We’re invited to a swank hotel lobby, given beverages, finger food, and aprons. An excellent musician plays piano in the background. Lots of upscale people are milling around, waiting, like us. Finally, a chef from California instructs us to line up according to table numbers, and to put our hand on the shoulder of the person in front of us, like in kindergarten. When our table number is called, our 10-person conga line approaches the ballroom door. We meet a blind man whose job is to take us to our table. He leads us into a ballroom that’s been transformed into a cave. Absolutely no light of any kind. Totally, completely, pitch dark. Impossible to see the person one foot in front of you, let alone where we’re going. We snake around the ballroom, taking baby steps, until our blind leader tells us we’ve arrived at our round table. One by one he introduces each of us to our chairs. I sit down. It’s impossible to see anything. No light of any kind, anywhere. I put my hands on the edge of the table, move my fingers around. I find some forks, a knife, a spoon. In front of me I feel the edge of a small plate. What’s on it? Salad. I lick the dressing off my fingers. To the right and left I feel two more plates, smaller. Something soft and greasy on them. Butter! My butter? Or did I just stick my fingers in someone else’s butter? Well, it was the plate on the left, so according to my mom (the queen of table manners) it should have been my butter. But it could have been the butter of the former Wall Street banker on my left. Maybe she won’t notice. Gently moving my right hand forward, I find a glass, with some cold liquid in it. Water? Better taste it and see. Yep. Hope it’s my water. I wonder if I can put it back in the same place and not spill it. Forks on the left, where they should be. I’m hungry. Time to find out what’s in this salad. Not bad. Some kind of fruity dressing. But half that bite just fell into my lap. Might as well pick it up and put it where it belongs, in my gaping mouth. Nobody can see me. Now that I think about it, why not just eat the whole darn salad with my fingers? Easier this way. Kinda messy, but efficient. I must look like a caveman, cramming wads of dripping lettuce into my food hole. What if somebody is filming this with an infrared camera? Will I see myself on youtube tomorrow?People are laughing, chatting, confessing to eating with their fingers. Good, I’m not the only one. My friend Heidi on my right, who invited me to this, asks me if the butter between us is mine or hers. I tell her I threw mine across the room. That gets a laugh. Really hungry now. Why’s the main course taking so long? I guess it could take a while to serve 200 people when you can’t see anything. The blind waiter comes around asking if we want wine. Not for me, thanks. But the former Wall Street banker on my left does, and after the waiter leaves she swears he groped her breast. Heidi’s kind of freaking out a little. She’s holding my hand a lot. It’s so dark. You can hear all these voices, but can’t see anything. Strange how it feels claustrophobic in this big room. The darkness is smothering. But it’s mostly fun. Because I know it will end. Finally Heidi decides she has to “go to the bathroom. ” A blind guide leads her back to the door and out. In reality, she could have gone anywhere. All I know for sure is her voice disappeared. Eventually she comes back, seeming slightly more relaxed. Finally, the main course! I let my fingers do the walking. Something soft and warm and gooey. Mashed potatoes. This other soft thing feels like. . . green beans. Ah, here’s something substantial. Some kind of meat, probably. I pick up the knife on the right and start cutting. Cutting what I can’t see is tricky. How much am I cutting? How hard should I press? When I finally get it cut, I lift it up to the general area of my mouth and can tell it’s a huge bite. Somehow I stuff it all in. Chicken! But something else too. Some kind of filling. Creamy and sweet. Somebody says pistachio. Could be. Whatever, it’s good and I’m starving. The former Wall Street banker announces the waiter has groped her breast for the 4th time. I ask her out loud if she’s sure it’s him. That gets a laugh and she asks for my phone number. Love surfaces in the most unexpected places. Now I’m back to using fingers. This knife and fork stuff just takes too long. And besides, nobody can see me, right? (Unless there really is an infrared camera. ) I think my apron is gonna be a dead giveaway, though. Like a paintball uniform at the end of a battle. This is a messy meal and a lot of it is winding up many places besides my mouth. But it’s tasty. Even when it’s been in my lap first. Dessert is some kind of cheesecake. I don’t want it so they bring me the largest fruit plate in history. I’m sure there’s no fruit left in the San Fernando Valley because it’s all on my plate. Enough to feed a colony of