Crouching Tiger essays

Crouching Tiger essays Winner of four Academy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards, "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" paved a new path for foreign language films in America. It was the dream of the director, Ang Lee, to one day produce a Chinese tradition film that depicted the fantasy world of martial arts with its own specific laws; where people can fly and almost anything can happen. Unlike most martial arts film in the industry base solely on fight scenes, Lee was able to have "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" a film that included the sense of fantasy, action, power, and romance. Yet, without the help of the whole cast, Lee's incredible dream would probably remain a fantasy only in his own mind. The setting of the film took place during the 19th century where China was left untouched by the western civilization while the Chinese tradition and its breathtaking landscape sworn the entire plains of main lands. Two excellent swordsman masters (Chow Yun fat and Michelle Yeoh) are challenged with the disappearance of the most treasured Green Destiny sword. The sword was stolen by a young aristocrat (Zhang Ziyi) who reveled her hidden talent of superb fighting skills by demonstrating it upon anyone who stepped in her way. Each warrior and fighter though tough and fierce in their appearance, at the end all have to face their weakness: the inescapable, enduring love. The most intriguing part of the film was the excellent choreographed fight scene. Both Lee and his fight choreographer Yuen Wo-Ping worked carefully together to bring out the best in Wusho martial arts. By simply adding traditional Chinese music into the fighting scenes such as the perpetual pounding of the drums, Lee was able to transform a simple scene into a beautiful artistic dance. Every move corresponded with each beat making it seems as the fighters were dancing to an musical score. The power and aggressiveness were still present in the scene, yet instead of harsh violent blow, each punch...

Political Conflict between Iran and Israel Research Proposal

Political Conflict between Iran and Israel - Research Proposal Example The Israeli government has presented considerable argument regarding Iran’s development of nuclear technology along with their funding and support for a number of terrorist organizations in the Middle East, and Israel’s response towards these circumstances may have been arousing opposition and suspicion among international governments, agencies, and military leaders (Perkowich, 2005). Their attack on Iran may yield devastating consequences on human life as well provoke political hostility and military violence as these war preparations have been considered as one of the largest threats to political stability and international peace. Moreover, Iran-Israel war can bring about adverse effects on the economic conditions of both countries as well as other affected nations. The nuclear program of Iraq has become one of the most important issues for the global community over the past years. Initially, in 1968, Iran signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty as they frequently claimed that their nuclear activities are intended for peaceful and productive outcomes. However, in 2003 to 2005, it was reported by an Iranian opposition group that the implementation of nuclear program violated the signed agreement; consequently, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) carried out several rigorous inspections, revealing that Iran has been involved in a number of implicit nuclear activities such as the enrichment of uranium and plutonium separation efforts over the past two decades. As Iran’s case was reported to the United Nations Council in 2006, it was formally demanded that the nuclear program drop its reprocessing and enrichment activities (Kemp, 2003). However, contrary to legal decisions, Iran did not suspend such processes. There has been an agreement in the global community, particularly among the United States, Russia, and Europe, that nuclear weapons should not be obtained by Iran. If this is to happen, other Middle East countries such as S yria, Saudi Arabia, or Egypt, may be encouraged to make use of nuclear weapons, hence further weakening an unstable region (Tarock, 1999). Policies in Iran, along with aggressive statements presented by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other authorities in the country, have put forth the notion that nuclear weapons in Iran will pose considerable threats particularly to Israel. On the longer run, nuclear threats also await the United States, Russia, and Europe if Iran is to acquire long-range ballistic missiles and other nuclear weapons and resources. The current study, therefore, intends to examine the issue between Iran and Israel, particularly the impact of the former’s nuclear policies and program on the latter. It also aims to look into the consequences of Israel-Iran conflict on the economic performance of the Middle East and other affected nations.

