Pigeon Forge :: Descriptive Essay About A Place

Pigeon Forge The Pigeon Forge area attracts students because of the entertainment choices and location. Teenagers enjoy Pigeon Forge because of the shopping, restaurants, and tourist attractions. It is a getaway from their hometown with plenty of choices of things to do. There are outlet malls that sell a variety of clothing. A few of the attractions located in this area are race tracks, bungee jumping, indoor skydiving, and put-put. Families with young children will be able to do a limited amount of outside tourist activities, but instead might opt to shop within some of the popular outlet malls. The attractions with a minimum age or height requirement are for families with older children that can participate and for teenagers and young adults. Pigeon Forge is a tourist attraction for people on different budgets with different interests. Pigeon Forge is a well-known tourist area with shopping, entertainment attractions, and restaurants set in the Smoky Mountains. Its location is 80 miles from Johnson City and thirty miles from Knoxville. From Knoxville go towards Ashville on the 181 north interstate and take Exit 407 to Sevierville; from Johnson City take highway 181 South towards Knoxville and take the same exit (approximately one hour from Johnson City, and twenty to thirty minutes from Knoxville). First time visitors to the area should try to plan on spending a few days, if you have the time and money. There are many attractions in this area, and depending on your interests you can plan a trip that is worthwhile and fun Pigeon Forge is a shopper’s paradise, with a wide array of merchandise. This area hosts several outlet malls filled with plenty of shops each. The Red Roof Mall and the Tanger Outlet Mall are two of the popular outlets. The outlet malls all sell different types of merchandise, mostly name brand clothing. A few of the name brands that are found in the outlets are J. Crew, Old Navy, Fossil, and American Outpost. There are also shops that are individually owned that sell Pigeon Forge memorabilia. Other shops will spray paint tee shirts and license plates to the customer’s specifications. Pigeon Forge hosts a variety of shops where most name brand products can be found, with the convenience of being located on one main road. Dollywood is an entertainment park that has rides for children and adults, within a town like atmosphere. The park is not just for children, adults will enjoy it also.

Advancement in computer graphics

Since the dawn period of video graphics, graphics developers had to depend on complete knowledge of the hardware they were working with. This knowledge came from lots of experimentation and electronics know-how. (Rickitt, Richard. 2000.)Games, such as Pong or Asteroids, graphic designers had to have a good knowledge of what every chip on the game motherboard could provide them.They were required to be fully aware of the amount of memory they might require like colors and sounds etc. some times they had to get through with the manufacturers to get assistance in designing chips that cater to their requirement.Sound and graphics were primitive at best, but they worked. Since these early games were in fact a pioneering attempt, they also had to generate new user controls to work with. (Ritter, R. (2002)Early DOS games were dependent on knowledge of machine and assembly languages to enter the OS’s lower levels. With the passage of time, more intelligible languages were introduces, such as BASIC and LOGO; though, they didn't have the potential of assembly language.Next innovation in language world was Pascal and C. With C, game developers could design advanced code routines devoid of having to work with tons of assembly code, therefore making graphics easier. Very soon C language became the preferred language of graphic designers. (Timo Aila, 2003)With these language changes, one difficulty remained. To develop high-quality games, developers still required a thorough knowledge of the hardware they were running with. There was no need to know every chip's capabilities, however they had to know things such as video cards, sound cards, and input devices. They also had to cope with memory constraints, which were turning out to be a hindrance to graphic designs.Along Came WindowsAdvancement in computer operating system it turned out to be very easy to maintain specific standards in the computer industry. These standards consisted hardware interfaces, video memory s tandards, sound standards, and CPU memory specifications. Yet, there was still a lot of conflict within the industry, and lots of hardware turned out to be unsatisfactory. Consequently, numerous games developed in Windows faced a lot of problems.Microsoft understood this problem early on and emphasized its efforts on improving its environment and working to improve performance for the parts of the operating system that cater to game and multimedia requirements.These efforts were obvious in Windows 95, one of the first operating systems that produced reliable hardware-software interaction