Malayan Flying Fruit Bats for a year. Nice variety. Pineapple, grapes, melons, but I’m too full now to eat much of it. After two and a half hours it’s time for coffee. They wisely choose not to pour hot coffee in the dark, so the dimmest of lights comes on at one end of the room. But it’s enough! We can see! Audible sighs of relief. Ah, so that’s what everybody looks like! Wow. A lot more people in here than I realized. A man gets up at a podium and tells us about the organization we’re raising money and awareness for. They assist the blind with all kinds of cool services. Then he announces we’re honoring a blind businessman, a man sitting at our table. This person, a very successful corporate consultant who became blind as a teenager, gives the best ten minute talk I’ve heard in my whole life. He says it’s written that in the beginning God said “Let there be light. ” But he doesn’t think that’s quite right. Because the dark is nothing to be afraid of. It’s the cold that’s really terrifying. What we really crave, he said, is warmth. The warmth of each others’ hearts. I think I begin to understand. © 2009 Greg Tamblyn
Is dark chocolate really healthy for you? It’s been advertised as being good for us, but it can be hard to tell what’s real and what’s not. If you’re not sure whether the benefits you’ve heard about are really available from chocolate, here are some of the basics to help you decide. Dark chocolate’s primary benefit comes from flavonoids, a type of substance that falls under the umbrella of antioxidants. Many of the diseases we suffer from can be caused or aggravated by oxidant damage to our cells. Antioxidants can help reduce these problems, including some of the effects of aging, by preventing the completion of the oxidant reaction. They capture damaging free radicals, and can be very beneficial to us. Some foods have more antioxidants than others. For instance, while they’re present in strawberries, you’ll find almost eight times as much of these chemicals in dark chocolate. Chocolate also has the ability to reduce blood pressure, since it contains nitric oxide, and may help with internal hormonal balances. It’s also been said that a small bar of chocolate daily can be good for your heart. That’s because of the aforementioned blood pressure benefits, and also the fact that it can help reduce LDL (bad) cholesterol as much as ten percent. Chocolate also stimulates the production of endorphins and serotonin, contains caffeine, theobromine and other stimulants, and tastes good. That means it has a lot of appeal. That means that if you’re eating a lot of chocolate to get its benefits, you’ll need to increase your activity level and adjust your diet accordingly to avoid weight gain. To keep from eating too much, take the time to taste and appreciate chocolate every time your consume it. These health benefits are also available only from dark chocolate with sixty-five percent or higher levels of cocoa. Milk chocolate has much lower cocoa content and can’t offer those health benefits, and white chocolate contains no cocoa at all. Chocolate bars made of pure chocolate or chocolate with minimal flavorings are the best choice. So enjoy your dark chocolate and feel good that you might being doing your health a small service. Have a browse through our site to see the various selection of chocolates available from www. kennedyschocolates. co. uk
The Dark of the Moon is considered an especially mysterious, fruitful, and flexible time of “molding” the creative experiences that will come forth in the weeks immediately ahead. It is said that wishes made as the last sliver of the Moon’s light fades on the left, and affirmed through the Dark of the Moon period until the first sliver of new light appears again on the right, have special support — special empowerment — to come true. Affirming them again at the moment of the New Moon itself gives extra push to their nourishment and initiative.
The Dark of the Moon is time of legendary power for creation. The Dark of the Moon is always best used to rest, recuperate, become quiet, invite calm and serenity into your world, and spend some time in personal reflection looking back over your life and personal history — as far as you want to go into the past — and playing with new intentions, new desires, new directions. It’s a time to stay “at home” — both physically and psychologically — and tend to your private world and its circumstances.
Create the conditions that will replenish your spirit . . . and indulge them fully, whether this means meditation, reading, contemplation, cleaning, clearing away emotional and psychological debris that hinders you, listening to music, writing in your personal journal, talking quietly with intimate, trusted associates, listening to the whispered words of your deepest intuitions, working on personal healing therapies and rituals . . . or some combination of all these things.
