The manner of Botticelli is easy to recognise because of the hair styles among others. And he used to paint "a tempera" (a mix of pigments, water and egg), it was not oil-painted. At this time, oil wasn't discovered (it was by Van Eyck in the first half of the 15th century). The paintings a tempera have a special look, quite thin, quite delicate but less luminous than oil. Botticelli has a very recognisable style so if you see strong resemblances between the two pictures, it should be Botticelli. There may be an other possibility though, Botticelli had a student, Filippino Lippi, that took a lot of his specially soft style.

We can also say Botticelli is recognizable by his really precise line, as he is part of the Florentine school that was very based on the line (in comparison to the Venetian school that was more into colour for example). We could say much more on the subject I guess but the goal is not to make everyone sleep, so... Take what you want...


----taken from Maxence Raffi
since the day i knew him, i started to believe that there are people who live for art

Self awareness is the first component of emotional intelligence which all leaders have. People with it are able to work with a demanding client and understand the client’s impact on her moods and the deeper reasons for their frustration and will be recognized by their self-confidence.

People with self-regulation are in control of their feelings and impulses, therefore will create an environment of trust and fairness. People who have mastered their emotions are able to roll with the changes and deal with change and news. However, people like that are sometimes seen as lack of passion.

As for Motivation, people with leadership potential are motivated by a deeply embedded desire to achieve for the sake of achievement. Those with high motivation also remain optimistic even when the score is against them and they can overcome failure with the combination of self-regulation. They also often feel committed to the organizations.

Although seems unbusinesslike, empathy is understood as thoughtfully considering employees’ feelings – along with other factors – in the process of making intelligent decisions. It is particularly important today as a component of leadership for at least three reasons: the increasing use of teams, the rapid pace of globalization and the growing need to retain talent.

Social skill is friendliness with a purpose: moving people in the direction you desire. It is the culmination of the other dimensions of emotional intelligence. Socially skilled people are adept at managing teams. Therefore social skill is considered a key leadership capability, no leader is an island.

Mười tám lộ quân chư hầu không giết nổi Đổng Trác, mà một thiếu nữ đào tơ liễu yếu như Điêu Thuyền lại giết nổi Trác. Ba anh em Lưu, Quan, Trương hùng liệt không thắng nổi Lữ Bố, mà chỉ một nàng Điêu Thuyền lại thắng nổi. Ôi, lấy chăn chiếu làm chiến trường, lấy son phấn làm khôi giáp, lấy sóng mắt nụ cười làm gươm sắc giáo nhọn, lấy mày ngài làm cung nỏ, lấy nước mắt nũng nịu làm tên đạn, lấy lời tình tứ ngọt ngào làm chiến lược mưu cơ. Xem thế thì cái bản lĩnh của "Nữ tướng quân" quả là tuyệt cao cường, đáng sợ lắm thay!


my crappy translation, please take in mind it's just the main ideas, not exact words of the author:

million soldiers could not kill Dong Zhuo but a fragile girl like Diao Chan could. the three grand brothers Liu, Guan, Zheng could not beat Lu Bu but only one lady Diao Chan could. Alas, the chamber was her own battle field, cosmetics was her own shield and armour, took the look the smile as the sword and spear, took eyebrows as her own bow, and tears as arrows and bullets, as for strategies and tactics were actually sweet words with flirting. how superior the talent of such Lady General, so frightening!








... go to wikipedia, search for Diao Chao if you dont know her

well what i can say about this game? I'm even not sure whether it is listed as "game" or not, but for me i justify it as a game. It's kind of text game I think, the system is like a normal sims dating game, you have some choices to choose in a certain situation, and they will lead to different endings.

But the kind of game Im talking about is not for dating, it is mostly about complex stories that by choosing your own choice, you will find an end, or a piece of the whole big story. i recommend you the 2 games Hallucinate and Fianca, their main category mostly is "angst".

Hallucinate is a sad ballad which you find your own way. In the game, "You" used to be a killer, until you got into an accident and was sent to hospital. You lost your memories and got no idea about you being a murderer until a girl in the same hospital came and asked you to die, for her sake as revenge. how you react will be the end of this game. none of the ending is truly happy, and also none of them is truly sad. but in each of them, you will find something, even very slight, what you are lack of.

