Jazz Guitar Courses - Mickey Baker Wrote The First One!

Mickey Baker was born on October 15, 1925 in Louisville, Kentucky. His fame among many guitarists is mostly as an author of numerous guitar books and courses. He has actually also been a professional guitar player mostly in the field of rhythm and blues music. He is still musically active and now resides in Paris with his spouse Sylvia.

As a boy Mickey Baker resided in an orphanage and it was in this organization's marching band that he initially established an interest in music. At the age of sixteen he ran away from the orphanage and ended up in New York earning his living as a laborer. By the time he was nineteen, having listened to many leading jazz musicians including Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, Baker decided that he wanted to be a jazz musician.

The trumpet was his first instrument of choice but the cash needed to buy this instrument was too much so at nineteen he decided to buy a guitar instead. After a couple of years of study, including a brief spell at The New York School of Music, Mickey Baker chose to form his own jazz group in 1949. While he was trying to make the money required to get back to New York, Baker heard blues guitarist Pee Wee Creighton.

Mickey liked what he saw and heard and he also liked that Creighton was earning a good living! The outcome was that Baker changed his guitar approach and went back to New York as a blues guitarist. His decision showed itself to be a good one as Mickey Baker, blues guitar player, discovered himself in demand for the Atlantic, Savoy, and King record labels as a backing guitar player for leading blues artists including Ray Charles, Big Joe Turner, Ruth Brown, and The Drifters.

During the 1950s Mickey felt he could enhance his monetary situation by emulating the chart topping duo of guitar wizard Les Paul and vocalist Mary Ford. He decided to join forces with an ex-student of his whose name was Sylvia and in 1957 they recorded a smash hit with a song called "Love Is Strange". Their appeal lasted right through to 1961. With this success behind them the Bakers were economically able to create their own publishing and recording companies in addition to their own night club.

Since the early 1950s Mickey Baker had been writing and creating his jazz guitar courses along with his music albums and now through his own publishing company he established international distribution for these works. In spite of his success as a blues and pop guitarist Baker felt that he still wanted to play jazz guitar again. And for that reason, he decided to move with his wife to Europe where he hoped he could develop a more satisfying musical life.

He purchased a house in Paris and established permanent French residency there. Since that time Mickey Baker has actually prospered by writing, arranging, and playing with numerous groups and has to a great extent fulfilled his desire to continue playing his own distinct style of jazz blues guitar. To this day his now legendary jazz guitar course books are still enthusiastically recommended and used throughout the world by many guitar players!

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Architectural Animation - Useful Info

Architectural animation refers to the art of creating architectural movies or buildings with a computer. It can be used in creating beautiful buildings with nice landscapes and other attractions right on the computer. Normally, the process requires a lot of time and energy. Well trained architects and artists usually use the technique in drawing building plans.

Architectural animation involves the use of graphics and images in creating all kinds of buildings. At the end of the process, a unique movie clip is developed. The images can be played back as often as possible. It can turn out to be a real movie that can be played on a camera or DVD. During the creation of the movie clip, a computer-related environment can be included around the designed building. This is meant to make the movie more real. It's also meant to bring out the real message of the created designs.

Oftentimes, architectural animation is used alongside architectural rendering. Both of them work hand in hand when it comes to building constructions and real estate development. Both techniques can be used in drawing gigantic building plans. Several architects and artist use the two methods in creating all kinds of images and graphic designs meant for building construction.

In the recent times, architectural animation services are highly demanded across the globe. Several firms have come into the business. Diverse kinds of techniques are now used in the process. 3D animations and several forms of rendering techniques are mainly used. Such techniques are engaged in servicing the needs of customers who require different kinds of building projects. Today, several associations of builders and architects are using the techniques. They are now changing the world of building construction for the better.