Play with ideas and think of things you might like to create over the next several weeks, realizing this is a time to brainstorm, daydream, and fantasize, not a time to take action. All things begin in mind. Everything in the world originated in the nebulous intellectual energy of an idea, a dream, a desire. To work with the especially potent energy available during the Dark of the Moon, plan for some serious personal down-time every month starting about 2 1/2 days before each New Moon . . . and lasting for 1 - 1 1/2 days after . . . and focus your inner work, thoughts, and attention on the matters I just described.
This automatic “natural” 4 day vacation can help bring fabulous results — emotionally, psychologically, physically, spiritually and even financially to your life. It’s easy to find information about the New Moon every month . . . by searching online, certainly, but many calendars (and certainly all astrological calendars!!) have this information clearly marked in the appropriate day / date box. The Dark of the Moon days that surround the New Moon’s arrival each month are the time to set new intentions and plans into motion in your life . . . in the realm of thought where all creation happens.
You can learn lots more about working with Moon energy on our website . . . and get plenty of Moon energy information and tactics delivered right to your inbox by joining our Premium Members website. However you choose to do it, learning to work in flow with the natural progression of energy marked by the phases of the Moon could be one of the most productive things you do for your life and your success . . . ever!! And one of the easiest to use, too!
(c) 2007 Rebecca Brents, All rights reserved.
In the movie I Am Legend, Will Smith plays a man who lives in fear and solitude for about three years. He is driven by his desire to fix the biological disaster that seems to have wiped out all of humanity except himself. He borrows his life-motto from Bob Marley’s mission in life: to “Light up the Darkness. ” He wants to be as dedicated as Marley in bringing good, or light, into the world.
One obvious spiritual theme in I Am Legend is Light vs. Darkness. God designed us to depend on light. Light implies reconciliation, goodness and purity. We dwell in the light if we have nothing to hide. Jesus even calls Himself the Light of the world. When we dwell in the Light, we gain spiritual sight. When we dwell in the Light we live unhindered by all that might make us want to cower in the dark.
In the movie there are two kinds of people left in the world: Light-dwellers and dark-dwellers. Will Smith is one of the few light-dwellers left in the world. The majority however are crazed zombies who can only come out at night because sunlight will burn and kill them.
The Bible says (and everyday life confirms) that we would like to hide in darkness to cover up our shameful lives. It makes sense that we should naturally hate Jesus Christ. We hate the Light because He exposes our evil deeds for what they are.
Sin is similar to the infection in I Am Legend. Sin has devastated humanity. Sin reduces people to animalistic impulses. Sin inspires people to hide in shame. Apart from God, people are enslaved by sin to the point that they can’t help destroying themselves and the world around them.
In I Am Legend, the majority of people left on earth have the capacity to be productive but they are compelled by their infection to use their physical and mental facilities for killing, destruction and for infecting others. The minority, the light-dwellers, risk their lives in their attempts to save the dark-dwellers.
Toward the end of the movie (Beware: Plot spoiler!) Smith comes out as a Christ-figure before the raging zombies, holding up the blood that might cure them if they would only accept it. Smith culminates the Christ-parallel by giving the blood away and then sacrificing himself in order to make the blood available to other people. Smith also resembles Christ in that he was the only person in the whole city who was immune to this insidious infection.
