60 Years On: The Legacy Of James Joyce

On North Earl Street in Dublin stands a statue affectionately known as ‘the prick with the stick’. It is in fact a statue of arguably Dublin’s most famous writer, James Joyce. Along with the bust of Joyce in St Stephen’s Green in the city, and the fact that there is a street, as well as a library in the university college named after him, and a museum dedicated to his life and works, it soon becomes clear just how revered James Joyce is in Dublin.

As if all of that wasn’t enough, Joyce enthusiasts now also hold a celebration every year on June 16th known as Bloomsday, to commemorate the life of Joyce; and also to relive the events that take place in Joyce’s most famous work: the novel, Ulysses.

The novel is set in Dublin, and the entire story takes place on one day – June 16th, 1904. The day is a secular holiday in Ireland, while the name Bloomsday derives from Leopold Bloom, the main protagonist of Ulysses. June 16th was also the date of Joyce's first outing with his wife-to-be, Nora Barnacle, when they walked to the Dublin village of Ringsend.

The day involves a range of cultural activities including Ulysses readings and dramatisations, pub crawls and general merriment - much of it hosted by the James Joyce Centre in North Great George's Street, the museum where the front door from number 7 Eccles Street - the fictional home of Leopold Bloom - is on permanent display.

Enthusiasts often dress in Edwardian costume to celebrate Bloomsday, and retrace Bloom's route around Dublin via landmarks such as Davy Byrne’s pub. Hard-core devotees have even been known to hold marathon readings of the entire novel in the same pubs and rel="nofollow">a href="http://www.hilton.co.uk/landingpages/hilton_uk_en/hotels/dublin/index.html" target="_blank">hotels in Dublin which Bloom might have used on his journey, with some readings lasting up to 36 hours.

The first celebration took place in 1954, and a major five-month-long festival (called ReJoyce Dublin) took place in Dublin between April 1st and August 31st 2004. On the Sunday in 2004 before the 100th “anniversary” of the fictional events described in the book, 10,000 people in Dublin were treated to a free, open-air, full traditional Irish breakfast on O’Connell Street consisting of sausages, rashers, toast, beans and black and white puddings - all served with a pint of Guinness!

Bloomsday celebrations take place in other parts of the world too, including Philadeplhia in the United States, where the Rosenbach Museum & Library is home to the original handwritten manuscript of Ulysses. Also, In Syracuse, New York, Bloomsday is celebrated every year with large portions of the book read aloud, or presented as dramatizations by costumed performers. The city is also home to Syracuse University, whose press has published or reprinted several volumes of Joyce studies.

Bloomsday has also been celebrated since 1994 in the Hungarian town of Szombathely, the birthplace of Leopold Bloom's father, Virág Rudolf, an emigrant Hungarian Jew.

Victoria Cochrane is a freelance writer for both online and print media. She lives with her husband and son, and enjoys travelling when not writing.

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The Classic Look Of A Black And White Photo
How stacked is your photo album? Are you keeping it updated as the years go by? Remember, you won't ever get them back. It's probably time to start preserving those special times. When I flip open an old photo album and glance through the variety of black and white photos from my parents' childhood, I am simply amazed.

For some reason it's hard to remember our parents were children once too. We only know them as the adults they have become. I want my children to be able to do the same thing with me one day. So far my wife and I have accumulated around a dozen photo albums. We have two or three of them made up of black and white photos.

Some people actually prefer black and white photos since they tend to hide imperfections a little better. However, now days the digital cameras are so widespread and simple. So many photos are taken and downloaded to our laptops. This is much less expensive if you don't print them out.

Do you take a lot of pictures? Well, if the answer is no, then you should start. Pictures are the keys to great memories. I noticed that I did not start taking oodles of photos until I had my first child. Suddenly, I wanted to preserve every single pose. Some of my favorites are black and white photos.

These old-school pictures have a certain presence all their own. It's almost like they show a deeper emotion. There's something to be said about the lack of color. It allows us to see beyond the mere cosmetic factor. This is why my wife and I love to shoot plenty of black and white photos of our children and family.

In this modern world of color, it's rather hard to come by classic black and white photos anymore. If you've not dabbled in this area of photography, I suggest that you at least give it a shot.

Get some great black and white photos of your family and loved ones. If you would like a preview of some extraordinary black and white photos, you can always surf the web and find a spectrum to choose from.

The quality is not lost in black and white photos, it's merely the color. After dealing with both sides of the coin, I don't think I will ever prefer color pictures over black and white photos.

Get some great black and white photos of your family and loved ones black and white photos of your family and loved ones.

