Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Rodney Dangerfield Remembered: The Comedians Lifetime Of Comedy

He was recognized by his trademark phrase - "I don't get no respect."

Born on November 22, 1921 in Babylon, New York, Rodney Dangerfield began writing jokes at age 15 and performing his comedy by his late teens. For ten years, he struggled as a stand up comedian and worked as a singing waiter to make ends meet. When his comedy career failed to really take off, Dangerfield, who had been working in entertainment as Jack Roy, left show business for a regular job. He spent the 1950's selling aluminum siding in New Jersey while supporting his first wife and two children.

He took another chance at show business after his divorce in 1961 and became known for the rest of his life as Rodney Dangerfield. By this time, he was approaching his fortieth birthday. His big break came when he appeared as a guest on "The Ed Sullivan Show." He did what few people were able to do – he made Ed Sullivan laugh. During the 1960's he made the rounds of many of the most popular variety shows. He performed his standup on "The Joey Bishop Show," "The Merv Griffin Show" and "The Jackie Gleason Show." In 1969 he made his first of 35 appearances on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson." In addition to his gigs on television, he spent his time making the rounds of comedy clubs throughout the country.

In 1969, the comedian opened his own standup comedy club, Dangerfield's in New York City. From its inception, it has been one of the most popular comedy clubs in America, receiving rave reviews by top newspapers and entertainment guides. Since Dangerfield's opened its doors almost 40 years ago it has seen the likes of Jay Leno, Jim Carey, Chris Rock, Andrew Dice Clay, Tim Allen and Jerry Seinfeld grace its stage. Many of the comedy club's biggest draws find themselves as guests on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" or "Late Night With David Letterman."

Having cemented his place in stand up comedy history, Dangerfield turned his attention to acting. He had his first movie role in the 1971 film The Projectionist and had a role on the television show "Benny and Barney: Las Vegas Undercover" later in the decade. The acting roles came slowly but in 1980 he landed a role that made him a household name. He starred as the obnoxious real estate developer Al Czervik in the comedy smash Caddy Shack. Suddenly people who didn't know much about comedians knew all about Rodney Dangerfield.

He followed Caddy Shack with two other 1980's comedies, Easy Money and Back To School. In 1991, he made the animated movie Rover Dangerfield, the story of a dog that gets no respect. Throughout his career, his line about getting no respect was his trademark.

Dangerfield branched out into a serious role next. He played the abusive father to Juliette Lewis' character in the controversial film Natural Born Killers. It has been reported that Dangerfield was allowed to write his own lines for the role. This was to be his only serious film role. He followed it with more comedies like Meet Wally Sparks and The Godson. In 2000, the almost 80-year-old comedian starred alongside Adam Sandler in Little Nicky.

His very last acting role was that of God in 2005's Angels with Angels. It was released posthumously. Dangerfield died on October 5, 2004. He had fallen into a coma after heart surgery and never regained consciousness. His tombstone reflects his comedy. It reads "Rodney Dangerfield – There Goes the Neighborhood."

His comedy career spanned over 60 years. In addition to all of his stage and screen accomplishments during those years, he also won two awards for his achievements. In 1981 he won a Grammy Award for his comedy recording titled No Respect. In 1995 the American Comedy Awards honored him with a Creative Achievement Award.

One of his lesser-known achievements was that he was the first entertainment personality to have his own website. In 1995 he created Rodney.com, which is still in existence today.

During Rodney Dangerfield's career he had success on the comedy stage, in film, and on the television. He gave countless other comedians the chance to show their stuff on the stage at his own comedy club. His trademark line, "I don't get no respect" will forever be associated with the comedian who in spite of his onstage persona was loved and respected by millions of fans.

~Ben Anton, 2007

About the Author:
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can read more about classic tv at http://www.classictelevisionblog.com

Monday, December 17, 2007

Download Free Legal Music For Ipod - The Top Solution

The proliferation of P2P file sharing networks on the Internet makes it very tempting and easy for someone to get themselves into a lot of trouble with the Recording Industry Association of America. The increasing sophistication of technology has made it much easier for the RIAA to track who is illegally making songs available for download and the people who are downloading them.

Very recently a student of Utah State University was sued by the RIAA for doing just that. The RIAA is negotiating a settlement of about $3,000 dollars. In another case a 12 year old child was prosecuted for file sharing and the case was settled for $2,000. I'll outline a solution for acquiring legal free music downloads for iPods below which will keep you in good graces with the RIAA.

