Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday Essay Example for Free

Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday Essay Bill Crow’s Jazz Anecdotes is a thought-provoking, often amusing collection of stories from within jazz’s inner circles, told by and about some of the genre’s leading figures. While not a history of jazz, it gives readers some insights to how jazz artists worked, lived, bonded, and coped with an America in which many were still outsiders. The book’s forty-three chapters (expanded from the original 1990 edition) describe the life jazz musicians shared, offering insights into a rather exclusive, unconventional circle of performing artists. The numerous anecdotes are categorized by chapters, gathering related tales and moving from a general overview of jazz life to anecdotes about individuals, like Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, and Benny Goodman. Essentially, Crow creates a context in which jazz musicians lived, and then places individual musicians within it, giving readers a better understanding of how they functioned in this rarified climate. For example, the volume opens with â€Å"Wild Scenes,† which Crow says describes how â€Å"the individuality of jazz musicians combines with the capricious world in which they try to make a living† (Crow 3). The brief chapter sets the stage for the rest of the book, giving glimpses of the unconventional world jazz musicians inhabited (which explains to some degree their relationship to society at large). â€Å"The Word ‘Jazz’† contains attempts to explain the origins of the genre’s name, and â€Å"Inventions† offers accounts of how certain innovations occurred (such as Dizzy Gillespie’s distinctive bent trumpet), giving the reader a sense of history though the work is not an orthodox history per se. Many of the stories contained in Jazz Anecdotes convey the musicians’ camaraderie and warmth toward each other, as well as each other’s idiosyncrasies. Others convey how difficult and often arbitrary the jazz lifestyle often was. â€Å"Hiring and Firing† demonstrates how unstable many musicians’ careers were, rife with disputes over money or dismissals for their personal quirks. (For example, Count Basie fired Lester Young for refusing to participate in recording sessions occurring on the 13th of any month. ) â€Å"Managers, Agents, and Bosses† offers a glimpse into the seamier underside of jazz, where dishonest managers and mobsters often trapped jazz performers in unfair contracts or worse. Though jazz musicians appear to inhabit a special world, Crow does not discuss jazz in a social vacuum, tying it to social phenomena like race relations. In â€Å"Prejudice,† the tales take a more serious tone by showing how black jazz artists faced abundant racism, particularly in the South. However, Crow notes that â€Å"Jazz helped to start the erosion of racial prejudice in America . . . [because] it drew whites and blacks together into a common experience† (Crow 148). Jazz artists dealt with racism in various ways – Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday stood up to it while Zutty Singleton accepted it. Meanwhile, even white musicians like Stan Smith angered both races – whites for performing with blacks, and blacks for â€Å"intruding on their music† (Crow 152). The final chapters focus on individual artists, illustrating the greats’ personalities. Louis Armstrong emerges as earthy and good-hearted; Bessie Smith as strong and willful but ultimately self-destructive; Fats Waller is an impish pleasure-seeker given to excellent music but poor business decisions; and Benny Goodman as gifted but tight-fisted and controlling. Taken as a whole, Jazz Anecdotes offers a look at jazz’s human side, including its foibles, genius, camaraderie, crookedness, and connection to an American society from which it sometimes stood apart. Its legendary figures are depicted as gifted, devoted artists who enjoyed hedonism, companionship, and particularly independence. If any single thing stands out in this book, it is the latter; for the figures in this work, jazz meant creativity and freedom, which they pursued with equal vigor and vitality. Crow, Bill. Jazz Anecdotes. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

