Home Improvement (Season 1) DVD Review

Nominated for 9 Golden Globes and 34 Emmys, including 2 for Outstanding Comedy Series, Home Improvement was the number one family-friendly comedy for most of the 1990's decade. Created by three writers who worked on wide range of sitcoms, such as The Cosby Show (1984) and Roseanne (1988), Home Improvement is one of a number of 1990's smash hit sitcoms built around a lead character who stars as a stand-up comic in real life. Some of the other series include Seinfeld (1990), The Drew Carey Show (1995), Everybody Loves Raymond (1996), and King Of Queens (1998) among others. One of the trailblazers in this area, Home Improvement ranked in the Top 10 among Nielsen-rated shows for seven of its eight seasons (it ranked #11 in Season 7). One notable tidbit of trivia is that Sears was approached to sponsor the show which would've put Craftsman tools in the hands of Tim "The Toolman" Taylor (as opposed to the fictional "Binford" brand), but Sears rejected the offer because they feared Tim Allen's prior conviction on a drug charge might be interpreted as unfriendly to families (funny, since Home Improvement later fell under the moniker of the Walt Disney Company)

Home Improvement centers around the life of Tim Taylor (Tim Allen), a home improvement expert who hosts his own local TV show "Tool Time" on cable access. Tim and his wife Jill (Patricia Richardson) live in a house in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan with their three boys Brad (Zachery Ty Bryan), Randy (Jonathan Taylor Thomas), and Mark (Taran Noah Smith). On "Tool Time," Tim is flanked by the flannel-clad, easy-going Al Borland (Richard Karn) who is often the butt of Tim's jokes and harbors a neurotic tendency toward perfectionism. At home, Tim's numerous domestic missteps lead him to continuously seek the advice of his well-traveled, near-perfect neighbor Wilson (Earl Hindman), whose lower face is never seen (only his eyes) Marked by Tim's abundant clumsiness as a home improvement guru and his inept ability to display sensitivity toward his wife, Home Improvement is a classic sitcom that relies on formulaic episodes of slapstick humor and zinging one-liners. It's a formula that works, but grows tiresome as the show progresses

The Home Improvement DVD features a number of hilarious episodes including the series premiere in which Jill goes to a job interview after telling Tim not to mess with the dishwasher. But Tim inevitably ruins the dishwasher when his attempt to super-charge it goes awry. When the job interviewers pass her over, Jill returns home dejected, and Tim only makes things worse - leaving room for a bit of Wilson advice to save the day for Tim Other notable episodes from Season 1 include "Flying Sauces" in which the K&B Construction guys show off their jobsite cooking skills on Tool Time while Tim and Jill plot revenge on their eldest boys, and "What About Bob?" in which Tim cheats in a Tool Time trivia contest in order to beat guest Bob Vila

Below is a list of episodes included on the Home Improvement (Season 1) DVD:

Episode 1 (Pilot) Air Date: 09-17-1991
Episode 2 (Mow Better Blues) Air Date: 09-26-1991
Episode 3 (Off Sides) Air Date: 10-01-1991
Episode 4 (Satellite on a Hot Tim's Roof) Air Date: 10-08-1991
Episode 5 (Wild Kingdom) Air Date: 10-15-1991
Episode 6 (Adventures in Fine Dining) Air Date: 10-22-1991
Episode 7 (Nothing More Than Feelings) Air Date: 10-29-1991
Episode 8 (Flying Sauces) Air Date: 11-05-1991
Episode 9 (Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble) Air Date: 11-19-1991
Episode 10 (Reach Out and Teach Someone) Air Date: 11-26-1991
Episode 11 (Look Who's Not Talking) Air Date: 12-10-1991
Episode 12 (Yule Better Watch Out) Air Date: 12-17-1991
Episode 13 (Up Your Alley) Air Date: 01-07-1992
Episode 14 (For Whom the Belch Tolls) Air Date: 01-14-1992
Episode 15 (Forever Jung) Air Date: 02-04-1992
Episode 16 (Jill's Birthday) Air Date: 02-04-1992
Episode 17 (What About Bob?) Air Date: 02-11-1992
Episode 18 (Baby, It's Cold Outside) Air Date: 02-18-1992
Episode 19 (Unchained Malady) Air Date: 02-25-1992
Episode 20 (Birds of a Feather Flock to Taylor) Air Date: 03-03-1992
Episode 21 (A Battle of Wheels) Air Date: 03-17-1992
Episode 22 (Luck Be a Taylor Tonight) Air Date: 04-07-1992
Episode 23 (Al's Fair in Love and War) Air Date: 04-28-1992
Episode 24 (Stereo-Typical) Air Date: 05-05-1992

Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a blog where you can find where you can find more reviews of movies and TV series. Source: http://thedvdreport.blogspot.com/2006/02/home-improvement-dvd.html

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Writing an eBook is as Simple as Talking to a Friend

For a long time, I resisted writing ebooks. After all, why write a $27 ebook, when you can create a $447 multi-media home study course? Why risk losing the big sale when by offering an inexpensive ebook?

