Adam Rehrig Essays - English-language Films, Film Noir,

Adam Rehrig Mr. Gardner TV 151 Term Paper Film Noir It is world of dark rooms with light slicing through venetian blinds, alleys cluttered with garbage, abandoned warehouses where dust hangs in the air, rain-slickened streets with water still running in the gutters, dark detective officers overlooking busy streets. These are the qualities that makes film noir a perfect blend of form and content, where the desperation and hopelessness of situations is reflected in the visual style, which drenches the world in shadows and has only a few occasional bursts of sunlight. Film noir, occasionally acerbic, usually cynical, often enthralling, gives us characters trying to elude some kind of mysterious past that continues to haunt them, hunting them down with a fatalism that taunts and teases before delivering a final, definitive blow. Unlike other forms of cinema, the film noir has no paraphernalia that it can truly call its own. Unlike the western, with cattle drives, lonely towns on the prairie, homesteading farmers, Winchester rifles, and Colt 45s, the film noir borrows its paraphernalia from other forms, usually from the crime and detective genres, but often overlapping into thrillers, horror, and even science fiction. An example of science fiction would be the box from Kiss Me Deadly. The visual style echoes German expressionism, painting shafts of light that temporarily illuminate small chucks of an ominous and overbearing universe that limits a person's chances to slim and none. As Paul Schrader said in his essay ?Notes of Film Noir?, ?No character can speak authoritatively from a space which is continually being cut into ribbons of light.? Film noir first appeared in the early ?40s in the movies such as Stranger on the Third Floor and This Gun For Hire. While soldiers went to war, film noir exposed a darker side of life, balancing the optimism of Hollywood musicals and comedies by supplying seedy, two-bit criminals and doom-laden atmospheres. While Hollywood strove to help keep public morale high, film noir gave us a peek into the alleys and backrooms of a world filled with corruption. And film noir remained an important form in Hollywood until the ?50s. The first film to be considered film noir is John Huston's The Maltese Falcon. Huston wrote the screenplay from Dashiell Hammet's novel for this his directorial debut. In the film Humphrey Bogart plays Sam Spade, a private detective that is partners in an agency with Miles Archer, played by Jerome Cowan. Miss Wonderly, betrayed by Mary Astor hires the two to a shadow her business associate Floyd Thursby, who is never shown on camera. Later that same night Miles is killed and Sam is determined to find the murder. Near the end of the film Sam reasons, ?When a man's partner is killed he's suppose to do something about it.? Miss Wonderly, the femme fatale of the picture, confesses that her real name is Brigid O' Shaughnessy and informs him that her life is in danger and implores him to help her. He agrees to keep her name out of the case, her beauty and money having something to do with it. Spade is visited Joel Cairo, played by Peter Lorre, who offers him $5,000 to find a black statue of a falcon. Sam reports the offer to Brigid, who asks for a meeting with Cairo. Here Sam learns of a third person, Casper Gutman, played by Sydney Greenstreet who is also interested in the falcon. Sam is taken to Gutman and professes to know the falcon's whereabouts. Gutman refuses to reveal any information about the black bird, and Sam storms out. Other examples of film noir are Out of the Past, which is one of the archetypal noirs, giving us a protagonist who has tried to escape from his past but fate won't let him. In the movie he betrayed his buy running away with his girlfriend. He inhabits a world that constantly pulls people back into morass of existence that is bound to suffocate them. Jeff, played by Robert Mitchum is a seemingly good guy, but one bad turn has made his life a living hell that he can never escape completely escape. Kirk Douglas plays a racketeer who needs to use Jeff and he does so by planting one of

