Movie Amelie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Amelie - Movie Review Example They are seen as "cultural artifacts created by specific cultures that reflect those cultures" (Wikipedia, 2007) Talking about the connection film-art, Tarkovski states the following: "Each of the arts has its own poetic meaning and cinema is no exception. It has its particular role, its own destiny - it came into being in order to express a specific area of life, the meaning of which up till then had not found expression in any existing art form." (1989, p.82) We understand from all these acceptations of film and its relationship with the idea of art that film in general is a form of art. Jean -Pierre Jeunet's movie, Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amelie Poulain, illustrates eloquently this idea. The movie concentrates on a small but very significant fragment from the life of a French young woman, Amelie Poulain. Her life up to the moment shown as present by the film is sketched in a few words and images. She was brought up in a family that could be described as a little bit weird. If we think about it, we all have our strange habits, likes or dislikes. But Amelie's parents seem to have more than what we may call regular eccentricities. And Amelie herself is not the common type of woman. She is different: she dresses in an uncommon manner and she acts in an uncommon way, especially when it comes to socializing. She barely interacts with others and she prefers to spend time in her own world. And this is what changes throughout the movie, as the action progresses. She eventually succeeds in establishing a connection, as she meets the young Nino, with whom she falls in love. But like everything in Amelie’s life, her way of making Nino notice her is not a common one. ... But like everything in Amelie's life, her way of making Nino notice her is not a common one. The mystery she creates, the clues that she leaves for him and that he has to understand and follow are both amusing and appealing. Their romanticism is so special that you feel irremediably in love with the movie. Although she loves him and she made steps in trying to connect with him, when the moment comes and he arrives at the caf where she works to meet her, as she had indicated to him, Amelie cannot react and when he asks her whether she is the girl he is looking for, she denies it. Amusing and at the same time interesting are the assumptions Amelie pessimistically makes when Nino seems not to come. She imagines all sorts of strange scenarios, events that could have prevented him from arriving. Circumstances lead to the meeting of Gina, Amelie's colleague, with Nino. Although they only meet to talk about Amelie, she misunderstands the situation and becomes contagiously sad. Audrey Tautou plays her part so well that at the end of the movie, when, while she is making a cake and imagines how her life would be with Nino, she starts to cry, we feel moved too. Fortunately, the ending is a happy one. Nino comes to her door and they express the feelings they have for each other in a really special way. They don't use language, only gesture. And thus, Amelie finally manages to connect to people. The fact that the development of the action brings about a change is one of the elements that relates the movie to a literature. In a novel, or a drama the character undergoes a change from its beginning to its end, so that the final scene brings about a character different from that we saw when we began reading. Although inspired

Age invaders Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Age invaders - Article Example The old age at the same time, will reap off the workers. The number of retiring people will increase with an un-matching injection of the same to the economy. Hence, this will lead to a slowed growth in the economy. The most affected sectors are the ones that need the young non-educated people in the industry. Some of the works that need the educated people with more skills have not be affected much with the increased number of the old. This is so since most of the educated workers in the United States and Europe above the age of 60 years are working at the rate of 65 percent. At the same time, much money is paid to the aging. For instance, by the year 2010 12 percent of the wages were being paid to people more than the age of 60 (The Economist Print) To curb shortage of work to some extent, there is need to emphasize on education to ensure that people work for longer into their old age. This is because most of the work done by the un-educated people get harder day by day since it needs more energy. However, this will affect some other sectors of the economy that need manpower. Some countries like Japan have utilized the robots to carry out manual work in the