The Co-operative Group: Financial Auditing Analysis

The Co-operative Group: Financial Auditing Analysis Pak Liu Background knowledge, evolution from origin and ethical issues Ever since the establishment of the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers in 1844 together with the subsequent major merger incurred within its expansion period during 2000 to 2012. The Co-operative Group, colloquially known as the Co-op, has been burgeoning for the last 17 decades, contingent upon the Rochdale principle which espouses dividend returns to members. Pending between its 172-years life up till now, it had metamorphosed the core business from a solely wholesale operation to an 85%-engrossing food retail within the conglomerate; affiliating no longer with just the struggling lower income groups, but the more prosperous middle class. The sagacious quality possessed by previous chief directors to overlook the impact initiated by multiple-grocers buy to the retail market in the 1940s, in corporation with numerous business disposals and replacements, set cornerstones for the introduction of the Co-op brand in 2007. It has effortlessly entitled itself as the largest consumer co-operative in the UK. The businesss long-term economic scale, involving over 70,000 employees across the wide geographical spread of 4,500 locations within the UK, is sustained by the 8 million members who are democratically engaged in determining the co-operatives operational strategies via voting. Quoted from Co-ops annual report in 2007, Voting for corporate members is in proportion to trade with the society. Each individual member has one vote in the appropriate region of the society and each region has voting rights calculated on the same basis as a corporate member. Historically, the merger with UKs second largest co-operative, the United Co-operatives on 16th February 2007 was concurred by the majority. The degree of influence members that is delegated can sometimes protract the implementation of proposals such as the Policy and Programme for Post War Development, published by the Co-operative Wholesale Society in 1944. In the meantime, members loyalty is bolstered through the incentivised dividend scheme; in the last quarter of 2016, approximately 15 million pounds were returned to members. However, potential member outflow is expected during the year of 2017, since the Group is unable to pay dividend until 2018. Even though the food retailing business is presently the largest division of the group, nevertheless its profitability and market share dwindled between the 1970s and 1980s, partially but prominently because of inflation leading to more affordable importations. Conjointly due to the inefficient national distribution network in the early 20th century, the Coventry National Contribution Centre is now served as the solution to which; resulting a huge preconceived transportation cost which discouraged purchases. It was further exacerbated by the paucity of preparations to accustom its shifted association with the middle-class customers. Inferior to externality, redevelopment projects during the 1970s devastated 18,000 stores to be closed since employees were moved from terraces to purpose-built estates, so a redundant provision of co-op stores was observed in certain areas. Until 2015, the Group had converted their focus on the 2,500 convenience stores; an extraneous 200 convenience stores were added to the fixed asset account utilising the fund from liquidating 100 supermarkets. The remaining 25% of the business is encompassed with sectors concerning funeral-care, banking, legal service, electrical products sale and joint-ventures such as insurance service and travel agency. An excessive 900 funeral homes, whilst some continue to use their own brands, had contributed a revenue of  £399 million in 2015 and positioned the funeral-care sector as the largest funeral director in the UK. During Co-ops expansion period, the funeral-care sector was appraised to have optimistic performance abreast with the Co-operative Pharmacy, which was soaring to become the third largest pharmacy group in the UK. Unfortunately, the investigation stretching back to 2008 exposing the  £1.5 billion capital blackhole in the Co-operative Banks account had arose a financial crisis in years of 2013 and 2014 for the Group. In purpose to reduce its debt level, the entire 800 Co-operative Pharmacy branches were sold to the Bestway Group for a substantial  £620 million. Other former businesses underwent disposal, serving to either minimise debt level or simply eliminate non-profitable divisions include the milk processing and distribution division Associated Co-operative Creameries (ACC) and the Co-operative Motor Group. Until recently, the Co-operative Travel also announced the intention to sell its 30% stake in the joint venture with Thomas Cook, putting the 100-years trade to an end. Barry Tootells scandal, resigned Banks executive, of failing to exercise due skill, care and diligence in managing the firm was calamitous to Co-ops reputation, which was once sabotaged because 38 Co-op stores in Sussex disappointed the fire safety requirements in 2007. From attempting to restore its long-established ethical image to becoming a Fairtrade champion, many initiatives have been commencing including providing nutritional information on Co-ops branded food, environmentally friendly household products productions, raising awareness of animal welfare standards and investment into generating renewable energy. Whereas the partnership between Miles Smith and the Co-operative Insurance will be continued. On the other hand, the national legal service provider founded in Bristol in 2006, furnishes a broad coverage of services straddling domestic and matrimonial law, testamentary constitution and related probate and conveyancing, as well as employment law and personal injury. Meanwhile, the Co-op Electrical is the pioneer in selling extended warranty insurance products at cost price. It also offers delivery service with a guaranteed timeslot of 60 minutes, confirmed on the day of delivery via SMS. KPMG had been the Co-operative Groups auditor for the previous 40 years until 2015. A profuse amount of audit fee of  £700,000 was paid, excluding the extraneous  £1.2 million consulting fee which involves a particular  £500,000 for tax planning.

