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In the spring of 1883, Claude Monet decided it was time to find a permanent residence for his family and he selected the village of Giverny. It was small and relatively untouched by industry, and the region had a picturesque appeal. Gentle rolling hills rose to the north, while to the south there were cultivated fields of wheat and poppies as well as meadows covered with wildflowers and irises.

Monet found a large house to rent on the southern outskirts of the village. He signed a long-term lease and transported the family's belongings by river to Giverny in his studio boat. By June, Monet and his family were settled in their new home. Late in the year, he resumed his travels, but it was evident wherever he went he now missed his home as well as his family. In February 1884, he wrote to Alice from Bordighera: "If I am happy to work in this beautiful area, my heart is always at Giverny."

Monet Image Gallery

Claude Monet painted Waterlilies, night effect
from 1897 to 1898, studying his subject with a gardener's
patience. See more pictures of Monet's paintings.

Monet's passion for gardening dated back to his young married life in Argenteuil. He found the work relaxing, and he often claimed he grew flowers to always have a natural subject to paint. Monet spent most of his summers in Giverny, setting up his easel in the surrounding fields of crops and flowers and then tending the garden at his leisure.

By 1890, Monet was able to purchase the house, and he undertook a far more extensive renovation of his garden. With its array of natural colors that changed from the cool blues and violets and pale yellows of spring irises to the hot oranges and reds of the late summer dahlias, the garden was composed the way Monet composed his paintings, allowing the natural visual sensations to guide his aesthetic expression.

Monet purchased an additional parcel of land adjacent to his property in February 1893. Located near a small branch off the Epte River, it had a pond in the center surrounded by marshlands. The following summer Monet added water lilies to the pond's surface, and, in 1895, he had a small arched Japanese bridge built to span the western end of the pond. As with his flower garden, he patiently watched his water garden transform and mature.

Around 1897, Monet painted a small set of studies of the pale lilies floating on the dark water. Feeling he had not captured the effect he desired, Monet tried again in July 1899. Over the course of the summer, he worked on 12 canvases, each depicting a view of his pond looking westward toward the Japanese bridge.

Monet returned to Giverny in April 1890 and put the finishing touches on the remaining canvases as he waited for the warm weather. Over the summer, he painted six more views of the Japanese bridge. In place of the crisp, scintillating touch of the paintings of the previous year, he now handled his brush with more freedom and confidence. The cool, pear-like tonality of the paintings of 1899 was now enriched with the warmth of red and violet hues.

Monet was an artist who was passionate about cultivating and painting the beauty around him. To learn more about his flower and water garden works, see Claude Monet's paintings from Giverny:

The Artist's Garden at Giverny: Claude Monet's The Artist's Garden at Giverny shows Monet's passion for blue and violet flowers. Learn about The Artist's Garden at Giverny, a painting done with short, thick strokes of pure pigment.
Poppy Field in a Hollow near Giverny: For Poppy Field in a Hollow near Giverny, Claude Monet roamed the rolling hills of the village. Learn about Poppy Field in a Hollow near Giverny, a lush display of natural color.
Woman with an Umbrella turned towards the right: In Woman with an Umbrella turned towards the right, Claude Monet returned to painting figures. Learn about Woman with an Umbrella turned towards the right, which features Suzanne Hoschedé.
Springtime (Le Printemps): Springtime (Le Printemps) depicts Claude Monet's content with domestic life. Learn about Springtime (Le Printemps), a painting of Monet's children beneath a flowering fruit tree.
Bend in the Epte River near Giverny: This Claude Monet painting celebrates the rare sight of poplar trees in full flower. Learn about Bend in the Epte River near Giverny, which highlights Monet's love of natural spectacle.
Waterlilies, night effect: Waterlilies, night effect showcases the patience of Claude Monet as artist and gardener. Learn about Waterlilies, night effect, Monet's first series of water garden works.
The Boat at Giverny: The Boat at Giverny is one of many pieces Claude Monet painted at the river. Learn about The Boat at Giverny, which features Alice Hoschedé's daughters in Monet's rowboat.
Bridge Over a Pond of Water Lilies: Bridge Over a Pond of Water Lilies represents an intense period of work for Claude Monet. Learn about Bridge Over a Pond of Water Lilies, a serene view from Monet's water garden pond.
The Waterlily Pond, Harmony in Pink: The Waterlily Pond, Harmony in Pink reveals Claude Monet's looser, more descriptive brush stroke. Learn about The Waterlily Pond, Harmony in Pink, a painting of lush violet, rose, and green.
Water Lily Pool: Claude Monet's Water Lily Pool is from a series of paintings that received lukewarm reviews from the critics. Learn about Water Lily Pool, which was exhibited at Paris's Durand-Ruel's gallery in November of 1900.
Waterlily Pond: Claude Monet's Waterlily Pond was painted over the summers of 1904 and 1905. Learn about Waterlily Pond, a water garden series where Monet took a different vantage point.
Garden in Giverny: Garden in Giverny shows Claude Monet's meticulous attention to the flowers lining his front walk. Learn about Garden in Giverny, a scene of rosy nasturtiums and dahlias.
Flowering Arches, Giverny: Claude Monet's Flowering Arches depicts the artist's garden as serene sanctuary. Learn about Flowering Arches, a pond view of trellis-climbing roses.

