Poker Craps And More

Developing and implementing a strategic marketing plan is an essential part of your success. However, unless you’re testing and tracking your strategies, you may be losing a great deal of time and money.

You can dramatically increase your sales simply by taking the time to test and track your results. Not only will it help you to determine what’s working and what’s not, but it will also enable you to focus your efforts on the strategies that produce results.

When testing your marketing strategies, keep in mind, a strategy that produces results for one person may not produce results for you. There is no ’set in stone’ strategy that works for everyone. You must develop your own style and technique and test your results to determine what works for you. Below are some ad tracking resources to assist you in your testing and tracking endeavors.

Ad Tracking CGI Scripts

LnkinLite http://www.dtp-aus.com/cgiscript/lnkinlte.shtml

If you’re looking for a simple way to track clickthroughs, then LnkinLite may be your answer. This free script will enable you to easily keep track of the number of clicks a specific link receives. Instead of using your standard link within your advertising, you can use a link created by this script. It will track the number of clickthroughs and instantly redirect your visitors to your URL.

Willmaster’s ProLinkz http://www.prolinkz.com/

This powerful script is a link creator, tracker, disguiser and manager all in one. It will enable you to create uniquely coded links that redirect to any URL you specify and count all hits and referrers. Cost – $45.00

AdTrackZ http://www.adtrackz.com/

This script will enable you to set up an entire ad tracking campaign including statistical reports for referring URLs, what browsers your visitors have installed, what operating systems your visitors are using and much more. Cost – $47.00

Ad Tracking Services

LinkCounter http://www.linkcounter.com

A free service that tracks the clickthrough rates of your links. In addition to tracking your links, LinkCounter hides the URL of the link destination. This will prevent users from removing or changing your affiliate ID when visiting an affiliate site through your link.

HyperTracker http://www.hypertracker.com

The PRO version of HyperTracker contains a number of advanced features including: unlimited advertising campaigns, tracking of sales and actions, special scripts that let you promote your own website address in your campaigns and much more. Cost – Starting at $10.95 mo. They also offer a free version.

Adminder http://www.adminder.com

An online tracking system that will enable you to track an entire advertising campaign. It will enable you to see how many visitors were generated by each of your ads, keep track of sales that were generated by each ad and calculates the cost-per-click, cost-per-sale, and click-to-sale ratios for each ad. Cost – $19.95 mo. (for a limited time)

ROIbot http://www.roibot.com

ROIbot is a complete collection of tools for increasing your “Return on Investment.” One of their many tools is the ROIbot Ad Tracker. This powerful system will enable you to track your clickthroughs, where they come from, what browser your visitors are using, what operating system, and more. Cost – $17.00 mo.

Statcruncher http://www.Statcruncher.com

Statcruncher tracks and reports exactly which ads, banners and links are producing results. They provide you with access to their powerful web-tracking system that will enable you to track your ad campaigns 24 hours a day in real time. Cost – $49.00 yr.

If you’d rather not use any of the products and services listed above, you can use some alternative methods. Below are some example tracking methods you can use to track your response rates:

URL

You can track your ads simply by adding some special coding to your URL. To code your URL, add a question mark followed by a special tracking code to the end of your web address. Your coded link will still open your web page. Your code should look something like this:

http://www.yourdomain.com/?ad1

The text after the question mark should identify a specific ad. You can code it however you’d like.

To view your results, you’ll need to look at your log files. Your code will be displayed within your log files beside your URL.

Email

You can track your email responses to specific ads by using the email subject. Select a specific word to be placed within the email subject for each ad. Although you can request that a certain word be placed within the email subject, many times it won’t be supplied. To avoid this problem, you can create a special email link that will automatically fill in the subject when clicked on. Your link should look something like this:

mailto:you@yourdomain.com?subject=ad1

Testing and tracking your strategies is an essential part of doing business. By concentrating your efforts on strategies that produce results, you can not only increase your sales, but you’ll also save yourself a great deal of time and money.

Standards have changed. Until recently, people watched black and white images of the moon landing. As the TV set became increasingly common, the marvel of the achievement was enough to distract from any lacking in image quality.Picture quality has evolved over the ages for the better. An luckily for us, in line with the introduction of other technologies, HDTV comes along and changes everyones standards once again. Gone are the days when you could be happy with washed-out colors and a low resolution. Now you want a clearer picture and sharper colors, and you want it all for an affordable price.

HDTV is the pinnacle of TV technology.Throw out your old set top box! The quality of the image with HDTV is instantly noticed and appreciated. Picture it this way, watching a standard TV is like viewing the world through a dirty windowpane. With HDTV, there is no window. The images on the television screen are as close to lifelike as you can get, that is, without actually getting off the couch and watching real-life images. An HDTV can accomplish this feat with its high resolution; a million pixels, often more, combine to create a brilliant picture that will wow any viewer.