Economic Development Of Vietnam And China Economics Essay

Economic Development Of Vietnam And China Economics Essay China has been a remarkably successful economy since its adaptation of market-oriented reforms in 1978. The countrys real GDP growth has averaged about 9% each year from 1979 to the present (Naughton, 1995). Vietnam has also gone through a terrific economic development after the countrys transition process from centrally-planned economy to a market economy and it also gone from a poor to a middle-income country in just 20 years. This essay is devoted to give an overview how the gradualist path of economic reforms of the late 1970s and early 1980s affected both Chinas and Vietnams economies and led to a high rate of development. I will analyze what factors made both countries to choose gradualism in contrast with Shock Therapy also known as Big Bang approach. While various scholars debate which approach leads to a better performance, I will demonstrate that in the case of China and Vietnam the gradualist approach turned out to be the more efficient one. Over the past five decades, East Asia has emerged as a region with several spectacular stories (i.e. Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan) of catch-up development. Both China and Vietnam have achieved remarkable economic growth since their economic reforms. Scholars (i.e. Popov, 2007) argue that the transformation of these two countries was caused by the adverse supply shock that resulted from deregulation of prices and change in relative price ratios that created the need for reallocation of resources in order to correct the industrial structure inherited from centrally planned economy. The end of Cultural Revolution in China in 1976 revived the two competing forces of institutional centralization and accelerated growth, which in contrast requires decentralization (Riskin, 1987). Two years later, in 1978, a plan of reform was adopted to deal with the imbalances in the economy. The transition strategy undertaken by China is termed a dual track reform path because there is both a planned and a market part of the economy. In this dual track path, there was not only one single reform attempted at one time, but different programs were also tried simultaneously until the new reform measure could replace the old system. In the case of big-bang reform, the old system is usually destroyed before the new system takes place. Vietnam has gone through a similar transformation over the past 20 years and shifted its economy from a centrally planned economy to a Socialist-oriented market economy. In 1986 the government introduced a policy package which is often referred as economic reform (Doi Moi). It combined government planning with free-market incentives and encouraged the establishment of private businesses and foreign investment, including foreign-owned enterprises. Both countries began their economic development from their agriculture sector, and in both cases, their attempts to build a Soviet-style economy failed, during their pre-reform period (Vu, 2009) Today both countries are major players in the global economy, where Vietnam is the worlds leading exporter of pepper, seafood, rice, coffee (Backman, 2007) and China is the second largest economy in the world after U.S. One might ask, how both of these countries with a Communist government could achieve such high level of economic growth, hence in order to understand how their transformation led to todays development, it is important to compare and contrast gradualism with shock therapy economic reform approaches. Big bang versus Gradualism A big bang or shock therapy approach implements various reforms on (monetary policy, privatization, trade and exchange rates etc.) quickly, whereas the gradualist approach spreads various reforms over an extended period of time. There are several arguments in support of big-bang approach to various types of reform. First, in the context of privatization, a big-bang approach provides a critical scale of privatized sector in the economy so that the privatized firms will be efficient (Roland and Verdier, 1992) Second, a big bang may increases the credibility of a reform (Lipton and Sachs, 1990) Third, the gradualist alternative gives time to reform opponents to organize themselves and thus invites a more formidable resistance (Krueger, 1993) In addition, in the context of price reforms, a gradual reform is undesirable, because it may induce an intertemporal speculation (van Wijnbergen, 1992). Finally, a big-bang approach brings the benefits more quickly (World Bank, 1991). On the other hand, there are various supportive arguments for a gradualist approach as well. The earliest statement in favor of this approach is from Confucius: More haste, less result. First, a gradualist approach may avoid excessive cost, especially for the government budget (Dewatripont and Roland 1992; Nielsen, 1993). Second, it avoids an excessive reduction in living standards at the start of a reform (Wang, 1992). Third, it allows trial and error and mid-course adjustment (World Bank, 1991). Fourth, it helps a government to gain incremental credibility (Fang, 1992). When the outcomes of reforms are uncertain to individuals, a gradual approach splits the resistance force and can thus increase the programs chance of surviving attacks by special interest groups (Rodrik, 1990). Gradualist approach to reform can be defined as a sequential implementation of minimum bangs (terminology from Williamson, 1991). A minimum bang is a simultaneous implementation of a minimum set of reforms that can be i mplemented independent of other reforms without failure. It is important to note though that, even across a