Hobbies
Taking up Beading? An amazing variety of books and beading kits will help you get started.
Beading looms, Russian coraling techniques, crocheted bead jewelry, beading incorporated into purses and quilts … there are so many ways to create beaded items that it's hard to know where to start. Luckily, the Internet can bring an entire world of beading information, materials and supplies into your home. A quick search using the keyword "beading" results in hundreds of websites offering beading materials and supplies, free beading patterns, and a wealth of books for students of beading, both beginning and advanced...Practical and Beautiful, Stick Pins Make a Great Collectible
If you like the idea of collecting beautiful objects but don't have the room or the desire to accumulate shelves of dust-catchers, stick pins - lapel and tie pins - are a great alternative...Jewelry a Major Fashion Accessory This Season
Just glance through today's hottest fashion magazines and catalogs, and you'll see that costume jewelry has taken center stage, becoming not just an accent but a major part of a woman's wardrobe....The Gentle Art of Bonsai
If gardening is on your list of things to do, but you don't have the room for a full outdoor garden, you might want to explore bonsai. This artistic style of horticulture involves growing trees in decorative pots and using wire and pruning of branches, leaves, and roots to shape them into a variety of aesthetic designs. Pruning the main root of the tree stunts its growth and provides its signature miniature dimensions, while wrapping the branches and the trunk with wire allows the gardener to shape the tree as it grows...Fresh, Dynamic Techniques for Quilters
Enough traditional quilt patterns exist to keep quilters happily busy for a lifetime. But if you want to try some new and unusual quilting techniques, plenty of them exist in widely varying styles...Get Started in Jewelry Design: These Books Will Show You How
The techniques of creating jewelry are pretty simple, but the artistry involved requires an understanding of design basics in order to be successful. Taking a course in jewelry design at a local art school or continuing ed program is great, but if that's not possible, or if you want to expand your understanding of jewelry design beyond your instructor's approach, then one or more of these books will give you a great start...Is Halloween Your Favorite Holiday? You're Not Alone!
Halloween used to be a minor holiday, geared mainly toward children who celebrated it with elementary school parties, construction paper pumpkins and witches, and an evening of trick-or-treating in costume through the neighborhood...Use Creative Journaling to Connect with Your Life
Many writers, poets, artists, and scientists use the process of journaling to record thoughts and to work out creative problems on paper; but serious journaling doesn't have to be limited to those in the business of creativity...Stamp Collecting by Theme-An Individualist Approach
Stamp collecting has taken an interesting turn in recent years. Rather than buying a stamp album with printed pages showing illustrations of each stamp to be pursued, many collectors are creating their own unique collections reflecting personal interests...First Day Covers-A Fascinating Specialty for Stamp Collectors
First day covers-stamps that are mailed attached to an imprinted envelope from a significant post office on a specific day-are a popular specialty item collected by stamp collectors. These special-issue stamps can commemorate historical events, cultural topics, or any number of other subjects...About These Newfangled Stamps….
It used to be a well-known fact that nobody's image would appear on a U.S. postage stamp until after that person had kicked the bucket; cashed in his chips; gone to the great beyond. No one was supposed to be honored with a postage stamp in the U.S. until after he or she was dead....Individualized Collections a Meaningful Pursuit
I remember collecting stamps as a child; I had a gigantic album with preprinted pages, and whenever I found a new stamp I would search the album diligently until I found the image that corresponded to the stamp, and carefully attach stamp to page with...Knitters-A Subculture of Their Own
I admit I've knitted sweaters in the past, my favorite being the few I knitted out of several colors of yarn. I enjoyed watching the patterns form. But I'm not a knitter; I don't belong to that collective of...New to a Hobby? Kits Are a Great Way to Start.
Whether you're interested in taking up woodworking, knitting, quilting, beadwork, or watercolor painting, a kit is a great way to begin your new hobby...Movies & Media
Commercial-Free Programming: Just One of the Benefits of Satellite Radio
Think of your favorite music or discussion topics, piped into your home or car in digital-quality, crystal-clear sound. And then think of your favorite format with absolutely no commercials - no used car salesmen, no fuel company ads, no heavy rotation ads hawking every possible product or service all the way to work and home again - all your favorite stations available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, with no static...Movie Review: "Capote" Is Beyond Definition
Moviegoers deciding to see "Capote" with the notion that they will walk away with more of an understanding of the megalomaniacal, self-destructive author will be disappointed; Truman Capote is more of an enigma at the end of the movie than he was at the beginning...Book Review: This Terrible Business Has Been Good to Me - An autobiography by filmmaker Norman Jewison
This exuberant autobiography takes us through movie director Norman Jewison's entire career, from the fluffy Doris Day comedies of his early years to his most powerful dramas. Over more than forty years, he has made films that are not only highly entertaining, but at times manage to make a valuable moral statement about the world...Reality Bites: The Cynical Underpinning of Reality TV
From "Survivor" to "The Amazing Race," from "The Apprentice" to "Runway," the ugly truth is that, far from being a competition in which the best contestant wins, Reality TV shows are rife with infighting, political cliques, backbiting, betrayal, and exclusion. Alliances are formed, individuals are targeted for expulsion, and participants often lie about each other in order to put themselves in a better light than their competitors...You Think You've Got Pest Control Problems?
Ants in your kitchen? Silverfish skittering around your bathroom floors? Invisible mosquitoes dive-bombing you in the middle of the night...At the Risk of Being Called a Trekkie….
I'm not a Trekkie; I don't go to conventions, I don't wear pointy ears or identify with a particular Star Trek character; I don't collect Star Trek memorabilia or seek out autographs of the various actors on the multiple series or many movies. But it's embarrassing how often I find myself referring to Star Trek in conversation...Addicted to House
I resisted the series House for just about the entire season. The whole "we're so hip and edgy and sophisticated" hype about the series was a turn-off, as was the positive press it was getting. (I have become very suspicious about opinions expressed by the mainstream media.) Then I saw the actor Hugh Laurie...