by Patrick Roberts. Find similar reviews at www. KoGmedia. com. Also checkout www. BooksByPatrick. com
A lot of people go to a lot of efforts in hiding their under-eye dark circles and eye bags with a lot of makeup. Despite one’s best efforts, however, these skin imperfections are still very much visible. In fact, people with raccoon and puffy eyes often look haggard, stressed or downright older than they really are. But aside from buying the best concealer, highlighter, foundation and other makeup, you can also look at the problem from a different angle. Maybe you need to understand what are causing these problems so that you can find a better way of dealing with the issue. Basically, eye bags are formed when the muscles found underneath your upper and lower eyelids become less elastic. When this happens, the fat underneath your skin starts to stick out or protrude. On the other hand, dark circles usually develop when the veins on the surface of the skin appear visible. Here are the most common underlying reasons for your eye woes. Allergies And AsthmaWhenever you have asthma attack or allergies, there is a tendency for you to rub your eyes. Anything that actually contributes to your urge to rub the sensitive area around the eyes can cause skin discoloration or dark circles. Although rare, those who have eczema may suffer from what is called Dennis Lines or conspicuous red lines under the eyes. DietMany people do not realize that what they eat or do not eat can actually affect not only their health, but their appearance as well. Those who do not get enough vitamins, minerals and antioxidants in their diet may experience raccoon eyes. For people who like salty foods, eye bags may form because of water retention brought about by a high-sodium diet. Also, drinking too much alcohol can surely give you puffy eyes the following day. GenesPeople who were born with darker skin tones are more susceptible to getting dark circles because they produce more melanocytes, cells that are responsible for producing pigments. If you have parents, siblings, and relatives that have dark eye circles, there is a high probability that you will have them too, especially if you do not take precautionary measures to prevent them from developing. Environmental FactorsEnvironmental toxins and the rays of the sun are very harmful to your skin, especially to the area near your eyes. Thus, if you are not the type of person who wears shades or uses sun block, then you will be likely to suffer often from raccoon eyes. Sleep Deprivation And FatigueYour skin turns pale when you are very tired or when you do not get enough sleep. When this happens, your skin discoloration, especially under your eyes, becomes more pronounced and visible. Blood Circulation ProblemsOne primary cause of discoloration of the skin underneath the eyes is poor blood circulation. As you know, the blood that passes through the blood vessels near your eyes has a bluish tint. If you have circulatory problems, the veins will be more pronounced. The color of your under eye circles can even be darker if the blood and other fluids leak out from the blood vessels. AgeYou must accept the fact that as you age, the skin underneath your pearly orbs will start to thin, which will make blood vessels beneath the skin become visible. If you do not start using eye products now, there will be a big chance that these eye problems will become more permanent. Since the areas around the eyes are ultra-sensitive, it would really be advisable for you to use eye creams or gels regularly. One product that has been known to help people from all over to minimize their puffy eyes and dark circles is Eyevive. For more information, visit http://www. eyevive. com/ now.
Copyright (c) 2008 John Nolan
Dark skin, Blemish, dark spots are the top of women’s skin problem because if they begin appear on you face, they will make feel nervous. There’re many cause of dark spots such as genetic, cosmetic, women’s hormone who be in Pregnancy or nearly go to the elderly and the another one main cause is sunlight. Many cause look hardly to avoid so we may keep important about sunlight!!!
To avoid sunlight is really not hard thing to do, Just you begin to make yourself like a vampire. Don’t even think to wait the dark spots appear on your skin and then find the solution to remove them but remember that 9. 00 am - 4. 00 pm is the period that you should keep be aware to avoid sunlight as much as you can. (Anyway sunlight in the morning will have benefit to make Vitamin D in your body)
Beside of this way, we still have other way to protect yourself, you should have sunscreen as a weapon to defense you from sunlight and you should use them before go outside about 15 - 30 minute to make your sunscreen can be more activate completely. You may choose sunscreen of high SPF if you plan to stay in sunlight for several hours or choose for sunscreen of low SPF if you plan to stay in sunlight for a few hours. Sunscreen of higher SPF will have more intensive and expensive.
- For people who have oiliness skin should choose sunscreen of SPF 15 - For people who have normal and dryness skin should choose sunscreen of SPF 30 - Prefer for lotion and cream type because oil type will have too intensive and expensive, for jell type will better but this type still be hard to produce and develop Even if spray will be easy to use but they still not have stability diffusion.
Apply cream around eye circle is not the recommend thing to do because that area are very sensitive and cream will make you get irritation. You can emphasize apply cream on your nose and cheek because these organ will face the sunlight directly. About your lip, you can use the lipstick that have ingredient of sun protection or wax. And for the bald head person should apply sunscreen on your head every 3-4 hours depend on sunlight intensive.
