List of Hobbies

Archive for the ‘Indoor Competition’ Category

There are people who are great at singing and they write their own songs and so on but there are even more people who love to sing karaoke. Karaoke is a form of entertainment in which amateur singers sing along with recorded music (and/or a music video) using a microphone and public address system. The music is typically a well-known pop song minus the lead vocal. Lyrics are usually displayed on a video screen, along with a moving symbol or changing color and/or music video images, to guide the singer. In some countries, a karaoke music video with lyrics and the option to disable the original voice track is called a KTV. Due to its English pronunciation, it is sometimes incorrectly spelled “kareoke”.

You can get together with some friends and sing karaoke together. It is fun and it is a great way to socialize and bond with friends with common interests. Some people do karaoke for fun whenever they have time as a hobby while others get into it more seriously and strive to become the best karaoke singer they can be.

With karaoke machines or software, anyone can be a great singer. People love to sing and express themselves through songs. They enjoy singing and dancing along with the songs. Many companies have come out with karaoke products including Walt Disney Company. You can sing along with Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse and Disney princesses. Children love to do that. For teens, karaoke with Hannah Montana or High School Musical cast are very popular.

Disney “High School Musical” Karaoke Party Kit! (Disney High School Musical)

For most people, basketball is a competitive sport but there are some people who enjoy basketball and play it for fun as a  hobby. Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five active players each try to score points against one another by placing a ball through a 10 foot (3.048 m) high hoop (the goal) under organized rules. Basketball is one of the most popular and widely viewed sports in the world.

How to score points in basketball?

Points are scored by throwing (shooting) the ball through the basket from above; the team with more points at the end of the game wins. The ball can be advanced on the court by bouncing it (dribbling) or passing it between teammates. Disruptive physical contact (foul) is penalized and there are restrictions on how the ball can be handled (violations).

Through time, basketball has developed to involve common techniques of shooting, passing and dribbling, as well as players’ positions, and offensive and defensive structures. Typically, the tallest members of a team will play center or one of two forward positions, while shorter players or those who possess the best ball handling skills and speed, play the guard positions. While competitive basketball is carefully regulated, numerous variations of basketball have developed for casual play. In some countries, basketball is also a popular spectator sport.

While competitive basketball is primarily an indoor sport, played on a basketball court, less regulated variations played in the outdoors have become increasingly popular among both inner city and rural groups.

If you want to learn more about basketball, how to play, how to score, how to win, etc, here is a good book on the basics of basketball.

Basketball for Dummies

Volleyball is a sport as well as a hobby. In some countries, volleyball is very popular. Volleyball is an Olympic team sport in which two teams of 6 active players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team’s court under organized rules.

How to play volleyball?

Play proceeds as follows:

A player on one of the teams begins a rally by attempting to serve the ball (tossing or releasing it and then hitting it with a hand or arm), from behind the back boundary line of the court, over the net and into the receiving team’s court.

The receiving team must not let the ball touch their court; they may touch the ball as many as three times, typically using the first two touches to set up for an attack, an attempt to direct the ball back over the net in such a way that the serving team is unable to prevent it from touching their court.

The rally continues in the same manner, with each team allowed as many as three consecutive touches, until either:

(1): a team makes a kill, grounding the ball on the opponent’s court, thus winning the rally; or

(2): a team commits a fault, thus losing the rally.

The team that wins the rally is awarded a point, and serves the ball to start the next rally. Volleyball can be fun and a good exercise. If you do not want to play competitively and just want to exercise and play in your spare time as a hobby, you can get together with some friends, study the rules and just play. It is also a good game to bond with friends and family members. If you want to learn more about volleyball and how to play it, here are some books that you can learn from.

Coaching Volleyball For Dummies (For Dummies (Sports & Hobbies))

Lots of people love to play scrabble. Some do it more seriously than others. Scrabble is fun and educational. It is great for anyone wanting to learn more words and expand their vocabulary. Parents love to encourage their children to play scrabble because they can have fun while learning words at the same time.

What is a scrabble?

Scrabble is a word game in which two to four players score points by forming words from individual lettered tiles on a game board marked with a 15-by-15 grid. The words are formed across and down in crossword fashion and must appear in a standard dictionary. Official reference works (e.g. The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary) provide a list of permissible words. The Collins Scrabble checker can also be used to check if a word is allowed. The game is sold in 121 countries in 29 different language versions. One hundred and fifty million sets have been sold worldwide, and sets are found in one out of every three American homes.