set of minimum bangs, a gradualist approach may not always be better than a big bang. A reform program may not be able to overcome political resistance, if it is implemented by shock therapy, but it may become politically viable if it is implemented by a gradualist approach. Friedman and Johnson (1995) argued that in the presence of complementarities between government policies and enterprise attributes and convex adjustment costs for enterprises (i.e. costs increasing with the speed of reforms) radical shock-therapy reforms might not necessarily be optimal. Countries that chose to follow the big bang approach, found themselves in a supply-side recession, where the excessive speed of change in relative prices required the magnitude of restructuring that was simply non-achievable with the limited pool of investment. The speed of adjustment and reallocation of resources in every economy is limited, if only due to the limited investment potential needed to reallocate capital stock. This is one of the main rational for gradual, rather than instant, phasing out of tariff and non-tariff barriers, of subsidies and other forms of government support of particular sectors. This can be used as a powerful argument against shock therapy, especially when reforms involved result in a sizable reallocation of resources. It is also important, that the pace of liberalization had to be no faster than the ability of the economy to move resources from non-competitive to competitive industries. Differences in performance during the initial stage of transition depend strongly on the initial conditions and external trade patterns. In addition, changes in the institutional capacity of the state have dramatic impact on performance. Economic reforms in China and Vietnam after the pre-reform period It is definitely the strong institutional framework that should be held responsible for the success of gradual reforms in China and Vietnam, where strong authoritarian regimes were preserved and centrally planned economy institutions were not dismantled before new market institutions were created. The shock-therapy approach was not desired by China, because of its radical reform programs, therefore the gradualist approach was more likely to be successful, due to Chinas under-developed and under-industrialized economy with a large rural surplus of labor force. Chinas economic reforms can be divided into separate eras. The first one, which extends from Deng Xiaopings 1978 opening and reform to the early 1990s, the Communist Party emphasized rural development with relatively little interference from above, where the result was an explosion of small- and medium-sized businesses that created an enormous rise in employment and wealth. Deng created his first special economic zones in places along the coast, such as Shenzhen, where there was relatively little established industry. So the new companies that sprang up there were almost entirely private. Foreign investors piled in, but mostly under conditions that did not disadvantage local entrepreneurs. Outcome: everyone got rich together. Centrally planned economy was no longer viable in China; therefore changes were required to promote economic growth. Consequently, without a definite model in mind, China underwent a lengthy path of adjusting reform objectives from a planned economy with some market adjustment to a combination of planned and market economy to a socialist market economy. In Vietnam, economic reforms started in 1986 and they resembled very much Gorbachev-type marginal reforms in the same period. Vietnamese authorities have reaffirmed their commitment to economic liberalization and international integration. They have moved to implement the structural reforms needed to modernize the economy and to produce more competitive export-driven industries. In both Vietnam and China the economic reforms were initiated under certain circumstances that provided three critical factors for change: receptivity, crisis and opportunity (Vu, 2009). During their pre-reform period (China: 1953-1978; Vietnam 1954-1986)Â  [1]Â  they made extraordinary efforts to build their socialist economies, but they experienced failure rather than success. China was impoverished by the Cultural Revolution, while the Vietnamese economy was ruined by the collectivization of land, nationalization of privately owned industrial and trading establishments and socialist ideology-driven initi atives (Vu, 2009). Reforms became possible because of various internal and external factors in both countries. In China, the death of Chairman Mao in 1976 paved the way for Deng Xiaoping and his economic reforms, while in Vietnam, the radical reform programs launched by Gorbachev in 1985 in the Soviet Union, which was then Vietnams role model for economic development as well as its main provider of aid, to some extent were an inspiration for the Vietnamese leadership. Fforde and Vylder (1996) observed that the similar circumstances leading to reforms in China and Vietnam are behind the fact that the reforms in both countries were more economic than political. While the reforms in China and Vietnam were initiated under the pressure of economic despair and the need of finding a new way to recover the economy, the main concern of the leadership in both countries was to maintain political stability and the absolute power of the Communist Party. As a result, to justify the legitimacy of the political system, both countries chose a gradualist approach to reform with a special focus on economic growth. A big bang approach and a possible unsuccessful outcome of a reform could have destroyed the parties credibility and led to an up rise within the country, of what the