Dear readers, These days I'm very quiet as you may have noticed. I have to tell you some news. In some weeks I will have my portfolio online and active, in English and Spanish. This way everything will be more neat, you will be able to see my works, and locate me in other social networks. This is something that I should have done earlier but I was too busy and was impossible to do it. This portfolio will use the address emmaalvarez.com. It will have a menu on the left, with an option that reads "Blog" that will be directly linked to the blog. This way you will be able to reach the blog. The blog will change its address too, it will be blog.emmaalvarez.com. Those of you that have suscribed to the RSS or by email don't have to worry, and don't need to do anything. I will make the changes so every suscriber continues to receive it without interruption. With all this I face a very big problem. As I change the address of the blog, I must redirect by hand all the articles of the blog, because many people come to my page through a link to a post. If I don't redirect it, they won't find anything. As I redirect it by hand, those people will find a message that says "this article has moved to" followed by the link to the new address, in addition to an automatic redirection through javascript. It is a lot of work what I' m facing, and I need to change the address in many places too. I may surely loose my Pagerank and Alexa. Those who linked me please change those links to the new address when it becomes active. I have also another big problem: I have ran out of space in my computer. I have a double partition and I need to free the space of the 2nd one to have space in the first. As you can understand, I cannot even work. I'm crossing my fingers so that nothing happens and I don't have to re-install Windows again. And in addition, it's Christmas!!! Dear readers, since I started this blog has reached more than 2 million visitors. This makes me feel very proud and thankful to you. This is very thrilling for me. Thank you very much for your support, and specially to those that are with me since the beginning. I wanted to prepare something special for this year, but I have no time. THANK YOU, THANK YOU AGAIN. GOD BLESS YOU!!! I will be back with you in some weeks. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I love you! Hugs, Emma

Nowadays everybody has a website, both for personal use and professional. It is also a good way of sharing photos and videos with your friends and other people. It's like the journal of our time, something that you can read in some future and have fun. Everyone of us has a page on Facebook. Why not link that Facebook page with one of yours? Many people have technical problems, not everybody knows about HTML or graphics design. But that doesn't have to be a problem, because there's already services that have thought about this before. And all the problems that a beginner user may have. For these type of users the best is to use NetiDnow Ecommerce Website Builder. This is a web where they make easier the task of making a website, both professional as personal. Because even small businesses have a website. This makes them appear as more reliable. And more professional. It is even a good way to locate a small businessman. This makes life more easy. Having a website is also a good way to be closer to people that are far away, and keep contact with them. Personal websites can be many different things: an online photo album, a forum of your hobby, your personal journal...

I have done this product for Renderosity "Christmas Construction Kit". The product consists in: - 10 High Resolution Backgrounds (Size 2200x3200, 300 dpi ) - 10 X-Mas decorations (png files with 300 dpi) - 10 Frames (Size 2200x3200, 300 dpi ) - 20 Glowing brushes for Photoshop CS and up To get it, go here: Christmas Construction Kit To purchase join Renderosity. Joining is free. The payment can be via Paypal or credit card. Stay tuned for discounts. This week, and only until next Thursday it is 30% off. This product is very useful, you can combine the backgrounds with the frames, and add the glow brushes and the ornaments. Place your own characters. Endless possibilities, let your imagination fly. It's for commercial or personal works. With this product you can make all that you want for these Holidays: greeting cards, wallpapers, posters, banners... And all can be printed because all images have 300 of resolution. If you are in Renderosity, today my product appeared in the newsletter. Enjoy it!

Many designers and independent professionals start their business by themselves alone, and need to spend as little as possible in all that they can. What do you imagine when you think in starting your business? You will for sure think in things like business cards, flyers, catalogs... A business usually needs lots of printing services. Specially at these times of economical crisis, your costs must be controlled. Good printing services tend to be expensive, and can take a big portion of what you earn. And they are in fact the face of your business. The printed materials are what people see when they approach: the business card, of course, but also the posters in your office, a club card, a bookmark, calendars that you give each end of year and make your customers remember you... Sacrificing these things means offering a poor first impression, something that any company can't afford. When your new small business starts its activity, you can benefit from online printing, that is much cheaper than traditional print shops. Some reach a high quality, like for example PsPrint's printing services, and once you use it you will never leave them. They have online tools for designing your printing materials, and also professionals that can design them for you. So, as Christmas is coming soon, you will surely have some printings to do. And online printing is one of the best options.