Fianca is more about filling up the story which means each ending gives you another piece of the "You" in game. that's also why Fianca is much longer than Hallucinate. there is no opening neither ending, since i cannot spoil anything. you will have to find out yourself

the 2 games can be download here. mediafire link and only 2.6mb
please contact me if the link is unavailable






PS: this is the first ending that I got when i first time played Hallucinate:

the girl hates You, since you killed her family. but You fell in love with her visiting You everyday in the hospital. You would die for her sake, but You dont want to die alone, and both of you ended up together.
The ending is: "happy"

a nice poem taken from a tale by Thai Ba Tan




Wish the Prince just once..

Vietnamese source
----
Note: my translation is used for non-profit purpose and with respect for the author
----



Thai Ba Tan is my favourite author though his main career is translating rather than writing. but i wonder what could make his writing so much formal yet still informal. different from lots of authors at his ages and even younger ones, his words are just so young and modern. they dont carry hard thing, dont express any agony or cruelty. just simply they are words, like a normal diary of a guy who actually was written all by him.

his work contents light sadness, strong feeling and passionate, and and the end is always a surprised ending that even can make you laugh.

but that ending, after a few times reading will make some somewhat sad, when you can see the meaning within it



miracle ^^ i love his work!

one of the most usual questions i have gotten is about the programme i used to make my amv's and several questions about each , so i decided to make a post pointing out clearly experience that i got from the programmes I tried before



Windows Movie Maker


(click to see the real size)

no need to explain more, since this is the basic of basic programme you must have if your comp uses Windows, except for some special cases . although WMM is a bit choosy for files, but you can always make it with any convert programme.

Plus points:

-automatically cut scenes for you when uploading file from certain videos (especially handy for making videoclip and amv, since you can keep track in the important or needed scenes. it allows you to delete unneeded parts which makes things even better )

-separated audio and video

-easy to use, friendly control

-has almost of everything that you need to make a video, for both audio and video

-can save/zoom while watching your work

-save directly to .wmv

-allows you to size your own work


Minus points:

-Fixed video size and scenes

-unstable run

-does not support overlay

-limited manage for titles/subtitles





Ulead Video Studio (Plus)


(click to see real size)

after WMM, i changed to Ulead 11. personally it is ok for me

Plus points:

-quite friendly control

-active in managing transition's time

-more effects to use

-overlay is available (but with limited amount)

-Video filters are available, "Chroma Key" supports the bluescreens and greenscreens effect

-crop and resize video scenes

-the "Save current image" option is very helpful unexpectedly

-really helpful to speed up or slow down your vid. totally free control

-much better titles choices



Minus points:

-doesnt help you splitting the uploaded videos (it may sound ok with some fmv's, but with the whole movie that is a few hours long, you will understand the pain ) ---> i recommend Virtual Dub in this case

-fixed video's audio file: forget it if you want to put a scream or an impressive sound in fmv to your work. audio file is fixed! it only can be faded and thats all.

-totally inactive in saving your work. the available choices for .wmv files are at terrible quality, and the choices for .avi and .mpeg are all at terribly big size.

-takes loads of your comp's memory for nothing (since the whole file contents 2 parts, video editing and image editing), but good if you need both of them though




Sony Vegas


(click to see full size)

when you use Sony Vegas well, you are already close to a pro and if you master it then you are absolutely a PRO!

Note: if you actually just use SV's video effects well, then you are even worse than me


Plus points:

-huge storage of effects and filters, you can even expand it by updating

-you can control EVERYTHING in a video, as I said, everything

-Video paint is available, make it a new Photoshop on your own mind


Minus points:

-surprisingly (I dont know whether in the later versions they have fixed it yet or not), it doesnt have preview for you to see o.0" most likely you start with a filter or editing work, then delete, then try another one

-not so helpful in saving file as well. usually you will have a really huge file for a few mins of vid, but it's worth the quality at least. just when you need to upload then it will be the pain





---------------------------

as a conclusion, i still vote for WMM the highest. firstly because im not into the way of a professional editor so Im not much into editing a vid, i focus more on expressing things and blending them with music . secondly WMM supports splitting your vids which makes you manage and remember really well even the smallest moments of your files, therefore you can use them in the most efficiently way .

