Sunset Boulevard Revisited :: Essays Papers

Sunset Boulevard Revisited When the film Sunset Boulevard premiered in Hollywood in 1950, the picture caused a riot in the theatre after the feature finished. Director Billy Wilder commented, â€Å"I’ve never seen so many prominent people at once – the word was out that this was a stunner, you see. After the picture ended there were violent reactions, from excitement to pure horror†(May 570). Wilder did whatever he could to keep the plot of Sunset Boulevard a secret outside of the walls of Paramount Studios because of its controversial subject matter. Today, Sunset Boulevard is hailed as one of the best films in motion picture history, so what was so controversial about it that made Hollywood so scared? The answer is that the film dealt with the truth about Hollywood and its stars. It scared people because it portrayed the life of a faded movie star in a realistic way, making members of Hollywood evaluate their careers and life after stardom. However, it was not only the plo t that terrified Hollywood, but also Wilder’s casting of Gloria Swanson and Erich Von Stroheim in two of the leading roles. Both had been film stars of the silent era back in the roaring twenties, but had fallen on hard times after their careers had fizzled. Therefore, the â€Å"stunner† that Wilder talks about is not the plot of Sunset Boulevard, but the terrifying realism demonstrated by the actor’s lives molding the characters they play in the film. The protagonist of the film is Norma Desmond, a washed-up actress who has delusions about reclaiming her fame again. At the end of the film, her sanity snaps when she loses her lover, Joe Gillis, and realizes that she will never return to the stardom that she once knew in her youth. On casting the role of Norma, Wilder knew that enlisting an actress from the early years of cinema would be ideal for the story he wanted to tell, rather than hiring a popular actress from the current Hollywood roster. Wilder discussed Mae West and Mary Pickford for the role, but finally decided on Gloria Swanson. Gloria Swanson had been very famous in the twenties, acting for such names as Sam Wood and Cecil B.

Living With Parents Vs. Living :: essays research papers

Living with Parents vs. Living Alone   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Living with your family and living all by yourself is like living on two different planets. It will affect every detail of your life, right down to the way you talk, the foods youeat, and how much money you can spend. It will also determine how often your friends visitand how much freedom you have.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Living with your parents is similar to living in a royal palace; you will enjoy the luxuries of an elegant house, clean laundry, and a slightly bigger budget, but you will also have to defer to the king and queen of the realm. You will quickly discover that if your sovereigns aren’t happy, neither are you. While living under the rule of the parents, you will have to leave the house in order to socialize. Your friends will also fear the wrath of your sovereigns, and might visit you, but only for short periods of time. You will also have to wait until your parents go away on vacation to have a suitable house party.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Living alone, however, yields much more room for fun. You can dine on pizza and beer every night if you wish and your friends can visit any time. The furniture will be of your choosing, like the smelly ceramic vase in the corner with the strange mouthpiece. And you can clean the house under your own standards of cleanliness, not your mom’s.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The new freedom comes with a greater responsibility as well. Living alone, you’llbe facing the combined wrath of the dirty dishes, the laundry, and all kinds of new bills to pay. And you can’t ask your parents for financial assistance, it will only prove to them thatyou can’t make it out on your own.

Power Of One :: Art

Power Of One On set in LA, it would cost $200 for a production assistant to make a music video for one day. In Ethiopia that same $200 means 100 children’s school fees for one term. In NYC, $5000 is the price of hair and makeup for one day, or one year’s schooling for 145 girls in Afghanistan. Sarah McLachlan had $150,000 to make a music video for her song â€Å"World on Fire†, instead she used the money to help 16 countries, and spent only $15 to make her video. Sarah McLachlan has been giving money to many diverse charities throughout her singing career, changing lives and brightening smiles to many people around the world. She also developed the Sarah McLachlan Foundation, which is dedicated to younger musicians. The difference that this one person made to thousands of distressed people will change their lives forever. The very talented, Canadian singer/songwriter Sarah McLachlan has made a difference in many lives around the world. Her Lilith Fair Tour had many proceeds, and she donated $600,000 of it to charities. She also participated in a benefit concert in Vancouver to raise money for cancer research. The concert raised more than $1.5 million, shattering the record of funds raised during any previous single Canadian benefit concert. Next, The Sarah McLachlan Foundation is dedicated to the advancement of music education for young people in Canada, and in particular, to benefit youth in under-served communities. This mandate reflects Sarah McLachlan's passion for music and her desire to share her success with her fellow Canadians. The Foundation currently underwrites music education programs, which Ms. McLachlan initiates in partnership with operating cultural and/or educational organizations. Lastly, Sarah McLachlan’s latest music video â€Å"World on Fire† shows us that there are more important things in life then making expensive music videos. With the $150,000 she could’ve spent on making a marvelous music video, she instead gave it to eleven different charities around the world that sponsor different areas of Third-World Countries. For example, $10,200 buys 2 hours of film stock or six wells, built into six different countries. In LA, catering for one day would cost $3,000, but instead it bought 10950 meals for street children in Calcutta. That $150,000 could mean just a regular paycheck to many wealthy people. To Sarah McLachlan, it meant making a difference in our not so perfect, world. Sarah McLachlan has made such an incredible difference in the lives of those living in the sixteen different countries that she lent a helping hand to. Power Of One :: Art Power Of One On set in LA, it would cost $200 for a production assistant to make a music video for one day. In Ethiopia that same $200 means 100 children’s school fees for one term. In NYC, $5000 is the price of hair and makeup for one day, or one year’s schooling for 145 girls in Afghanistan. Sarah McLachlan had $150,000 to make a music video for her song â€Å"World on Fire†, instead she used the money to help 16 countries, and spent only $15 to make her video. Sarah McLachlan has been giving money to many diverse charities throughout her singing career, changing lives and brightening smiles to many people around the world. She also developed the Sarah McLachlan Foundation, which is dedicated to younger musicians. The difference that this one person made to thousands of distressed people will change their lives forever. The very talented, Canadian singer/songwriter Sarah McLachlan has made a difference in many lives around the world. Her Lilith Fair Tour had many proceeds, and she donated $600,000 of it to charities. She also participated in a benefit concert in Vancouver to raise money for cancer research. The concert raised more than $1.5 million, shattering the record of funds raised during any previous single Canadian benefit concert. Next, The Sarah McLachlan Foundation is dedicated to the advancement of music education for young people in Canada, and in particular, to benefit youth in under-served communities. This mandate reflects Sarah McLachlan's passion for music and her desire to share her success with her fellow Canadians. The Foundation currently underwrites music education programs, which Ms. McLachlan initiates in partnership with operating cultural and/or educational organizations. Lastly, Sarah McLachlan’s latest music video â€Å"World on Fire† shows us that there are more important things in life then making expensive music videos. With the $150,000 she could’ve spent on making a marvelous music video, she instead gave it to eleven different charities around the world that sponsor different areas of Third-World Countries. For example, $10,200 buys 2 hours of film stock or six wells, built into six different countries. In LA, catering for one day would cost $3,000, but instead it bought 10950 meals for street children in Calcutta. That $150,000 could mean just a regular paycheck to many wealthy people. To Sarah McLachlan, it meant making a difference in our not so perfect, world. Sarah McLachlan has made such an incredible difference in the lives of those living in the sixteen different countries that she lent a helping hand to.