Initial Public Offerings Essay Example for Free

Initial Public Offerings Essay Primary private companies, who desires to go public or in other words decides to be listed in the different stock markets to raise capital, must first undergo a process called Initial Public Offering or IPO (Investopedia, 2008). This method has been widely popular and it goes to say it has its own shares of controversies as well. Especially from what was experienced during the 1990s on the dotcom crash, in which a lot of investors bought Initial stocks from companies even without a track record of operations and a feasible plan for profit (same as Investopedia, 2008). Now another Online firm plans to go public, it is the popular program Skype whose main features are online video and audio call conferencing. This could be a good idea, from a sales standpoint since Skype has been earning revenues for its parent company Ebay even before the latter has decided to treat it as a stand-alone company due to its limited synergies with Ebay’s core activities which basically are Online commerce auction site and Paypal Online payments system   (Stone, 2009).But if Skype will really go public, it could most probably used the same online method applied by former online firms: Google and Morning star which is the online auction approach. This essay will attempt to justify the consideration of Skype to go public. It will also analyze what particular type of Initial Public Offering (IPO) it may apply. We will also go in detail to assess what type of investors that Skype would most possibly attract. This study will also provide background on the lessons learned from previous online industries who went Public and used the auction approach as its method for IPO.As part of the types of methods for IPO offering, we will finally discuss potential costs and risks of each to have a better understand which method would be appropriate for a specific firm like Skpe. Skype going Public Ebay’s President and CEO could be right by the decision of treating Skype as a subsidiary company due to its function and future revenue potential if provided with the right amount of capital to work with. Skype historically, has been a consistent top performer in terms of revenue generation since its early inception. From 2007, Skype posted a significant increase of 44% to a tune of   $551 million, and segment market margins is at 21% which is also another big leap of 47% from 2007, and the projection of a total revenue for 2011 for $1 Billion dollars is not far fetch(ebay Inc., 2009), since the growth rate of Skype on its recent   quarterly performance have been anything but slow. Just last October 2009 data Skype again has increased by another 41% in total registered users, which is in the $521 Million mark and growing, Its posted growth of 29% in revenues amounting to another $181 million dollars also confirms its status as a force to be reckon with on the Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoiP) industry (Schonfeld, 2009). Direct competitors of Skype are Vonage and Net2phone although stable does not have the growth potential and massive customer base that Skype enjoys. Skype has just also been sold recently by ebay to some private investors, and group led by Silver Lake partners, ebay sold 70% of its stake on Skype (Wauters, 2009).Which shows continued interest of the potential profit generation of this software. Skype is also considered as number ten on the Top ten potential IPO candidates by TechCrunch.com, given the rapid pace of Skype growth (Schonfeld, 2009). Traditional or Online Auction Method for Skype’s IPO? Skype may opt to apply the auction method, to have a lot of potential investors instead of limiting the opportunity to buy shares to a few large investing institutions, which possibly may not desire a new online firm. Google used the same method, which is called the Dutch auction method in serving its IPO to the public, with a lot of potential risks in this kind of method Google still managed to pull it off successfully (Edmonston, 2009). What type of Investors would go for Skype Small and young investors may go for this firm if it went public, this group usually knows the boundless potential of the internet, and has some basic knowledge on the types of revenues tech stocks can produce. The emerging trend of young internet whiz kids, who have made fortunes using the net, may as well be the same characteristics of investors for Skype. Conventional Investors, still requires a fundamentally sound metrics from a company that has a above average track records and has produced mostly tangible goods which some have been a staple of a society. Lessons Learned from Online Auction Approach Bothe Morningstar.com and Google used the same method for its Initial Public Offering, for the purpose of taking the controlling power away from the underwriters and to provide opportunities to invest for those who really believe and acknowledge a company’s potential.   