Meanwhile, only well trained experts, artists and architects can make use of the 3D animation techniques. In most cases, they have to go through several training sessions before they can master the details of the techniques. Oftentimes, they have to work as teams before they can realize tangible results. Today, the techniques are used in city planning, landscape planning, 3D rendering, product simulation, design engineering, and a lot more.

In all, architectural animation as an art is fast developing across the globe. New techniques and approaches are constantly introduced into it. New computer applications and other latest technologies are also being used in the art. The future of the art is indeed very bright.

Architectural animation is the art of creating architectural movies or buildings with a computer. It's becoming very common among modern day architects and artists.

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Choosing a Decent 3D Animation Studio

It is crucial to choose a decent 3D animation studio when your business is in need of a marketing solution via 3D animation. In fact, the entire success or failure of the marketing campaign depends upon the type and quality of animation, pricing, and project delivery. Although, it is quite difficult when it comes to choosing a decent 3D animation studio that can cater for your marketing requirement in the best possible way. Below are few suggestions that might help you out choosing a 3D animation company.

1. The requirement of animation varies from campaign to campaign and company to company. Therefore, before you proceed with your marketing campaign via animation, be sure to find out what solution best suits you i.e. television advert, short animation film, animated banner, or animated presentation. 3D animation studios providing animation services, on the other hand, specialise in one or several solutions. For instance, some studios thrive in providing animation services for architecture, some in film production while others in other industrial sectors and so on. Choose a studio that can cater best for your needs. Although, before choosing any studio, be sure that they have a good portfolio, along with relevant experience.

2. Search for an animation studio that has project managers or accountable persons with similar skills. This is crucial because, no matter how talented animators are, they might not understand your exact marketing requirement. An accountable person or a project manager has skills to understand various marketing requirements, and can guide the animators in creating the best solution that matches your marketing needs.

3. Whatever the marketing campaign be, it is crucial that the project is finished on time. Late project delivery can restrain the effectiveness of the marketing campaign. You might even lose a good opportunity to make the most out of the campaign if the project is not delivered on time. Therefore, be sure that the 3D animation studio that you choose is pretty well equipped with a talented team of animators, who can ensure to complete your project on time. Studios with inadequate resources or studios burdened with many projects may fail to deliver your project on time. This is the reason why, you should avoid such studios at all costs.

4. Pricing is the final aspect that needs due consideration. Be it in UK or US or elsewhere, 3D animation studios differs in term of their pricing structure. In fact, studios in the same region will differ in pricing. Although, considering the quality and the budget you are ready to spare, choose a studio accordingly.

Considering the above 1 to 4 suggestions, you might be able to choose a decent 3D animation studio to work with your animated marketing campaign. Working with the decent studio on a marketing campaign will enable you to make the most out of the campaign.

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Usefulness of Illustrations

Illustration in simple terms is the rendition of any idea, concept, or written content in the form of art. These days, the importance of illustrations as well as 3D illustrations is highly regarded by publishers and editors, wanting to publish their contents on the internet space or magazines. Since good illustrations can grab attention quickly and can get deeply rooted in the minds of people, more and more writers today are opting illustrated art to complement their writings.

The use of illustrations is extensive in books for children since elaborate illustrations that accompany the writing, stories, and poems are interesting and can make a huge positive impact on the children. Although, it is crucial for the illustrations to be of the highest quality and accuracy in order to provide a positive impact to the written contents. If the below standard illustrated arts are accompanied with the written contents, it will not procure the results that are expected. A perfect illustrated art, which can easily convey the right idea in the clearest manner, is the most vital aspect of any illustration. With the various forms of art, including sketches and drawings, an illustrator can enrich the concept of any piece of writing, whether be it a depiction of a story for children's book or a representation of a theory for physics or science writing.

The most notable aspect of an illustrated art is that it can elucidate any written content in a drawing or two. The readers can have a good understanding of the context and they will not even have to go through the entire texts. 3D illustrations can play a big role in marketing and promoting products for various companies.