a reality. Since all hardware companies had to meet a comparable standard and Microsoft controlled how its operating system responded to the hardware.In the DOS days, you had to build your own drivers for every type of video card, but with Windows, you had to develop to only one standard. In spite of spending time producing and understanding numerous hardware specifications, designers relied on Micr osoft to do all that for them and wrap up it for their use in the OS.There was one flaw with all of this. Windows was initially designed for homes and offices not for professional multimedia development. It lacked little necessary items that had become trademark in the multimedia market mostly graphics speed, DOS was better then windows.It was the same hardware, but there were many more layers between the developers' code and the hardware they wanted to control. The effect was that a lot of developers deserted the idea of Windows game development and depended on the Windows capability to disburse to DOS.After Microsoft understand that game developers agreed with its idea but reluctant to give up the performance they had become used to in DOS, Microsoft started exploring ways to facilitate developers to reach that hardware layer. Some of the initial attempts involved WinG, WinToon, and OpenGL.Wings become popular at the time of Windows 3.1 and Windows for WorkGroups. WinG was the fir st try at a complete graphics API (Application Programming Interface) library to eradicate the limitations of the Windows API.WinG rendered high-performance graphics system that could be accessed through Windows game development world to that community who worked completely in DOS.WinToon worked as first API system for Windows 95 that supplied the potential of easy animation playback. API also provided better performance as compared to existing Windows 95 APIs. Thus it aided to improve the multimedia playback capabilities of animation programs for instance kids' games and educational programs.OpenGL is a powerful set of APIs that let the developers to cut through the Windows red tape to integrate some of the hardware procedures of 2D and 3D graphics. Unexpectedly, OpenGL was not the product of Microsoft; instead it was introduced by Silicon Graphics, Inc.These technological advancements were an enormous boost, but eventually turn out to be short. As the game market boosted and the r equirement for more games on the Windows 95 platform rose, Microsoft developers went back to work.What they came up with was the Windows 95 Game Software Developer's Kit (SDK), which introduced the first version of DirectX. DirectX was actually restricted for the computer game industry but has evolved to embrace other areas, for instance, improvement in the arcade business and handheld Windows CE devices.As DirectX has improved, Microsoft rendered network support, in addiction with force feedback support, and 3D graphics capabilities. When ever improvements are required, the DirectX team has gone on to improve the performance of this amazing software library. (John Owens. 1983.)Video graphics games fueling hardware growth and hardware in turn fueling games will continue on. Thus the future of video games will most likely be tied to the future of graphics hardware and tactile hardware. With the introduction of the DirectX 8.0 API and same type functionality in OpenGL, GPUs increased programmable shading to their functions.The entire pixel could now be achieved by a short program that could involve additional image textures as inputs, and every geometric vertex could similarly be processed by a short program before it was shown on the screen. nVidia introduced chip capable of programmable shading, the GeForce 3 (widely known as NV20).By October 2002, with the introduction of the ATI Radeon 9700 (also known as R300), the world's first Direct3D 9.0 accelerator, pixel and vertex shades could implement looping and lengthy floating point math, and in general were soon becoming as flexible as CPUs, and orders of magnitude faster for image-array operations. (Dan McCabe 1998)Nowadays, parallel Graphics Processing Unit have   started computable graphic inroads against the operating system, and a subfield of study, dubbed GPGPU for General Purpose Computing on GPU has paved its way into areas as diverse as oil exploration, scientific image processing, and even stock opt ions pricing determination.There is increased pressure on GPU manufacturers to update hardware design, generally emphasizing on adding more flexibility to the programming modelBibliographyBartle, Richard A, 2003,Designing Virtual Worlds , 1st Edition, New Riders Dan McCabe and John Brothers. DirectX6 Texture Map Compression. Game Developer Magazine,   August 1998John Owens. EEC 277: Graphics Architecture. Technical report, 2005 Lance Williams. Pyramidal Parametrics. In Computer Graphics (Proceedings of ACM SIGGRAPH 83), pages 1–11. ACM, July 1983.Ritter, R. (2002). The Oxford Style Manual. Oxford University Press. Rickitt, Richard. Special Effects: The History and Technique. New York: Billboard Books, 2000.Timo Aila, Ville Miettinen, and Petri Nordlund. Delay Streams for Graphics Hardware. ACM Transactions on Graphics,, 2003

