What is postmodernism? Are the postmodern characteristics still apparent in contemporary architectural design? According to scholars, "Postmodernism, by definition resists definition". If postmodernism is then difficult to be defined, on what principles can one judge if postmodernism in architecture is in still emerging? Postmodernism in its regional/vernacular forms reflects neighborhood culture. Some argue that postmodernism is a reaction to the forces of "creative destruction." But it can be a tool for those powers as well. The end of the assembly line, created by the instant flexibility of computer technology, means that in this post-Fordist world people can all have a unique, neighborhood specific thing, as well as having the same reference.

Evaluating and categorizing architects according to styles, periods, theoretical backgrounds, and philosophical ideas, from Itkinos and Brunelleschi, to Borromini and Le Corbusier, is a very challenging process that requires a deep understanding of the key elements that influence the architects' design. What appears though to be a constant value in this type of analysis, is that the evolution of architecture, from the period of the Greek civilization (Parthenon in Athens 447-433 BC), to the present day's Santiago Calatrava's projects, signifies that the architect's pursuit for the myriad idea of beauty is actually a leitmotif of his/her past influences.

Postmodernism is differentiated from other cultural forms by its emphasis on fragmentation which replaces the alienation of the subject that characterized modernism. Postmodernism is concerned with all surface, no substance. There is a loss of the center. Postmodernist works are often characterized by a lack of depth; a flatness. Individuals are no longer anomic, because there is nothing from which one can sever ties. The liberation from the anxiety which characterized anomie may also mean liberation from every other kind of feeling as well. This is not to say that the cultural products of the postmodern era are utterly devoid of feeling, but rather that such feelings are now free-floating and impersonal. Also distinctive of the late capitalist age is postmodernism's focus on commodification and the recycling of old images and commodities.

In architecture, postmodernism, in its regional or vernacular forms, reflects neighborhood culture. In this way, it can function as a tool in class struggle and can probably be used by any player in the struggle. Thus, postmodernism when examined as a resistive force is closely linked to the historic preservationists. In trying to maintain the collective memory of a place the postmodernist agenda can be used in a way that is antithetical to the forces. Public or private partnerships that wipe out neighborhoods can use the postmodern vocabulary in their new ventures. Neighborhoods can hope to have at best just a mere palimpsest of a memory of what they were in the past.

One day perhaps, neuroscience will explain why some infrastructures seem to reach far beyond their physicaldimensions. But one does not need to wait for that explanation in order to experience their postmodern orpost-postmodern effect. It turns out that bodies, buildings, streets and cities are still useful for certain things inthe global age of digital information. People are only beginning to uncover how they work.

The range of entertainment available on audio books is huge: from Bestsellers, Classics, Comedy, Biography to History, Travel and Politics. Research shows that most people listen to audiocassettes and CDs while they are doing something else--driving, doing housework, exercising, preparing to go to sleep, surfing the net and especially travelling. Audio CDs are still out-sold by tapes and it's forecast that it will be 2006/07 before that trend is reversed.

So, if you don't have time to stop off at the library or the bookstore before you leave for the beach or the mountains this summer -- don't worry! You can still take a bestseller with you on vacation.

More than 250 new full textbooks by authors like James Patterson, Clive Cussler, Nora Roberts and W.E.B. Griffin are now available for free download to your home computer. You can transfer the audio books to your MP3 Player or burn them to a disk and play them in your car or anywhere! (A great way to pass the time on long drives!)

You can download digital audio books if you have a valid library card from those libraries or any of the following: Clearwater Public Library; East Lake Community Library; Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative; Largo Public Library; Manatee Community College Library; Palm Harbor Library; Pasco County Public Library System; Safety Harbor Public Library and St. Petersburg Public Library System.

You can access "audio books to go" through a link on the web site of each of the participating libraries or by logging onto http://digitalbooks.tblc.org. There are now more than 600 titles available, ranging from popular fiction to self-help, from romance to young adult. If you haven't checked the website for available titles lately, you are missing out on some amazing reading!

Download the special software program on the Digital Book Catalog homepage, and hundreds of audio books are available for you to enjoy on vacation, or at home. Downloading a digital audio book takes as little as 15 minutes. You can borrow as many as four audio books at a time.