For the person will have the very sensitive skin, you can test and choose the suitable sunscreen for your self by apply cream inside the part of your arms or behind your helix and wait for 24 hour to get the result, if there’s no any abnormal thing happen on your skin so you can choose them. Or you can get consult with the doctor who have specialize in skin to give you recommend.
If you just touch with sunlight, you shouldn’t wash you face immediately because water can activate to do melanin changing reaction and on the other hand if you just wash your face , you shouldn’t go outside to sunlight immediately also. If there’re any necessary to go outside you should find some dress that can cover all you skin , preamble for white color because this color can reflect sunlight and don’t forget you sunglass
Sunlight is a part of many causes of dark spots but if we can defense it, then we can decrease chance of dark spots as well!!!!!
Devil Obcession The Dark Ages Today, “Are you in allegiance with the Devil? “ “No!” “Are you in league with the Prince of Darkness?” “No, I’m not” “For the last time I adjure you in the name of Christ…” Wheels turn… Bones pop out of the sockets; cartilages and ligaments break… “Yes, yes, I am” - moaning in excruciating pain. . . pssst, hey, no one’s looking…, “what is he like, what did he do for you?” The most religious nation on the planet must hear and re-hear the same story over and over again, otherwise it will forget what religion is really all about. Polls go up and they come down, McCain Obama in virtual tie, Bush sends more troops… again to liberate some distant country! We pay for it all with still swelling 10 trillion deficits. America is slowly going down. It’s nice to be altruistic, but sometimes it can breed bigoted self-righteousness. We must help ourselves first in order to help others. In the name of being better, knowing better, liberating others, but not our selves, human lives are expandable. We bring Christ into all of this, “laying down your life for a friend” – the highest sacrifice. Is your distant Iraqi friend worth of dying for, not even a neighbor, or the next to you, as the Bible teaches? Terrorists do that already for the Koran’s sake or rather to get the 70 virgins in paradise. What are you getting from it? What are you dying it for? Ideal, doctrine, theology… stupidity. Faith in God does not need to be defined just as He is not defined; He is Spirit, timeless, unbound by man’s dogma. America still lives in the dark ages, and the darkness is in their narrow minds. The soap of religion has not invented any new brighter idea, the same dark ideas keep washing your brain, and if you switch to another ‘soap’, you are lost… Washes brain The battle for your mind is as the torture of the unholy inquisition. But the fear of getting light into the dark corridors of the seared with religion mind superglues you to the grid. In Europe the religious grid seems broken up and disconnected and struggling to survive. Religion is stuck in the past unwilling to move forward so it produces fright of being in error. Right now, I am working on a computer, which every few days gets an update, but I must agree before I press the ‘download’ button. Religion, neither updates nor is willing to produce any updates, simply because it broods in the cesspool of the past and survives only in America as means for mass control. Without religion, patriotism of the present day would have no meaning. Intelligent understanding threatens the rigid sets of rules. Experimentation belongs in medicine these days, after all, humans are expendable.
