LOVE MACHINE; PC, BOOKS CAN HELP CRAFT VALENTINE'S DAY MESSAGE.Byline: Mauricio Minotta Sunday is Valentine's Day Valentine's Day: see Saint Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day Lovers' holiday celebrated on February 14, the feast day of St. Valentine, one of two 3rd-century Roman martyrs of the same name. St. , and florists are rolling up their sleeves for the surge in business they'll get from the celebrated event. But if sending flowers has become mundane, there are other ways to tell your significant other how much he or she means to you. There are at least two approaches: old-fashioned and high-tech. Before the advent of the telephone, lovers with a creative flare and an open heart typically bypassed flowers and wrote their feelings in a letter or a poem. You don't necessarily have to be a natural-born poet to woo your lover with the right words. Just visit the romance section of any major bookstore. ``How to Write Love Letters'' by Michelle Lovric (Publisher's Group West; $14.95) and ``The Romance Writer's Phrase Book'' by Jean Kent (Berkley Books; $10) are just two in the mountain of books on the market to help you become a romantic scribe. The Barnes & Noble store on Ventura Boulevard Ventura Boulevard is one of the primary east-west thouroughfares in the San Fernando Valley; as it was originally a part of the El Camino Real (the trail between Spanish missions), Ventura Boulevard is the oldest route in the San Fernando Valley. It was also U.S. in Encino puts up a Valentine's Day display stocked with Adj. 1. stocked with - furnished with more than enough; "rivers well stocked with fish"; "a well-stocked store" stocked furnished, equipped - provided with whatever is necessary for a purpose (as furniture or equipment or authority); "a furnished apartment"; books of poetry and romance every year, and men are the most frequent purchasers, said store manager Mark Allec. Customers may not find flowers there, but they will find plenty of ideas for something special to impart to the object of their affection, Allec said. For those who prefer a quick yet entertaining way to say ``I love you,'' there's the high-tech route via the Internet. These days, expressing yourself can be as easy as clicking on a mouse - as long as you have access to a computer and your valentine has an e-mail address See Internet address. e-mail address - electronic mail address . There are several free online services that allow you to e-mail animated and musical greeting cards See e-card. and love poems. One of the most popular is bluemountain.com, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Media Metrix. In December, the group, which rates sites on the Web, named bluemountain.com as the ninth-most-popular Internet site. Once you arrive at the site, you have a choice of at least a dozen different Valentine's Day cards to send to your loved one. There are dancing ladybugs, hugging polar bears, fuzzy bunnies and a host of other cartoon characters dancing to preselected music and relaying the message, ``I Love You,'' or ``Be My Valentine.'' And for those feeling very romantic, some cards offer prewritten poems. There's also a Spanish version, monteazul.com and a French version, montbleu.com. There are other sites: postcardsonline.com, bansheeweb.com and egreetings.com. Each lets the sender personalize the cards, so in addition to a dancing turtle with little red hearts floating overhead, your valentine can also read a personal message. One site, cardmaster.com, lets users choose the music the recipient will hear with the card you send. For you big spenders, the Internet also affords opportunities to redeem yourself from procrastinators' hell today. Dial into e-cupid.com to send your lover sexy lingerie and an accompanying electronic greeting card. The site is an offshoot of Canoga Park-based Dresses.com. Hallmark.com (at www.hallmark.com) offers more than 90 love-related electronic cards among its 1,500 offerings. The company also sells online such V-day staples as flowers, candles, chocolates, picture frames and teddy bears and has a poll on such pressing issues as the best conversation heart candy. AOL (A division of Time Warner, Inc., New York, NY, www.aol.com) The world's largest online information service with access to the Internet, e-mail, chat rooms and a variety of databases and services. also will link you to card-seller American Greetings American Greetings Corporation, Inc. NYSE: AM is the world's largest publicly-traded greeting card company. It is based in Cleveland, Ohio and sells paper greeting cards, electronic greeting cards, party products (such as wrapping papers and decorations), and electronic , which sells GreetMail online postcards. There are some funky choices, including a World Wrestling Federation card for your favorite grappling partner and Z from the animated movie ``Antz'' for your favorite insect. These'll cost you, though: around $20 for six months of unlimited use. And once you're all warmed up on writing love lines, Tripod's parent, Lycos, has just the challenge for you. It's hosting a love-letter-writing contest (loveletters.lycos.com), among other Valentine's Day-related goodies. ``I think there will always be a need for handwritten hand·write tr.v. hand·wrote , hand·writ·ten , hand·writ·ing, hand·writes To write by hand. [Back-formation from handwritten.] Adj. 1. sentiments in romance, but I think the Internet supplements that for those who are in a long-distance relationship A long-distance relationship is said to take place when the couple is separated by a considerable distance. Such relationships can occur when the couple:
``And while letters take longer to receive, this helps couples communicate many times a day,'' he says. ``It requires much less effort, and it's instantaneous.'' Daily News Staff Writers David Bloom David Bloom (May 22, 1963 – April 6, 2003) was an NBC journalist (co-anchor of Weekend Today and reporter) until his sudden death in 2003 at the age of 39. Early life and Andrea Hescheles contributed to this story. CAPTION(S): 2 Photos Photo: (1--Cover--Color) Romance for Dummies Books, Internet can save you from Valentine writer's block writer's block Psychiatry An occupational neurosis of authors, in whom creative juices are temporarily or permanently inspissated John McCoy/Daily News (2) Visitors to the bluemountain.com Web site can craft a custom animated Valentine's Day greeting card that can be delivered via e-mail. |
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