Definition of a Non-Traditional Student

Definition of a Non-Traditional Student On many campuses, the majority of students are nontraditional students. What does that mean? Who are they? Nontraditional students are 25 and older and have returned to school to earn a degree, an advanced degree, a professional certificate, or a GED. Many are lifelong learners who know that keeping their brains engaged keeps them young and vibrant longer. Experts have suggested that continuing to learn can even help prevent Alzheimers disease. Besides, learning is just plain fun when you are willing to dabble a bit. Consider taking a workshop on a regular basis. Nontraditional students are not your 18-year-old high-school graduates heading off to college. Were talking about adults who decide to go back to school after the traditional college age of 18-24. Were even talking about Baby Boomers. They are some of the most avid nontraditional students, and they are now in their 50s, 60s, and 70s! Nontraditional students are also known as adult students, adult learners, lifelong learners, older students, old geezers (just kidding) Alternate Spellings: non traditional student, non-traditional student Examples: Baby boomers, people born in the years between 1946 and 1964, are flocking back to school to finish degrees or earn new ones. These nontraditional students now have the life experience and financial stability to make college more meaningful. Going back to school as a nontraditional student can be more challenging than it is for younger students for many reasons, but primarily because they have established lives that require balancing one more responsibility. Many have families, careers, and hobbies. Throw in a dog or two, maybe a Little League game, and the addition of college classes and required study time can be tremendously stressful. For this reason, many nontraditional students choose online programs, which allows them to juggle work, life, and school. Resources How to Ace Your Grad School Interview After Taking Time Off - College applications are written primarily for 18-year-olds. When you older than that, sometimes by decades, the questions can seem silly. Or maybe you have a gap in your resume that needs explaining. These tips are for you.Ways to Stay Relevant Before Earning Your Masters Degree - When you need to take some time off from school, its important to maintain your readiness to return. Its not all that hard with a little attention.Tips to Help You Rock Your Online Courses - More and more people are going back to school online. Something that was once frowned upon, is now safe, credible, and super convenient. Attend class anywhere you can take a laptop or other device. Thats just about everywhere.Time Management Tips for Adult Students - Managing your time well is crucial for nontraditional students. Weve got tips for you.Places to Get a Scholarship - Scholarships abound. You just have to know where to look for them. Dont be afr aid to apply. Many scholarships are awarded by default to the few people who bothered to submit an application. Be one of them. Help with Writing - Brush up on your writing skills to avoid embarrassment.Help with Math - Math is a major reason people procrastinate about going back to school. Help is out there.Facts About Financial Aid - Money for college is available to almost everyone. Find out how to apply for financial help. Thats just a sampling. We have lots of tips for you. Browse around and be inspired. Before you know it, youll be back in the classroom, whether its in a traditional brick building, on the Internet, or at a local community ed. workshop. Dabble!

Collaborative Team Meetings and Collaboration Techniques Essay

Collaborative Team Meetings and Collaboration Techniques - Essay Example There are several elements that must be present in a collaborative team meeting. One of these elements is participation and leadership (Schied 2010). Members of the collaborative team must at all times view themselves as equals. This helps in encouraging and supporting participation. The person with the greatest expertise is normally assumes the role of leader or facilitator. In some cases however, leadership is held by the members in rotation. This is commonly the case when the tasks to be performed are repetitive with members holding responsibilities jointly. The facilitator must be unbiased in the meeting to avoid being regarded as a manipulator. Another element of the collaborative meeting is the establishment of collaborative strategies and goals according to Mcie (1999). Goals and strategies to be achieved by the team must be developed through cooperation. Ensuring that the members of the team understand the goals help in keeping the team on track and helps in directing the teams activities and decision making. Decision making is one thing that cannot be avoided in collaborative team meetings according to (Pascale, 2008). Decision making is a joint responsibility, such decisions being made by consensus. Having consensus as opposed to voting ensures that the decisions made by the team are agreed on by members of the group. Without good communication, decisions cannot be made in a group setting. Collaborative meetings involve communication in which cases members of the team are encouraged to open up and express themselves freely without regard to the extent to which other members will agree with their opinions (Mcie, 1999). Whenever the collaborative team is faced with an issue, brainstorming is applied to come up with possible solutions (Pascale, 2008). The ideas that members in the meeting come up with are noted down and discussed as the meeting progresses. Since