Both have been relatively smooth and successful. For Morningstar on its IPO last 2005 even when price analysts predicted that price of stock may be on the amount of lowest range projected of $16 to $19, the demand was really strong as it ended up on the marked price of $18.50 for the mutual fund and stock analysts’ online firm (Munarriz, 2005). Google however probably was overwhelmed by pressures of controversies induced by market analysts, financial scholars, other online competition   and even the Securities and Exchange Commission, has decided for a last minute reduction of its target share price (Sorkin, 2009). Online companies often face criticisms such as being overvalued or overhyped. Especially after the dotcom event, doubt of investors on whether they could really pull through some revenues and maximize shareholders’ equity is prevalent. Both Morningstar and Google have experienced those biases but took it in stride and have been relatively stable in the marketplace, despite contradictions. Cost and Risks of each IPOs According to a famous article by the Wall Street Journal regarding methods of IPOs, â€Å"Wall Street bankers compare auction IPOs with selling fine art on eBay instead of at Sothebys. The big Wall Street firms have good reason to defend the traditional model. Known as book building, it entails gauging the interest of hedge funds and mutual funds in an offering† (2005, p.2). This conventional model with its current fees of 7% of capital allows Wall Street companies to sell its IPO stock at discounted prices to their best customers, which could benefit them by taking profits if the IPO increased even on its first day of trading (Wall Street Journal, 2005 p.2). Underwriters for this traditional approach receive a percentage of the IPO sale as commission, in addition to other fees or underwriting proceeds charged to underwrite the IPO. Such examples of those fees according to Kamlet Rini (1995)are: †¢ Managers Fee Goes to the managing underwriter for negotiating and managing the offering. Amount:10% 20% of the spread (meaning the spread between the Public offering price or POP and the underwriting proceeds). †¢ Underwriting Fee Goes to the managing underwriter and syndicate members for assuming the risk of buying the securities from the issuing corporation. Amount: 20% 30% of the spread †¢ Selling Concession Goes to the managing underwriter, the syndicate members, and to selling group members for placing the securities with investors. Amount: 50% 60% of the spread These fees, almost selected investors and a potential of losing more capital by an increase in value on share price, especially when first day trading price of IPO rise for the company, has been the somehow the risks a company going public undergoes when applying this method. As for the Auction Method, in which the firm sets a price of the share well above what any investor is expected to bid, and then reduces the price incrementally when an investor actually bids, has a relatively lower amount of fees. Risks involved according to some analysts is that IPOs   develop pricing patterns similar to those exhibited by IPOs during the dot.com era, and whether it would really provide more efficient pricing (Hensel, 2005). Risk of this mispricing can occur to lack of information on the part of the small investor, especially if the information issued could be implicit somehow to the small investor. Conclusion This study has discussed the strong possibility of Skype, joining the ranks of two famous Web companies such as Google and Morningstar, on going public. Skype have a rapid pace for growth based on its quarterly revenues and growing registered users. The best method for Skype to serve its Initial Public Offering is through an Online Auction, which again worked smoothly for both of the companies stated earlier. Each IPO type has its own costs and risks. For traditional IPOs, banking on their solid foundation of book building, it has its drawbacks of high fees and profits for companies who went public especially if the share prices do well on the first trading day. For Online auction, although has relatively low fees compared to the traditional method, has also the risk of running into similar pricing patterns which has links with the dotcom mania that occurred not too long ago. But for recommendation for Skype, the auction approach still works best, first to minimize cost on fees and a large possibility of fetching true market value stock price provided by potential strong demand due to Skype’s already significant business value.