The name Scrabble is a trademark of Hasbro, Inc. in the United States and Canada and of Mattel elsewhere. Scrabble was a trademark of Murfett Regency in Australia, until 1993 when it was acquired by J. W. Spear & Sons (now a Mattel subsidiary). The game is also known as:

• Literati,
• Alfapet,
• Funworder,
• Skip-A-Cross,
• Scramble,
• Spelofun,
• Palabras Cruzadas (“crossed words”) and
• Word for Word.

If you want to take up scrabble as a hobby or expand your vocabulary while having fun, here is The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary. This is the new edition of this book and it is an inexpensive edition that SCRABBLE® players call their bible. It is ideal for recreational and school play. More than 100,000 playable two- to eight-letter words including 4,000 new entries on 674 pages. Includes variant spellings. Endorsed by the National SCRABBLE® Association.

The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary

About The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary

The Merriam brothers desired a continuity of editorship that would link Noah Webster’s efforts with their own editions, so they selected Chauncey A. Goodrich, Webster’s son-in-law and literary heir, who had been trained in lexicography by Webster himself, to be their editor in chief. Webster’s son William also served as an editor of that first Merriam-Webster dictionary, which was published on September 24, 1847.

Although Webster’s work was honored, his big dictionaries had never sold well. The 1828 edition was priced at a whopping $20; in 13 years its 2,500 copies had not sold out. Similarly, the 1841 edition, only slightly more affordable at $15, moved slowly. Assuming that a lower price would increase sales, the Merriams introduced the 1847 edition at $6, and although Webster’s heirs initially questioned this move, extraordinary sales that brought them $250,000 in royalties over the ensuing 25 years convinced them that the Merriams’ decision had been abundantly sound.

The first Merriam-Webster dictionary was greeted with wide acclaim. President James K. Polk, General Zachary Taylor (hero of the Mexican War and later president himself), 31 U.S. senators, and other prominent people hailed it unreservedly. In 1850 its acceptance as a resource for students began when Massachusetts ordered a copy for every school and New York placed a similar order for 10,000 copies to be used in schools throughout the state. Eventually school use would spread throughout the country. In becoming America’s most trusted authority on the English language, Merriam-Webster dictionaries had taken on a role of public responsibility demanded of few other publishing companies.

The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary

Some people love to dance and there are many different types of dancing. Tango is one type. It is actually a musical genre and the type of dance form associated with this musical genre originated in the following countries before it spread to the rest of the world soon after:

• Buenos Aires,
• Argentina,
• Uruguay, and

What is Tango Dancing?

Early tango was known as tango criollo, or simply tango. Today, there are many tango dance styles, including:

• Argentine Tango,
• Uruguayan Tango,
• Ballroom tango (American and International styles),
• Finnish tango and
• vintage tangos.

What many consider to be the authentic tango is that closest to that originally danced in Argentina and Uruguay, though other types of tango have developed into mature dances in their own right.

If you want to take up Tango as a hobby, you can get a book to learn about it. It is best to get a book that comes with a DVD so that you can play it and follow step by step. It is hard to learn a dance form if you cannot see it performed.

Gotta Tango (Book & DVD)

Gotta Tango is a superior instructional package for learning how to dance the authentic Argentine tango at a social level. Master teachers Alberto Paz and Valorie Hart take you on a journey through the rich culture, history, and music of Buenos Aires that inspired the romantic passion, alluring creativity, and natural elegance of the Argentine tango dance. You will learn the fundamentals and roles each partner plays in this exhilarating and intimate social dance.

The book describes, illustrates, and explains the fundamental concepts and techniques, while the DVD visually demonstrates the concepts and movements of the tango in real dance situations with a partner. This combination provides tango lessons that are infinitely more effective than a stand-alone book or video product–and will have you dancing with confidence in less time than you thought possible.

Each tango dancer has a unique way of expressing movements. Gotta Tango offers a logical, structured approach that will help you learn quickly how to move spontaneously with a partner and with the music. It provides the tools you will use every day as a tango dancer as you immerse yourself in the experience, pleasure, and addiction of dancing the Argentine tango.

Gotta Tango (Book & DVD)