Skilled illustrators will create 3D images of the products, which indeed can capture the attention of a mass audience. The viewers will be enthralled by an illustrated art more than any written contents. Besides, these days' people are very impatient reading the adverts; hence, a good 3D illustration will help convey all about the product and its features in a form of art to those impatient audiences. An illustrator with good skills and experience knows how to make a photorealistic image and at the same time keep it accurate and simple to understand.

The traces of illustrations as old as prehistoric cave paintings; however, still in this modern world, they play a crucial part. They make people understand what is rather difficult to understand. They clarify and simplify concepts what are otherwise complex in nature.

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Where to Find the Latest Anime Movies

Anime movies are appreciated by more and more people, who want to discover another culture and entertain themselves with something different than everything Hollywood offers. This is why the sales of anime DVDs are on a continual rise, as the number of collectors is also rising. To this extent, finding your favorite anime movie or series can be very easy. There are many online stores these days the offer their customers the complete collection of anime series and movies. No matter what series you might be looking for or how old it may be, if you chose a good website, you are bound to find everything you need. There are many fans of Inuyasha, a very successful anime series of the 1990s. So naturally, those who want to buy an Inuyasha DVD will be glad to know that it is available in many of the online stores found on the market.

These online stores are designed to offer people everything they need to complete their collections. Whether you are looking for a Code Geass DVD or for something else, you are bound to find it without any problems and have it delivered to your home in the fastest time possible. Those who have never watched an anime movie may have problems understanding why this genre is so popular among so many people. If you ask any person who likes to watch anime series and movies why they like it, the first thing you will hear is that these genres have a wide variety of plots. 

Compared to typical Hollywood movies, you won't find the normal clichés that are so abundant in today's cinema theatres. The plot can be very deep and, depending on the genre of that particular anime, you will receive exactly that. If it is a comedy, you will laugh your heart out, if it is a horror movie, you will definitely be scare and many of these movies make you think of deeper things.

An anime movie is honest and you can always learn something new from it. Not to mention that the graphic is great, so if you want to get in touch with your inner child, but still watch something with a serious subject, an anime movie can be an excellent choice. Rest assured that specialized websites these days have everything a person might want to watch. Action, comedies, romance, drama, you name it, they have it. Moreover, those who want to watch something they saw when they were just children, the Inuyasha DVD is still popular up to these day.

All in all, anime movies and series are popular for a reason: they are different and they provide their viewers with a different type of entertainment. Considering the wide variety of products available online, you will always be able to discover something new or find your favorite series and complete your collection. Your DVDs will be delivered in the fastest time possible and you will be able to enjoy them anytime you want.

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Can Hulk Take on Superman the Man of Steel?

In light of the two wildly successful movies of late, fans of both major comic franchises have been asking each other and warring on forums across the reaches of cyberspace the only pertinent question when two veritable gods dominate the screen: who would win in a fight? We were privy to the Hulk's awesome power in both the 2003 and the 2008 movies, in which the illimitable wrecking machine decided to smash until he could smash no more. Of course, although the film was successful financially, the reception for the first one was a bit mixed. The 2008 version starring actor Mark Ruffalo as the eponymous antihero was a little more successful financially.

The Man of Steel Has Landed

Predictably, when the Superman reboot came to the fore, starring new actor to the franchise Henry Cavill, it absolutely blew the Hulk away at the box office, tripling the Gamma Monster's numbers. So the victory is resoundingly in the Man of Steel's favor on this note; but that still leaves the question of who would take the W in a "real" fight.

Superman's super-human abilities are the stuff of legends, and he is widely acknowledged as the first and greatest super hero. Known by the mild-mannered alter-ego of Clark Kent, this alien god comes with a treasure trove of powers: heat vision, super-breath, super speed, super-strength, atmospheric and interstellar flight, he's virtually impervious to physical injury, and ice breath. These don't even entail the full suite of his powers! Just the most used. Frankly, the Man of Steel has more weapons at his disposal than some super teams; and he is powered by the effectively limitless energy of our yellow star.