regime would not have survived, so the two countries had no other choice than introduce new economic reforms only step by step. This gradualist approach addressed the easy problems first and left the hard ones for later. A radical approach (big bang) would aim to maximize efficiency gains and minimize the political costs of reform. The pacing and sequencing method of the gradualist approach gained popularity in both countries at the expense of advocating for immediate liberalization. One important feature of reforms is that people are not sure usually whether they are necessarily gainers or losers of a certain reform, therefore I believe that a gradualist approach may be politically more sustainable than the big bang approach, because it splits the resistance force and allows uninterrupted political support for the reform. On the other hand, if a reform program is strong at the start and well supported by the public, then a shock therapy approach is better both because it brings the benefits faster and because it is politically preferred to various schemes of partial or gradual reforms. There are of course other factors as well (export oriented industrial policy) that contributed to the rapid growth of these Asian transition economies and not just gradualism. Conclusion It is clear to see by now, that both countries went through huge changes in their economies in the past 20-30 years. The Communist leadership was able to maintain their power, but also open up more and create a unique socialist-market economy, where the state still owns the major industries such as telecommunications, national railroads, airlines and power. While there is only one direction for both China and Vietnam more economic reform and liberalization the Communist Party of these governments will certainly not tolerate any challenge to their power. They want economic change but not political one. While the two countries initiated their economic reforms from comparable economic and social conditions and have rather followed similar approaches to reform and economic management. Since the launch of these reforms, both countries have made impressive achievements in their growth performance; however their growth patterns have significantly diverged. China has far outperformed Vietn am in both the pace and the efficiency of growth. I dont think that there is need for comparison though, when both their historical and economic backgrounds, prior to the reforms, were different and also given the size of the two countries, China surely has an advantage due to its huge population. It is also important to keep in mind that while China has an advantage in government effectiveness, its institutional foundation remains weak, which is rather comparable with Vietnam. One of the issues that I found during my research is that in making comparative analysis between the shock therapy and gradualist approach, the country cases for big bang outnumber the countries that followed a gradual path and succeeded. China and Vietnam seem to be the only ones in comparison with a great amount of other transitional economies that followed the big bang approach. In this regard, the investigation of other similar cases following the gradual approach would be worth studying to have a better understanding and also a more accurate comparative analysis on different transitional paths adopted among different transitional economies. References: Backman, Michael. Chapter 16 Is Vietnam the New China. Asia Future Shock: Business Crisis and Opportunity in the Coming Years. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. pages 110-118 Dewatripont, M., and G. Roland (1992) The virtues of gradualism and legitimacy in the transition to a market economy. Economic Journal 102, 291-300 Fang, Xinghai (1992) Economic transition: government commitment and gradualism. Working Paper, Stanford University Khuong M. Vu. Economic Reform and Performance: A Comparative Study of China and Vietnam. China: An International Journal 7.2 (2009): 189-226. Project MUSE. 15 Apr. 2010 Krueger, Anne 0. (1993) Political Economy of Policy Reform in Developing Countries (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press) Lipton, D., and J. Sachs (1990) Creating a market economy in Eastern Europe: the case of Poland, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity 1, 75-147 (1990) Naughton, Barry. Growing out of the Plan: Chinese Economic Reform, 1978-1993. New York, NY: Cambridge UP, 1995. Riskin, Carl. Chinas Political Economy: the Quest for Development since 1949. Oxford [Oxfordshire: Oxford UP, 1987. Roland, Gerard, and Thierry Verdier (1994) Privatization in Eastern Europe: irreversibility and critical mass effects. Journal of Public Economics 54(2), 161-83 Rodrik, Dani (1990) How should structural adjustment programs be designed, World Development 18, 933-47 Van Wijnbergen, S. (1992) Intertemporal speculation, shortages and the political economy of price reform. Economic Journal 102, 1395-406 Vladimir Popov, 2007. Shock Therapy versus Gradualism Reconsidered: Lessons from Transition Economies after 15 Years of Reforms1, Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan Journals, vol. 49(1), pages 1-31, Wang, Yijiang (1992) East European puzzle and Chinese enigma: institutional changes as a resource allocation problem. Paper presented in Anaheim, January 1993. Working Paper, University of Minnesota World Bank (1991) World Development Report 1991: The Challenge of Development (New York: Oxford University Press) http://www.arts.usask.ca/economics/skjournal/sej-3rd/Lynden.htm Accessed: 05.01.2010 http://dspace.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/40425/1/cu99-5.pdf Accessed: 05.03.2010