Ancient Rome Essay -- essays research papers

In this report about ancient Rome I will be talking about a lot of different things. One thing is how ancient Rome was different from ancient Greece, their daily life activities and lifestyles, and also about their religion. The ancients Romans were very different from the ancient Greek. â€Å"The ancient Romans were down-to-earth realists, not idealists.†(Donn2) You can see this in their statues. The Greeks made statues of perfect people. The Romans created real life statues. A good example of this is a Roman emperor statue because his nose will be huge and the ancient Greek would have never done that. The Romans were fierce soldiers and wonderful builders. They built roads all over the empire and all led to Rome. The ancient Greeks had roads, but they were not built nearly as well and the Greek’s roads did not connect in any particular order. Each Greek city-state was its own unit, not like Rome because in ancient Rome, Rome was the heart of the empire. Two thousand years ago, Rome was a busy place. â€Å"It was a crowded, noisy, smoky, and dusty city, with beautiful temples and public building.†(Donn2) The rich had gracious homes, each with an entrance atrium, which was the center of the family life. For those who were not quite as rich, there were apartment buildings and for the poor there were shabby tenements. Some people walked around Rome, others were carried in covered litters, with curtained couches carried on poles by slaves. Soldiers strode through town in chain mail or leather armor. Workmen hurried in belted tunics of dark wool. Before daylight, boys hurried to school. Later in the day, Roman citizens strolled around town in white tunics. Even for the poor, life in the city was lively. There was always something going on, like the Great State festival including shows in the theatres, races, and fights in the arenas. Lower class Romans or plebeians lived in apartment houses or flats as they were called, above or behind their shops. (Davis132) Their own apartment might be quite roomy, sanitary and pleasant, occasionally with running water. In these apartment houses, an entire family might all be crowded into one room, without running water. They had to get their water from public facilities. A very real threat was fire because people were cooking meals in crowded places, and many of the apartment houses were made of wood. Upper class Romans or patri... ...ather instructed his sons in Roman law, history, customs, and physical training, to prepare him for war. â€Å"The most important lessons to be taught was reverence for gods, respect for law, obedience to authority, and truthfulness.†(Lee5) Their mother taught the girls. Girls learned to spin, weave, and sew. Early Romans worshipped nature spirits. â€Å"They came to think of these spirits as god and goddesses, while under Etruscan influence.† (McGraw-Hill 157) This god and goddesses were supposed to guide and control the Roman people. Jupiter, Mars, Apollo, Mercury and Neptune were the chief gods. Juno, Vesta, Minerva, Ceres, Diana and Venus were the principal goddesses. The ancient Romans had gods for nearly everything. Every home had a household god, and honoring their gods was a part of ancient Romans everyday life. â€Å"A new religion grew steadily in strength by striking a fresh note, with its teaching of mercy, gentleness, loving-kindness and charity towards others, even towards enemies. Festival and rites with which the motley collection of roman gods and goddesses were worshipped and for all of whom its substituted a faith in one god, the Saviour of mankind.†(Cowell193)

Out of the Norm (Breaching Experiment)

Breaching experiments are most commonly associated with ethnomethodology, a Breaching Experiment is an experiment that seeks to examine people's reactions to violations of commonly Accepted social rules or norms. Norms are defined as the expectations, or rules of behavior, that Develop out of values. For this Project, I was required to violate a norm. Basically doing Something â€Å"out of the ordinary† it’s not common at all in society, in this project we’ll find out What is people reaction by recording myself doing something that calls their attention like what I Did in this project. Asking people around the mall for â€Å"HUGS & KISSES† or saying randomly â€Å"Hi†, to them pretending I know them for a while, at the time I start developing my experiment Was difficult for me to keep a straight Face while doing it.The reaction of individuals at the beginning of this experiment was negative and doubtful, Not all dared to give me a hug, out of the ob vious fear of the camera, many had not clear What was my purpose of giving hugs so they preferred to continue with their walking Ignoring me at all, but certainly that didn’t stop me to continue researching more looks and Reactions.As well as there were people who rejected me, there were many people affordable, who gave me a warm host smile and definitely my hug. It is impressive how within a few hours of doing this Project I carefully analyze and determine the acceptances and denials of society by doing Something out of the ordinary on a typical and current day.At home I created a colorful poster to call attention of the pedestrians, it was rare for me to say to People that â€Å"Hugs and Kisses† were given away as it’s obviously this kind of experimentations Is not common at all, but that is what this experiment was about, as you seen in the video not All people react to our proposals same way so, many run away, others ended up agreeing by Being intimidated by a camera, others for being seen well to the others,  many did not wanted to Do it, others felt happy and congratulated me as intensive because of my project, others were Frightened.In fact I received positive and negative critiques, Talking about genres it as an Advantage for us as girls by received the opposite gender immediately acceptance which is a Positive response, in relation to the women they were restricted somewhat by noticing our Presence, but it was certainly a charming and fun project. Worth to mention that learning and Enjoying, what you do, is what really matters.When you are a participant in this class of experiments, you experience reactions from people Directly. From all this we learn that the criteria for each person must be respected not necessarily Being all of us alike, our way of thinking varies, leading us to think and act according to what is Taught to us, what we see and experience every day in our different cultures. Now days, in many Countries they do not use physical contact as a way of greeting or cordiality meaning that it Wouldn’t be right to go against the rules that have already been implemented and established in Their cultures.Then, how about people whom beliefs are only based in what society thinks and implement with The past of the time, without letting them create their own criteria?Well these people live daily a routine guided by the rest, and their way of seeing things is totally According to what society thinks is right or not although often have radical changes are not Really common sense to many of the individuals.Whether you way you think or believe in things is based on society or the rest of the people.. You are the owner of your criteria, accept the new changes around, adapt yourself and also opt to Implement what you think and believe is right for the growth of cultural knowledge of society in Which we live.