My friend Gogue (if you remember some time ago I interviewed him, and you can read it here) went to New York again this last week, after 5 years and was received by Bill Gallo in the editorial office of the New York Daily News. Bill Gallo was born in Manhattan the 28th of December 1922, and is one of the most prestigious cartoonists of the United States. He has been working for the Daily News since 1941. He was called to arms and took part in the World War II in the Pacific Ocean area. He is the creator of the characters Bertha and Yuchie, very well known in the American press. His greatest passions are baseball and boxing, and he has been drawing cartoons about these for many years, and getting awards and mentions because of his creativity and humanity. He has thousands of admirers both in the USA as well as in the rest of the world. He got the James J. Walker Award from the Boxing Writers Association, and the Champions Award from the Downtown Athletic Club. He was also included into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He also received the National Cartoonist Society Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998, and many countless awards more, what makes this brilliant artist one of the most admired cartoonist of the American press of nowadays.

“I grew up in this town, my poetry was born between the hill and the river, it took its voice from the rain, and like the timber, it steeped itself in the forests.” - Pablo Neruda- November was a rainy month where I was born. And I had never thought to tell this but I miss the rainy days. This is for nostalgic people like me. Enjoy it! Photo by ZoneDancer Photo by pfly Photo by accent on eclectic Photo by Noël Zia Lee Photo by John-Morgan Photo by James Jordan Photo by gregor_y Photo by Lori Greig Photo by Frapestaartje Photo by paalia Photo by lepiaf.geo Photo by ex_magician

I've done these Photoshop brushes. And I want to share them with you. Download them for free, but before please read and understand the terms of use. Terms of use These brushes are free to use in commercial and non-commercial designs, as long as you follow these conditions: - The brushes can't be sold. You can sell the designs you make with the brushes, but not the brushes themselves. - They must be downloaded clicking the links from this article in blog.emmaalvarez.com. If you like the brushes and want your visitors to download them, place a link to this post, so they come and download them from here. Don't directly link them. - You can't redistribute the brushes without my explicit consent. If you want to pack them in a clipart library, cd or dvd, or anything else, ask me first. - You can't claim these brushes as yours. - Don't use these brushes in racist, sexist, hateful or blaspheme works. - You can link back and name blog.emmaalvarez.com in your website or designs, but it's not required, although I will appreciate it. Sunflower Brushes Click here to download

As you know, every time that someone who uses my brushes sends me a link to the works done with them, I save it. Later, I choose the best ones to be featured here. Lately, I have received rather good works and It's difficult to choose. My congratulations to the authors for their artworks and I encourage them and the others to continue taking part in this contest. Meditation on the river by Irinama Forbidden Rose by Ladyamalthea12 Dana by *uppuN Happy Halloween 2009 by *uppuN Waiting for my love by *starscape629 Princess Moonbeam by *starscape629 Watching Over Your Shoulder by =TheDeviantIndigo 7- Heaven by ~J1Star Scene of the Forest by *NiteMuse Ice Vampyre w background by ~Ohai-Tei-Chan

It's the 20 anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. But did you know that...? It was built in just one night, in some hours between days 12th and 13th of August 1961. It was also called the Wall of Shame. It was demolished on November 10, 1989. The length of the Berlin Wall was more than 140 Kms long (87 miles). Its purpose was to divide Germany in two parts: West and East. One was the democratic Germany, and the other the communist (although called German Democratic Republic). That wall separated many family members. Many people died trying to cross that wall. They shot everyone that tried to go through that. Over 200 people died this way, and 5,000 tried to cross the wall. The wall made difficult to travel to Germany, and this was the cause of many protests. During a mass and live press conference with Gunter Schabowski (member of the German socialist party), the Italian journalist Riccardo Erman asked him when will the traveling permissions be legal between the two German countries. The politician answered "immediately", and that night people started to pull down the Wall of Shame with their hands. The Berlin Wall costed 16 million of German Marks. The pieces of the Wall of Berlin were sold as souvenirs and some Germans nowadays still have some of them in their houses. Fragments of the Berlin Wall have been auctioned sometimes.