Language Investigation Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Language Investigation - Coursework Example Consideration of the written print in the newspapers about the language used by men and women is substantially credible to be accredited with the status of being spoken aloud. It is spoken aloud because it appeals to as many people that access it as possible. Repetto (2014) noted that it is a psychological issue determined at birth and that would explain the differences in communication styles between boys and girls. This language analysis will therefore focus on analyzing a collection of data between communication in males and female youth. Given that the males and females tend to behave differently, there is need to focus on the cause of the differences that are established. Communication is quite diverse. People communicate for various reasons and the same communication is expressed differently depending on the situations as stated in the introduction2. This research is therefore based on the hypothesis â€Å"the language used to advertise male and female products in magazines is different†. The main aim is to investigate the use of nouns as well as adjectives in advertisements expressed in English. This will be geared towards finding the gender differences in communication in these advertisement media. The main focus is to establish whether the gender differences likely to occur are in conformation with the expectations in behaviour in males and females. The materials for the methodology in this topic consist of magazines for males and others for females. In total, there are twelve adverts that are taken from the male and female magazines. For the magazines meant for the males, there is a collection of six adverts, two from cars and aeroplanes, two from international football and two from music electronics. The female magazines had six magazines too. Two were from ‘Lasting Romance’, two from ‘Breath That Love’ and the last two from ‘Te Amo’ Australian edition. All these are world-wide magazines. The

Under what conditions is abortion morally acceptable Essay

Under what conditions is abortion morally acceptable - Essay Example Under what conditions is abortion morally acceptable? On the other extreme, in the more liberal states region, there is the danger of abuse of the right to abortion by reckless, indulgent teenagers. This essay will argue that abortion must be exercised only under exceptional circumstances. Four key readings related to the topic are perused for constructing arguments. Dan Marquis’ essay â€Å"Why Abortion is Immoral† clearly suggests that the author looks cannot see any genuine moral grounds for permitting abortion. A central part of his essay is the idea of ‘potentiality’ of a developing fetus. Drawing analogy from the criminal justice system, he explains how the same moral justifications for condemning killing an adult should also apply for the fetus (irrespective of the period of gestation). This is so, Marquis argues, as terminating a fetus deprives it of all potential experience of life and happiness – the same rationale applied for sentencing those committing homicide. After all, if we merely believe, but do not understand, why killing adult human beings as ourselves is wrong, how could we conceivably show that abortion is either immoral or permissible† (Marquis, p.400) Marquis’ point is well taken, especially since he does not dogmatically cling to all the demands of the conservative camp. Marquis has no qualms about use of contraceptives, as it stands outside the concern with ‘killing’. Use of contraceptives is a preemptive act and does not interfere with the future (with all its potentialities) of a developing fetus. In contrast, what makes ‘killing’ wrong â€Å"is its effect on the victim. The loss of one’s life is one of the greatest losses one can suffer. The loss of one’s life deprives one of all the experiences, activities, projects, and enjoyments that would otherwise have constituted one’s future†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Marquis, p.401) This is a meritorious argument and unless convincing ly proved false, it should serve as a primary clause for forbidding abortions. Hence, Marquis makes a persuasive case for abstaining from abortion. Mary Anne Warren’s article â€Å"On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion† attempts to counter some of the claims made by Dan Marquis. She criticizes the ‘genetic code argument’, which states that since the genetic code or (DNA) of a fetus is the same as a fully formed human, the moral considerations in dealing with its termination will have be the same as those applied to adults. Though this argument is accurate from a biological viewpoint, it is too esoteric and removed from immediate factors governing an abortion decision. Warren then gives a brief treatise on the nature of personhood, an understanding of which is central to the topic of abortion. She argues that a fetus never acquires mature characteristics that would lead it to be thought of as a person in the legal and moral sense. To this point I would add that a fetus does not have the training, experience and mental development to conceive of its own future, thereby weakening claims of potential loss. According to Warren, the traits that are central to the concept of personhood (and by extension the applicability of moral considerations) are the following: â€Å"consciousness, reasoning, self-motivated activity, the capacity to communicate, the presence of