Nature Of Employment Relationship In A Large Food Manufacturing Essay

Nature Of Employment Relationship In A Large Food Manufacturing Organization - Essay Example It is the key point of reference for determining the nature and extent of employers' rights and obligations towards their workers. Prospective employees in Food Manufacturing business, whether recently graduated university candidates, transferees from other corporations, or internal candidates, are looking for dissimilar things from their work life than they were a decade before. Today's employees look for balance. Sixty-hour work weeks, comprehensive journey timetables, breakfast meetings, dinner meetings, weekend training and work schedules must be put into standpoint in relation to family life, group of people commitment and pastime. To text this, the four dimensions of the employment relationship were distorted into a solitary Employment Relationships Prcis Scale, using multivariate study to review the sovereign result of this scale on a variety of results (taking into account socio-demographic, labor market and work circumstances factors). Work Satisfaction: Powerful employment relationships are the key determinant of job satisfaction between salaried employees and self-employed persons in Food Manufacturing business. ... Not only does job satisfaction replicate a person's in general excellence of operational existence, it also has been connected to a variety of results significant for employers - counting productivity as well. Skill development and use: Strong employment relationships are linked with the more effectual utilization of human resources. Employees who have powerful employment relationships (contrasting to workers in feeble relationships) have more chances in their job to grow and use their capabilities and talent in Food Manufacturing business. This supports the formation of human capital, which is necessary for both person well-being and a strong economy in such fast growing business. Turnover: Fragile employment relationships in Food Manufacturing business add to turnover, evaluating from which employees looked for a job with an additional employer in the precedent year. Therefore employers encountering staffing and retention challenge contending for aptitude in a tense labor market require paying cautious concentration to employment relationships. Workplace confidence: Workers who have strong employment relationships individually account high-quality morale inside their place of work. Morale is a vital element in humanizing a strong and creative work surroundings in Food Manufacturing business. Absenteeism: Employees in feeble employment relationships account for more absenteeism due to personal sickness or damage than do employees in strong relationships. Absenteeism is expensive to employers, detracts from an individual's worth of life, and decreases national output. Readiness to join a union: Employees in fragile employment relationships are more than twice as probable to want to connect a union as those in strong relationships in Food