No need to return these audio books to the library! Once your seven-day loan is over, the book is no longer available to you on your home computer.

After the third session on my sleeve a couple of days ago, I realised I left with something more than just ink – a bond between myself and my tattoo artist. This gets stronger after every visit, and I have worked out that it is down to the trust I have gained in him. After all, how can you not form a relationship (and I’m speaking purely social here) with someone who is putting in hours of work and effort, using careful and perfected skill to drag needles through your skin? How did I manage to achieve this?

Firstly, like all good teachings in life, it took a mistake to start my search for the right tattooist for me. When I was 17, I got my first tattoo – it was awful. When I was 18, I decided to do something about it, and was gaining a little more information about tattoos at this time. So I trawled through the studios in my nearest town, avoiding the ones I knew had a bad reputation for putting out some dodgy tattoos. I came across one, and as soon as I went inside was impressed by how clean it looked, and the people there were surprisingly friendly (something I assumed tattooists lacked when I was younger, imagining the stereotypical ‘bald, fat, sleazy and unhygienic’ type that is usually used to depict a tattooist). I brought in my design and before I knew it, my older tattoo now looked more enhanced. But I wasn’t satisfied.

The problem was, that I had started to learn about the tattoo world, and after a few months of having the previously mentioned one done, knew I would want more tattoos. But I also knew that the tattooist I’d gone to last, as nice and as good as he was, wouldn’t be good enough for me. You see, I had started to collect all the tattoo magazines available, including USA & other EU publications. I was starting to get a fantastic view into the custom tattoo world – the backpieces, bodysuits and sleeves blew me away. I got familiar with the famous artists’ work, and couldn’t believe that this level of style, technique and skill could even exist on something like skin.

Never being someone to ‘follow the crowd’, I had never had much of an interest to get a tattoo of a ‘typical’ design – no flower, dolphin, Chinese symbol, tazmanian devil, ‘tribal’, or Winnie the Pooh would EVER have a place on my body, and that was certain. I am also slightly perfectionist when it comes to art – when a piece actually requires, even demands to be realistic or exact, it obviously must be composed with a hand that can perform these skills. Looking at my tattoo, I knew the tattooist wouldn’t be able to ink up an entire sleeve – he didn’t appear to use much imagination when it came to the actual tattoos – often quite happily just copying the flash designs. Although I wasn’t intending to get a realistic tattoo next (far from it in fact), I wanted to be able to give the artist complete artistic freedom. And to allow this, I needed to be able to trust him/her completely.

And to gain this, I needed to find the right person, who had a high reputation for being one of the best custom tattoo artists. Looking around my town, he/she certainly didn’t exist here. So, I chatted with some other tattooists about my quest, and together with the magazines I’d acquired, was given some priceless advice. This led me to finding my tattoo artist. And the bizarre thing is - now I’ve chosen to have him sleeve me up, with future plans for other large pieces, I could not imagine going to anyone else. The thought of sitting in someone else’s tattooing chair, makes me feel very nervous. The immense trust I have gained in my artist is something that will last for years. I could not imagine going to anyone else now, in fear that they would not do as good a job.

It comes as no surprise that I deliberately chose one of the best custom tattoo artists in the UK in the end, and why not? He has gained this title for a reason after all. However, for others it might not necessarily need to be this way, mattering only about this issue of trust. So, my advice to you and to others is to PLEASE, use your instincts. If you want a tattoo that much, you have shown a strong interest in tattooing, so why just settle with some guy sat on his bed, waving a little machine made from his walkman motor and his dad’s gardening wire? Why settle for the tattoo studio round the corner, with dirty stained walls and floors and a tattooist that clearly doesn’t care about sanitation? Why settle for a tattooist that doesn’t even really LOOK at the design they’re tattooing on you, only to sit back afterwards and realise they’ve made a mistake? Why settle for someone you don’t feel comfortable around? If you don’t like their personality, their humour or opinions, then GO SOMEWHERE ELSE! Find someone you ‘click’ with, someone you know you could sit down and allow to tattoo you, without you even needing to look and watch consistently that what they’re doing IS a dragon and not a fluffy teddy bear.

One day my girlfriend wanted to get a tattoo. Naturally, I wanted to give her my input on the design.