Optimism Essay

Optimism Essay Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have to believe that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning Mahatma Gandhi. What does this statement mean? It actually means that you are what you believe you are. This statement can be applied to optimism that thinking more positive can lead you to be happier and healthier. But what is optimism? And is that true that optimism can make you feel happy and healthy? Well, optimism or positive thinking is the word means best which comes from Latin word optimus. Optimism also describes how optimists are always looking for the best in every situation and hoping and expecting and seeing that things will turn out well in the future. Even if some bad situation occurs, they will look at that situation as the experience. The experience which helps them not to do the same mistake over again. And yes! It is true that optimism can make you feel happier and healthier. There is the study of Martin Seligma supporting the idea that optimists are happier and healthier by showing that they tend to take care of their health, to build better social network and to face the difficu lty without any worries. I have said so much about the definition and some research, so now lets take a look at the benefits of it. There are so many advantages of being optimist and the majority advantage is about health. How can optimism make your health healthier? I have an answer for you! According to the study of Seligma, it showed that 99 Harvard University Students who were optimist at age 25 were significantly healthier at age of 45 to 60 than those who were pessimists once. The second advantage is the persistence- the persistence of your life. Because optimists do not give up easily on tough situation like pessimists do, so they tend to turn the failure to opportunity to achieve their goals. Once they know that they do something wrong, they will learn from that and they will not let that happen again. The last one is less stress. As you may know that stress can affect your daily lifestyle, your health, your disposition, and your efficiency. On the other word, stress is bad for yourself. Well being optimist may help you get through all that stuffs because optimists believe in themselves and their abilitie s, they expect good things to happen. They see negative events as minor setbacks which is easily to overcome. They see positive events as evidence of further good things to come. It is shown that optimists are more proactive with stress management and work harder at it, so that is why they are less stress than pessimists. Now you all know about the benefits of optimism, so lets move on to some famous optimist Dalai Lama to give you some guideline about being optimist person. Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people who believes that mental, physical, and spiritual health are connected to optimistic attitude. How? He has said that when some disastrous situation happens, the most important thing is how you look at that problem. Negative? Or positive? If you look at it as negative, then when the negative emotions are fully developed, you will become their slave, and you will have bad attitude toward every situation. If you look at it as positive, it means that there is still hope in that disastrous situation. If you look at it as positive , then you will cheer yourself up not to give up, not to fear, to move on, to fight, to feel good. Thus there is still hope in every situation only if you look at it as the positive or as experience or as lesson to guide you to a better future. From Dalai Lamas teaching, he actually indicates clearly that if you have positive mind or thinking, your life will be easier to move on. Now I am going to tell you some ideas of how to be optimist yourself. Being optimist is not hard to do at all. Also the result of it is the treasure in your life. The very first thing you have to know about being optimist is that being optimist does not mean ignoring the problem, but it means hoping that things will change to be a better one in the future. So here are some ideas for you to follow. First idea is to find opportunity in every difficulty. What does it mean? It means that what you are dealing with might be difficult, but it is important to remain hopeful and positive about a brighter in that difficulty. Second idea is to surround yourself with positive people because the circumstances matter! If youre surrounded by negative people, there is a highly chance of you to be negative people. So being surrounded by positive people is much more make sense to increase your chance of being positive. Third idea is to inspire yourself with smile and positive reminders. If expect worst, the worst will happen. But if you smile, you will feel so much better. So what you have to do is just put smile on your face more often and that will make you happy! Also you may need to remind yourself that you are positive by noting some quote that cheer you up like anything is possible or I always have a choice. It really helps! The last one is to focus on the present and reject the past. You have to learn to face and to live with the present moment. The present moment that you are in right now. The moment present that is guaranteed you. And that is all I have to talk about the being optimist. Being optimist is giving you a huge amount of advantage in terms of being happier, being healthier, having less stress or reducing the tendency of getting some dangerous disease. Furthermore, being optimist is not that hard to do. You do not have to force yourself to do it all, just try to do it as best as you can, and you will see the result of it. So I hope you all might be thinking about being optimist in order to have better life, better attitude toward everything by taking those ideas that I told you about. Thank you. Nonie