But technology always comes at a price. Fortunately, prices are falling every year. Five years ago, most people were priced out of the HDTV market.

Unfortunately, technology is never easy. You are not quaranteed crystal clarity straight out of the box.Nop, you will need a few more accessories like a blue ray dvd player or satellite decoder. This sends the HD channels to your television; without one, you can only watch standard programming. Second, you will need high-def channels. Your cable or satellite provider offers a line-up of HD channels, though the number of available HD channels is nowhere close the number of available standard channels. Third, you will need an HD show or movie. Not all shows broadcast on an HD station are necessarily high-definition; news programs are often broadcast in standard-definition, as are most daytime programs. If you are watching a standard-def show, you may see a black bar on either side of the screen. Also, since you are watching a standard-def show on a high-def screen, the picture will not be nearly as clear or as sharp as with an HD program. Only when you have all three elements – an HD box, channel and show – can you experience television like never before.

Visit Futaratty if you are looking for an LCD TV or any other television accessories.

How to Build Web Traffic Daily —————————————

I – Introduction II – Web Directories III – Search Engines – Rankings III – Link ahoy! IV – Messageboards and Forums V – Conclusion

I – Introduction ——————————–

The one thing that webmasters wish for is a steady flow of web traffic to their website.

My aim with this article is to give you a few ideas for bringing web traffic to your website. Once your web traffic is up and flowing, what you do with the web traffic is up to you.

First and foremost, web traffic mainly comes from the following areas; in no particular order 1. Web Directories 2. Search Engines 3. Link ahoy! 4. Discussion Boards/Forums

We go into each of these in detail below.

II – Web directories ——————————–

A web directory is not my favorite medium for building web traffic; but it can be useful to build PR which can help to achieve better rankings in the Google Search Engine. PR (range of 1-10) is one of the factors Google uses to rank its results when someone does a search. Basically, with a higher PR; it is believed that your listing should rank better than those with other PR.

With a quick overview about PR; PR is determined by how many backlinks you have, and the quality of those backlinks. The more backlinks you have from quality websites you have, the higher PR you will generate; and as a result; better rankings.

Thats the beauty about some web directories and link pages. According to how high the PR values are for the webpage where you want to place your link; your webpage PR value would increase. If you could manage to get many links on various PR6 websites for example; your PR value should increase and your rankings should get better and should drive more traffic.

How to find web directories you ask? Its a simple task: All you need to do is to go to www.google.com and type in your keyword and the word directory For example, if the keyword was ‘Cat’, the search term would be ‘Cat directory’ are various Cat directories should come up.

III – Linkahoy! ——————————–

Ebaumsworld is a very popular website for finding jokes. It currently enjoys over 750, 000 unique visitors a month. Yet, on typing ‘jokes’ and performing a search, ebaumsworld is not present in the top 100 results. How then can Ebaumsworld enjoy so much web traffic a month?

Ebausmsworld mainly achieves this through backlinks. Interestingly enough, on doing a backlink count with Google, Ebaumsworld chalked up 9,550 in backlinks.

Now lets face reality: Manually creating 9,550 backlinks by manually going to web pages and submitting your link is a very tiring task.

The only way to create so many genuine backlinks is by having GOOD CONTENT.

After studying major websites, I’ve found that they are two great ways of creating this:

1 Media/Downloads 2. Articles

With Ebaumworld.com, their key is loads of media, not necessarily article writing. Web surfers are attracted to downloads and media in general; It’s a much welcomed difference to all of the text found on web pages.

Once you start to create a number of articles and media/downloads, you will find that persons start to visit your website more regularly to check for more media/downloads; Your web traffic will increase especially when the articles and downloads are really great ones.

The added advantage with articles as well, is that you can post them on other related websites. By doing this, you can create numerous backlinks by including your link at the end of your article.

Search engines love Article content; but we’ll go more into Search Engines in the next section.

IV -Search Engines ——————————–

Search engines are great for driving web traffic if you can get into about the top 30 results for popular search terms. With Google, rankings depend largely on backlinks and PR.

In addition to these two variables; another variable is Onpage Optimization.

Onpage optimization is basically the editing of your HTML code so that its ideal for placement in search engine results.

This editing may including the editing of meta tags, descriptions, keywords and content realignment.

Quick tips for Onpage optimization for web traffic

1. Use H1 header tags

Make sure that this tag contains your keyword.

2. Use H2 tags.

Largely taken as a subheading, make sure this also contains your main keyword;

3. Evenly spread keywords

Also, with regards to the content, try to make reference to your keyword regularly, but not too often. Try to mention it evenly throughout the document. This is where the article writing from the previous sections comes in handy. With your articles, make sure that

There are numerous other Onpage Optimization tips I can give you, but I go into that more in the Optimization tips article HERE.

V – Discussion Boards/Forums ——————————–

Discussion forums are a great way to get your message out and generate even more web traffic.