Let me give you several reasons and then I will show you an easy way to create an ebook that doesn't require writing at all! First, an ebook provides a low cost way for a prospective customer to get to know you. Many people would rather spend $27 to see if you are legit, before spending $447 and risk getting burned. An ebook gives them an opportunity to test the waters first. If they are comfortable, then they will be willing to risk more.

Second, an ebook allows you to reach a broader market. Let's be honest. You only have so many names on your email list and there are tons of people who want to become your customers...they just don't know it yet! Huge home study courses usually require complicated affiliate programs and thus, this reduces the number of people who will help you market your course.

Ebooks, on the other hand, are very portable and using a company like ClickBank allows thousands of people you have never met to promote your ebook for you. Think of your ebooks as little ambassadors, reaching people you can not physically send a message to.

Ebooks also lead to bigger products, such as your $447 home study course. If they liked your ebook, then they will love your home study course that has step-by-step videos instead of just screen shots in a pdf file. And they will certainly love your three day workshop where you go beyond the step-by-step videos and actually show them in real time how to do whatever it is your ebook is teaching.

So what is the bad news? Who wants to sit down and grind out an ebook? Not me! So, I talk my way through an ebook. I schedule a free teleseminar, invite interested people to the teleseminar, have them send questions in advance and then record the teleseminar. I then have the recording transcribed, lightly edit the transcription and convert the whole thing to a pdf file.

I then list it on ClickBank, send out a few emails and in rolls the money! ClickBank takes care of the affiliates, processing the order and sends me a check every month. It is really that easy!

So now I am killing two birds with one stone. I am assessing demand before I pour a ton of time and energy into a huge home study course. If the ebook doesn't sell well, I know the home study course won't sell well either. I am also generating a positive cash flow to help fund my home study course. And I am gathering customers from all around the globe through the hundreds of thousands of ClickBank affiliates who will want to promote my ebook. Make that three birds instead of two!

So, pick a topic and schedule a free teleseminar today. You will be creating a foundational product for your information empire and it is actually a lot of fun!

Stephen Beck is an expert on teaching non-techies how to start a home business on the Internet. He has an amazing CD called, "The 7 Simple Steps to Starting an Online Business!" For a FREE copy, visit: http://www.FamilyEbizTips.com/FreeCD.htm

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Church Website Design And Web 2.0-effective Web Techniques For Fulfilling The Great Commission

Wikipedia describes Web 2.0 as an often-misused phrase that refers to second-generation Internet-based services that allow people to share and collaborate in previously unavailable ways. If you cut through the marketing hype of this term, you're left with a simple concept: the web is no longer a static medium with limited or one-way communication. Fully utilized, static church websites, with little or no reach, can be transformed into community-building, self-propagating, communication powerhouses with enormous reach. Is this important to your ministry? No. It's not important; it's critical. Let me explain.

A church, by its very definition, is a community of like-minded individuals who share and collaborate on a common belief and mission. More importantly, in Christian churches, the spreading of this message is accomplished by members of that community sharing their beliefs with others. By utilizing the communication vehicles currently associated with the term Web 2.0, you effectively replicate your physical church and mission on the web. Unlike your local congregation, however, the web-enabled version has instant global reach.

Here's an example: as a pastor you give your sermon to your congregation on Sunday morning. The reach of this sermon is limited to the people present, and anyone with whom they may verbally share that message. What if that same sermon could be available globally, appearing automatically in subscribers podcasting software halfway around the world, within hours of the original? What if these same subscribers were to share that sermon with friends, the original propagating from MP3 player to MP3 player, around the world? Suddenly, your non-congregational reach is exponential. Not only is this scenario possible, it is readily available. Believe it or not, podcasting refers to only one vehicle of what currently constitutes Web 2.0. There are many other such vehicles, each with its own ability to reach separate web populations.

Given the Great Commission all Christian churches are tasked with, utilizing these tools is critical, as any means of exponentially increasing your listener base should be. To follow is a short list of features which should be utilized in your current church website design, or used as a checklist for commercially available systems.

Audio Library: Sermons are the most tangible commodity of a church, and subsequently, should get primary attention. An audio library, distinctly separate from the previously mentioned podcasting stream, allows you to make all recorded features, from sermons to music to instruction, available for online listening and download-capable for later use. This feature should be extremely easy to navigate for your users so that they can quickly locate specific recordings.