Existentialism Is a Humanism Essay Example for Free

Existentialism Is a Humanism Essay Sartre is trying to defend existentialism against some disapproval to it. The Communist criticized existentialism as an invitation to people to take interest in hopeless world affairs. On the other hand, Christians reproached from the fact that people deny the need of attention in human affairs. People have the will to do anything they want and wish. With the example given, about ignoring the Ten Commandments, we can people deny the value of following the commandments and will only follow it if they wish. THE MEANING OF EXISTENTIALISM. According to Sartre, existentialism is a principle that provides human life possible. It also determines that every truth and action we know involves both an environmental and a human subjectivity. The two types of existentialist are the Christians and Existential Atheists. What they have in common is that they both believe in â€Å"existence comes before essence†, which means that a human has no predetermined essence or nature. â€Å"Man is nothing else but that which he makes of himself. † If a man cannot define himself, then he is bound to happen that he is nothing. The paper-knife example talks about how an artisan conceptualized an object, how he paid close attention to it and knew what the purpose of the object would be. The paper-knife is existentially different from human because for Existential Atheists, which Sartre is included, man defines himself and not the creator that conceived him. RESPONSIBILITY An implication given in the lecture is how a being would be able to existence would come before its essence even if God does not exist. Sartre mentioned that there is no human nature because we define ourselves and not by any force that lives inside us. By Sartre saying that â€Å"in choosing for himself, he chooses for all men†, he means that when humans make decisions, it affirms that value of which he had chosen. The choices we consider are always the better, and nothing can be better for us unless it is better for all. When a human chooses to do something for himself, like marrying and have children, he is still creating and contributing an image for the whole the whole mankind. ANGUISH Existentialist frankly state that man is in anguish because he only decides for himself, not realizing that the whole mankind is resting upon his shoulders. When we are in verge of act, we should ask ourselves â€Å"What would happen if everyone did so? † In asking this, we would be able to fully re-evaluate the actions or decisions we’re about to do. In the story of Abraham and the hallucinating women, we are taught on how to ask ourselves with that question. It is not enough to do an act with merely hearing the command. We should prove to ourselves that what we are about to follow would be reasonable and just. ABANDONMENT Sartre said that if God did not to exist, nothing would really change. He believed that we would still have the same progress that we have now. But for the existentialist, they would be embarrassed because it disappears with God the possibility of finding values in an intelligible heaven. For Dostoevksy, if God did not exist, everything will be permitted. He said that human would be free from doing anything they wish. One will be never to be able to explain one’s action because he doesn’t have anything to refer to. On the other hand, he proposes that if God does not exist there wouldn’t be values or commands that will legitimize our behavior. Existentialists believe in the power of passion. They believe that man is responsible for his passion, not some drive that is hidden inside a man. The story of the student teaches us that we should trust our instinct. With his dilemma, whether to join the Forces or to stay with him mom, he based his decision on what he felt. Because he had been living with his mother, the value of feeling to be always by her side is developed. Thus, he chose not to live his mother. In addition, the Jesuit’s story tells us that through our decisions and action, we are bound to choose our own path and bear the entire responsibility. DESPAIR According to Sartre, the definition of despair is that â€Å"we limit ourselves to a reliance upon which is within our will, or within the sum of the probabilities which render our action feasible. † I think the reason why Sartre thought that when Descartes said, â€Å"Conquer yourself rather than the world,† what he meant was â€Å"we should act without hope† is because both statements are saying that we should be in control of ourselves. The Marxists believe that you can rely upon the help of others. That even when you die, other will still continue what you did and help. While Sartre’s argument is that he cannot fully trust those people he doesn’t know. Yes, he can entrust his works and life with his comrades and family, but not to strangers. Does that mean that I should abandon myself to quietism? NO. What we should do is to commit ourselves then act the commitment made. Sartre stated that man is nothing else than what he proposes. Because he hasn’t found anything yet he seeks, he continues to living until the day he found it. â€Å"You are nothing else but what you live†, this means that â€Å"a man is no other than a series of undertaking, that he is the sum, the organization, the set of relations that constitute these undertaking. † Behaviors of the people are caused by the actions happening in their environment upon them. The implication given was how a coward became a coward, and a hero became a hero. Being a coward is the act of giving up. How sternness of optimism here is seen on how a man can make himself a coward or hero, through his action and thinking. In the end, what counts is that â€Å"the destiny of man is placed within himself. † There wouldn’t be any hope or changes unless he starts doing something. SUBJECTIVITY What Sartre and Descartes both agree on is that truth must first have an absolute truth. If not, it will crumble into nothing. Sartre thinks that the theory alone is incompatible with the dignity of man because â€Å"it is the only one which does not make man into an object. † Their main aim of that view is to distinguish the human kingdom as pattern of values to that of the material world. THE OTHER Sartre believes that when we are trying to think to discover ourselves, we are to discover everything from others. To recognize oneself is to be recognize by other people. With â€Å"I cannot obtain any truth whatsoever about myself, except through the mediation of another†, Sartre is saying that we need other to seek the truth that we are trying to find. That being an individual is not enough to find the truth and identity. INTER-SUBJECTIVITY We should understand that â€Å"all the limitations which a priori define man’s fundamental situation in the universe. † The historical situation of every man is different from what they experienced. Human condition is saying that from having freedom, we are also entitled to take full responsibility of it. I think it is possible to understand and value something about all people because there is still universality, which mean that in somehow we can still understand things outside ourselves. BAD FAITH One of the implications are â€Å"every man realizes himself in realizing a type of humanity†, meaning that if a man decides to classify himself, he would be able to realizes himself. There is no difference between free being and absolute being. Lying to yourself by saying that it doesn’t matter to you is a bad faith. It is wrong to say that what you choose doesn’t matter to you. People can always choose, but in not choosing is still a choice. â€Å"†¦without reference to any pre-established value, but it is unjust to tax him with caprice. † I do agree what he is trying to say here. Because he has no knowledge of a pre-established value, there is no sudden change in his choice. When Sartre that we make ourselves, what he meant is that through our actions and decisions we are forming our identity. FREEDOM In saying â€Å"You are unable to judge others†, it is true in one sense and false in the other. Whenever a man chooses his decisions and purpose, it is now impossible to choose another one. It is true in the sense that we do not believe in progress. The goal of freedom is to judge the logical value and not a judgment of value. They also search for the real meaning of freedom. How can the existentialists form judgment? By saying that he deceives himself and by doing that you are having good faith. â€Å"One can choose anything, but only if it is upon the plane of free commitment. † With this, we can conclude that selecting choices involving the commitment of oneself. INVENTION OF VALUES His response is an analogy, â€Å"if I have excluded God the Father, there must be somebody to invent values. † He disagrees on the kind of humanism that takes man as an end. He says so because man is still to be determined and should be considered as an end. What he meant by â€Å"Transcendence† is a man’s relation to his world and that of the people around him. Because man wants to surpass what he has done, he is in the center of his transcendence. A man can realize himself as truly human when he decides for himself, always seek truth and beyond himself and having an aim of some particular realization. CONCLUSION From his point of view, even if God did not exist, it would make no difference. Because for existentialists the real problem is how man will be able to find himself to in order to save himself, by not giving full reliance of God’s existence. Existentialism is a doctrine of action in a way that they confine their own despair with existentialists that Christians can describe them as without hope.