"[Choir] I can feel a sorrow linger in my mind And the dark that follows Makes me falter in my life There's a darkness, there's a light A narrow path and a wide [Choir] There is no tomorrow for the lost and blind There's no glee, nor sorrow In the maelstrom of their minds There's an hour, there's a time Is this the end of the line? [Choir] There's a fire fading deep within Lost it's spark, it's will to be There are seven doors within my dreams I've found them all, but still no key [Choir]" -lyrics of the original song- You can find this song "The Mind Maelstrom" in the last album of Sirenia called "The 13th Floor" edited in April of this year. Sirenia is a Norwegian band. Their style is between gothic and symphonic metal. The band began in 2001 and "The 13th Floor" is their fifth album. Hope you like this song!

The Twilight Saga: New Moon Director: Chris Weitz Screenwriter: Melissa Rosenberg Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Ashley Greene, Rachelle Lefevre, Billy Burke, Peter Facinelli, Nikki Reed, Kellan Lutz, Jackson Rathbone, Michael Sheen, Dakota Fanning Genre: Romance, Thriller Plot: For all the fans of the writer Stephanie Meyer. This is the second part of "Twilight". For Bella Swan there is nothing more important than the vampire Edward Cullen, but their romance is more dangerous than she could ever imagine. Bella may lose everything, and endanger the people she loves. The Road Director: John Hillcoat Screenwriter: Joe Penhall and Nick Wechsler Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Robert Duvall, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, Kodi Smit-McPhee Genre: Thriller Plot: This movie is based on a novel by Cormac McCarthy. There has been a nuclear holocaust. A father tries to protect his son in this devastated world. He tries to go to the south, near the sea, but this won't be easy at all. People have gone mad and many have become cannibals. 2012 Director: Roland Emmerich Screenwriter: Roland Emmerich and Harald Kloser Starring: John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Thandie Newton, Danny Glover, Woody Harrelson Genre: Action Plot: A Mayan prophecy said that the world is going to end on 2012. A group of scientists discover how to open a dimensional gate to a parallel universe. Their objective is to prevent the apocalypse.

Alice in Wonderland is top fashion due to the success of the trilogy of novels by Frank Beddor. Beddor renews the classic by Lewis Carroll and redefines the characters and the myth, mixing elements from science-fiction and magical fantasy. The Mad Hatter, The Cat, the white rabbit, and Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) himself, and many more make their appearance in this trilogy with new strength in new adventures, with a more adult Alice, turned into the queen of a fantastic and also more adult Wonderland, but fascinating as well. In this new novel, "ArchEnemy: The Looking Glass Wars", Arch tries to become the king of Wonderland, and to accomplish this he has taken away the power of imagination from Alyss and all the inhabitants of the strange universe. Because of this, Alyss will have to start a dangerous mission, protected by the head of the palace guard, Dodge Anders, to recover her powers and defeat her ArchEnemy. Beddor immerses us in a story full of dynamism that has everything: combats, love, betrayal, alliances between enemies, strange creatures, mysteries, even the apparition of the original Alice Liddell, in the Victorian London. When I read this book, I was surprised by the original atmosphere, that doesn't belong to the genre of science fiction nor to medieval fantasy, but to a genre of pure fantasy. A magic world with elements of those other universes, mixed with the Lewis Carroll's imagery. The end of the book seems the end of this trilogy, but is open enough to be continued in future stories, for the rejoice of the many fans of Alyss and Frank Beddor. You will travel through the fantastic worlds of Beddor in an spiral of events that will make your imagination fly, in a book that is written magnificently, and is easy to read at the same time. The followers of this trilogy can't miss this final episode. The new readers should get the full trilogy, that will surely enjoy. At the same time, there's a card game and an online game where you will browse through the fantastic world that Beddor describes, and you can do it in the official website: http://www.lookingglasswars.com/ In the official site there are you can also find: forums, freebies, music, artworks, and games. Enjoy it!