There are a number of Internet sites that offer free music that's legal to download to your iPod. Accessing these services will prevent law suits against you for illegally acquiring downloads from P2P file sharing networks. Additionally, a number of the file sharing networks will bombard you with popup ads and the files can include a number of viruses and trojans.

The Dilemma

A number of sites like Yahoo Music and iTunes offer music downloads at a per download fee of 99 cents. These sites are certainly legal and will keep you out of trouble with the RIAA. The only drawback about these sites is the songs are coded with DRM and will no longer play on your computer if you discontinue your membership with them. The aforementioned sites are two of the top music download sites available with iTunes being number one.

Another site that's ranked second only to iTunes is eMusic. Their advantage is all their songs are DRM free, in MP3 format and will play on any platform. They offer a monthly subscription which allows a limited number of downloads. But the drawback is they specialize in independent or "indie" music artists. Although you own the music you download, their selection of the major recording labels and music artists is very limited.

The Top Solution

A more economical solution for acquiring unlimited iPod music downloads of the major recording labels without the hassle of per download fees, is to sign up for a membership with one of the numerous iPod music download services. These services typically advertise free music downloads and for all intents and purposes that's true in most cases.

Because, for the most part, they offer a lifetime membership for around $35 to $45 dollars. This one time fee includes unlimited downloads of iPod tunes and the fee is basically to offset administration costs, customer service and to keep their server computers online.

The iPod music download sites typically offer more than just music downloads. Your membership generally includes access to music videos, TV shows, movies, iPod games and cheats, conversion software and other related software. Some require you to download free software you would use to access the music, movies and other downloads. And some offer a rich assortment of incentive software like DVD burners and the Google free software package.

In Summary

The very nominal one time fee required for a lifetime membership is really a no brainer compared to the major sites charging you about a dollar per download. Because, the cost of 35 songs with one of them, would pay for a lifetime membership, with unlimited iPod downloads of not only music but all the aforementioned files. The download speeds are very good, there's no DRM hassle and your tunes continue to play on your computer even if you discontinue your membership. Best of all, you won't get into trouble with the RIAA.

About the Author:
You can find out more about free legal music downloads for iPods at http://quickipoddownloads.ipodsid.com/. Sid Nelson is an avid iPod user and owns a Website with info about iPod music and other media at http://ipodsid.com/ There's also an http://amazon.com/ store featuring iPods, accessories and MP3s.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Online Games Becoming Increasingly Addictive

We all know that the Internet is home to all possibilities. But online gaming is one other thing that people log on to the web. While some may call it a waste of time, you just have to consider the fact that online games are a leisure and unwinding tool to help boost altered egos from daily pressures of life.

Online games are a new rage on the Internet. Everybody believes that there is a lot to be earned with online games. I wonder how? You develop games, or license them create a website and try to make it popular amongst millions of others. Lot of money and effort is needed to get noticed on the Internet. And after all that you offer free games. Where is the money?

Online games and advertisements - Look at this scenario. A player has arrived to your website. He/she has downloaded a game and begun playing it. Some advertisement banners are running around. Do you expect the player to click on the advertisements or play the games for winning?

Obviously the players are focused on the game and are totally unaware about the rest of the web page. I do not believe they will click on the advertisements. If they do that, it means that your games are not good enough. The other method of getting revenue is subscription based website. With so much of free stuff floating around, why should I visit your paid site, pay you and play? Why should I not save money by searching for free games?

Online games are gaining in popularity exponentially. It is one of the fastest growing segment on the Internet. Though there is no free lunch in life. It seems that free online games are a free lunch. Some of us have a impression that such games are for the teenagers. You will hear many parents talking about the countless hours their children spend playing games online. I wonder why the parents do not join them? Let me explain.

We are all looking for fun and entertainment. Many times the television offers nothing new or you might have got bored watching television and would like to do something else. You do not want to go out and meet friends nor are in any mood for a dinner outside. you want to laze around the house and do something entertaining if possible. Online games are the answer for every age group.

Online games have been wrongly assumed to be for young people. All age groups can enjoy them. What if parents join their children in online games? They would surely make them come closer. Why complain about how much the children are playing? Join them in the fun. They would love it. You would love that. And you can also control the types of games they play and the hours spent.

Online games are fun. They increase strategic thinking. They improve our responses. They help sharpen our thinking. The games help in many ways. Try them and you will agree with what I say. You would wonder why you never played them before.

About the Author:
Jon Caldwell is a Boggle Addict. Much of his pastime games can be seen at http://www.bogglelinks.com/bogglelinkscat/bogglelinkslist.php/