Category: archive.org

Read Walt Whitman’s Poetry for Free!

~ Alejandro Martínez ~ Leave a comment

A day as today, in 1892, Walt Whitman died.Whitman was one of the most important poets of all time. He is called the father of free verse. His work was very controversial in its time, particularly his poetry collection Leaves of Grass, which was described as obscene for its overt sexuality.

You can read all his books for free. Open FrostWire, search for “Walt Whitman”, and you will see results from Archive.org.

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2016-03-26 13.25.17

Here is a famous extract from his book Leaves of Grass.

O Captain! My Captain!

BY WALT WHITMAN

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
                         But O heart! heart! heart!
                            O the bleeding drops of red,
                               Where on the deck my Captain lies,
                                  Fallen cold and dead.
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills,
For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
                         Here Captain! dear father!
                            This arm beneath your head!
                               It is some dream that on the deck,
                                 You’ve fallen cold and dead.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,
The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
                         Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
                            But I with mournful tread,
                               Walk the deck my Captain lies,
                                  Fallen cold and dead.

Read Classic Books using FrostWire

~ Alejandro Martínez ~ Leave a comment

We all know that reading is important. Reading expands our knowledge, improves our concentration, gives us new experiences, giving us life examples for future decisions, boost imagination and creativity, exercises our brains, and a lot more. However, there are books better than others. So today we are going to give you a few tips on what free books you should read. All the following books are available under public domain and can be downloaded on FrostWire.

1. A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens

A tale of two cities

A Tale of Two Cities (1859) is a novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. The novel depicts the plight of the French peasantry demoralized by the French aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, the corresponding brutality demonstrated by the revolutionaries toward the former aristocrats in the early years of the revolution, and many unflattering social parallels with life in London during the same period.

 

2. The Flowers of Evil, by Charles Baudelaire
The Flowers of Evil

Les Fleurs du mal (English: The Flowers of Evil) is a volume of French poetry by Charles Baudelaire. First published in 1857 (see 1857 in poetry), it was important in the symbolist and modernist movements. The poems deal with themes relating to decadence and eroticism.

3. Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte
Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights is Emily Brontë’s only novel. Written between October 1845 and June 1846, Wuthering Heights is one of the most powerful love stories. It follows the life of Heathcliff, a mysterious gypsy-like person, from childhood (about seven years old) to his death in his late thirties. Heathcliff rises in his adopted family and then is reduced to the status of a servant, running away when the young woman he loves decides to marry another.

 

4. The Prince, by Niccolò Machiavelli.
The Prince

 

The Prince is sometimes claimed to be one of the first works of modern philosophy, especially modern political philosophy, in which the effective truth is taken to be more important than any abstract ideal. It was also in direct conflict with the dominant Catholic and scholastic doctrines of the time concerning how to consider politics and ethics. If you want to be a leader you must read this book

 

5. Micrographia: Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies Made by Magnifying Glasses with Observations and Inquiries Thereupon, by Robert Hooke
Micrographia

According to Discover Magazine, “A revelation in its time, Micrographia exposed the previously hidden microscopic world. Hooke, an early developer of the compound microscope, used his device to peer at the eyes of flies, the stinger on a bee, hairs, bristles, sand particles, seeds, and more, noting every detail with both words and masterful illustrations. The original book is a hefty three pounds, so the digital versions now available are more convenient, but there is something to be said for flipping through a printed copy and discovering, like a hidden treasure, each drawing in its beautiful intricacy”

 

So please let us know:
What are your favorite Classic Books?
Have you downloaded any good classic book using FrostWire?

10 great films of German Expressionism available online

~ Alejandro Martínez ~ Leave a comment

Do you like to watch classic movies? perhaps learning more about different cultures and art styles?

German Expressionist Films were one of the greatest achievements in early cinema history, and now you can watch them for free because these movies are public domain. Expressionist films challenge our habitual perception of reality.

“The style was revolutionary, taking film from being an art that displays reality to an art that brings the viewer physical representations of emotion and theme. Taking from the Expressionist art movement, the German filmmakers began to create sets that were an embodiment of the inner feelings of the characters performing within them. By taking elements of reality-based design and altering them to suit a mood, the audience can visually identify the underlying feelings of the action taking place. Beyond simply this, German Expressionist film took two major steps forward in production ideology. One was the use of a studio for all aspects of shooting – there could only be the necessary absolute control if all sets and action took place in a studio. The other was the pure idea of giving an audience what it wanted, beyond the conventional (for the time) film structure and design. Not surprisingly, while German Expressionist films were quite successful in terms of box office they were not always well received by critics at the time” (Source).

List of free German Expressionist films you can search and download with FrostWire (licensed under public domain, you can download, share and remix into your own works).