Existing Direct Tax System and Proposed Direct Tax Code in India Essay

Tax is defined as a compulsory payment made to the government by the individuals firms and companies without any expectation of a direct return. In general there are two types of tax system prevailing in our country. One is direct tax and other is indirect tax. Here we will restrict our discussion to direct tax only. Direct taxes are those the burden of which cannot be shifted, that is incidence and impact is on the same person. In India the tax law is governed by the finance act. The amendments are brought through budget every year which is issued on the last date of February. There have been various arguments in regard to the complexity of the tax laws. The new tax system which is proposed basically focuses on the principle of equality and simplicity. Instead of having different explanations of tax laws under different umbrellas all the laws will be brought under one head. The new tax system will be highly focused on the matter that the richer should pay heavier tax and vice-versa. For this regard the exemption limit and tax slabs will be expanded higher. Moreover under new taxation laws various taxes like securities transaction tax will also be abolished thus making the code an efficient one. With the new tax code being implemented in India one can expect to have free trade across the length and breadth of the country and peace in the bags of investors. Thus, the new tax system is an attempt to create a system with minimum loopholes of the existing system, thus contributing to the national benefit.

The History Behind the Presidents Resolute Desk

The History Behind the Presidents Resolute Desk The Resolute desk is a massive oak desk closely associated with presidents of the United States due to its prominent placement in the Oval Office. The desk arrived at the White House in November 1880, as a gift from Britains Queen Victoria. It became one of the most recognizable pieces of American furniture during the administration of President John F. Kennedy, after his wife realized its historic significance and had it  placed in the Oval Office. Photographs of President Kennedy seated at the imposing desk, as his young son John played beneath it, peeking out from a door panel, captivated the nation. The story of the desk is steeped in naval lore, as it was crafted from oak timbers of a British research vessel, HMS Resolute. The Resolutes fate became wrapped up in the exploration of the Arctic, one of the great quests of the mid-1800s. The Resolute had to be abandoned by its crew in the Arctic in 1854 after becoming locked in ice. But, a year later, it was found drifting by an American whaling ship. After a meticulous refitting at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the Resolute was then sailed by an American naval crew to England. The ship, with great fanfare, was presented by the American government to Queen Victoria in December 1856. The return of the ship was celebrated in Britain, and the incident became a symbol of friendship between the two nations. The story of the Resolute faded into history. Yet at least one person, Queen Victoria, remembered. Decades later, when the Resolute was taken out of service, the British monarch had oak timbers from it saved and crafted into a desk for American presidents. The gift arrived, as a surprise, at the White House during the administration of President Rutherford B. Hayes. The Story  of H.M.S. Resolute The bark H.M.S. Resolute was built to withstand the brutal conditions of the Arctic, and the heavy oak timbers used in its construction made the ship uncommonly strong. In the spring of 1852 it was dispatched, as part of a small fleet, to the waters north of Canada, on a mission to search for any possible survivors of the lost  Franklin Expedition. The ships of the expedition became locked in ice and had to be abandoned in August 1854. The crews of the Resolute and four other ships set out on a dangerous journey over ice to meet up with other ships that could return them to England. Before abandoning the vessels, the sailors had secured hatches and left things in good order, though it was assumed the ships would be crushed by encroaching ice. The crew of the Resolute, and the other crews, made it safely back to England. And it was assumed the ship would never be  seen again. Yet, a year later, an American whaler, the George Henry, saw a vessel drifting on the open ocean. It was the Resolute. Thanks to its astoundingly sturdy construction, the bark had withstood the crushing ice. After breaking free during a summer thaw, it somehow drifted a thousand miles from where it had been abandoned. The crew of the whaling ship managed, with great difficulty, to sail the Resolute back to harbor in New London, Connecticut, arriving in December 1855. The New York Herald published an extensive front-page story describing the Resolutes arrival at New London  on December 27, 1855. The British government was informed of the find, and accepted that the ship was now, according to maritime law, the property of the whaling crew who had found her on the open ocean. Members