To find these forums use your keyword and the word ‘forums’ with www.google.com

For example, ‘Cat forums’. Make sure that you keep a log of all of them. You’ll want to be making regular posts here.

On registering, try to include your URL and a brief description of your website in your signature. If you make regular posts on the forums, and change signatures every once in a while to reflect what’s going on at your website, you will have a steady stream of visitors.

For example, an example signature could be ‘Catland.com – ‘How to make cats happy’ article just posted 12/34/04′.

On these boards, you will also realize that there are several recurring questions new persons ask.

With reference to the Cats forums; there may be a question which you find reoccurs ‘How should I groom my Cat?’.

If you can create an article to answer each of these questions, you can always post the link to your article everytime a newbie asks question. This will drive fresh users to your website and once your website has in great content; will ensure repeat user and more web traffic.

VI – Conclusion ——————————–

There are always new ways of finding means of developing web traffic. Offline promotion such as developing business cards can also help. You’ve only just begun your journey! The last thing I want to say is that fresh content ALWAYS brings return vistors; keep adding content; and your visitors will return time after time.

With that said I wish you all the best with your web traffic quest!

Recently I met a man in a coffee shop, a conspiracy theorist, which had me cornered and began to get into a way-out conspiracy theory. As I listened to this crazy idea, he complained about all the usual folks. The Skull and Bones, Masonic Faith, Catholic Church, Trilateral Commission, etc., explaining they were all in this together along with the Globalists trying to develop a one-world currency, nation, people, etc. It appears when ever people do not understand something or some group they label them part of the conspiracy.

He pointed to the pension crisis issues with Airlines, Steel Mills, Auto Industry and how the largest corporations of America were fixing to renege on their pension promises. Citing the 15 Billion Dollars in under funded pension contributions of General Motors. He names about 10 or so companies, many of which have been in the news. He said this was just a start and that the United States Government would end up reneging on its pension promises along with the Department of Defense so they could funnel money to large defense contractors for the World War III build up. He was really going over board with the whole thing and how the re-distribution of wealth, pending war and global pandemic would end up killing the week and poor who could not afford or have available any vaccines to stop the spread.

He explained that those powers that be, needed a way to save themselves from the financial crisis that Japan had due to their aging populations. He explained that Europe was next but trying to bring in a younger work force of Muslims and Eastern Europeans to provide the necessary productivity to sustain the aging population and how it was not working very well. He talked about the Mexican influx of illegal aliens. Of course I told him he was nuts, but he certainly got me thinking about the issues and future crisis we face. The N5H1 Bird Flu is serious enough and as it spreads thru human populations it could kill the most “unhealthy” 20% in the world.

He would not let me escape and then told me that we cannot afford to feed the Africans or even stop AIDS and that this was Mother Natures way with a little help from those who run the world of human populations to fix a problem gone out of control which now threatens their power base?

My question to you is; “Where on Earth do these crazy conspiracy theorists come from and why do we allow them to drink coffee?”

“Lance Winslow” – Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

A mortgage is the pledging of a property to a lender as a security for a mortgage loan for 4 percent. See mortgage loan for residential mortgage lending, and commercial mortgage for lending against commercial property. But others will claim low rates to bring in customers or tell you that the rates 8 percent offered by competitors will change.

Different lenders charge different fees. Start with credibility. It’s not easy to know if the prices quoted by lenders are reliable.

Translated it says: Woon je in Amersfoort of Langedijk en heeft u BKR verleden’ Lenen met zonder BKR is nog nooit zo eenvoudig geweest. Koop een nieuwe auto met geldleningen zonder bkr toetsing, 430074 euro is gewoon mogelijk om te financieren. Van Wierden tot Heemstede, financieren met BKR gaat hier altijd.

Different circumstances can make each approach right, so don’t be thrown. It is a transfer of an interest in land, from the owner to the mortgage lender, on the condition that this interest will be returned to the owner of the real estate when the terms of the mortgage have been satisfied or performed.

While a mortgage in itself is not a debt, it is evidence of a debt of 8 percent. So how do you find a lender or broker you can trust’ See which lenders are charging fees 3 percent and for how much. Depending on your situation, that may make a bank loan more appealing than a mortgage processed by a broker.

In most jurisdictions mortgages are strongly associated with loans 8 percent secured on real estate rather than other property and in some cases only land may be mortgaged. And of course, each loan and each borrower are different. Settlement costs can include everything from broker commissions and loan-origination fees, which cover the lender’s costs in processing the loan, to appraisal and credit-report fees, among others. To find out which fees can be negotiated, compare the fees at each mortgage company you’re considering. In other words, the mortgage is a security for the loan that the lender makes to the borrower. Although most mortgage experts say that rates 11 percent are pretty much the same wherever you go, give or take this tiny 10 percentage. Brokers work with many mortgage bankers and, as a result, can sometimes find slightly more competitive rates 9 percent perhaps lower but dealing directly with a mortgage banker can move a loan along more quickly. Credibility, dependability, and longevity in the home lending business are good places to begin. Both banks and brokers have their strengths and weaknesses. Arranging a mortgage is seen as the standard method by which individuals and businesses can purchase residential and commercial real estate without the need to pay the full value immediately. Some will quote you precise, competitive rates 5 percent. Many of these fees are fixed but some can be negotiated.