Until this October 27th (next Tuesday), DeviantArt is giving free shipping to your home, so you only have to pay for the artwork that you purchase. The price varies with the size of the printing. So now you can acquire some of my works without additional cost. As many people are curious on how my artworks are made, I will tell you a little. All my works are made using mixed media techniques. I often use my own brushes. I give out many of them for free weekly here. Other brushes, or bigger resolution, I sell them through Renderosity. I use modified Poser models as reference (position, proportions...). These models, as well as other additional objects, are later fully re-painted later. I often do color changes, or turn them to gray scale and color them by hand completely. Lights are important in my work. They are drawn by hand using basic brushes and various techniques. Many objects are drawn free hand, and then I apply Photoshop styles to them creating a 3D effect this way. Another technique that is often used by me is airbrushing and traditional painting. Sometimes, but in rare occasions, I use photos as reference, that are later completely re-painted. The time that it takes to make each artwork varies depending on the details, or even the times that I change the composition, and is an average of 20 to 30 hours, sometimes even more, and sometimes when everything turns out well, a minimum of 10, but this is unusual. All my works have many details that are hard to see in a screen. Here I show you some of them. Enjoy them! The Unicorn Under The Moon The Unicorn Under The Moon (detail) Wrath Of Kraken Wrath Of Kraken (detail) Dragon's Return To Lost Island Dragon's Return To Lost Island (detail) The Gothic Fae Lady The Gothic Fae Lady (detail) The Lineage Of Unicorns The Lineage Of Unicorns (detail)

"Grinding my teeth, white knuckles grasp at the wheel I rush from an avalanche of adrenaline, it's all that I feel As quick as a bolt of lightning, a rocket ride in a bucket seat It doesn't get any better than this, it just feeds my need for speed Supercharged, strapped in and screaming Fire spiting from the pipes A burnout by the flame throwing fury 8, 000 horses ignite Full throttle, hit the ground running With a tank full of nitro And it's 1, 320' to go to the finish line My hands hold tight, a fire breathing stampede I fall into a trance, hold my breath till the light turns green In a cloud of nitro methane, melting rubber, I say my prayers Man and machine accelerate and I vanish in thin air Supercharged, strapped in and screaming Fire spiting from the pipes A burnout by the flame throwing fury 8, 000 horses ignite Full throttle, hit the ground running With a tank full of nitro And it's 1, 320' to go to the finish line" -lyrics of the original song- This song "1,320' " belongs to the latest album of Megadeth called "Endgame" released in September of this year. The album has 11 songs, and is a work with the classic style of Dave Mustaine, so he will not disappoint the fans of this great band. Enjoy it!

Her name was Elizabeth Báthory but she will always be remembered as the Blood Countess for her horrible crimes. Alongside with Vlad Tepes, she inspired Bram Stoker to write his novel Dracula. And this is because Elisabeth Báthory seems to belong to the imagination of an horror writer, but she was real, as real as her murders: 650 crimes. She was an aristocrat that belonged to one of the most important and influential families of Europe. When she was 11 years old she was given in marriage, but at 13 she had her first son, an illegitimate son that was taken out of the country as soon as he was born. So they had to marry her quickly, and they did it: when she was fifteen. Her husband was a general that was widely known for his cruelty. Sometimes he took his prisoners to their home to enjoy torturing them in company of her wife Elisabeth. She repeated the tortures with her servants. But Elisabeth spent little time with his husband because he took part in numerous battles, so she "entertained" herself having lots of lovers of both sexes, and getting deeper in the world of sorcery. When her husband died, she got even deeper in the world of black magic. Because of a fortuitous incident, Elisabeth thought that human blood had the power to rejuvenate. So she killed virgin girls to later take a bath with their blood. There were also cannibalism acts. She hid the bodies everywhere in her castle, the stench was unbearable, and her servants got rid of them in the fields. Rumors started to be spread: vampires. But soon the assassin was discovered: Elisabeth Báthory. Nor her power nor her money were able to stop her punishment. She was condemned to be shut up in a tower sealed with bricks, with just a hole to receive food and water. And she never saw the sun again.