‘World’s best economist speaks’ by Wendell W. Solomons Tuesday, January 15, 2003 - Every seat in the auditorium had been taken. Chairs were being placed in the aisles. The Governor of the Central Bank reached the podium . . . He announced that he was introducing “probably the best economist in the world”. This person, Jeffrey Sachs, was well built but not tall. You saw in his appearance a disarming, well-meaning face with chestnut hair brushed on forehead. I was to discover that his friendliness comes not just from outward physical composure. His talk brought out a resilient, flexible quality reminiscent of the “Great Communicator”, President Ronald Reagan. Jeffrey Sachs is a similar conceptualist. He competently mixes and matches ideas swiftly. This skill combines with an inner enthusiasm to provide an audience with impressions of balance, good humour and the confidence of friendly intentions. He could swing aside IMF policy that today falls under the heading “the Washington Consensus”. He did not spout privatisation mania. Though his audience consisted of Central Bank staff, he did not summon up themes classical for Monetarist economists such as money supply and circulation. In fact the only salute provided by Sachs as strategy commander for IMF and World Bank drill sergeants and infantrymen was the title of his address: “Economic reforms in Emerging Countries”. In his presentation Sachs was all for focus by a nation. Monetarist economists have been raw novices to the everyday concerns of business; here at last had popped up something that men of business know - focus. Though Sachs had clearly done his background study of Sri Lanka, to his audience he humorously described himself as an expert of eight hours in the island. (a) He suggested that the country look at port development in the manner of Singapore because important East-West sea-lanes run nearby. (b) He suggested making more use of Sri Lanka’s optic fibre Internet gateway for IT development and software programming. (c) He gallantly mentioned tourism “in your beautiful country” (in “must do” fashion, de rigeur). My chancing to be a long-term protagonist of Sachs’ (visible at www. geocities. com/worldcityessays/) at question time I might have had multiple questions to put. Urbane and polite However, Sri Lanka is urbane and polite to visitors. What I expressed was this. “I must congratulate the speaker on his choice of ‘focus’. This is a historic address for Sri Lanka. In a larger venue Abraham Lincoln and Henry Carey chose a focus on communications systems too during the development of the United States. For them it was railways development’. “We don’t however, go into this open eyed today’. “Former World Bank Chief Economist Joseph Stiglitz said that the reformers in Russia ‘did not know the foundations of a market economy’, Dr. Sachs was the main architect (he was USAid-despatched reformer in 1993 to the huge, now destabilised country). “World Bank Chief Economist Joseph Stiglitz had pointed to the economic advance of China, which had not asked Dr. Sachs for advice’. “The old policy being played on one side of the tennis court was debt inducement. Dr. Sachs is now playing on the other side and there he is correctly telling us to focus”. In response Sachs said that Stiglitz was a fellow teacher . . . and that China has chosen to go in for globalisation. Here was Sachs’ remarkable familiarity with amalgamating two or more concepts and sailing on. His remark is one that disarms flat-worlders - those who attempt to stop globalisation. Governor of the Central Bank Dr. A. S. Jayewardena had pegged us down, as he said, to “three-sentence questions”. So no further window was available for me to say to Sachs that I was no believer in a model of globalisation in which a match-stick sized nation was set to play against financier George Soros’ “Quantum Fund” in finance capital’s game field. I belong to those who believe in an inevitable, future, fair globalisation, familiar to every spectator of a balanced sports event, not the rigged competition for the carpet-bagger. This belief of mine was further sustained by Sachs himself in answer to a question from the audience as to whether total ‘foreign currency liberalisation’ should not be applied for development. Pro-liberalisation Though admitting that he was pro-liberalisation, Sachs advised that the liberalisation of large capital flows might not be an essential component in the case of a concrete country. Therefore you gather that Sachs supports game rules to safeguard a small nation from foreign speculators unexpectedly withdrawing funds in the manner heavily ostracised by Malaysia’s Mahathir Mohamed (during the Asian currency meltdown, the economies of India and Sri Lanka were spared because of their traditional regulation of speculative large capital inflows and outflows. ) In reply to a question from Dr. Tissa Vitharane, for many years the head of Sri Lanka’s Medical Research Institute, Sachs said he believed that both public and private sectors have a role to play in health services. Here again was an endnote to the strategy of Monetarists, who incite the husband to attack the wife so that in essence, all the houses in the land end up at the offices of international lenders. All in all, the lesson that a well-intentioned listener could draw from Sachs’ presentation was that it was a far cry from the Machiavellian and Hobbesian “War of Each against the Other”. In Sri Lanka that had contributed since 1977 to the domestic brawl for personal grabbing of company and public assets induced under the reform headings of “Open Economy” and “Privatisation. As a result, an observer once commented that Sri Lanka had become a country at war with itself. For the World Bank and IMF, Sri Lanka had served as a box of pellets that was shaken up to intensive heat by internal friction. Among results within the shaken box were: i. The incineration of team cohesiveness and the erosion of standards of service in the private sector (say, in contrast to the pre-1977 period) and; ii. By no dint of miracle, a civil war provoked by troublemakers in the multi-ethnic social environment. World supremacy As Wall Street financier George Soros noted in 1997, the social environment “is not threatened from the outside, from some totalitarian ideology seeking world supremacy. The threat comes from the inside, from local tyrants seeking to establish internal dominance through external conflicts”. In answer to a later question on bickering and politicisation in Sri Lanka, Jeffrey Sachs responded with the idea that one can’t afford to be “settling old scores”. Magnanimity! In that same spirit I made my way through aisle and the leaving audience to present him - with a copy of my small December book, which is anti-debt inducement and where I mention the devastation Sachs created in Russia. I mention focus for economic development in the book - as I have done for years. Sachs left with two gifts, one presented by the Central Bank Governor, the other presented by me. For his part, Sachs gave me his refined, simple Columbia University visiting card and a souvenir in the impressions I have set down of what for me seemed a historical encounter.