Before we move on to the Hulk, let's not forget that Superman's powers have been dialed down a bit from the Silver Age uber-god who inhaled entire solar systems and slapped away galaxies. His only rivals back then were celestial entities like Sky-Fathers and multiverse overseers. Hulk has no chance whatsoever against these incarnations of the Man of Steel, of course.

The Incredible Hulk, on the other hand, has some pretty formidable attributes of his own. A creature forged in the heart of a gamma bomb - which is the shortest range of light wavelengths - the unleashed psyche of nuclear scientist Dr. Bruce Banner is a fearsome green rage machine. The Hulk starts out with mega-strength, and it only gets worse from there if you make him angry. He's been known to hold billion-ton mountains aloft to save his Avengers teammates, and even ripped the supposedly unbreakable metal adamantium during a bout with the X-Man Wolverine. Of course, to accomplish the latter feat, he was as angry as he'd ever been, second only to the battle with the psionic menace Onslaught.

As impressive as Hulk's feats of strength have been, they take a decided back seat to Kal-El's unbridled and seemingly limitless power. Superman has moved planets and shrugged off nuclear blasts. Superman vs Hulk would be a good battle because of the difficulty in putting Hulk down - due to his incredible healing factor - but Hulk has simply never quite faced anything like the Man from Krypton. His valor and honor aside, it is very difficult to imagine that Superman doesn't have the power to actually kill the Hulk - though he'd never do it. With his superspeed, Hulk doesn't even have a shot at landing a punch, and Superman's invulnerability should be able to withstand it even if he did get hit.

Despite all the powers they have going for them, Hulk vs Superman probably really just comes down to who you like the most - who was your favorite childhood super hero. The real treat would be finally seeing how the comic book writers themselves would let a true battle play out - perhaps such a treat is in the works for the future.

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Code Geass: World Peace Is Worth It

World peace has a very, very long way to go... unless you're Lelouch vi Britannia - he achieved it in two years. Yes, everyone who watched this anime actually lost track of time after all the things that happened, so it always came to a big surprise when they realized the time it took.

And considering, we're talking about world peace, this was more than lightning speed. Of, course our nice protagonist did have The Power of the King. Yes, who wouldn't want that? Geass - the power to bend people's will with a mere look and order them to do anything you wish. Brainwashing, but for what purpose?

Destroying evil.

Now, this isn't the only anime that touches the concept "the goal excuses the means". What made it such a good example is the main conflicting characters - Lelouch and Suzaku, who were two opposites.

One, who wants to make a change despite the means and one who wants to make a change with the right means.

The latter got gradually inverted, insisting on the idea that "good people with good means" only serve to be used and the world can't be improved with good - it needs a dagger, a harsh beating, so it can be made better.

So, why did this anime entrance me so much and even turned into my all time favorite Number #1?
It's about an alternate universe, where the world is divided into three and even though it's very different than what we know, society seems to have the same problems. The anime goes through all of them - the power of the rich elite and the helplessness of the young generation, discrimination, drug abuse, human trafficking, war and terrorism and at its end it goes into a very deep psychological conundrum about the creation of a world no one has ever seen before.

Code Geass doesn't concentrate on one problem alone, it touches almost every possible sector one might want to see from an anime - constantly developing characters, fast-paced plot, deep and shallow topics altogether, not to mention the palette of genre diversification - from action thought romance to mecha sci-fi, from psychological drama to ordinary school life.

Creating such a "soup" of everything in 50 episodes might be easy, but making it so appealing and entertaining gives a whole new meaning to a show. It makes it a masterpiece.

After going out, the first season created an immense chaos of cheering among the fanbase and various magazines considered it the most famous anime for 2008. It collected a lot of awards - for best TV anime series, for most popular anime, Lelouch turned into the most popular male character in the anime circles.
His voice actor - Jun Fukuyama won a seiyu award in 2008 for his role, while Ami Koshimizu won an award for best supporting female character for her work with Kallen.