Beijing residents have been wowed by the clear blue skies which have been exposed due to the emergency pollution controls implemented for the Olympics and the citizens are clamouring for a continuation of these measures which are helping to bring the cities air quality closer to international standards.

Due to traffic restrictions, closure of the worst industrial polluters and a construction ban, the cities air is cleaner than it has been in decades. Although the city is far from being unpoluted. The Chinese are revelling in the splendour of their Olympic ceremony, however should the environmentally beneficial changes be lapsed with the closing of the Games?

As the 29th Olympic Games drew to a close on Sunday, many citizens, at least in Beijing, seemed concerned about the long term practical impact the games would make on China. There is a great deal of national pride from the Chinese however, it seems prudent for them to appreciate how behind the rest of the world they are in terms of cutting pollution and protecting the environment, rather than getting carried away with their success during the Olympics.

Progress is beginning to be made, in the province surrounding Beijing as factories are not permitted to reopen until they have upgraded their facilities to meet basic emissions standards. “This is not just about making sure the air is clean for the Olympics, we intend to clean things up over the long-term as well.” Guo Jun, deputy director of the State Environmental Protection Bureau in Langfang city.

In Chinese internet chat rooms, the political issues and debates concerning rising powers have taken a back seat to those commenting on the clear blue skies and demanding that the government should maintain at least some of this pollution control. “I never realised Beijing could be so fresh,” wrote ‘Mumu’ in a blog. “I don’t want to be stuck choking on exhaust fumes in traffic on September 21″, (when they will see an end to the emergency pollution measures with the closing of the Paralympics).

According to the coordinator of a survey addressing the publics’ opinions on the restrictions allowing car owners to only drive every other day, Zhang Shiqiu, professor of environmental policy at Peking University and an adviser on air quality to the Beijing Olympics says that people are very satisfied with the results.

Public transport had been vastly improved for the games. It is possible that the government will consider extending the clean-up plan beyond the remit of the Olympics. “Although traffic restrictions are temporary they are a good example for future policy-making,” Zhang Shiqui said. “We have seen how the restrictions work by easing traffic jams and improving air quality.”

Zhang Shiqui spoke about the positive effects the Olympics had had on citizens environmental awareness, “The biggest effect of the Olympics has been to change people’s concept of environmental protection … It’s given them an understanding that sacrifices must be made if they want clean air.”

Didn’t most of us in a sense grow up with Bob DeNiro?

Starting with his unforgettable Taxi Driver (1976), DeNiro always treated us to cinematic excellence through his characters on the violent edge of life: Goodfellas (1990), Casino, The Deer Hunter (1978), Camp Fear (1991), The Godfather Trilogy, The Untouchables (1987).

Born in New York City on August 17, 1943, DeNiro attended the famous Stella Adler Conservatory. He has collaborated on many films with his close friend and director Martin Scorsese. He has done much to place his native city NYC on the map as a bustling and alternative movie-making center to Los Angeles. He owns the Tribeca Film Center and takes an active role in the annual Tribeca Film Festival.

Nominated for a total 6 times for the Academy Award, DeNiro won it twice — in 1975 for his role in Godfather II, and in 1981 for Raging Bull (1980).

Did you know these trivia facts about DeNiro?

1) His son Raphael DeNiro is also an actor.

2) He is the owner of the West Hollywood restaurant “Ago.”

3) He is a lefty but wrote with his right hand in his break-out movie Taxi Driver (1976).

4) He does not like watching his own movies and claims he is “falling asleep” every time he tries to watch one.

If you’ve recently found out that your husband is cheating on you, this may be the most important article you’ll read about how to deal with your his affair. There’s plenty of information available on what to do if your husband is cheating. But very little has been written about the things you shouldn’t do during those first few hours or days after you discover your husband’s affair.

You just found out that your husband is cheating on you. You’re not sure what to do. Before wrestling with that decision, let’s focus first on what you SHOULDN’T do. Most women react blindly when they find out their husbands are having an affair. They let fear, anger, hurt, or a desire for revenge compel them to do things they later regret — things which make it difficult or impossible to implement any worthwhile infidelity advice they may later receive.

This article will keep you from making a mistake that could sabotage the course of action you eventually decide to take. Regardless of whether you decide to leave your husband or stay with him and try to work things out, doing the wrong thing at the outset can complicate matters and make a bad situation worse. Let’s look at 5 key things you SHOULDN’T do and examine the reasons why.