Decision Making at the Executive Level Essay -- Business Management Pa

Decision Making at the Executive Level The focus of my term paper is the decision making process used by today's top-level managers. Top-level managers, such as Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), Chief Operations Officers (COOs), and Chief Financial Officers (CFOs), must make critical decisions on a daily basis. Their choices and the resulting outcomes affect the company, the employees, and the stakeholders. Due to the high importance of their decisions, the process they use to reach them merits a close examination. A study published in the winter 1997 volume of Business Strategy Review suggests the major factor in a decisions success is the decision process itself. The study, by Paul Nutt, suggests that poor decision making processes cost North American businesses billions of dollars each year. The study also proposes that most managers don't realize the importance of the process, and it's effect on the success of the decision. Before analyzing the decision process in depth, the measurement of success must be established. Nutt used two broad measures to determine the success of decisions made. First, was the decision implemented fully. Second, was the decision still effective two years after implementation. Based on these measures, only half of the decisions in the study were considered successful. Nutt concluded that much time and money was therefore wasted on these unsuccessful decisions. So during what part of the decision making process did these top-level managers go wrong? In general, many managers often rush to a decision and stick by it, even when it continues to fail. Another cause of unsuccessful decisions is that the managers did not include those most affected by the outcome in the decision mak... ...n decisions, often increasing the chance of success. Unfortunately, most executives don't use this strategy in their decision process. Executives often rush to decisions in order to remove the feeling of uncertainty by not coming to a decision. This impulsive strategy fails because the decision maker does not include enough key people in the decision process itself. If managers would be more confident and take the time to properly assess the decisions they face, the success rate would increase and therefore save much time and money. Bibliography: Works Cited 1. Kroll, Karen M., "Costly omission", Industry Week, July 8, 1998, p 20. 2. Information Access Company, "Avoiding stupid management moves", American Printer, March 1997, v218 n6, p 94. 3. Nutt, Paul, "Better decision-making: a field study", Business Strategy Review, Winter 1997, v8, pp 45-53.