Of Mice and Men – Isolation – Curley’s Wife

Curley’s wife is the only female on the ranch and is described in a very feminine and incongruous manner, â€Å"full, rouged lips and wide spaced eyes, heavily made-up. Her fingernails were red. Her hair hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages. She wore a cotton house dress and red mules, on the insteps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers†. The bold, heavily made-up appearance matches her personality as she disguises her true feelings and emotions with lies like the colourful, interesting appearance disguises her lonely, isolated life. As the only woman, she is segregated from the ranch society and Steinbeck makes her seem more isolated and friendless by never giving her a name but being identified as Curley’s possession. She is seen throughout the novella searching constantly for Curley yet this is just an excuse to talk to the other people, â€Å"â€Å"I’m looking for Curley,† she said, her voice had a nasal, brittle quality. † She struggles to create friends or let alone have a civilised conversation with the men on the ranch. She uses this feminine appearance and flirtatious, predatory behaviour in an attempt to communicate and attract attention to herself. However this backfires and leaves her in a no-win situation as her heavily sexualised manner is the key point of criticism amongst the men as they describe her as a â€Å"tart† and â€Å"a piece of jail bait† who, if approached, will only lead to trouble as she can ultimately cause the destruction of their own versions of the ‘American Dream’. Her isolation throughout the novella is caused by her gender, sexual appearance and predatory behaviour.

Loyalty and Betrayal in a Political Context

Two recent Chinese films, Chen Kaige’s Farewell My Concubine (1993) and Zhang Yimon’s   Hero (2002), have gained worldwide attention, garnering numerous awards in the process. Although set in very different periods of Chinese history, both films deal with the themes of loyalty and betrayal played out against a vigorously political backdrop. This political philosophy even weaves through out the stories, marking a radical change from previous socialist-realistic Chinese films which mainly had an operatic focus. In the past, Chinese films were heavily censored and did not appeal to a wide audience. What occurred within the Chinese culture to allow for films which gained international acclaim and dealt freely with controversial concepts, such as   the political atmosphere of China? Both Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimon are Chinese fifth generation directors. This genre evolved after Mao’s death in 1976, causing film to have   the widest international impact of all the Chinese arts reborn since then. Distinguished by a quantum leap from the political and cultural heritage of Mao, and achieving an â€Å"aesthetic breakthrough† with radically politicized ideological implications, this movement nevertheless was formed in a crucible (Zhang, 203). The 1984 release of Kaige’s film Yellow Earth revealed the emergence of a major new movement in world cinema, the fifth generation, which gained its name from critics and scholars based upon a retrospective examination of Chinese film history. It   is one of the cinema’s most important â€Å"new waves,† along with German expressionism, the French new wave, and Italian neo realism. The canon is comprised of the works of a group of young film artists with similar aesthetic and ideological motivations. The fifth generation emerged from the first graduating class of the Beijing Film Academy; students who had encountered tumultuous changes within their own lives, not being allowed to finish their high school educations, ( which didn’t resume until 1977), but being sent instead to the countryside as â€Å"intellectual youth,† becoming soldiers or laborers.   Although Kaige’s father was a well known Beijing film director, Yimou’s father had been an officer in Chiang Kai-Shek’s nationalist KMT army and Yimou was shut out of most educational, financial and social opportunities available to many of his future classmates at the Film Academy. However, the arrival of the Cultural Revolution functioned as a great equalizer, as   most members of the fifth generation forfeited education, saw their parents publicly criticized, and their lives swept up in turmoil. Yimou took up photography during this time, while Kaige tried to join the communist party.