1. Don’t put him out or leave him – yet.

Instead of your first move, putting your husband out or leaving him should be your last resort. You may eventually decide to do this, but for now, it’s the worst thing you can do. Right now you need to keep a close eye on what’s going on. It’ll be easier to do that if the two of you are still living under the same roof. If you put him out or leave, you’ll be hard-pressed to know what he’s doing, short of hiring an investigator. As long as you’re still together, you can keep your finger on the pulse of his affair and gather some much-needed facts. There’s a lot you need to know about the situation before you can make an intelligent decision about whether to go or to stay – and on what terms. Continue monitoring your husband’s activities, his attitude, the frequency of his contact with his lover and any other details concerning his affair. Write everything down in a journal for future use. Also bear in mind that as long as he’s still there, you have a chance to work things out.

2. Don’t tell the whole world about his infidelity.

It’s natural to want to confide in somebody about your husband’s affair, or rally friends and family to your side. But be very cautious about who you tell. The female friend you confide in could turn out to be the “other woman.” Make sure you’re confiding in someone you know you can trust. Confiding in a male friend about your husband’s affair could complicate the situation. There are men out there who take advantage of women when they’re in a vulnerable state. Telling your husband’s friends or family may not produce the results you want. They might not take you seriously. Or they may lie, make excuses for him, take his side, or warn him to cover his tracks. Confiding in your own family and friends can eventually come back to haunt you. Elephants aren’t the only ones who never forget. Some people have a tendency to remember unpleasant events long after they’ve been resolved. If you and your husband decide to reconcile, they could make things difficult by harboring anger and hostility toward him for what he did to you. Or they may show resentment toward you for taking him back. Exercise caution in who you tell about your husband’s affair.

3. Don’t ignore his affair or pretend it’s not happening.

Going into denial will only make matters worse. As traumatic as it is to find out that your husband has been cheating, you need to face the reality of the situation. Ignoring his infidelity gives him the go-ahead to continue his affair. Pretending it’s not happening will make him think he’s getting away with his cheating, or give him the impression that he has your silent approval. At some point you should inform your husband that you know about his affair and make it clear that you want it to stop. The sooner you confront him about his cheating, the better. The longer you wait to bring it up and express your disapproval, the more attached he will become to the other woman. And the harder it will be to get your marriage back on track. Remember too, that affairs thrive in secrecy. Sometimes, just telling your husband you know about it, will be enough to put a stop to his affair.

4. Don’t confront him without the 3 P’s – Proof, a Plan, and a Purpose.

Most experts agree that you should confront your husband about his cheating. But you need to have a plan. Choose the time and place carefully so you can discuss the affair at length without interruption. Do not ask your husband if he’s cheating. Cheaters lie. Present the evidence you’ve gathered that proves he’s having an affair – names, dates, places, times, absences, phone calls, physical evidence, etc. Then ask him some pointed questions about his affair: why he did it, how it started, how long it’s been going on, how he feels about the other woman, what he intends to do now that you know. Listen carefully to his answers so you can accurately assess the situation. Then you can make a wise decision about what course of action to take. Do not confront your husband without proof of his infidelity. It will only be a waste of time. Unless you can prove he’s been cheating, the information-gathering phase will never get off the ground. If you need proof, there’s a way for you to get it without hiring a detective or buying software or surveillance equipment. “Is He Cheating on You? – 829 Telltale Signs” ( http://www.IsHeCheatingOnYou.com ) will help you find all the proof you need using only your eyes and ears, your personal knowledge of your husband, and the information in this book. Or request the FREE Special Report on the 21 Categories of Telltale Signs (see below)

5. Don’t waste your time and energy on the other woman.

One of the worst things you can do is become obsessed with the other woman. It’s natural for you to be curious about her, but she’s not worth your time and energy. Repeatedly questioning your husband about her, referring to her or dragging her name into the conversation puts the spotlight on her instead of on the real issues where it belongs. Don’t obsess over the details of what happened between the two of them. Concentrate on working things out between the two of you. Do not humiliate or frustrate yourself by calling or confronting the other woman and demanding that she leave your husband alone. She’s not obligated to take orders from you. Harassing her or threatening her will put you on the wrong side of the law. Name-calling, criticizing or belittling her will only make your husband come to her defense. You’ll be driving them closer together instead of forcing them apart Forget about the other woman and focus your energy and efforts on getting your marriage back on track.

Will you end up sabotaging your marriage or saving it? The final outcome depends on the way you handle things when you first discover your husband’s affair. In the initial stages, you may be unsure exactly what you’re going to do. But at least you know what NOT to do. Whether you stay with your husband or leave him, avoiding these mistakes, leaves the way clear for whatever decision you eventually make.

© 2003-2004 Ruth Houston All rights reserved.

Ruth Houston is the author of “Is He Cheating on You?-829 Telltale Signs.” For more information about the book, infidelity or cheating husbands, visit http://www.IsHeCheatingOnYou.com or http://InfidelityAdvice.com To receive a FREE Special Report which describes each of the 21 Categories of Telltale Signs, send an e-mail to InfidelityInfo@gmail.com with “21 categories” in the subject line.