Fellow tattoo enthusiasts, we all know the gold standard for boyfriend/girlfriend tattoos is a cursive, italicized name in heavy print. Something like “Jesse” around the breast or buttocks area. But I knew instantly this would not do. I felt my girlfriend and I needed something a bit stronger. We immediately set out to conjure up that image in an intense brainstorming session.

My first instinct was to get a portrait of myself giving Conan the Barbarian a very bad charley horse. This image sent out the proper vibe, in my mind, about where she and I were coming from. But ultimately it was too risky. Given a bit of time, the tattoo could come out looking like me giving a female body builder a thigh massage. Which would not be the proper vibe at all.

My second impulse was a sweet sleeve of circuits, culminating in a picture on her shoulder of me making a robot cry. “It’s about the technology,” I told her. She said she didn’t think her arm was the proper place for that kind of statement. “I couldn’t agree less,” I told her. But it didn’t matter, that one was a no go.

After all was said and done, we settled on her nickname, “Coconut Throat” on her left ankle. I said, “Why not just get a coconut on your throat?” But she felt that a coconut on her neck would look too much like an injury from far away. We aren’t together anymore.

Making the big decision to go ahead and get a new tattoo requires a considerable quantity of due thought. The main consideration is the kind of tattoo design that you would like and the second consideration is where on your body you are going to have it done.

A tattoo can be an indicator of the kind of person you are in terms of what style you like and can even give others clues about your personality so it pays to take your time and plan out the tattoo you want. Check out different tattoo artists and parlours before making your decision. Also try and choose one based on a recommendation from somebody you know that has had a tattoo done that you admire. Whatever you do, don't check in at the first tattoo parlor you see and get a tattoo done.

Only the other day, one of my friends had a tattoo done rather hastily and I could tell he wasn't overly enamoured with the overall result. Too late now though, he's got to live with it unless he wants to go through expensive procedures to get it removed.

When you find the tattoo artist that you want to do your tattoo, have a meeting with them first to talk about the tattoo designs that are available, along with how much each tattoo is going to cost. Also view the artists designs and work whilst you are there.

Be sure to also choose a tattoo parlor that is licensed, as your health is a primary concern, along with hygienic conditions. It is also of value to consider if there are any implications on your life that this new tattoo will have. For instance, a tattoo on your forearm is probably not going to go down too well in a job that involves working with the public when you want to wear a short sleeved shirt in the summer. You get the idea.

Also think about whether you really want to live with this tattoo design for the rest of your mortal days. Sure, you make think it's the best thing since sliced bread when you initially look at the design, but are you going to feel that way in 5 years from now when you wake up to look in the mirror at it each morning.

You may also want to take along some pictures of tattoo designs that interest you to the tattoo artist so that they have a good idea of the kind of tattoo you would like. Small tattoos are simple enough to do, but large tattoos require more thought, time and consideration.

The internet is full of great tattoo designs, so it's also well worth checking in at cyberspace for a while and do some surfing to find the best tattoo design possible for you.

So I’m half way through the second week of healing after getting my second tattoo and all I want to do it scratch it. I don’t remember my first one itching so much. I wonder if the location has something to do with it, or if the fact that this one is color and the first one was black.

I do know that location can affect the rate of healing for any wound. The closer to the heart the better the circulation and the faster the healing. That’s probably one contributing factor to my first tattoo, on my abdomen, healing quickly. My new one is on my foot, so more than likely it’s going to take a while to heal.

I noticed most tattoo artists give the same advice for taking care of tattoos. I’ve been following my artist’s instructions as closely as I can and so far things look good. I just keep thinking about how much it hurt and how I really don’t want to have to get it touched up.

Pain is subjective and different parts of the body experience pain differently. I now know that the tops of my feet experience a lot of pain. I’m still glad I put it there. My thought is that you shouldn’t choose a location without thinking about it first. I chose my design and the top of my foot near my ankle seemed like the best place for it. And an hour of pain really wasn’t that bad---now that it’s over.

It’s just the damn itchy, flaky, peeling healing process that’s driving me crazy. After reading about the healing process and how to properly care for a new tattoo I still just want to scratch it. It’s like having an itchy nose and not being able to do anything about it.

The classical guitar is a difficult instrument to learn how to play. It takes perseverance and a lot of practice but with some practical tips you can make the transition from beginner to intermediate very quickly.