(Ij, 1). According to Paul Clark in his book Reinventing China: A Generation and its Film, the cultural revolution forever changed the members of the fifth generation. They emerged from it challenged by their experiences, endowing their films with a more critical attitude toward the cultural revolution and a more humane and realistic take on the lives of their fellow Chinese. While at the Beijing Film Academy the students had a shortage of textbooks from which to work. The professors instead exposed them to foreign films. Thus the students became filmmakers by watching and analyzing these foreign works. After graduation the students were assigned to various urban and rural studios across China, creating works that tried to reconstruct a national cinema after ten years of neglect and oppression. Rejecting rigid formalism, the filmmakers   created more realistic lighting, and used better actors and editors. They also created more ambiguous, less didactic stories. With the catastrophe at Tianamen Square in 1989,   and the ensuing crackdown on the fifth generation in the 1990s by authorities who weren’t comfortable with   many of the politics contained within the films, the restricted filmmakers began looking for international financing. The resulting films brought more international attention to Chinese cinema than ever before (Clark, 205). The filmmakers’ goals were to present themselves as artists with an aesthetic sensibility and to comment on the totality of their culture and history at a metaphorical or allegorical level. By assuming the margins vis a vis the mainstream, the Chinese new wave cinema offers itself as a substitute for and a supplement to, the emerging nationalist cinema. With spectacular visual effects, idiosyncratic and forceful storytelling, the films are a cultural reconstitution of Chinese modernity (Zhang, 276). Although originally banned in China, which allowed only one public showing because the film showed communism in a bad light, Farewell My Concubine is considered to be one of the fifth generation’s seminal works in focusing attention   from international audiences toward Chinese films.   Farewell My Concubine resembles several other fifth generation films in that it is a tale of human lives set against the context of China’s turbulent political upheaval during the mid twentieth century. Because it recalls the collective trauma of the cultural revolution, Farewell My Concubine and its engagement in the national memory has frequently been interpreted as an epic national narrative. Yet it also functions as a cataclysmic tale of loyalty and betrayal, an intimate story surrounding two Peking Opera performers, Xiaolou and Dieyi,   who bond as the young boys then named Shitou and Douzi. They   are severely abused by their training master and experience many hardships. But their friendship gets them through their difficulties.   This bond produces intense and lifelong loyalty between the two boys. They continue to be inseparable, until a prostitute named Juxian comes between them   when she marries Xiaolou. Later, the Japanese invasion and cultural revolution intervene in their relationship, provoking various declarations of betrayal. The story begins in 1934 and spans 53 years until 1977. The two men’s lives are viewed against a backdrop of a country in upheaval as the movies journeys through various times in China’s history. Each section, which is integral to the plot,   shows a different era in the lives of the characters and the historical background from the Warlords through the cultural revolution, including the Japanese invasion of 1937 and the communist takeover (â€Å"Farewell My Concubine,† 1). As the movie begins, a young Dieyi is abandoned at the opera troupe by his own mother after she cruelly cuts off his extra finger. Even though his mother, a whore, deserts him because he is a burden, he quickly gains a loving replacement in the form of Xiaolou. During the early lives of Dieyi and the other young actor, Xiaolou, the fierce friendship forms as they train and   are punished, always looking out for each other. From the first Xiaolou watches out for his little friend. He finds him a place to sleep and rebukes all the teasers. Later, Dieyi runs away, promising his three coins to Xiaolou.   Dieyi tells the master after he returns that Xiaolou was not responsible, just to punish him, even though Xiaolou is punished anyway. At another point, when Dieyi can’t remember his lines to say that â€Å" I am a girl,† and shuts down,   Xiaolou punishes him by forcing a stick in his mouth so that Dieyi will stay around and remain in the troupe. Yet this act of pain is also an act of love and Xiaolou cries throughout as he administers this rebuke. Thirteen years go by and their hardships pay off as the boys grow up to become major stage stars; their loyalty continues even as they are famous performers in Peking. Their bond becomes even stronger as they become more acclaimed. Although they are as close as two men can be, Dieyi yearns for even more. Even though the subject of homosexuality is only once overtly referred to in Farewell My Concubine, its presence is never far from the surface.   