The long anticipated second season created an even larger uproar and for the following year it won another award for best male protagonist for Lelouch and additionally selected C.C as best female character. The whole season won an award for "Best Screen Play" and maybe the biggest achievement was the nomination for "Best Media Award" for 2008.

It turned into my absolute favorite anime, as well as for many other people. It brought both an interesting and original story line, not to mention the most unexpected plot twists in any story I ever laid my eyes on.

Another reason why I adore it so much is the character design, which was made by one favorite artist group of mine - CLAMP.

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Planet Cybertron and the Rise of the Transformers

The planet Cybertron is well known to fans of the Transformers franchise, as well as the loyalists who grew up with the cartoon version of the alien robots. The vision of the dead planet that was used to magnificent, CGI-inspired effect in the Michael-Bay-directed blockbuster hovering above the Earth was enough to send the newest and youngest fans scurrying to the search engines to find out as much as they could about the Home-World.

In the version of the Transformers mythos, in which the planet Cybertron was once the Light-God Primus, the very first Transformers that the imprisoned Primus created were the mightiest planet-bound creatures in the entire galaxy. Don't ask how they knew that for sure; it's rude.

They fashioned the planet Cybertron into the spiraling mechanical perfection it was before the evil Decepticons sprang up from the Abyss and the two sides, just like their father and uncle before them, began warring. To keep a long story short, Cybertron was devastated by their ceaseless fighting, which scarred the planet and depleted the Energon.

Eventually, a great leader rose from the ranks of the good Transformers, which were called the Autobots. This leader would make a previously unthinkable sacrifice to save the Universe, for the Decepticons were hell-bent on obtaining the All-spark and using it rule the Universe, subjecting other life forms to their will.

He would escape his humble beginnings in the meager workforce of Cybertron to become the greatest champion the planet had ever known, valiantly driving the Decepticons back time and again from battle, though they were always back for the war. His name was Optimus Prime.

Optimus Prime saw that the leader of the Decepticons, Megatron, was just as driven in his evil ways, as Optimus was set in his unwavering good ways. As such, this could only end either with the death of the other, or with the placing of the coveted instrument of power out of reach during their War for Cybertron.

Optimus, ever the preserver of life when possible, chose the latter. Calling on a faction of his Autobot forces to distract Megatron and the Decepticons by battling them on a distant moon, Optimus Prime made the fateful decision to jettison the Cube into the vastness of space, to a known point that would use astrophysical processes to place it even further out-of-reach.

Cybertron the planet was powered entirely by the creator-god Primus' life-force, and had no need of a star. Thus, when the All-Spark was jettisoned, the planet began to die and the Transformers that hadn't been killed in the civil war had to leave. The All-Spark, itself, ended up finding the planet Earth, which was filled with the kind of creatures that can read I'm writing. Both the Autobots and the Decepticons, led by their, um, leaders, chased it here in order to secure it first. The Autobots finally won something, and are under constant attack by the Decepticons as price for this seemingly temporary victory.

The rich history of Cybertron notwithstanding, it ended up a dead and barren world, although that didn't happen for some time after Megatron left it behind, under the watchful gaze of the one-eyed powerhouse Decepticon, Shockwave. Indeed, the entire overriding plot of the Dark of the Moon movie was to bring the barren world into Earth orbit, gravity-be-damned, so that the Earthlings' resources and manpower could be used to rebuild the lost world.

It is the greatest testament to the Transformers' champion, Optimus Prime that he balked at this personally-beneficial result, believing it to be fundamentally wrong, and killing both his brother and his teacher to prove the mettle of his resolve.

Christina is a huge Transformers fan and enjoys writing about alien robots for print magazines and online sites. With half-a-decade of writing experience for the online space, she regularly engages in content marketing for several major online publications.

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