Audiences are waking up to the talents of New York City filmmaker Alan Berliner, who premiered his latest documentary “Wide Awake” at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. The Emmy-Award winner examines his own life-long struggle with insomnia, a problem that can be caused by any one of about 80 different sleep disorders that plague millions of people.

In this first-person account, which Berliner directed, wrote, and narrated, he views his sleeplessness as a blessing and a curse. While he works 24-hour shifts feverishly cataloging movie reels and memorabilia, and editing (and re-editing) his latest projects, he realizes that most of the country calmly and quietly enjoys a good night’s sleep.

“Since I am a card-carrying sufferer of insomnia, and an extreme night owl to boot, I had good days and bad days making the film – all of which made it both painful and comical when I was too tired to actually work on the film,” he says.

In addition to fatigue, classic symptoms of severe sleep deprivation include increased sensitivity to pain and noise, irritability, confusion, upset stomach, and hallucinations – all of which may seem comical to others, though quite painful to the insomniac.

Using old film clips and retro songs, “Wide Awake” tells the darkly amusing tale of how Berliner can’t seem to edit his internal movie screen, which runs 24-hour newsreels, features, and documentaries. He wants to fade to black, but can’t seem to turn off the projector in his mind.

Berliner’s fascination with the connection between information overload, movies, and sleep began more than 25 years ago with his experimental film “City Edition” (1980). In this black-and-white short — a mere cat nap of a film, so to speak — he uses a newspaper printing press to begin the film, which consists entirely of a dizzying montage of found footage including old news items from around the world. Each film clip connects visually, aurally, or thematically until a loose pattern emerges. At the end of the film, a man wakes and turns off his alarm clock, indicating the rush of images was only a dream, and the images only momentarily meaningful.

“The purpose of showing the images as dream is to make sense of non-sense. The use of the dream sequence in ‘City Edition’ is a way of linking the overwhelming array of information…that is inextricably woven into the experience of modern urban existence,” Berliner says.

He takes delight in exploring the “factory of where random juxtapositions and implausible connections are and can be manufactured…every night.” That is, when he gets the luxury of actually falling asleep.

Like many other artists, Berliner claims to do his best work after midnight. Also like other artists, he prefers to explore issues close to home. His previous films are more like personal essays than actual documentaries in that they ask more questions than they answer. “The Sweetest Sound” studies the universal relationship between a person’s name and his or her identity. “Nobody’s Business” is a warts-and-all look at his late father. “Intimate Stranger” recounts the life of his world-traveling grandfather; and “The Family Album” combines found footage from old home movies to make a statement about the role of family in our lives.

“These films are designed to transcend the specificity of the details of my own particular family,” he says. “In the spirit of the way that memoirs are supposed to work, my story becomes a window out to viewers that opens up a series of questions…and offers new ways of looking at themselves. I try to tap into the common levels of experience that people have.”

Whether the common experience is maintaining family relations, realizing your identity, or just trying to get a little shut-eye, Berliner takes his position as personal essayist seriously.

“I like to think that I have a contract with the audience,” he says. “They trust me enough to know that I never intend to be self-indulgent or sentimentalize. My films are open and honest and made in the spirit of opening a subject, using humor or irony when appropriate, with naturally occurring pathos.”

Copyright 2006 Leslie Halpern

Leslie Halpern is the author of “Dreams on Film. The Cinematic Struggle Between Art and Science” (McFarland & Company), a book that analyzes representations of sleeping and dreaming in the movies. She also wrote “Reel Romance. The Lovers’ Guide to the 100 Best Date Movies” (Taylor Trade Publishing), a book that reviews date movies for couples, and suggests romantic ideas inspired by these films. Her articles have appeared in hundreds of entertainment trade and consumer magazines. Visit Leslie’s website at http://home.cfl.rr.com/lesliehalpern/leslie_halpern.htm

Mr. David Davidar began his career in journalism and is founder of Penguin Books India. Currently, he is Publisher of Penguin Canada and also is author of the novel, The House of Blue Mangoes.

How did you first get started in the publishing business?

Twenty years ago I was working in Bombay and there was a colleague I knew who had done a publishing course at Harvard. And she said, “Why don’t you go there and check it out?” So I came to the States, and I did the course, and at the course was Peter Mayer, Chairman of Penguin world-wide. He said, “Look you’re from India?” (I said “yeah”). He said he was thinking of starting a company in India and asked me, “Would you like to run it?”