Xiaolou rejects that sort of connection from Dieyi, yet   nothing still comes between them; or so it seems. After Xiaolou saves a prostitute with a fake declaration of engagement, she comes to him and forces him to make good on the public acknowledgement. They marry, and while Xiaolou makes his stage brother Dieyi, his best man, Dieyi feels betrayed and acts pettishly, refusing even to come to the party until the last minute, then leaving abruptly. With Juxian in the picture, Dietyi has a moral dilemma which becomes confusing to him. From the beginning his sense of identity has been muddled, with the master’s continual insistence that he say â€Å" I am a girl,† in his role as a female within the opera. Yet role acting and reality have become blurred for him. As a child his mother was a prostitute, he was raped by an old man, his friend was stolen from him by a woman, then he goes to Master Yeun in a sexual   relationship (â€Å" Farewell My Concubine,†1). Later, in Dieyi’s trial for fraternizing with the Japanese (said fraternizing occurring only because he is trying to save Xiaolou and is promised by Juxian that she will leave her husband and return to the brothel if he helps, but she reneges), all Dieyi’s friends try to cover for him, even lying that he had been taking away in handcuffs. Dieyi rebukes them publicly, saying that he sang of his own free will,   causing the others to lose face by his betrayal to their loyalty. As mentioned previously, Farewell My Concubine has been considered to be an epic national epic, but contrary to this popular perception, Kaige focuses on the intimate architectural spaces of his native city Beijing and recalls its past; the pain of betrayal is vividly depicted in the film as the two stage brothers are publicly forced to renounce each other with irreversible consequences. Those unfamiliar with the history of Chinese communism are in for a shocking crash course as the devastating scenes unfold (â€Å"Chinese Film, 1). During the cultural revolution, both men, betrayed by a boy Dieyi saved from death, are forced to parade as spectacles in full operatic regalia. Yet they resemble pathetic clowns with mismatched makeup and signs around their necks.   Xiaolou and Dieyi are made to kneel with countless others to confess their sins against the people. Touchingly, but to no avail, Dieyi attempts his usual trick of swooping Xiaolou’s makeup up in order to make it look better. However,   garish makeup seems to be the least of their worries. Forced to talk against each other, Xiaolou starts out in euphemistic terms, declaring Dieyi to be one who sang for all, both small and great; a man who is a consummate artist of the people and for the people. Yet this is turned against him and he must betray Dieyi with more vehement declarations.  Ã‚   Even though Dieyi sang for the Japanese in order to free him, Xiaolou declares him a traitor and also tells the masses of his illicit homosexual relationship with Master Yeun. After Dieyi calls Juxian a prostitute in retaliation, Xiaolou also renounces his wife, saying he never loved her. Her pain knows no bounds and as a result of his betrayal, she hangs herself. So much sorrow and damage occurs during these public denunciations which happen to also mirror the filmmaker’s own life.   Kaige remains haunted that he was forced to publicly denounce   his father during his   youth in the cultural revolution (â€Å"Chinese Film,† 1). The film ends as years later, when the revolution has ended,   the stage brothers are once again together in an opera.   During the performance Xiaolou announces he is too old. Whether intentional or not, Dieyi forgets the lines that say he is a girl; and Xiaolou prompts him. Dieyi continues with the play, only to stab himself and die. The friends are still together: in life and in death. Although different in style from Farewell My Concubine, Hero is a film that   has caused   unprecedented fervor, judging from the response of much of the population   of China. So far, it is the most popular   Chinese film ever released in the country, making phenomenal money there, only slightly less than Titanic. Despite being regarded by some Chinese as pandering to western tastes, the film also made enough money in the United States alone to cover production costs, providing a portal for many western viewers to begin watching other Chinese films previously unknown in the west. Like other films of the fifth generation genre, this movie demonstrates a rejection of  the socialist- realist tradition worked by the earlier communist Chinese filmmakers. With   the ever popular Jet Li as the star, the film is loosely based during the time of the warring  states, a period before the unification of China. This story has also been told in other  versions, notably Kaige’s The Emperor and the Asssassin (1998) and Zhou Xiaowen’s The Emperor’s Shadow (1996). Yet Yimon chose to develop his own historical story  based on the turbulent days leading up to the founding of the Qin dynasty when seven  kingdoms struggled for supremacy. This setting contrasts with the mystical â€Å"martial worlds† of   similar films which exist somewhere away from reality. (Qin in Wade Gilles  parlance is the same as Ch’in from which the English word for China probably derived). (Chinese Film, 2). With Hero Yimon is working out of the tradition of the wuxia pian: a swordplay or martial arts film. Not   to be confused with a kung fu movie, this concepts involves a more idealized realm of legendary heroes living