Radio Rockies

Is there an easy way to record a radio show so I can listen to it later?

You might want to record a ball game, a daytime talk radio show or a nighttime NPR show. Here is an easy and economical way to do it.

Every VCR typically has an audio input jack that is normally used by a camcorder or another input device. The audio portion of your VCR can double as an excellent audio tape recorder! Unlike the usual audio cassette recorder, the VCR has a timer that lets you program the actual recording time and duration.

VCR Audio Input Jacks

Here's how to set up your VCR to record a radio program:

On the back or front of the VCR, look for a jack (monaural) or a pair of jacks if it is a stereo model.
Check your VCR documentation to find out how to record from a "Line" or "aux" input source. Set the VCR to that mode.
Purchase an audio patch cable with a phono plug or plugs at one end and the appropriate plug on the other end (typically a one-eighth inch plug) to match your recording source. You might use a portable radio with an earphone jack or an AM/FM stereo receiver with an earphone jack.
Connect the patch cord between the VCR audio input jack(s) and the radio receiver's earphone jack.
Leave the radio receiver on, tuned to the station you wish to record.
Program your VCR as you would for taping a TV show, choosing the correct time and duration of the radio show.
When finished, play the tape back as usual, through the TV for the sound. It may take some experimentation to get the audio level setting at the radio receiver exactly right.

That's it. You now have the ability to record up to six hours of radio shows on some relatively inexpensive tape and in stereo! This procedure saves using multiple audio cassette tapes to record a long radio show and gives you the benefit of the VCR's timer.

The secrets of TV shows

Jackpot! The network has green-lighted (said yes to) the show concept we followed in How Writing a TV Show Works and How Getting Your Show on TV Works. Now it's time to shoot the pilot episode. A pilot is the first episode of a show -- they're shot, fittingly, during pilot season, between January and May. If the network likes the pilot, it will pick up the show for the season and make it a series.

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
The cast of "Guiding Light," the longest-running drama on TV 

When the network approves a pilot for filming, several things must occur. First, the showrunner and producers are hired. The showrunner is the person in charge. He or she works with the writers and script, casts the actors, is responsible for creative direction and usually oversees the project from start to finish. Sometimes the showrunner is the person who created the show's concept, wrote the script or treatment and pitched it. Producers help the showrunner handle everything. They help with hiring the director, talent, crew, writers and assistant producers, and their first task is rewriting or updating the script. When that's done, cast auditions are next. Then the producers hire the crew -- and finally, the pilot is shot and edited. This schedule is generally outlined as preproduction, production and postproduction.

When it's time for casting, there might already be a lead actor (or actors) attached to the project. If not, the people in charge could try to assemble the cast themselves -- or they could work with a talent agency or casting director. A casting director is usually well connected with agencies and managers and will put together a casting call, or daylong series of auditions. The producer and director get together with the casting director and audition actors for all of the scripted roles. These taped auditions usually last anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes each. If it is an ensemble cast, they generally try to audition in groups to see if the actors have chemistry. Callbacks are repeat auditions -- it might take multiple callbacks before all of the talent is hired. The casting director can hire extras or other nonspeaking roles, usually working through a talent agency.

