “Hoodoo” the evil magician in Lidsville, a psychedelically flavored live-action children’s program produced by Sid and Marty Krofft airing on Saturday mornings on ABC. The show was about a boy who falls into a magician’s hat and enters a magical world of hat-humans.

During the 1970s, Reily also appeared as a regular on The Dean Martin Show, and had multiple guest appearances on television series including McMillan and Wife, Here’s Lucy, Laugh In, The Love Boat, and Love, American Style. He was also a frequent guest on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, appearing more than a hundred times. From 1980, Charles Nelson Reilly was actively teaching acting and directing for television and theater.

Charles Nelson Reily was nominated for Emmy Awards in 1998 and 1999 for his performances in The Drew Carey Show and Millennium, respectively. From the late 1990s, Reilly directed theater and opera, touring the country performing a critically acclaimed one-man stage show chronicling his life called Save It for the Stage: The Life of Reilly, where he publicly proclaimed being a homosexual. Just like Paul Lynde, his contemporary game show regular, Reilly played up a campy on-screen persona. Reiley would also occasionally perform as the voice of “The Dirty Bubble” on the animated series SpongeBob SquarePants.

Charles Nelson Reilly was parodied by Alec Baldwin on Saturday Night Live in which Reilly is interviewed by James Lipton (played by Will Ferrell) on Inside the Actors Studio. On October 8, 2007, Samantha Bee, a reporter for The Daily Show, stated that if someone is ruled to be gay by the Supreme Court of the United States, then they are in Charles Nelson Reilly territory.

Source: Wikipedia

Posted by Aiden

27 Dresses starring Katherine Heigl is a romance flick about Jane who lives the “always a bridesmaid” lifestyle with no happy ending in sight until… her little sister Tess cpatures the heart of Janes boss, whom she has been secretly in love with.

Katherine Heigl, Emmy winner of Grey’s Anatomy is getting married in a couple of weeks and makes the cover of Vanity Fair. She looks really glamorous. However, the star of the upcoming “27 Dresses” also made a rather stunning comment about Knocked Up, another movie that helped her earn $6 million…

“It was a little sexist… It paints the women as shrews, as humorless and uptight, and it paints the men as lovable, goofy, fun-loving guys… I’m playing such a bitch; why is she being such a killjoy? Why is this how you’re portraying women? Ninety-eight percent of the time it was an amazing experience, but it was hard for me to love the movie.”

I guess that’s one of those things that make you go “hmmm…” Well, everyone is entitled to their opinion and be candid about it.

Regardless, I look forward to Heigl’s “27 Dresses” which will open in theaters January 11, 2008.

Posted by Aiden

Nowadays you can find electronic dog training devices such as shock collars for dogs and electrical shock fences. There are pet owners who swear that those devices are the best when it comes to their dog behavior and obedience training. The manufacturers of the dog training equipment also claim that their products are completely safe and won’t harm your pets in any way.

However, many also believe that electronic shock collars for dogs are inhumane, not necessarily effective, and can even trigger behavioral problems in your dogs. In addition, pet owners with lack of experience may misuse and abuse dog training collars by using them excessively which can hurt the animals. Moreover, there is the possibility that the electronic equipment can fail to function properly due to defect or outside influences which can also harm your dog.

So would you use electronic shock collars to train your dog? I personally would not. I strongly prefer using positive reinforcement as much as possible. Besides, who can tell for sure how much pain the dogs feel when given the electric shocks? Have you ever watched Jim Carey’s movie, “Fun with Dick and Jane.”? He puts one of the contemporary shock collars for dogs around his own neck to test it out, and he is rather shocked (no pun intended) by how strong it is!

For great information about training your dog without using shock collars check out Dog Obedience Training Secrets. Get the FREE 6 day course on selected methods to train your dog like a professional without any obligation.

Posted by Aiden

If you’ve ever bought an inkjet printer cartridge you would know how expensive it would cost. If you use your printer only once in a while it may not be a big deal since you would only need to buy a new inkjet printer cartridge once every few months. However, if you’re running a business you would have to purchase them a lot more often, and the costs would add up.