Poker after Dark is a television series which started in January 1, 2007. It is part of NBC’s late night programs and usually starts after 2:00am. Poker after Dark was originally hosted by Hiatt. Currently, it is on its fourth season and is doing better than before. The show also experienced some changes and by the third season Shana was replaced by Marianela Perevra for the third season. For the fourth season they replaced the host again and is currently Leean Tweeden with Oliver “Ali” Nejad as voice over commentary since the first season. It airs six times a week from Monday to Saturday, the latter being a sort of recap show or “Directors Cut” episode with excerpts from that week’s players. The show is a mini tournament of Texas Hold ‘em up. Six players compete for the whole week for $120,000 and the winner for the week would be determined every Friday night. How do they pick the players then? Does anyone have a chance to join? First of all, the players in Poker after Dark are usually top notch professional poker players. The likes of Gus Hansen and Phil Hellmuth are usual players in the show. But this does not mean that no one else has a chance to join in the game. In season 3, the first week featured Ken Light and a number of professional poker players that were included in his list that network producers asked him for. Ken Light was the winner of a tournament held by Full Tilt Poker and the grand prize was a seat in Poker after Dark. Full Tilt Poker started the promotion on January 2, 2007, a day after the show was premiered. They ran sit and go tournaments around the clock with the top nine finishers qualifying for a spot in the final tournament held on April 30. This was won by Light and went on to the season three for the first week and played against some of the best poker players. Other than the Full Tilt Poker tournament, Poker after Dark has their own tournament. The prize is also a free seat in the show. You can enter the qualifier tournament by buying in with 10,000 Full Tilt Poker points or by winning smaller tournaments to get into the qualifier for free. Technically, anyone who knows how to play poker has a chance to win a seat for the weekly games of Poker after Dark for free. It would be a difficult task and the chances of getting the grand prize is slim depending on the number of participants of the qualifier and the smaller promotions to get into the qualifier. The odds of getting a seat on average are around 1 out of 3000. The good news is, you still have a one. Like anything else in playing poker, you may not always like the odds but you will never know if you can win or not until you take that chance and try to go for the win.