An Acting Critique of Legally Blonde the Musical Essay

An Acting Critique of Legally Blonde the Musical On Friday night, May 3rd at & p.m., my mother and I attended the opening night of Legally Blonde in the Buena P.A.C. I must begin by saying that I am slightly biased towards one of the actors who just so happens to be my sister, so the roles of Chutney, the girl who accidentally murdered her father, and a Delta Nu sister have never been played more perfectly in my eyes. While I found the play both amusing and enjoyable, there were some big issues as far as opening night goes. Things like lack of projection (on top of some serious microphone issues, which I cannot blame the actors for), actors forgetting lines, and sloppy blocking, especially in many of the dances during the musical numbers, all took away from the overall experience of the show. However, there were definitely some things I absolutely loved, which were mostly specific characters. Also, the quality of the singing in all the musical numbers was very high, which is something you don’t see often in a high school mus ical production. That being said, I thought it was worth my five dollars, and a great way for Buena to end its 2012-13 season. Like I said before, technical aspects such as microphone malfunctions cannot be blamed on the actors. It is the job of the technicians to ensure all of the equipment functions properly. However, I believe that actors should not rely on such technical aspects alone to ensure that they are effectively heard by every member of the audience. Call me old fashioned, but I am a firm believer in projection; making your voice bounce off the walls of the theater. After all, theaters are geometrically designed to do just that. But I guess not everyone feels that way, and it was apparent Friday night when every time an actor’s microphone went out, it was as if they were whispering. This is often detrimental to the plot because if actors cannot be heard, vital pieces of information are lost upon the audience. This issue could have been non-existent if the actors had practiced their projection. Luckily, I saw the movie first, so I knew the plot before I even watched the play. Along with not always being able to hear the actors, line memorization seemed to cause a few problems on stage Friday night as well. I will admit, it was not as apparent of a problem as was the lack of audibility at times, but I did notice it quite a few times. The example that stood out to me most was the character of Paulette, the owner of Elle’s favorite salon and close friend to Elle. She was in the middle of a solo on stage and completely dropped almost an entire verse of her song. I will not judge her too harshly because I fully understand the pressures of opening night, and I am sure the pressure of a solo is equally as heavy. I am simply using it as an example. Any other line slips I noticed were fairly minor, and when they happened, the actors did a pretty good job of covering it up and going with the flow. The last big problem I had with Legally Blonde the Musical was the blocking. Call me crazy, but it seemed to me towards the end of the play that either the actors got extremely lazy with their blocking during the dances, or they simply did not rehearse the scenes enough. Either way, it was very obvious. Actors were off tempo, bumping into one another, and were also completely out of sync when they should not have been. The actors most guilty of that were the Delta Nu sorority sisters (except my sister, of course). I also noticed that it was not only the dance scenes that lacked blocking, but so did many of the conversational scenes. I love watching actors’ faces more than anything because I believe that’s where most acting is done. I wanted so badly to do that Friday night, but I spent the whole time craning my neck to try and get glimpses. Quite irritating, considering the fact that my mother and I showed up almost a half hour early to get seats in the center of the ho use. Acting is all about action, and action cannot be understood if it cannot be seen. Now that I have ranted and raved about what I really did not enjoy about the Friday night showing of Legally Blonde the Musical, I should probably talk about the things that I really enjoyed, which definitely outweighed the bad. My absolute favorite character (besides the ones played by my sister) was Enid Hoopes, played by senior Aubrie Bouchard. She was a women’s rights activist, as well as a full-blooded lesbian, your average tough girl with a lot to prove to the world. She was absolutely hilarious; her timing was great, her character development was awesome, and her projection was wonderful. She had me rolling with all of her perfectly timed quips, especially when her inner lesbian showed. My other favorite group of  characters was Elle’s three best friends from Malibu: Pilar, Margot, and Serena, who also came to be known as the Greek chorus. This was an extremely appropriate nickname because they served the same purpose as the original Greek choruses in the first plays. They always showed up in Elle’s times of need to provide her with support, and to provide the audience with information. They also happened to be hilarious and bubbly, as Delta Nu sisters should be. They also had wonderful projection, especially Serena, played by Jansen Morgen. I also enjoyed Professor Callahan’s character, played by Braxton Olgetree. He was not a very likable character as far as the plot of the play went, but I could tell the actor put a lot of work into his character, especially on the voice. He was drab and monotone, just like a law professor at Harvard should be, and his character work really shone through. I also must mention the most adorable and well-behav ed character of the entire show, the part of Rufus, Paulette’s dog, played by an American bulldog named Sarge. He was both cute and flawless. The other thing I loved about this play was the overall quality of the singing. I was very pleased with all the musical numbers; all the songs were cute and catchy, no one made my ears bleed, and I could hear everyone fairly well even with all of the microphone issues. Usually, from my personal experience, most high school musicals consist of two groups of people: choir kids and theater kids. Not all choir kids can act, and not all theater kids can sing, but I am pleased to say that this musical was not that way. Everyone was able to sing and act quite effectively. My favorite musical number was the song â€Å"Gay or European†, which was performed in the courtroom scene when they were trying to figure out whether or not the pool boy, who claimed to be Brooke Windam’s lover, was gay. It was very light-humored and entertaining. I also enjoyed the opening number, â€Å"Ohmigod†, which was performed by Elle and her Delta Nu sisters in the very beginning. Like I said from the start, I was a little biased towards this play from the beginning simply because my little sister was in it. However, even when I put my bias aside, I can honestly say I was thoroughly pleased with my experience as an audience member as a whole. While I must admit there were various issues with things like actor projection, lack of proper blocking,  and lack of line memorization, the overall quality of acting was quite enjoyable. The character work done by most of the actors was very apparent and applaudable. I loved all of the main characters, as well as the minor ones. The singing was also fantastic; I did not find myself cringing at any of the musical numbers. Instead, I actually found myself tapping my feet and sometimes even singing along with the catchy songs. I know the showings of Legally Blonde the Musical are all over now, but I would recommend it to anyone to go and see that show. It was definitely an â€Å"A† performance.