Can a Show Work Without Writers?
In a word, no. In November 2007, the Writers Guild of America -- more than 10,000 TV and film writers -- went on strike for the first time in 20 years. Most observers are expecting the strike to be a long one, so the studios have been operating in crisis mode for months, amassing scripts to avoid a total disruption of production. For the most part, current shows should be on schedule through the end of the season, but it's entirely possible that the fall 2008 season will be delayed. For the purposes of this article, we'll pretend it's business as usual, but if you're really hoping to sell a script, you'll want to pay close attention to the strike negotiations.

At any given time, more than 80 people can be working together to make a TV show. The production team and the crew are as important as the talent (again, think of the writers' strike) and really make the show happen. Here's a short list of some of the production crew.

The director of photography (DP) is in charge of the shoot. He or she sets up the camera angles and shots and supervises the camera operators.
The production designer creates the physical vision of the show and designs the environments where the action takes place. Think of the bar in "Cheers," the coffee shop in "Friends" and Al's Diner in "Happy Days."
The gaffer is the primary lighting technician.
The Foley mixer records and mixes the sound effects.
The editor puts it all together; assembling the video, audio and graphics for the show into a finished product.

Now that the cast and crew are set, it's time to start shooting

The Art Effect

Art probably began as a form of communication or record-keeping. Archaeologists and anthropologists have speculated that the early cave paintings found throughout the world are records of tribal hunts or hunting seasons, because of the proliferation of repeated animal figures. Later, such figures probably took on a symbolic importance. Just as you or I might find that pleasant things happened each time we wore a certain shirt, and take to thinking of that shirt as "lucky," so too early people may have associated animals, plants and people with good and bad luck, seasonal changes like floods or snow, successful hunting and other things important to hunting and gathering lifestyles. So eventually, we see artifacts discovered which show an attempt at more than just record-keeping -- carved figures of women, for example, or small animal figurines. Even utilitarian objects like knives and arrowheads begin to show some attempts at craftsmanship in the elaborate way the edges were chipped and feathered to a point. The implication is that early craftsmen became interested not just in the usefulness of an item, but also in its appearance.

This trend continued throughout many ancient civilizations, and no doubt images of ancient Egyptian mummy cases, Greek statues, Byzantine mosaics and Buddhist reliefs leap to mind when we think about ancient art. Much early art was religious, perhaps because religion provided an index of easily referenced symbols which could be mass-produced -- perhaps because at those early stages, when much art was primarily symbolic, religion was an easier topic than any other.

Whatever the reason, in many cultures we see the growth of secular art coinciding with the growth of a new kind of art, one which focuses on people and everyday events rather than idealized spiritual and mythical figures. Portraits, classical busts, and monuments begin to make their appearance. Of course, in many cases, there was still overlap between secular and religious themes -- so rulers of a kingdom were sculpted dressed as Zeus or Poseidon, or Indian reliefs of women look very much like Indian reliefs of goddesses. This trend continued up to the end of the nineteenth-century, in fact, when people were still painting Biblical or mythological scenes with real people as the subjects of the paintings.

Along with secular art came the development of decorative art, which can range from things as large as architecture or formal landscaping, to items as small as a hand-painted tile or a trained topiary. However, in all of these things there is a visible effort to create and mold imaginatively rather than for utilitarian purposes

The Real big thing in the world in your hands

f you love dinosaurs, you will love learning how to draw dinosaurs. With the step-by-step directions and illustrations in this article, you can draw dozens of these awesome prehistoric creatures.

Drawing can be fun, and it is not as hard as you may think. One of the secrets of drawing is that any object can be broken down into its smaller parts.

Learn how to draw this Tyrannosaurus Rex.

By following the step-by-step instructions in this article, you can use this secret to learn to draw many different kinds of dinosaurs. By copying these dinosaurs, you will learn basic drawing skills. You will be able to use those drawing skills to draw other dinosaurs and even other kinds of animals or objects.

Before you start drawing, there are some basic tools you need. Make sure you have a pencil, a pencil sharpener, an eraser, a felt-tip pen, and grid paper where you'll make your drawings.

Throughout this article, the sketches start with larger basic shapes. Draw the full shape, even if all of it will not be seen in the final drawing. You can erase the part you don't need later. Each consecutive step adds more detail until you have the finished dinosaur drawing.

The steps are in color to show exactly what to draw when. The drawings for each new step are shown with red lines, while the lines from previous steps are shown in gray.

