Art and Leisure

Sell handmade goods, buy cheap handmade goodies.

In these days of mass-production and Wal-Mart's low prices and lower standards, it's great to see handmade artifacts making a comeback. Today, my wife introduced me to a site that is a meeting-place for buying and selling wonderful handmade items. Everything from jewelry and ties to paintings and teddy bears. And it's all 100% hand crafted.

ETSY.COM - your place to buy and sell all things handmade

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Covert transaction legal, life-saving: getting free drinks at the amusement park

Summer’s coming, and nice weather and vacation days may land you in an amusement park very soon. I’ve come to accept the high cost of admission but still grumble at the food and drink prices. Tired, thirsty, hungry, and captive audiences are ripe, it seems, for gouging. Perhaps the rationale is that if you can afford the ticket price, you can afford a $3.00 hot dog and a $2.00 cola.

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The Photographer's Dilemma: Quintessential Tips for Frugal Photography

Digital photography is like a virus that is slowly overtaking my friends. Seriously. One person in my group of friends got a digital camera. He took some pictures and shared them with his friends. Everyone oo-ed and ah-ed over them, and then realized that they'd like to have some pictures of their own. They got themselves a camera (or a whole set-up) and began snapping photos. Some became seriously interested, and found themselves buying all sorts of gear (flashes, lenses, filters, tripods, bags, etc.). Several thousand dollars later, they can take any picture they want. And the people around them (like yours truly!) now want to take this newer, even-better sort of picture, too. But many of us don't want to spend the money it can take to get quality equipment. Here are some questions we've asked ourselves and some ways we've coped.

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Free Music Lessons Online! For now...

Ever paid for private music lessons? Pricey, no? I know that my accordian lessons got to be too much for my feeble salary to cover.

Now, you can learn music online. Through You Tube! Video lessons, all for free. Or at least, until tomorrow, when You Tube is ordered to take the lessons down.

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Drive across America for FREE.

How would you like to see everything that America has to offer, with all your friends, and not pay one cent for it? Well, it's not as far-fetched as you may think.

David, Dima and Tara are three friends who wanted to take a huge road trip across the USA, but did not have the funds to pay for a sight-seeing vacation of this magnitude. To really see all of America would take big bucks. For some folks, that would be a problem. But for these guys, it was just a solution waiting to happen. The solution is called cashroadtripusa.com .

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Another one for the readers

So, you've read my other posts on reading (and Tannaz's ) and you've self-identified as a Reader. You want to read. But books are expensive. And big. And bulky. But you still want to read. In fact, you're dying to find just a few more words to pass your eyes over, more ideas to process, more characters to get to know.

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And One for the "Readers": LibriVox

A short while back we learned about DailyLit , a service that delivers public domain literature works to your email inbox in easily-digestible chunks. But what if you don't feel like reading? Or what if your eyes are too busy doing something else, like knitting, or cooking, or solving Fermat's last theorem (what, it was getting a little too domestic there!)? In this modern age, we're all about multitasking, after all. Well, friends, reading the classics has entered the age of the internet: it's free and convenient, and doesn't even involve reading anymore! Now that's progress.

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Free movies rentals for life.

Seriously, when I tell most people that I have a deal that blows Netflix or Blockbuster Total Access out of the water, they think I'm all talk. But here's the truth. I can't remember the last time I paid for a DVD movie rental. And it's all thanks to my public library.

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Keith Knight of the K Chronicles - Keepin' Kool on the Cheap

My favorite comic strip, bar none, is the K Chronicles, by Keith Knight. It might have something to do with the virtual crushes I tend to form on Salon.com contributors (Farhad - call me), but I genuinely look forward to Keith's weekly installment of artistic wit and wisdom. His commentary on life, art, politics, and love never fail to make me smile. Well, the more political cartoons make me cringe in recognition, but you get the idea - Keith's funny.

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Another one for the Readers

Interested in talking about some of your favorite books? It seems like there'd be no one better to discuss with than the authors who wrote them. Now, Barnes and Noble has launched their new bookclub , "where readers and writers meet."

I explored a little but haven't really jumped in with both feet yet. However, anywhere where I can discuss The Boleyn Inheritance with Philippa Gregory and The Memory Keeper's Daughter with Kim Edwards can't possibly be a bad place.

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