Dark Marketing is slowly making its way into the advertising lexicon, and for good reason. Rock bands like Nine Inch Nails and burger giant McDonalds have unleashed its brand engagement and reinforcement capabilities with results marketing chiefs can cheer. But, for many in the industry, the term is still more likely to conjure an image of Darth Vader opening a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos instead of what the concept delivers: legions of brand enthusiasts actively participating in an artfully designed and carefully executed brand marketing campaign that spans countries and continents. It’s powerful stuff. Here’s a brief primer, and, for brands that can, a “how-to-market darkly” checklist. Let there be Light Dark Marketing isn’t sinister, but it borders on covert. At its core is the alternative reality game (ARG), a complex, creative and purposeful scenario that brings brands to life. ARGs are interactive narratives that comprise fiction and nonfiction, mystery and detection and scripted and unscripted activities that invite participation. The games unfold on (and are made possible by) multiple forms of traditional and online media. ARGs may use telephones, e-mail, outdoor signage, t-shirts, television, social networks, music, blogs and more to introduce an engaging storyline, motivate behavior, reveal game clues and advance the narrative in ways that hold player interest. Take, for example, Microsoft’s “I Love Bees” campaign used to promote the launch of Halo 2, a hit video game. It’s a great illustration of how ARGs go under the radar of traditional marketing to rally consumers to the brand. Microsoft launched the game by FedEx-ing jars of honey to several Halo players. A few days later, the promotional trailer for Halo 2 referenced a Web site, ilovebees. com/xbox. com. The Web site provided lists of pay phone numbers, GPS coordinates for the phones and times when each listed number would be called, driving the curious to find the phones and answer the calls. The calls delivered additional clues that advanced the ARG, promoted Halo 2 and reinforced the brand. From the start of the game until its conclusion (with players earning a preview experience of the Halo 2 game), players and observers visited the I Love Bees Web site for updates on the narrative and new clues about the game. Independent Web sites and forums sprang up, generating game theories, conspiracies, storylines and, of course, marketing buzz. Not for Everyone ARGs work best for brands with target markets that enjoy the aspects of interactive, social games with online components. Commenting on why “I Love Bees” was so successful for Microsoft, James Hilton, creative director for AKQA, the agency that developed the ARG, said, “It worked well for Xbox because its audience is inclined to investigate further, hack into sites and solve problems. ” There must be a good fit between the brand, the meaning the brand wishes to communicate, the target market and the story and plot that anchor the ARG. After determining fit, roll up your sleeves. ARGs demand substantial work — from initial conception through planning and execution. Further, because the storyline can change depending on response from players, ARGs require agility, quick writing and responsiveness from game architects (known as puppet masters) through the game’s conclusion. Additionally, if player response takes ARGs in unintended directions, marketers charged with tightly controlling brand meaning may find themselves taking unwanted risks. Finally, compared to some marketing options, an ARG’s reach can be small. For example, measures of Audi’s success with an ARG referred to reaching 500,000 people. A display ad on the MySpace homepage, for example, could have reached millions. Of course, the attention and involvement components are entirely different for these two examples, and it is important to consider the entire range of benefits and disadvantages associated ARGs and other marketing activities. Getting to the Dark Side ARGs engage brand enthusiasts, drive publicity and create buzz. They allow brands to tell their stories creatively, interactively and virally. If you’re ready to give one a shot, follow these guidelines: Have a story to tell. ARGs are first and foremost an interactive story that should be captivating, dynamic and inviting. Ensure that there is a clear match between the brand, the target audience and the notion of an interactive game. Plan, plan, and plan more. Begin by assessing how the ARG can facilitate accomplishment of the brand’s marketing goals. Then figure out the back story (the pregame narrative), the primary narrative, and the forward story. Perplex City (http://seasonone. perplexcitystories. com/story. html) offers a detailed overview of its architects’ planning process. Reveal the story narrative over time using obscure clues and messages that will require player interaction to decipher the scenes. Include plot lines that are nonlinear and can be revealed sporadically. The development of the narrative must not be predictable and must not rely on a linear unfolding of events to make sense. Design a story that will enhance the sense of reality in the story. Players should not be reminded of the game but should be invited to make the game part of their reality. Utilize a variety of media, and carefully design game elements to leverage the characteristics of the delivery medium. Past ARGs have utilized code on T-shirts and posters, Web sites identified in video trailers, posts to blogs, e-mail, text messages and mass media advertising. Be prepared to change the direction of the narrative in response to player input and response to past clues and events. Commit to the ARG and its management. ARGs take time and continued involvement and management as the story unfolds. Consider an agency with ARG experience, including 42 Entertainment, Mind Candy and McKinney & Silver. Measure the effectiveness of the ARG based on the objectives for the promotional campaign, not just according to game participation. As TIVO, iPods and the Internet continue squeezing traditional advertising methods, dark marketing strategies will become a bigger part of the mix. And for marketers that get it right, this dark side promises plenty of sun. ©2008 Dr. Tracy L. Tuten