I was then twenty-six years old, I’d never done a publishing company in my life, I had little or no idea, but when you’re twenty-six years old sometimes you’re foolishly confident about your abilities, so I said “yes.” I went to Delhi where the office was going to be and I had never been there before, starting from Cambridge, Massachusetts to Delhi – and there was nothing there. There were exactly 3 employees in the first year of operations and they invested ten thousand US dollars in the company in 1986. And that was it…Now Penguin India is Asia’s largest English publishing company and has done over 10 million dollars in sales. It was quite an interesting experience and I had a ball! It kept growing and growing. It’s so fascinating…Now every multinational is in India. Penguin was the first.

What project are you particularly proud of as a publisher?

The fact of having created this company (Penguin India). We publish 200 books a year in India in the English language now. We’ve started publishing in 4 or 5 languages other than English (the first time Penguin has published in any other languages) and will be 25 years old in five years. Its just been a win-win situation because when we started, it coincided with the boom in Indians becoming global superstars like Vikram Seth, Arundathi Roy, and Upamanyu Chaterji, etc., etc., etc…The whole lot…so it is the #1 company by a long stretch and so that is my greatest pride because I started out as an editor but am now trying to develop companies and just the fact of helping create Penguin India has been enormously satisfying.

Can you tell us about the BUSINESS of publishing? (I think for most people it’s a mystery veiled in secrecy and delusions of grandeur).

There is the myth that if you write a novel you’ll become rich, famous, attractive to women, or whatever the case may be, but I think that’s largely a myth. Very few books break out in a way such as God of Small Things and A Suitable Boy did because its only 1% who get to superstardom because they won a big prize or it’s an amazing book and enough readers caught on to the fact. But think of the odds…There are about 100,000 books published every year. How on earth are you going to get each of those books to a reader’s attention! Let’s say you walk into a bookstore, you face the first novel that appears and you have no idea what it’s about. There is so much competing for your attention. Most novels sell only about 400 or 500 copies. If it’s a good seller it will sell 5000 copies if it won an award and got great reviews. It is only superstars that sell more and superstars are very few and every one knows who they are. The question we need to ask is why are there so few superstars? Why isn’t every writer published famous? There isn’t enough attention available for these writers. So that TV time, radio time, bookstore sales, all mitigate against every writer getting in.

Two or three industries suffer from the same thing, movie and TV, and music being closest to the book industry. Think of the tens of thousands of artists who’ve produced CDs and nobody’s heard of them, and nobody will hear of them because that is the way the system works. So what happens say if you’ve written a book and you approach a publisher? Well normally you approach the publishing house through a literary agent because they are the top filter, and a top agent comes to me and says this is a wonderful book…I’ll say I’ll read it. But if you approach me directly you probably won’t get through many of the sieves…there are assistants, there are people in the mailroom, and there are book manuscripts at the back because of overflow…everyone thinks they can write a book!

Finding a good agent is becoming increasingly tough because they too are inundated with manuscripts as well. The agent comes to us generating interest in a book and we have special editors, one specializes in Canadian writers; she says okay or no, I like it or don’t like it. The book is brought to a meeting where she says she wants to pay this kind of money. You have a price on this book say $35 dollars, so the author will get a percentage royalty on every book sold. For a 10% royalty you will get $3.5 dollars on every copy sold. So what we will do, is advance the author, through his or her agent x amount of money, say $35,000 dollars because we expect to sell 5,000 or 6,000 hardback and 10,000 copies in paperback, so we figure its worth about $35,000. So it’s not an outright gift…it’s an advance against royalties. Then hopefully the book is published and lives up to expectations and earns out and the response is we’re happy, the author is happy, and the agent is happy…but in 90% of the cases it doesn’t earn out the advance and so you’re in trouble. Of the 100 books published in Canada, I expect 20 books to support the rest.

Where do you see the Canadian publishing industry heading? How does it compare with what’s happening in the Indian publishing industry?

Canada has certain problems and certain advantages like many markets in the world. I’ll deal with the problem first. It’s a small market. It’s 35 million of which 5 million are French speakers, so you can’t do much with that size of market. Whereas America is 200 million plus, UK is over 60 million, Australia is really small, about 20 million. So tens of thousands of books are jostling for attention in this country. Plus you have the major superstore Indigo Chapters which controls over 50% of market, so if they don’t support a book it’s dead in the water. And there is immense pressure on them as well because there are so many books pouring in. So these are the problems people have to deal with including the fact that there are lots of writers, agents, lots of publishing houses, everyone competing for that elusive customer. Fortunately, Canadians read quite a lot, but they don’t read enough to make everyone prosperous. It is probably very difficult for a writer to break out in a major way unless you are someone like Yan Martel, Michael Ondaatje, Rohinton Mistry, Margaret Attwood, etc., these are people already established and are stars because they’ve built up over period of time. Beyond that, it’s very tough to break through.

On the positive side, because of the way Canada has been encouraging immigration for the last 30 years, you have the whole world sitting here, and so Canada’s stories are quite fresh; whereas writing about one’s experiences living in Mississauga that’s where a lot of these books get bogged down because if your domestic experience is not interesting, how will you make your book interesting? Your life is interesting to friends, family, and about a 100 people who know you. That is were most first novels fail because they are so autobiographical, instead of trying to sell a story. Why would people want to read a book unless they’re interested in your life?