Free Essays - Autobiography of Malcolm X :: Malcolm X Essays

Review of the Autobiography of Malcolm X The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told by Alex Haley is about a man who changed the history of America. Malcolm (Little) X preached what he believed about racism, discrimination, and segregation. He went through many changes in his fight for equality. The three transformations that really changed the way Malcolm thought and preached where his transformation in prison, his transformation into the Islamic religion (following Elijah Muhammad), and the biggest transformation of all, his pilgrimage to Mecca. In all of Malcolm actions, teachings and transformations we learn different points of view and we get a good look at different aspects of events. The life of Malcolm (Little) X as told in his autobiography should be read by all. Malcolm X while in prison completed his first transformation. Like many great figures and history makers had a low point in is life. At this time Malcolm was into drugs, hustling, women and money. He became so dependant on making a lot of money he and some of his friends decided to rob the house of an old white man. They were caught for this crime and were not only charged with this crime but were also charged with having sex with white women. Malcolm and his friend "Shorty" were sentenced to six years in prison. The two white women that were Malcolm and Shorty’s accomplices were sentenced to a year in jail. During the first couple days of prison Malcolm was coming off a drug high and was having withdrawals. These withdrawals led Malcolm into solitary confinement for two months. When he was let out of his chamber he met the man that would later be responsible for Malcolm’s transformation. This man was a follower of the nation of Islam and the great Alijah Muha mmad. Malcolm learned a great deal form him. This shows us that even in the worst of circumstances we can learn and become better. This transformation was a great test for Malcolm and starts to let us see what a great influence he would end up being in the lives of many Americans. Malcolm’s second transformation was his immersion and dedication to the Nation of Islam. He followed the "great" Alijah Muhammad and his teachings. Malcolm started preaching to small amounts of followers. It did not take long for the word of Malcolm’s preaching to get into the community.

Manufactures Building at the Chicago Worlds Columbian Exposition of 1893 :: Architecture History

missing image Manufactures Building This 11 by 7 inch color lithograph seen here depicts the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building at the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. As the main exhibit space of the fair, it was the largest building ever constructed at the time and the most visited site at the exposition. The general scheme for the building was laid out during the early planning stages of the Chicago fair. It was to be located facing Lake Michigan on its long axis and the east end of the Court of Honor, where the other main buildings were grouped, on its short axis. Architect John Wellborn Root, partner of fair director Daniel Burnham, devised the basic function for the building. Because Root died early in the planning stages, the program was radically altered by his successor Charles Atwood. The latter's idea for a clear span surrounded by galleries prevailed, as fair organizers were intent to surpass that of the famous Galerie des Machines at the Paris exposition of 1889. New York architect George B. Post (1837-1913) was chosen to design the Manufactures building from a group of mostly eastern architects selected for the major fair buildings, including Richard Morris Hunt and McKim, Mead and White. His experience in large classically detailed New York buildings such as the Produce Exchange (1881-84) and the Havemeyer Building (1891-93), both demolished, made him a good candidate to uphold the White City ideal of the fair, emphasizing classical canons of composition and ornamentation. His expertise in the use of iron and steel, as in the large interior light court of the Produce Exchange, would come in handy if the Manufactures Building was to succeed in its "clear-span rivalry" with the Galerie des Machines (Hoffmann). Post succeeded in both aesthetic and technical challenges. Not only the largest building at the fair, the Manufactures Building was one of its greatest architectural assets. It measured 1,687 by 787 feet, had an exhibit space of 44 acres, and a central hall spanning 370 feet and rising 211 feet. The great steel arch trusses were certainly the building's most remarkable feature, left exposed and filled in with glass to form a greenhouse-like ceiling that allowed light to pour in. Surrounding the central space were galleries with additional exhibit space that looked down into the great hall. The exterior was no less impressive. Constructed of the same reinforced plaster as most of the other buildings at the fair, the Manufactures Building featured a severely classical fa ade.