marginalized, carefree lives on the edges of everyday society. Their weapons of choice are swords, spears, and daggers. In the typical wuxian film, some incident draws the swordsman into the everyday world, in order to fight, albeit reluctantly. However, he retains a firm moral compass to defend the helpless against corrupt officials or leaders. The genre has been a regular part of Chinese cinema since the 20s (â€Å"Hero,† 1). Yet the genre has been reconfigured by Yimon, who addresses the present by looking backwards and sideways; backwards to the 90s postmodern wuxia   persona and sideways to Hong Kong commercial cinema. Absorbing the subversive innovations of Hong Kong film directors Tsui Hark and Wong Kar Wai, Yimon also digs back to his roots, and recreates as wuxia pian, the cinema of pure spectacle and philosophical meditation that he as a cinematographer and Chen Kaige created in 1984 with Yellow Earth. Using spectacle rather than storytelling is one way to open up the complex world of Hero to the violent opposing critical reactions (Chinese Cinema, 2). Also, he no longer uses revenge as the sole element comprising the story. With Hero Yimon attempts to move martial arts beyond the concept of revenge, even as he explores what it means to be a martial hero (Kung Fu Cinema, 1). As the tale progresses, this film also incorporates themes of loyalty and betrayal, using a series of Rashomon flashbacks. Like the layers of an onion unfolding, each unraveled   tale produces additional insights. These accounts shape the story of how one man defeats three assassins who sought to murder the most powerful warlord   in reunified China ( IMDB,1) As the story begins, Jet Li, who is called Nameless, starts to recount his martial victories to the emperor of Qin, telling how he defeated each of the three assassins, all members of a neighboring kingdom, who are sworn to kill the king to avenge their subjugation. Thus the main protagonist is seen defending the cause traditionally attributed to the villain by protecting the thing that causes others to seek revenge. Yet subsequent flashbacks revisit and reinterpret the same events, elaborating on and changing the story as it continues. However, it is only after the initial setup that the king responds with his own version of events. As a new story unfolds, it is literally painted in a different color. Even as this account unfolds, there appears a third which happens to be the final version of the truth (Kung Fu Cinema, 1). Through each successive narrative, the viewer sees friendship and loyalty among the assassins, who then appear pained when it seems that they are betrayed. Each story has the characters questioning themselves and others regarding motives, wondering who is their true friend and true love, then going to extreme lengths to prove that love and undying loyalty. With each version motives are questioned as to whom is the true person and whom is the betrayer. Things are never what they seem. Sky allows himself to be killed because he is loyal to a higher cause, while Nameless appears to be loyal to the king when actually he wants to kill him because he destroyed his family and kingdom. Sky, Broken Sword, Flying Snow and Nameless appear to have differing relationships in each of the three versions. In one version Snow is furious that Broken Sword had a chance to kill the king, then refused; that he appeared to have betrayed their group. He tells Nameless why. His calligraphy   showed â€Å"our land.† Nameless later gives this calligraphy to the king. It is a Chinese proverb which states,† to suffer yourself when all under heaven suffer, to enjoy only when all under heaven enjoy.†Ã‚   This is concept greater than individual loyalty. Transcending personal vendettas, it calls for the greater good of the masses. Nameless ought to consider what is right for the majority, and not just what is right for himself. As a chivalrous hero of great skill in the wuxia tradition, Nameless is duty bound to do whatever is most righteous, no matter the personal cost to himself (â€Å"Hero†, 4). When Nameless gets the chance to kill the king and comes within ten paces of him to do so, telling him of his personal grudge, he too recalls â€Å"our land.† and allows himself to be executed for a greater good, becoming loyal to a country rather than just his immediate surroundings. Dying a criminal he is buried as a hero. In the meantime, there is always a relationship between Broken Sword and Flying Snow, one so powerful that it defies betrayal by other relationships. By the end, although Snow is confused whether Broken Sword really loves her, whether he is truly loyal, he shows her by refusing to defend himself in a fight. She kills him, then distraught over the act, kills herself so they will go home together. As Nameless debates over what to do in his meeting with the king, Yimon actually shows both characters as heroes. Both have causes to which they are loyal. One is a defender with raging inner turmoil, and the other is a unifier with raging outer turmoil as he struggles to bring all the competing