Satellite internet service is the solution for those rural areas that can't access a DSL or cable connection for high speed internet. Living in a place far away from big cities doesn't mean that you can't have the advantages of a fast internet connection. You don't have to own a telephone line or cable TV to be connected. It works in a similar way as a satellite television service. You just need to install a satellite dish in your roof or balcony and the data is sent to satellites orbiting around the Earth. The satellites send and receive data back to your home. The satellite dish is connected to your computer through a coaxial cable. You are always connected like with DSL or cable. Because it has nothing to do with telephone line or other wired services, you don't need to have them. It is completely independent. This is a great advantage for many people. The leader satellite internet provider in the United States is Hughesnet Network Systems, provider of broadband satellite network solutions for consumers, businesses, and government. For more than 30 years, they have installed more than 800,000 systems. For all those areas that could not dream with anything faster than a dial-up modem connection, now they can get broadband through satellite internet, starting at 1000 Kbps, and up to 5000 Kbps. When you can't have a DSL or cable connection, Hughesnet will be the solution for you, and works on Windows and Apple computers. The installation process is simple and quick, you will be connected in 3 to 6 days. If you're thinking in this solution, hurry and take the limited time offer: high discounts and big amount of dollars back. You can also lease the equipment instead of buying it and get free installation. Get internet satellite with Hughesnet and start surfing the web at high speed, watching movies online, and all that, no matter where you are.

The Stepfather Director: Nelson McCormick Screenwriter: J.S. Cardone Starring: Dylan Walsh, Sela Ward, Penn Badgley, Sherry Stringfield, Jon Tenney, Paige Turco, Amber Heard Genre: Horror, Thriller Plot: This is a version of a movie from 1987. Jerry Blake is obsessed with having a perfect life: money, a good house, a model wife, perfect children... He marries Susan and becomes the stepfather if Stephanie, the 16 years old daughter of Susan. Since the beginning, Stephanie doesn't trust Jerry, and soon her doubts will be confirmed. Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant Director: Paul Weitz Screenwriter: Paul Weitz and Brian Helgeland Starring: John C. Reilly, Ken Watanabe, Josh Hutcherson, Chris Massoglia, Ray Stevenson, Patrick Fugit, Orlando Jones, Willem Dafoe, Salma Hayek Genre: Adventure, Fantasy Plot: The movie is based on a series of books by the writer Darren Shan. Darren (Chris Massoglia) is an ordinary teenager. Without knowing, he breaks an agreement established 200 years ago between two groups of vampires that were enemies during centuries. Darren can't avoid to find himself immersed in a fantastic world of strange nocturnal creatures and monsters. Zombieland Director: Ruben Fleischer Screenwriter: Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick Starring: Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin Genre: Comedy, Horror Plot: The world is swarming with zombies. Flagstaff is terrified by this situation. He is quite coward, although this cowardice has made him stay alive. He will join a gang of survivors in which he will have to act and not scape or hide.

“On the motionless branches of some trees, autumn berries hung like clusters of coral beads, as in those fabled orchards where the fruits were jewels . . .” -Charles Dickens- There's nothing like the warm colors of Autumn landscapes. Enjoy them! Photo by rockymountainhigh Photo by chris bartnik photography Photo by *clairity* Photo by ajagendorf25 Photo by Яick Harris Photo by James Jordan Photo by chris bartnik photography Photo by Indy Kethdy Photo by Яick Harris Photo by Kat Martin Photo by Hamed Saber Photo by Noël Zia Lee Photo by dariuszka Photo by Јerry