  1. Nosferatu – directed by F. W. Murnau.  (1922)
    Vampire Count Orlok expresses interest in a new residence and real estate agent Hutter’s wife. Silent classic based on the story “Dracula.”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcyzubFvBsA
  2. The Student of Prague – directed by Stellan Rye (1913)
    A poor student rescues a beautiful countess and soon becomes obsessed with her. A sorcerer makes a deal with the young man to give him fabulous wealth and anything he wants, if he will sign his name to a contract. The student hurriedly signs the contract, but doesn’t know what he’s in for.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWycNxqotmQ
  3. Nerven – directed by Robert Reinert. (1919)
    The films tells the political disputes of an ultraconservative factory owner Herr Roloff and Teacher John, who feels a compulsive but secret love for Roloff’s sister, a left-wing radical. They are all driven psychologically and morally to the borderline, tormented souls living their lives in a tormented country.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3I5X19r1xs
  4. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari  – Directed by Robert Wiene. (1920)
    Considered one of the most influential German Expressionist films and perhaps one of the greatest horror movies of all time.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP3WDQXkJq4
  5. Metropolis – directed by Fritz Lang. (1927)
    In a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city’s mastermind falls in love with a working class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0NzALRJifI
  6. The Golem: How He Came Into the World  – directed by Carl Boese, Paul Wegener (1920)
    In 16th-century Prague, a rabbi creates a giant creature from clay, called the Golem, and using sorcery, brings the creature to life in order to protect the Jews of Prague from persecution.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaN5IKEXBZ0
  7. The Last Laugh –  directed by F.W. Murnau (1924)
    An aging doorman, after being fired from his prestigious job at a luxurious Hotel is forced to face the scorn of his friends, neighbours and society.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmIUP0ElS7k
  8. Faust – directed by F.W. Murnau(1926)
    The demon Mephisto wagers with God that he can corrupt a mortal man’s soul.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Flnxq2HMOqA
  9. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans – directed by F.W. Murnau (1927)
    A married farmer falls under the spell of a slatternly woman from the city, who tries to convince him to drown his wife.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnLVMREVA6M
  10. M – directed by Fritz Lang (1931)
    When the police in a German city are unable to catch a child-murderer, other criminals join in the manhunt.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihDwCKWdt0c
    (Source: OpenCulture)

You can get these movies (public domain) using FrostWire. It’s completely legal and free 🙂

nosferatu frostwire

New FrostWire for Android, now with full featured Music Player

~ gubatron ~ Leave a comment

Get FrostWire for Android Now

After 4 years of fun and hard work we finally have a version of FrostWire for Android that starts to get close to our vision.

On this release we’ve finally put together a very stable BitTorrent and Cloud Downloader along with a FULL FEATURED music player for your phone/tablet.

What you see below is a graph that shows the number of reported crashes for the past 6 months, look at how it drops dramatically these last couple of weeks after the 1.4.x releases start to come out.

Screen Shot 2014-12-25 at 11.12.02 AM

Please keep those reviews coming.

Here are some screenshots of the new music player we’ve included:
new-player-03
New “My Music” section on the main navigation menu.

Now you will be able to browse your music by Album, Artist, Songs, Genre and you will be able to organize your music in Android music Playlists, which should be available on other music player apps, so if you already had some playlists on your android you’ll be able to play them and manage them with FrostWire.

New FrostWire Music Player

Here’s a full list of the changes on FrostWire 1.4:


FrostWire 1.4.2 - DECEMBER/22/2014
- New: Music Player (forked out of Apollo Player).
- New: Playlist support.
- New: Browse music by Recent, Artists, Albums, Songs, Genres.
- New: Change cover art on Playlists, Songs.
- New: Shuffle All music.
- Torrent/Magnet caching improvements reduce the number of DHT
requests when searching, which makes search result parsing faster
in most cases.
- When sharing files from 3rd party apps with FrostWire, the file
shared will be displayed by FrostWire as available via Wi-Fi sharing.
If the file is a .torrent the torrent transfer will start.
- Not using wifi multicast lock for energy savings.
- 'Preferences' renamed to 'Settings'
- About activity moved out of navigation menu and into Settings screen.
- Audio files can now be set as ringtones from My Files > Audio.
- Settings screen rearrangement.


FrostWire 1.4.1 - DECEMBER/02/2014
- Updated jlibtorrent binaries.
- Resilience to file disk permission errors causing the app to
not start in some environments.
- Improved disk I/O when persisting states of torrent transfers.
- Refactors, Cleanups and other misc. bug fixes.
- Improved user experience on transfer list actions.
- Preferences screen won't automatically kick user to search screen
when BitTorrent connectivity changes.


FrostWire 1.4.0 - NOVEMBER/08/2014
- Replaced Vuze Bittorrent engine for frostwire-jlibtorrent,
a java wrapper to the native libtorrent BitTorrent library.
- Peak memory usage dropped 50% when searching.
- Peak memory usage dropped 16% when downloading torrents.
- Number of threads dropped 41% when searching.
- Number of threads dropped 60% when downloading torrents.
- Peak CPU usage dropped 66% when searching.
- Peak CPU usage dropped 44% when downloading torrents.
- Got rid of over 2,000 classes.
- New Shutdown feature, stops all services and activities,
FrostWire process ends gracefully.
- Upgraded Picasso library to 2.4.0.
- More responsive and stable torrent state handling experience.
- Torrent downloads start faster.
- Torrent downloads connect to more peers.
- Updated German translation.
- Updated Croatian translation.
- Updated Polish translation.
- Updated Spanish translation.
- Updated Russian translation.
- Gets rid of Transcommu.
- Project is now built using gradle script.
- Updated Preferences screen BitTorrent connection status button.
- Fixes severe startup crash on Samsung Galaxy Mini devices.
- Multiple bug fixes and crashes.

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Merry Xmas everybody!
Team FrostWire