but well the rest depends on people. there are also many n00bs "which" depend on SV's effects only and there are also many masterpieces that made using WMM.

so yea, i hope this post finally helped you guys to decide on your own, so please stop spamming my message box lol

--------------------------




PS: all of the above softwares only can be used in Windows. Im planning to try with Ulead Studio Pro which is between Ulead Plus and Sony Vegas, but it will be some later time, when im not busy anymore

as we all know about one of the greatest songs by My Dying Bride: For My Fallen Angel



lyric:
As I draw up my breath
And silver fills my eyes
I kiss her still
For she will never rise

On my weak body
Lays her dying hand
Through those meadows of Heaven
Where we ran

Like a thief in the night
The wind blows so light
It wars with my tears
They won't dry for many years

"Loves golden arrow
At her should have fled
And not Death ebon dart
To strike her dead"


no matter how many times i listened to it, it still touched my mind and shake even the bottom of my heart... omg!!!

and i used to think that there could be nothing that can replace that touching and painful violin, but i got surprised to know that you actually can play such wonderful melody on guitar, as for many people have asked, here is the guitar tab for For My Fallen Angel

Transcribed By: Darrell Sturby
Email:          trex@spl.at

Standard Tuning:
E A D G B E

Well... I'm sure you all know this song has no guitar in it, but since the
violin part is so beautiful I decided I'd transcribe it for guitar.
Some types of effects you can use are slow attack, echo, and slight
distortion... perhaps tremelo as well.
This is only a guide to the notes, I use alot of slides, hammer on's,
and vibrato that I don't really feel like typing out.

The entire melody can be played using only the second string, since there
really is no need to use any others and it gives alot of oppurtunities to
use slides.

0:13 -> 0:52

e|-------------------------------------------|
B|-14----14-16---12---12-9--10--10-12--5-----|
G|-------------------------------------------|

e|-------------------------------------------|
B|-14----14-16---12---12-9--10--10-12--12----|
G|-------------------------------------------|

e|-------------------------------------------|
B|-14----14-16---12---12-9--10--17--17-19-17-|
G|-------------------------------------------|

1:09 -> 2:03

e|-------------------------------------|
B|-9---12-5-9---12-5-7-----2-5----4----|
G|-------------------------------------|

e|-------------------------------------|
B|-9---12-5-9---12-5-7-----2-5----4----|
G|-------------------------------------|

e|-------------------------------------|
B|-9---12-5-9---12-5-14--14-16-17--16--|
G|-------------------------------------|

e|-------------------------------------|
B|-14--14-5-9---12-5-7-----2-5----4--2-|
G|-------------------------------------|

2:48 -> 3:25

e|--------------------------------------|
B|-17--17-19-17h19p17-16-12-16----16-17-|
G|--------------------------------------|

e|--------------------------------------|
B|-14---14-16-17--14-14------12-12------|
G|--------------------------------------|

e|--------------------------------------|
B|-17--17-19-17h19p17-16-17--21---------|
G|--------------------------------------|

e|--------------------------------------|
B|-19-19-------17----17-19-17-----------|
G|--------------------------------------|

e|--------------------------------------|
B|-17--17-19-17h19p17-16-12-16----16-17-|
G|--------------------------------------|

e|--------------------------------------|
B|-14---14-16-17----19-17---------------|
G|--------------------------------------|

3:44 -> 4:39

e|-------------------------------------|
B|-9---12-5-9---12-5-7-----2-5----4----|
G|-------------------------------------|

e|-------------------------------------|
B|-9---12-5-9---12-5-7-----2-5----4----|
G|-------------------------------------|

e|-------------------------------------|
B|-9---12-5-9---12-5-14--14-16-17--16--|
G|-------------------------------------|

e|-------------------------------------|
B|-14--14-5-9---12-5-7-----2-5----4----|
G|-------------------------------------|

source: http://www.guitartips.com.au/
please note that the transript is NOT provided by My Dying Bride themselves, this is for practice purpose only


here is a rare example of this awesome song in guitar, though the band did add some more in lyric, still it was a great cover, worth to listen and worth to try it on guitar

im really looking forward to see a better cover of this song with guitar