True Lies in Brice’s Ways with Words Essay example -- Ways with Words

True Lies in Brice’s Ways with Words  Ã‚  Ã‚   In Ways with Words by Shirley Brice Heath we read about the author’s ethnographic study in the South during desegregation. The purpose of Heath’s study is to examine the ways people from different communities in the textile region raise their children. The way the children are raised according to Heath, affects the language development and the way these children learn to read and write in the school setting. In my paper I want to examine the way the church relates to the cultural differences in Roadville and Trackton. Cultural differences have ultimately created two separate learning styles. Reading Heath’s study creates curiosity as to how one book, the Bible, can be translated by two cultures in such differing ways that, â€Å"In short, for Roadville, Trackton’s stories would be lies; for Trackton, Roadville stories would not even count as stories† (Heath, 189). Heath says, â€Å"For both Roadville and Trackton, the church is a key institution helping to provide occasion and rationale for their approaches to being parents and to enabling their young to use language† (147). Both groups engage in regular religious activity, the Trackton people meeting every other week for group services, and the Roadville groups meeting at church on Sundays. Both groups meet in mixed age group settings, as well. And both groups believe the Bible is the Word of God. Yet differences exist. Trackton groups do not necessarily meet in a building. â€Å"Preachers, men of music, and the best playsong performers claim they cannot stick to written text. Seemingly thoughts which were once shaped into words on paper become recomposed in each time and space.† (233) Trackton preachers and song leaders feel stifled by the wr... ...ducation makes them unskilled at helping their children do well in school. Heath studied their struggles and identified significant ways to teach these children. As the study closes, we realize that to improve the education of the Roadville and Trackton communities, we would need to change the home environment, the religious traditions, and the culture of the communities to match that of the townspeople. To change the school to meet the needs of the students would not create a long lasting improvement. I for one find difficulty in judging one community as being better than another since each has its own value. Homogeneity seems to be an evil, but one that education in America both supports and at times seems to demand. Perhaps someday we will find a solution. Work Cited: Heath, Shirley Brice. Ways with Words. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1983.

A Construction of Test Bed for Spatially Integrated Online Surveying

The gathering of public opinion and spatially associated information is an important and critical task for city and local government agents, in order to assess human resources, regional development planning, decision-making process and public facility management.Most local government decision-making processes require spatial distribution patterns of population and the associated information, especially in disaster management and emergency preparedness. Collaboration between residents and the local government is a key factor for effective administration process and regional development planning.Current public surveying systems (either online or by regular mail or telephoning) merely collect information, and additionally skilled persons are required to convert these data into GIS (Geographical Information Systems), in order to visualize and analyze them for decision making processes.Here we are talking about implementing a Spatially Integrated Online Surveying System (SIOSS), which mak es it possible to collect, integrate and analyze public survey data with spatially associated attribute information for the city and local government in a timely and cost effective way, under the collaborative GIS discipline. Study tools like ASP.NET, MS SQL Server and WebGIS will also be used to collect, store and share the spatially distributed objects and attributes in a time-efficient and cost effective way, (with little or no human intervention) for decision making processes.Introduction.With the increasing number of Earth observation satellite launching, and advances in communication and networking everyday, spatial information is more mobile and more widely used at various user levels (ranging from desktop expert users to mobile public users). In additional to offering educational resources in schools, students have the opportunity to think, explore and analyze the world they live in.On the other hand, technological improvement in computing and networking (such as Google Eart h and Microsoft Virtual Earth) provides Internet home users with the opportunity to visualize the world either in a 2Dimensional or 3Dimensional view interactively. The growth of the Internet has been an explosive since inception, and this has lead to a great increase in the number of portable/mobile computing and communication devices such as notebook computers and mobile phones, in recent years.As manufacturers constantly improve on the features, and general capabilities of mobile devices, the Internet also continues to get bigger and to improve, even at a faster rate than these mobile devices. By utilizing all advances in Geographical Information Systems (GIS) for city and local government decision making processes, a Spatially Integrated Online Surveying System (SIOSS) can be implemented, which makes it possible to collect, integrate and analyze public information for the city and local government in a cost-effective and time efficient way, under the collaborative GIS discipline .Classical database management systems, especially the Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) can store, query and retrieve the information. However, RDBMSs are business-oriented applications, which manipulate large but simple data sets and are unable to manage geographical objects.Our identification with geography gives us a sense of place, so applying geographic concepts to public education and management is natural. Geography provides us with unique positions on the Earth's surface, which can help in the study of resources. For example, the modeling of a landscape can give us valuable information about the ecosystem or historical setting of the landscape and help to visualize its future appearance, under various management strategies.These RDBMS applications are normally used in libraries, stores, reservation and so on. There have been considerable efforts to extend and adapt DBMS technology to spatial information systems, known as Spatial Database Management System or Geo -database, naming by ESRI. The following table compares the answers from common spatial information users between the classical public surveying DBMS (either online or offline) and the SIOSS system.