kingdoms together. Yet Nameless undergoes a spiritual and emotional transformation as he finds that being a true hero means rising above one’s petty loyalties; it also takes trust to find a higher cause. Both men share insights that aid them to overcome their mutual conflict as they share the ideal that both want what is best for the masses. As Nameless empties himself of his own desires, renouncing what he wants, he becomes invulnerable. Led by Broken Sword, Nameless has grown to accept that his loyalties were merely provisional, way stations on the path to something greater, though less tangible. By doing so, he echoes the philosophical tenets of Daoism with his self emptying. (Cinema Scope,p. 9). Yet Yimou has been criticized for rewriting history, portraying the King of Qin as rosier than past historical accounts have shown. These accounts demonstrate that the man was a brutal tyrant. Additionally, the film’s strong adherence to sacrificing one’s individuality for the good of the many as filtered through the state is a concept the pro communist Chinese government was pleased with. However, at a press conference Yimou insisted that choosing which dynasty to put in the story was an aesthetic choice not preconditioned by any one political slant (Kung Fu, 1). Many critics deride Yimou over the position in the film, forgetting that this was one of several narratives. Granted, the story can be seen as putting the good of the many over the good of the individual; that loyalty to the masses trumphs individual loyalty. However, Hero can also be seen as a multiple narrative since the tales by Nameless and the king are mutually contradictory. In this context, tyranny is not simply a means to an end. Although viewers who want to align themselves with the king of Qin will see a paean to Chinese unity and totalitarianism,; the reading is there for the taking. But such a position neglects to take into account the film’s clear message of underminding the limited authority of any single individual and the idea of narrative as closure itself. Cinema Scope Magazine notes that Hero celebrates absence as spectacle, glorifying absolute renunciation and perfect nonviolence as preconditions for peace. Like Nameless, it speaks to power, underminding authority’s grip on narrativity. Instead of a struggle within the narrative, Hero puts the control of the narrative into dispute. It is really about who has control of the story: Nameless or the king. As filmed philosophically, it is Yimou’s continual challenge to any   state or empire. Hero is allied to Daoism, a set of ideals which finds fullness in absence, transcendence in renunciation, fullness in letting go. The Lao Txu Dao’s primary text was written during the time of the Warring States, the period of turmoil that ended with the unification of China under Qin. In Hero he is still years away from this great accomplishment, simply the king of Qin. Yimou’s best recent films The Story of Qiu Ju (1992) and Not One Less contain the same concept of speaking stories to power. Yimou has struggled with authorities over who gets to tell the authentic story; how divergent it can be from the official version . He still has movies such as To Live that are officially banned in China today because of their recount of the unacceptably critical history of the People‘s Republic of china form 1945 to the 70s   (â€Å"Hero,† 3). Both Farewell My Concubine and Hero are marvelous spectacles, demonstrating in differing styles various allegiances, alliances, and betrayals; even renunciation of individual loyalty for the greater good. A glimpse of turbulent Chinese history can be gleaned through the films. The international audience is so much the   richer for having these works in their repetoire. References Clark, P. (2005).   Republic of China: A Generation and its Films. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press â€Å"Chinese Film,† (2006). Wikipedia. Retrieved 5 August 2006. www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/farewell_my_concubine/ CinemaScope. (2003). Vol 5, issue I, no14. Retrieved 4 August 2006. â€Å"Farewell My Concubine.† (2006). Chinese Cinema.org.   Retrieved 5 August 2006. www.chinesecinema.org â€Å"Hero,† (2004). Men’s Health. September. Retrieved 4 August 2006. Ij, F. (2005). â€Å"Review of Reinventing China: A Generation and its Film† Film Criticism. Vol. 30. IMDB.(2006). www.internetmoviedatabase.net   Retrieved 4 August 2006. Kung Fu Cinema. (2006). www.kungfucinema.com Retrieved 6 August 2006. â€Å"Movie Reviews,† (2006). Colossus.net. Retrieved $ August 2006 www.colossus.net Zhang, X. (1997). Chinese Modernism in the Era of Reform. Durham, NC: Duke U Press.                                          