Each drawing is shown on a grid. The grid is a tool to make copying the drawings easier. While you copy the step-by-step drawings, look closely at how the lines and shapes fit on the grid, and copy them onto your grid paper. Watch where the lines come close to the grids and where they cross over them. Match them on your grid to copy the steps.

After all the steps are drawn, use a felt-tip pen to go over the pencil lines. Ink only over the lines you need to keep in the final drawing. After giving the felt-tip ink some time to dry so it won't smear, use an eraser to erase the extra pencil lines.

And there's your completed drawing! Now you are ready to color the dinosaur.

How to Color Your Dinosaur Drawings

Now that the line art is finished, you are ready to color the dinosaur drawing. Start coloring with things that are familiar to you. If you enjoy coloring with crayons, use them.

When you get more comfortable with coloring, you can try other methods like colored pencils, watercolor paints, markers, or even colored chalk. Try different techniques on the drawings to see what looks best.

When you are ready to start coloring, pick colors that seem to fit the dinosaur in the drawing. Remember, scientists have very little idea about what color dinosaurs were, so be creative!

Start by lightly adding the main color to the drawing. Some of the dinosaurs may already have designs on them, so you can use several different colors if you would like to. Remember to keep the colors light in the beginning -- it is much easier to make a color more dark than it is to make it less dark.

After the main color is finished, gently add darker colors to areas on the dinosaur that would be in shadows or less light. This usually is toward the bottom or underneath the shapes of the dinosaur. Adding colors this way is called shading and helps the drawing look more round.

After shading the dinosaur, add lighter colors where more light would be. This is called highlighting, and it is usually done on the top areas of the shapes in the drawing. Think of sunlight coming down and lighting the dinosaur from above.

Look at the color pictures in this article and try to copy the light and dark shading of the colors. Once you fill in all the colors, your dinosaur illustration is complete!

Whether you like dinosaurs that are big and scary, or dinosaurs that can fly -- with our step-by-step instructions, you'll be drawing dinosaurs in no time.

The wrestling style

ide This Article

Introduction to How the One Man Star Wars Trilogy Works

Always Two There Are...A Director and an Actor

A Trilogy at Point Five Past Light Speed

Being on Tour Ain't Like Dusting Crops

Away Put Your Lawsuit! I Mean You No Harm.

Lots More Information

See all Arts articles

Photo courtesy PKF Productions

When people hear about Charles Ross and his "One Man 'Star Wars' Trilogy," they often leap enthusiastically to the same conclusion. Surely he's some sort of stereotypical uber-nerd who decided to take his obsession on the road. Even "Star Wars geeks," who might embrace him as one of their own, sometimes wonder whether he's taking his love of the trilogy too far.

But that assumption -- that Ross is a gangly, awkward geek who took a party trick on tour -- couldn't be more wrong. He's a geek, but he's also an actor. He has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in performance, and putting the show together required the same sort of writing, direction and rehearsal that all stage plays do.

We had an opportunity to interview Ross while he was in Stone Mountain, Georgia performing the "One Man 'Star Wars' Trilogy." We invited him to our office, where he answered all our questions about conceiving, developing and touring with the show. In this article, you'll learn about
Ross, his one-man shows and his love for geeks and "Star Wars."

Thank You Thanks to Charles Ross for his assistance with this article.

Long Ago, in a Frisbee Game Far, Far Away

Charles Ross in Action

Want to see Charles Ross in action? Watch this clip from a performance of "One Man 'Star Wars' Trilogy."

Charles Ross is certainly a "Star Wars" fan. He grew to love the films, particularly "A New Hope, as a child. "If you grew up in a smaller town, which I did -- it was only 90,000 people -- Star Wars played in the movie theater for a year. And it was sold out for at least half a year, every night it was sold out...We tried to go see it numerous times and couldn't get in. My dad was working on condominiums in Waikiki, and every once in a while he'd take us there, so it was in Waikiki that I first saw 'Star Wars.'" When the film aired on television, Ross recorded it. "We only owned three films. We had 'Blue Lagoon,' 'Shogun' and 'Star Wars'...I watched 'Blue Lagoon' a lot of times, too, but I don't think anybody would come out to see a one-man 'Blue Lagoon.'"