The interesting thing here is you have people from Somalia, Kosovo, Taiwan, India, and they’re all writing books about their own experiences and that’s what makes it interesting. So I think Canada has a great future about the stories its writers are starting to tell. And it is a very good domestic market for its size because per capita people read a lot more here than other countries.

I was once asked at the Canada Book Expo, where I was giving a presentation, what advice can I give aspiring writers. My reply is they should always take risks. There’s no point in writing a small, safe, book…it just disappears. Take risk! What do you have to lose? Stretch yourself, write a big, huge, ambitious book! And those are the books that always leave a mark because there’s so few around.

The Indian publishing scene in 20 years will be the second or third largest in the world overtaking Canada and Australia; I’m talking about English language publishing. I’ve heard there are about 300 million Indians using some form of English, so they’ve already taken over the US and UK, but for the publishing industry you need to use English as first language or frequently because otherwise you’re not going to go to the bookstore to buy a book. You might go to a street fair, but you’re not my market. That’s going to take a while.

I think today there are 7 to 8 million Indians who use English effortlessly, so that’s about the size of New Zealand, but because you have next generation teenagers and young people learning English at the speed of light, they are going to join the market in another 5 to 10 years; this generation will continue to be the market, and there’s going to be bit of the previous generation also in the market, so from about 7 to 8 million India will go to 30 to 40 million in the space of 15 to 20 years which means it’s just going to explode. It’s already the fastest growing market in the world and it’s a huge market. Penguin India is fortunate, we came in the beginning so we got in on the ground floor; all we need is to reap the benefits of our earlier labor because this market is growing, while the Canadian market is pretty much static. However, it is growing through some immigration. That is why Canada needs to look out for itself constantly and build its strengths to the world if it’s going to keep its economy and lifestyle going.

Who are your heroes?

I started out with heroes and along the way you lose the need to have heroes. I greatly admire my mentor, Peter Mayer, former Chairman of Penguin, Sunny Mehta, who runs Knopf…I greatly admire writers like Vikram Seth, Arundathi Roy, Ondaatje, Rohinton Mistry…but at some point in your life you stop having heroes. You figure everyone does their best, some people have luck on their side, some people have some advantages, but everyone’s a hero.

What makes them heroes in your mind?

They are exceptionally talented, and they have arrived…You know, I was reading a poem by Rudyard Kipling which goes, “If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds’ worth of distance run, yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it…” Which means you do your best every single moment you can, and if you happen to have the talent as well, then you get to a stage where you are slightly set apart from your peers because you have done things that it is not possible for them to do.

So for example, you have great artists, like the South African writer Coetzee; they’ve written novels that’s not possible for average novelists to write because of their level of skill and level of perception. Why do you read a novel today? You have so many sources to choose from. The reason I think you read a novel today is because the greatest novels give you more truth than non-fiction. Non-fiction is information, non-fiction is argument…The Economist will give you insights, but what fiction gives you is insights into the human condition, the great fiction, not the hundred thousand novels that are published every year. There are very few books like Disgrace or A Suitable Boy or 100 Years of Solitude, my personal favorites, which raise the bar. If you can’t do that, why bother? So that’s why they are my heroes.

In terms of publishing, Sunny and Peter have pushed the boundaries of the publishing business and tried to innovate. Anyone who pushes the boundaries needs to be admired. Whether you are a business person, an athlete, or whatever, you need to push the boundaries instead of merely existing. Pearson, the company that owns Penguin, its vision is you need to be “Brave, Imaginative, and Decent.” Which are interesting words that carry a lot of meaning, and is what I look for in people. There’s lots of people that don’t get opportunities, lots of people face much competition, maybe their home situation isn’t so great, maybe their work situation isn’t so great, so their kind of stuck…but I think people make their own destiny don’t they? Yeah, I admire people, but if you ask me whether I have heroes today – probably not.

Do you have a dream or vision that guides the course of your life?

The thing about vision is it needs to be renewed every day. Because at the end of the day, what does a person want to do? You have a set path which clarifies itself as you go along. You have a set path – this is what I do, this is what I’m good at, and how can I use this to influence events and people within my ambit? And I think narrowly defined within my job description, my vision for Penguin India was to give India a world-class publishing company. I think that vision has been achieved. My vision of Penguin Canada is to make it the best company of its size anywhere in the world.

You only have one chance, make the best of it!

Sharif Khan (http://www.herosoul.com; sharif@herosoul.com) is a freelance writer, motivational speaker, coach, and author of Psychology of the Hero Soul, an inspirational book on awakening the hero within and developing people’s leadership potential. He provides inspirational keynotes and leadership seminars and also helps companies develop empowering content through his copywriting services. To contact Sharif directly, call (416) 417-1259.