Understanding Relationships Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Understanding Relationships - Essay Example It may be rather difficult, as it requires a lot of effort and understanding. But now I more deeply explored this question and may say that some years ago I had an awful lack of relationship tips to use. For instance now I understand the importance of looking into the eyes during a conversation with your partner all the time when he speaks and being sincere in own wish to understand his point of view - that is very captivating. If you do not understand something, you should not be shy to ask direct questions for clarification. You may also scroll in mind your understanding of what your beloved person tried to convey during the conversation. At least it will show that you care about good communication in your relationship, as well as that you really listen and understand his or her point of view. It does not necessary to agree with your partners point of view, but at least you should try to understand it. For me successful communication in relationships also includes expressing own feelings in a positive, constructive way. Accusations and arguments may only put the other person in the defending position. Instead, in my new relationship now I am trying to express what I feel about a particular situation and ask for my boyfriend’s opinion on how this issue can be resolved. It is important to be brief and do not wander from side to side during the discussion. For good communication it is very important to remain calm. It can be quite difficult, especially if the situation is heated up with emotions. In my previous relationship I tend to gain momentum during the conversation, and that made me more worried. It is important not to do this; otherwise the try to talk to the beloved person will fail. Finally, now I try to be sure that I have chosen the right moment to communicate with my partner about important issues, as communication in a relationship can be overshadowed by some inevitable distractions. For example it is a bad idea to

Lab report peer review Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Lab report peer review - Assignment Example In figure 2 the COSY and H NMR data for unknown 2 shows a structural representation known as 4-heptanone. FEEDBACK: Yes, there is a good transition between the paragraphs. The information flow from one paragraph leads to the analysis of the next one. Together, the paragraphs sustain an argument, for example, paragraph 1 that introduces the thesis statement is followed logically with paragraph 2 that analyzes unknown 1 to completion before introducing analysis of unknown 2 in paragraph 3. FEEDBACK: There is a remarkably smooth integration of examples by the author into the argument. The connections between the evidence cited and the ideas supported are also quite clear. For instance, in each of the three cases of unknowns, the author illustrates the number of carbon/proton chains that produce the structure of the peaks that help in identifying the figures. The author supports the findings with appropriate figures. FEEDBACK: The other problems are not spotted. Only clichà ©s are used in the paper. Examples are â€Å"†¦in conjunction with†¦Ã¢â‚¬  in paragraph 1 and â€Å"†¦pentane chain which mirrors each side†¦Ã¢â‚¬  in paragraph 5 (Pavia, Pg

General Motors -- Consumer Market Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

General Motors -- Consumer Market - Assignment Example It also seeks to target the posh market by growing its sales for Cadillac and increase its growth in the Chinese market through its joint ventures. Its investments in China reach $14 billion expected to improve production and manufacturing between 2014 and 2018 (Rama, 2013). With every market, GM realizes that it has a different target and a new challenge to create a car that will suit the customer profile. To understand the market, the company has to create products that make it easier to fit into the customer’s profile. The goal is to ensure that the customer expectations are met and even exceeded. To do this, the customers range from low-income earners to the high-income earners, with each class given an affordable car pricewise and comfortable to the drivers (Falter, 2013). Despite the class, the comfort is a guarantee. The company has a proactive approach towards meeting customer profile needs and demands by starting from the design process so as to be in accord with the customer. This allows the improvement of any process to be in line with the needs noted from the customers (Kurtz, 2010). To attain its goals, GM has resulted to the use of the values that have held it together all along. The aim is to establish a vision they can meet by allowing customers to be their sole determinants of what to manufacture. This has made the company use its resources to market those cars that have maintained steady growth over the years to create a platform that revolves around the mission of growing the value that GM has attained over time (Falter, 2013). This is coupled with increased objectives of satisfying their markets and ensuring they have quality products to satisfy their customers and eventually improve its financial results. In fact, boosting the company’s profit has become one of the important objectives of its marketing goals because of the years that reduced its profitability and led to its bankruptcy. With the urge to create, connect and compete, GM