Using Filters In Photography
Photographic filter is an attachment that will allow certain kinds of light to be able to pass through, and able to reduce or block out other unwanted light sources.In short, the term filter really means anything that modifies the incoming light in some way and includes: polarizing screens, multi-image prisms,close-up attachments, soft focus filters, neutral density (ND) filters, graduated ND filters, and color filters for black and white photography. Filters come in two main shapes: round and square.

Filters add color and a certain touch to a photo that complements the individuals style of photo taking. When you are using a black and white film with filters, you can darken or lighten the tone of the subjects color. The color filters that are used can darken the tone of an opposite color and brighten the tone of the color filter that is being used. For an example, a red filter will make the red leafs on an autumn tree look very rich and bright, while on the other hand the sky behind it that was blue, is now almost black.

Neutral density filters reduce the light entering your camera so that a slower shutter speed,or a larger aperture can be used. Graduated ND filters are used to balance out bright skies against darker foreground scenes.

A neat filter is called the star filter. This type of filter in photography is placed on the cameras lenses to create a star look effect form any source of light. This is very popular with television game shows and used for portraits to provide a soft overall diffusion. A split field lenses is really a full lenses but only half of it is close-up, it is great for taking a picture of something close-up at the bottom like a small flower or bug in focus. The top of the lenses is just blank or empty and the camera uses its lenses to background in focus, say the mountain in the distance.

Albreht Moy has many photographs for sale at his website.

Learn All About Stained Glass In A Class
In the past few years I have made it a goal each year to try at least three new things during the course of that year. So when January rolls around I sit down and consider what skills or hobbies I'd like to gain in the next year and then I make plans to learn those very things. This past year I decided that I finally wanted to learn how to make stained glass pieces of my very own.

I've always been intrigued by stained glass and I think it is one of the most beautiful kinds of art that exist. I love seeing stained glass pieces hanging in windows or used as candleholders. So I was very excited when I remembered my long lost desire to learn stained glass and I began the search for the best possible way to learn stained glass making.

There are many ways to learn any new skill or hobby that is of interest to you. In fact, I was a bit overwhelmed in choosing how I would undergo the task of learning about stained glass. The first move I made was to do a little research of my options. I went to the library and found quite a few helpful resources on doing stained glass at your own home on your own time. However, for me, this wasn't the best plan. I know that I would start with great intentions and then let the busyness of life overwhelm my best intentions with the project.

I ended up signing up for a class that would teach me how to do stained glass once a week at the local college. I went this route because I know myself and my tendency to do better when I have the outside accountability that a class and other classmates provides for me. So I began attending this class and was so thankful for the choice I made. I was thankful because I learned more than I expected to about stained glass work in a short amount of time. It seemed like it was only a few weeks before I was working on a stained glass piece of my own that I could have and cherish in my home.

So my encouragement is to anyone that desires to learn about stained glass. I'd suggest that you find a class to enroll in at a local college or an art shop. Getting involved with other artists will inspire you and hold you accountable on weeks when you don't really have time to work on your pieces. If you enjoy your stained glass class half as much as I do than you'll love it.

Hallidae Thomason is a busy author that loves to squeeze in time for art classes. Her stained glass class was her favorite so far.

Motor Home Living
Motor Home Living

So here we are, in our forties, the kids have moved out, and we are tired of the rat race.
Then the idea came, lets look into full time Motor home living.

Since I have a virtual career, and my wife is in accounting, this just might work.

No more mortgage payment, property taxes, sewage, water, home repair, and most of all, if I hate my neighbors, I can move in a day.

But now the real problem starts. How to get ready?

Over 25 years of junk. What do we keep? What do we store? What about the cars and boat?

So now we are in the planning stages and what a scaring thing. We have started looking at Motor homes at lots and RV shows. They are beautiful and cost a lot less than my Yuppy home.

So many questions come up about living in a motor home. Will we be happy? Will we get to see the world and still be comfortable? Will we meet new friends? Can we live with only one car?

We have also been trying to talk with full time Motor home couples to ask them about the lifestyle. Everyone of them so far have quoted "We should have done this years ago". Most of the folks are retired.

Do you have to be retired to enjoy a Motor Home?

I think not. Remember how our parents use to tell us we would work for companies all our lives and retire with a great pension. Well that went to pot. But we now have virtual careers available and the cards dealt to us can allow us to look outside the box.

This will be a 8 month project for us to get ready. So we will be publishing a series of articles as we get closer and more educated about Motor home living.

Owner of Rangerrob,com Outdoor Family Online Magazine. To read more and follow this story, please visit www.rangaerrobchat.com .