If you buy inkjet printer cartridges at a local store you have to pay retail prices although they may have specials on occasion. That’s ok if you only need them every once in a while or if you suddenly run out of ink and have some printing job that can’t wait.

Purchasing inkjet printer cartriges online will save you big money and you should start doing it if you haven’t already. Yes, even if you buy new ink cartridges only every once in a while. If you can save money, why not?

Learn more about How To Save Money On Inkjet Printer Cartridges.

Posted by Aiden

Have a fun, spooky, and…

~ Your friends at CoolInfoLounge.com

German food recipes get pretty popular this time of the year because it’s Oktoberfest! Yes, we even celebrated Oktoberfest at church last Sunday but without any beer But that didn’t take away the enjoyment since there was plenty of delicious food such as bratwurst and sauerkraut, goulash, Spatzle, and roast pork leg just to name a few, not to mention the mouth-watering desserts.

Speaking of desserts, I’m planning to serve German desserts at our Christmas party this year. I know, it’s only September but it will be here before you know it. Besides, I need to try out some of the recipes first to make sure they will indeed be a special treat.

Want to know what they are? Read my article on German Food Recipes, and perhaps you can try some of your own to celebrate Oktoberfest or make your holiday season extra special!

Posted by Susie

P.S. - Note to Tanya, my associate…

I think you would be perfect as a jungle woman. I saw a picture of a very sexy Cat Woman costume the other day and I thought about you, but then I thought Cat Woman doesn’t go barefoot So jungle woman is the way to go girl! Don’t worry too much about your dad, I’m sure you can handle him Be sure to share with us how it all went!

ok folks, it’s getting closer and closer. it’s only about a month till halloween, yay! everywhere i go i see halloween costumes. in the department stores, craft stores, as well as drug and grocery stores. those halloween costums in the grocery and drug stores are pretty cheap, but you know what? you get what you pay for.

if you’re into halloween like my daughter and i, you wouldn’t want to get your costume at your local grocery or drug store. you deserve better ones. after all, halloween only comes once a year!

so you should at least buy them at a good deparment store or go online and find a wide variety of high quality halloween customes at great prices too, but you better hurry ‘cos the longer you wait the less selections are available and higher the prices go!

i know some people are fans of lord of the rings, and they’re constantly looking for lord of the rings costumes. it can indeed be fun dressing as one of the characters in the movies. if i were to choose a costume from lord of the rings i probably would pick one of the scary looking characters.

do you have babies? don’t leave them out of the halloween fun activities. you can find plenty of baby halloween costumes out there. my daughter is not really a baby anymore (although sometimes she still acts like one, haha!) but when she was little i loved dressing her up in baby and toddler halloween costumes. now she has a mind of her own and is quite picky too!

hey, in my last post i told you i was planning to wear a sexy and naughty halloween costume this year? well guess what. i still haven’t decided on one yet. i know, i know i’m not following my own advice to get those halloween customes early but there’s just so many to choose from and i can’t make up my mind.

besides i’m a little nervous about getting in trouble with my dad. i know i’m a big girl but he can be mean :( i’m leaning toward a sexy jungle women, though but if you have any suggestions i’d appreciate it too.

oops, you know what? i wasn’t supposed to type in all lower case ‘cos this is considered a formal blog. well i forgot, i did it out of habit. and i don’t wanna go back and change everything. so i say screw it! at most the editors will scold me again, like the time i used 4 letter words in my posts (and i don’t mean ‘love’ ), and maybe delete my post. we’ll see :p

posted by tanya

Heya!

Are y’all ready for Halloween? What? Yeah, yeah I know it’s still August and it’s freak’n hot and muggy in most part of the country but you know what? Before you know it the leaves will start changing colors, the days getting shorter, the air getting cooler. Aahh, I look forward to that ‘cos as much as I love summer, I’m getting kinda sick of the hot and sticky weather. I also look forward to the time when the spooks start making their appearances.

If you haven’t already known, Halloween is my favorite holiday, and so is my daughter’s. There’s just something about scary stuff like ghosts, vampire bats and spiders that excites us. It’s all in good fun, nothing wrong or evil about celebrating Halloween like some will lead you to believe.