of Congress became involved, and a bill was passed authorizing the federal government to purchase the Resolute from the private citizens who were its new owners. On August 28, 1856, the Congress authorized $40,000 to purchase the ship, refit it, and sail it back to England to present to Queen Victoria. The ship was quickly towed to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and crews began restoring it to seaworthy condition. While the ship was still quite sturdy, it needed new rigging and sails. The Resolute sailed from the Brooklyn Navy Yard on November 13, 1856, bound for England. The New York Times published an article the following day which described the extreme care the U.S. Navy had taken in repairing the ship: With such completeness and attention to detail has this work been performed, that not only has everything found on board been preserved, even to the books in the captains library, the pictures in his cabin, and a musical-box and organ belonging to other officers, but new British flags have been manufactured in the Navy Yard to take the place of those which had rotted during the long time she was without a living soul on board.From stem to stern she has been repainted; her sails and much of her rigging are entirely new, the muskets, swords, telescopes, nautical instruments, etc., which she contained have been cleaned and put in perfect order. Nothing has been overlooked or neglected that was necessary to her most complete and thorough renovation. Several thousand pounds of powder which were found on board will be taken back to England, somewhat deteriorated in quality, but still good enough for ordinary purposes, such as firing salutes. The Resolute had been built to withstand the Arctic, but was not very fast on the open ocean. It took nearly a month to reach England, and the American crew found itself in peril from an intense storm just as it neared Portsmouth harbor. But conditions suddenly changed and the Resolute arrived safely and was greeted with celebrations. The British extended a welcome to the officers and crew who had sailed the Resolute to England. And even Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert, came to visit the ship.   Queen Victorias Gift In the 1870s the Resolute was taken out of service and was going to be broken up. Queen Victoria, who apparently harbored fond memories of the ship and its return to England, directed that oak timbers from the Resolute be salvaged and made into a gift for the American president. The enormous desk with elaborate carvings was crafted and shipped to the United States. It arrived in a huge crate at the White House on November 23, 1880. The New York Times described it on the front page the following day: A large box was received and unpacked at the White House today, and was found to contain a massive desk or writing table, a present from Queen Victoria to the President of the United States. It is made of live oak, weighs 1,300 pounds, is elaborately carved, and altogether is a magnificent specimen of workmanship. The Resolute Desk and the Presidency The massive oak desk remained in the White House through many administrations, though it was often used in upstairs rooms, out of  public view. After the White House was gutted and restored during the Truman administration, the desk was placed in a ground floor room known as the broadcast room. The enormous desk had fallen out of fashion, and was essentially forgotten until 1961. After moving into the White House, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy began exploring the mansion, becoming familiar with the furniture and other fittings. She discovered the Resolute desk in the broadcast room, obscured under a protective cloth covering. The desk had been used as a table to hold a motion picture projector. Mrs. Kennedy read the plaque on the desk, realized its significance in naval history, and directed that it be placed in the Oval Office. A few weeks after President Kennedys inauguration, the New York Times published a story about the desk on the front page, under the headline Mrs. Kennedy Finds a Historical Desk for President.   During the administration of Franklin Roosevelt, a front panel, with a carving of the Great Seal of the United States, was installed on the desk. The panel had been requested by President Roosevelt to hide his leg braces. The desks front panel opened on hinges, and photographers would snap the Kennedy children playing under the desk and looking out through its unusual door. Photographs of President Kennedy working at the desk as his young son playing under it became iconic images of the Kennedy era. After President Kennedys assassination the Resolute desk was removed from the Oval Office, as President Johnson preferred a simpler and more modern desk. The Resolute desk, for a time, was on display in the Smithsonians American Museum of American History, as part of an exhibit on the presidency. In January 1977, incoming President Jimmy Carter requested that the desk be brought back to the Oval Office. All the presidents since have used the gift from Queen Victoria crafted of oak from H.M.S. Resolute.