In addition to being a lover of 'Star Wars,' Ross is an actor. When he was 17, he quit his job at a 7-11 store to work as a performer. "I was making less money than I'd been making at 7-11, but I was doing Summerstock theater...It was the sweetest check I ever, ever received, and I thought, 'If I can do this and make a living at it, then there's nothing else in the world for me.' Nothing compares."

Ross's desire to make a living in the world of theater led him to study performance at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada. Although he didn't write the "One Man 'Star Wars' Trilogy" until much later, the idea for the show began to form while he was still in college. Conversations and games with fellow student T.J. Dawe eventually grew into the inspiration for the show. While talking about condensing plays down to three minutes, a common task in theater school auditions, the two talked about abridging Star Wars. "Condensing 'Star Wars' down...do you condense it down to a minute? That was the gist of our conversation… Can you imagine trying to make 'Star Wars' into a minute? What would you leave in there? What would you take out?"

More of the Show

To see more of Charles Ross in "One Man 'Star Wars' Trilogy," check out this performance clip.

The idea for a one-man show also grew, in part, from a Frisbee game. According to Ross:

I think we were trying to add different elements to the game...what we decided we were going to do is...say a line from "Star Wars" and throw the Frisbee. And the next person had to be saying the next line that follows in the film [while] catching the Frisbee. And we played and did this for a long time. Enough so that we realized that, man, we really know this film well.

The conversations and games that eventually grew into the one-man show started in 1994, about seven years before its first performance. Ross wrote the show, and Dawe became its director. We'll look at how the two men pared "Star Wars" down to 58 minutes next.

Charles Ross vs. Lando Dr Pepper

HowStuffWorks' intrepid journalist Lando Dr Pepper has a one-on-one with Charles Ross -- One Man Star Wars. Things don't go so well...certain challenges are issued...and well, the result is a whole new take on the "Star Wars" trilogy.

Movies of Nora Ephron

Inside This Article

11 Movies by Nora Ephron

Movies by Nora Ephron, 6-11

See all Movies articles

Nora Ephron, likely the most successful female screenwriter in film history, has garnered the respect and admiration of the industry and the worship of fans around the world who love her "love conquers all" happy endings. Grab a box of tissues and check out this list of her best.

1. Silkwood (1983)

Ephron was at the top of her game with this script based on the true story of Karen Silkwood, a whistle-blower on safety violations at an Oklahoma plutonium plant. Meryl Streep stars as Silkwood, and Kurt Russell and Cher round out the cast. The movie won Oscar nominations for Streep, Cher, Ephron (for screenwriting), and director Mike Nichols and grossed more than $35 million.

2. Heartburn (1986)

The all-star cast of Heartburn included Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson, and Jeff Daniels in a story based on Ephron's best-selling novel, which captured her real-life transition between marriages. The movie was in good hands with frequent collaborator Mike Nichols directing and brought in more than $25 million.

3. When Harry Met Sally (1989)

Movie poster of Nora Ephron's When Harry Met Sally

Nora Ephron wrote the
classic romantic comedy
When Harry Met Sally.

Probably the most popular and iconic Ephron film to date, When Harry Met Sally is widely understood to be the romantic comedy by which all others are measured. Directed by Rob Reiner, the film stars comedian Billy Crystal and Ephron favorite Meg Ryan as Harry and Sally try to answer the question: Can men and women be just friends? A bona fide blockbuster, this favorite raked in $93 million at the box office

4. My Blue Heaven (1990)

This light comedy stars Steve Martin, Rick Moranis, Joan Cusack, and Carol Kane as FBI agents, mobsters, and other suburbanites. The script was written by Ephron and did okay in theaters, pulling in around $25 million, but it wasn't the follow-up to When Harry Met Sally that Ephron had hoped it would be.

5. This Is My Life (1992)

In this typically quirky-with-a-message Ephron film (she directed this one, too), a single mom chucks her sales job to trailblaze a career as a stand-up comedian in New York City. That's a tough road, especially for a mom whose family has to make its own transitions. The film wasn't one of Ephron's biggest hits, but it grossed nearly $3 million at the box office and was received warmly by critics who were ready to find fault with the first-time director.

With these five, Nora Ephron was only getting started. Continue to the next page to discover more of her romantic comedies and quirky tales.

Top 5 Most Intriguing Lists
While you can browse through hundreds of fascinating lists at Extraordinary Lists, here are 5 lists that we feel are certain to amaze and entertain:

Entertainment

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Claude Monet Giverny Paintings