We love decorating our house to make it look spooky. My daughter loves Jack O’Lanterns (or is it Jack-o-Lantern? I always get confused with the spelling! :p ), so we always get a couple of pumpkins and carve them ourselves. She also likes ghosts and cobwebs, and we always include them in our Halloween decorating. Btw, my friend Tasha wrote a great article on Halloween decorating which will give you some spooky cool ideas.

We also love dressing up on Halloween. My daughter went out as a little vampire once and scared the ….(bleep!) out of the other kids in the dark. That was great fun! :p I also prefer the scary Halloween costumes since that’s what the spooky holiday is all about but you know what? I’m in the mood for something different this year.

I wanna dress in something a little naughty and sexy :p Any suggestions? Since I hate wearing shoes (yep, I go barefoot most of the time) I’m thinking I should be a wild jungle woman. We’ll see what kinda trouble I’ll get in with my dad, haha! Anyway, you can read my fun article on Great Halloween Costumes. Have a ball this Halloween!

Posted by Tanya. 

The rich history of Oriental rug itself can be an interesting conversation idea with your friends as they admire the beauty and intricate craftsmanship of the Oriental area rug you have displayed in the living room.

A genuine Oriental rug is handmade (knotted), and the fabric is either piled of flat woven. Oriental rugs are crafted in traditional weaving locations in the Middle or Far East.

Authentic Oriental rugs and carpets mostly come from different countries such as China, Vietnam, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Tibet, Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Morocco, and even some areas around Russia. Rugs produced in other places are generally not considered authentic.

Read more about Oriental Area Rugs.

Landscape design is in general regarded as a division of a broader field known as landscape architecture. Landscape design also usually focuses on smaller projects, as opposed to landscape planning which typically involves bigger projects or the widest perspective of large-scale landscaping projects that take place over a long period of time.

The way that landscape design is distinguished from landscape architecture is simply that landscape design refers to an actual set of design plans for a particular area where landscaping will be performed.

You can either do your own landscaping or hire a landscaping professional. Learn more about Landscape Design and Landscape Architecture.

When you visit someone’s house, is the end table the first thing that catches your attention? Most probably not! That’s because end tables are relatively small in size compared to other pieces of furnoture like the couch, coffee table, bookshelf, etc.

My husband and I wanted to create a sitting area in front of the fireplace so that we could enjoy reading or just chatting by the fire. Aahh, how romantic! I suggested placing a wood end table between the chairs that could also function as a game table. You see, we love playing scrabble and backgammon, and it would be wonderful to play by the fire.

One day we were browsing in a used furniture store and saw an old wood end table which was actually a scrabble board made into a table. Quite ingenious I thought, and the price was cheap, but it was just a little too casual. There were also a few antique end tables in the store that looked elegant but they were out of our price range.

Read more about our story and find out which living room end table we ended up getting.

Posted by Tasha 

I love cheese pizza. I mean just plain cheese pizza with nothing else on it. Mmm, yummy! It’s always been my favorite food since I was a kid growing up in a small town with no pizza parlor around. We didn’t have frozen pizza or cheese pizza pie either. So the best cheese pizza I’ve ever had is that my grandma used to make for us kids when we stayed over on Saturday nights.

Instead of recommending the best, richest, doughiest, cheesiest, or other superlative pizza made in family-owned local pizzerias (where you’ll most likely find the best cheese pizza), since that wouldn’t be very helpful considering many of my readers live in different parts of the world, I decided to share with you some interesting facts about cheese pizza, our favorite food. Bon apetite!

Posted by Susie

Affordable contemporary furniture has always been one of my passions ever since I was in college. I decided to move into an apartment at the end of my freshman year, and I needed some furniture. At the time I could only afford the cheapest style of furniture. For a reasonable price the slick modern furniture created quite a cozy atmosphere.

I have always been interested in contemporary interior design, so naturally contemporary furniture is part of it. However, I also realize that not everyone can afford the high-end modern furniture, especially college students and newly wed couples who are just starting out. Having been a student myself, I could certainly relate to that. That’s why I decided to focus on affordable contemporary furniture.

Posted by Tasha