Film Noir and Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard Essay -- Film, Movies, d

Film Noir, a term coined by the French to describe a style of film characterized by dark themes, storylines, and visuals, has been influencing cinematic industries since the 1940’s. With roots in German expressionistic films and Italian postwar documentaries, film noir has made its way into American film as well, particularly identified in mob and crime pictures. However, such settings are not exclusive to American film noir. One noteworthy example is Billy Wilder’s film Sunset Boulevard, which follows the foreboding tale of Joe Gillis, the desperate-for-success protagonist, who finds himself in the fatal grips of the disillusioned femme fatale Norma Desmond. Not only does the storyline’s heavy subject matter and typical character structure suggest the film noir style, but also Wilder’s techniques of photography and empty, worn-down settings make for a perfect backdrop for this dark approach at filmmaking. Often, films made in the style of film noir present audiences with a rugged, cynical, and disillusioned protagonist. While Joe Gillis of Sunset Boulevard does not necessarily match up to this persona at the beginning of the film, the arc of his character eventually molds him into such traits through his hopeless situation and building encounter with Norma. At the start of his story, Joe is depicted by a desperation intense enough that he is willing to give up his own dignity and respect by first lying to bill collectors and fleeing them in his unpaid car, then proceeding to beg for a Hollywood producer to buy his trite stories, and upon the failure of that attempt, stoops so low as to ask this same producer for money. It is this series of actions which eventually lead Joe up to the doorstep of this film’s femme fatale—a frequ... ... undoubtedly makes for a more somber tone to any scene. It is undeniable that from the first scene in which the audience is presented with Joe Gillis’s corpse to the last, where Norma walks boldly into the midst of newscasters, lost in her deranged world of eternal stardom, Sunset Boulevard was filmed with the technique of film noir. Overall, it is conclusive that Wilder’s picture Sunset Boulevard can accurately be recognized as a piece done in film noir style. With the customary cynical and brute protagonist that is discovered in the character of Joe Gillis, and the infamous presence of an unsuspecting femme fatale in the character of Norma Jean, it is evident that such archetypes belong in that style of film. Furthermore, the storyline which is fraught with dismal themes and gloomy, sinister visual effects make for the ideal film noir-styled motion picture.

Pros and cons of working as a doctor Essay

I’d like to tell you about the pros and cons of working as a doctor. There are a lot of interesting trades and all of them are important and useful. After finishing secondary school young people may enter an institute or a university to prepare for different professions. Some of them require high qualification and education, such as doctors, teachers, developers, scientists etc. But there is no doubt that working as a doctor is a demanding job with both advantages and disadvantages. There are several arguments in favour of working as a doctor. To begin with, it’s a rewarding job because doctors help sick or injured people to recover. It is very important and in most countries this work is well-paid. For instance, doctor’s earning ranged from about $156,000 a year for pediatricians to about $315,000 for radiologists and orthopedic surgeons. Furthermore, doctors are rarely out of work because there is always a demand for people to treat the sick or injured. However, there are also a number of disadvantages to being a doctor. Firstly, it’s a tiring job because they work shifts and often work at night. For example, doctors must always be prepared to deal with any number of sick at any time. It is also stressful job because they are in charge of the life of people. In addition, it can be depressing because they often see people suffering. To conclude, I must say that it is not an easy profession and quite a hard job. Unfortunately, in our country this work is badly-paid. But it is impossible to imagine the life of the society without doctors.