Video Streaming: While still bandwidth intensive, video, like audio, can be a very effective medium for spreading the gospel. Where possible, audio should be used unless there are significant visual reasons to do so otherwise. Visual presentations and performances are better candidates for this than the typical Sunday sermon.

Podcasting Feeds: A podcast feed is an audio subscription initiated by users who click on your feed link. If you have ever subscribed to a favorite television series with a Tivo, then you're already familiar with how a podcast works in conjunction with podcast software, such as Apple iTunes. By clicking on your podcast link, users are subscribed, via their podcast software, and subsequent sermons will download automatically for them, becoming instantly available for use on their MP3 players. This is a separate feature from your Audio Library, as podcasts should be regularly scheduled recordings, as a rule of thumb. You may have a great variety of recorded material available, but you may not want every recording linked as part of a regular podcast feed. Make sure any system that you are considering makes this distinction.

Blogging: Blogging is the perfect online mechanism for your pastoral staff to reflect and provide guidance between Sundays. Pastoral staff blogs can help bring repeat visitors to your site and provide a platform for personal insight, that goes beyond the confines and structure of Sunday's sermon. Entire search engines exist for blogs and, because of this, ministries have an enormous opportunity to reach entirely new readers. The most effective blogging will involve having your own blog server versus a freebie account in a shared environment.

Newsletter Management: Electronic newsletters simply cannot be ignored for effective ministry due to their viral nature. A commonly used marketing term, viral marketing refers to the act of one person sending or forwarding information, they found helpful, to others who they know might benefit from it. In other words, an effective newsletter not only finds its way to the subscribers, but they typically forward meaningful newsletters to others. Many factors influence the effectiveness of this method including subscriber management, the quality of the content, and the focus on gaining new subscribers.

Forums: Adequately moderated, church website forums can provide the perfect means for developing a community around your online ministry. Topics can be discussed or debated, church classes can have their own forums for collaborating on teachings, and questions about the faith can be answered. While there are some obvious requirements for moderation, a good system will allow several layers of control that provide a balance of administrative control and management ease specific to your needs and abilities.

Image Galleries: Image galleries provide far more than the obvious display of happy times within your congregation. A well-made gallery will allow optional user interaction, such as rating and voting, in addition to commentary. Most importantly, make certain your system has the ability to send pictures as e-cards. As previously mentioned, this feature is viral in nature, allowing users to send selected images as postcards with greetings to friends, again, greatly extending your online reach.

Events Calendar: No church website design would be complete without a full-featured, fully searchable events calendar. Events can be the lifeblood of a church, and getting the message out, about those events, is mission-critical.

User Polls: While sometimes overused in secular websites, user polls on a church website can be extremely effective for several reasons. Religion and politics have long been the start of many a debate and. as a result, most people are very willing to give their opinions on either topic. By providing effective, anonymous polls, you not only encourage user interaction, but you can gain a better understanding of the mindset of your site visitors. Many times, this can provide great material for sermons!

Email to friend: This little feature should appear on every page of significant content throughout your church website. Its function is to provide a means for site visitors to email a specific page they think might be of interest to their friends. This feature, while seemingly small, is also viral in nature (one person receives it and sends to another) and can have a significant impact in your ministrys reach.

Search-Engine Optimization: Whether you are attempting your church website design by hand, or are using a commercial system, make absolutely certain that you don't overlook good search-engine optimization practice. Without going into a long description of the function of each, make sure that any system you use automates accurate meta tag creation, has a reciprocal link-management system and, if your site is dynamic (database- driven). that URLs are rewritten as search-engine friendly. Overlooking these items will result in decreased search-engine positioning, so pay close attention to these. As your site grows, the more important the automation or near-automation of these functions become.

Multi-Lingual Page Translation: While there is no true 100%-accurate page-translation service available, there are some that do an outstanding job. Make sure that all your content pages have some form of multi-lingual translation capabilities. The more languages you can translate into, the more lives you are likely to impact on a global scale.

RSS Feeds: RSS feeds provide a similar subscription method as podcast feeds do, but they are focused on textual content versus audio. These feeds can be established throughout your site and alert subscribers to changes in content, without them having to browse your site. Areas of your site that do not frequently change (like your statement of faith) are not good candidates for an RSS feed, while constantly updated content areas are. Forums, for example, are great places to deploy an RSS feed, as replies and responses to ongoing threads update frequently.

Brooks Patton is founder and CEO of The Church Site Project, an integrated, web-content-management system, and online church community suite, specifically designed to meet the needs of the modern church. Learn more about these techniques at http://www.thechurchsiteproject.com.

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