Have Discipline - The most important thing you have to do in order to advance in your skill with the classical guitar is to practice regularly. This of course you already understand but in order to do this you might want to make yourself a schedule and stick to it. Decide in advance what days of the week you can practice, pick a time and stick to it. Block out at least one hour for each session. If you can do this at least five days a week your ability with the guitar will advance very rapidly.

Listen to the music – The biggest problem for a beginner is the physical challenge of learning how to use your hands and fingers; so almost all of your focus is on this. The intermediate guitarist learns the finger position then focuses on how to play the music with feeling. You should make this a priority early in your playing. One of the best ways to do this is to run a tape recorder while you are playing then listen to it afterwards. This way you can concentrate on how the music sounds without having to focus on your hands.

Establish a repertoire – You should establish a set of pieces that you will memorize. This can be as few as five pieces or as many as ten. But you should decide that you will memorize these pieces and then you should practice them, with memorization in mind, at every sitting.

Use Different Learning Techniques – Everybody learns differently and we all have strong ways and weak ways of learning. You should try different learning techniques and see which ones work best for you. You also get the benefit of bringing a well-rounded approach to your learning.

Here are some different techniques you should try: Reading sheet music – This is a great, but slow, way to learn the language of music and will over time dramatically enhance your ability to play. Work with an instructor – Some people establish a rapport with an instructor and do very well when they have someone they can ask questions. Practice with friends – camaraderie is a great motivator. It will keep you playing. Purchase a book with a cd or dvd – Having the sheet music along with a video or cd that plays the music will engage more of your mental faculties at the same time. Download instructional videos – You may be a very visually oriented person and how a classical guitarist places his fingers may be an excellent way for you to learn Try learning pieces directly from music you hear on CD’s – this is an excellent but difficult technique. If you put some time into this your ear for the guitar will improve dramatically.

There are many ways you can quickly develop your skill as a classical guitarist. The two most important things to remember are that you should have the discipline to practice regularly and that you should try different techniques because some techniques will work better for you than others.

When I was a young lad growing up way back in the 60's and 70's, I often used to think how wonderful it would be to be able to custom make my own albums. A bunch of your all-time favorite songs grouped together in once place. It was possible to record tracks from the radio, or from tape to tape and LPs (Long players on vinyl disc, now replaced by CD's), but it was a laborious process and not really the ideal solution. Additionally, there were often just a few songs you liked on an album, so couldn't justify buying say 20 hits for 3 favorites. Well, that's all changed now that we can listen to music on the computer.

The wonderful thing about the internet is the opportunity it gives to search through the musical archives of time and find just about any artist from any era that you please. It really is that easy to both download and listen to music on the computer. Some of the modern PC's have great sound systems too, so it's not necessary to burn music to disk and play it in the ole Hi-fi. Yes, the internet is certainly a convenience that's for sure. I'm actually in the process of collecting my all time favorites and it's exciting to hear some of these artists and tracks after such a long time.

It's often said that people stop trying out new things once they hit their mid 30's and that includes food and music. This is why us olds keep going on about the songs of days gone by and disregard many new sounds, no matter how great they are. For people like me, the internet offers a wonderful opportunity to collect and listen to the nostalgic notes of the past. As I work at the PC daily, I get the opportunity to listen to music on the computer all the time and this includes the radio. In fact, I'm working in South Asia at the time of writing and it's just great to be able to tune into my favorite radio station back home.

What about you, do you listen to music on the computer? If not, then maybe it's time you got plugged in. Technology has come such a long way in recent years that the once humble PC has become not only a workstation but an entertainment center too. Yes, that's right, movies and music videos are all possible from the click of a mouse.

Sometimes, when I'm tuned into the radio, a song will be played from years back that I'd totally forgotten about, but it's a song that brings back many fond memories of that time. No problems! I just login to my favorite musical download website like ITunes or Napster, and for a tiny fee, I've just added another nostalgic noise to my ever growing archive in an instant.

But here's a tip. If you are going to start collecting dozens or even hundreds of tunes to you PC, don't forget to back them up externally too. What could be worse that your entire music collection disappearing with a hard drive failure? It's great to collect and listen to music on the computer, but it's wise to save copies outside of the PC too. Happy listening!