Online Buyology Essay

Descriptions of China’s economy are often paired with the best of accolades: promising, miraculous and meteoric, to name a few. But observers rarely use the words â€Å"fair† and â€Å"transparent† to describe the country’s business environment. One need not look far to see why: rampant corruption, preferential policies for state-owned companies, and copious red tape all prevent private enterprises from thriving. Yet out of this unequal playing field, e-commerce giant Alibaba and web portal Sina have created two of the fairest and most transparent business platforms in China. Alibaba allows individuals and companies to sell goods on its Taobao platform, giving vendors a set of standards and leaving everything else to their discretion. Weibo is similarly a free-for-all of Chinese expression, with the notable exception of controversial political topics. Both Taobao and Weibo have exploded since their founding and have maintained commanding leads in their respective fields. Taobao sales were US$58. 7 billion (RMB370 billion) in 2010 while Tmall, a site aimed at more developed brands spun off of Taobao in 2008, currently has about 55,000 vendors. And in the two years since Sina Weibo’s founding, the Twitter-like service has racked up 250 million users. â€Å"If you ask people, ‘Why you want to shop online? ’ I think many people will say that it gives transparency of pricing†¦ people look for convenience, people like more information,† said Phil Wei, China CEO of Export Now, a startup that allows US-based companies to list products on Tmall. â€Å"One thing [Alibaba founder] Jack Ma did is offer freedom to all these consumers and all these business units. † The free market The freedom to compete is giving rise to third-party service providers that could become some of the most dynamic companies in the Chinese economy. As has been the case with US tech giants Twitter and Ebay, Taobao and Weibo have both spawned an eco-system of third-party companies that provide related services, making the platforms practically an economy unto themselves. The type of third-party service providers surrounding the two platforms reflects the different aims of Taobao and Weibo. â€Å"Taobao is doing usiness transaction[s] while Weibo is media spreading information,† said Deco You, a Beijing-based analyst at iResearch, an online market research company. This discrepancy results in very different growth rates, said You. â€Å"The number of Taobao-related companies will increase much faster than those Weibo-related ones. † In addition to opportunities to sell goods, Taobao and Tmall offer business opportunities for subcontractors that provide services to vendors , such as store design, customer service, logistics and marketing. As a media platform, Weibo naturally lends itself to marketing companies, which began to emerge about a year after Weibo’s founding. Yang Xin, founder of marketing firm Weichuanbo, said he knows of at least 10 start-up companies that also specialize in Weibo, not to mention traditional marketing firms which have entered the arena. Despite these differences, doing business centered on either Taobao or Weibo is remarkably similar. The short lead times and relatively limited barriers to entry have resulted in fierce competition among many similar companies. Many of these third-party companies are quick to copy each other’s successes, a common tactic in China where enforcement of intellectual property rights is not as strong as in the West. But instead of knock-offs, the competition seems to foster flexibility. Weichuanbo has upgraded its software platform three times in attempt to stay ahead of copycats, Yang said. The companies also compete for the best online â€Å"real estate† on Weibo and Taobao. Taobao and Tmall sell ad spaces to the right of search results, although search results themselves are organic and depend on sales and consumer ratings. Weibo marketing companies commonly pay influential users to promote their products. Weichuanbo compensates about 200,000 users for their help, and Yang hopes that number will someday grow to 2-3 million. The instant feedback of web analytics also means that companies know immediately if they are falling behind the competition. If a user doesn’t like an attempt at viral marketing on Weibo, they are likely to say so or ignore it altogether. Shoppers on Taobao are just as quick to pass judgment. â€Å"Online, if a client comes to your store, if they stay longer than five seconds your store is not bad,† said Wei of Export Now. That means the chances they become frequent visitors will be significantly higher. But if [they stay] less than five seconds, they probably will not come back again. † Taobao- and Weibo-related companies also compete for unbridled optimism. Weichuanbo aims to have more than 300% in annual revenue growth within the next two years. Export Now expects to have some 300 US manufacturers selling through its service and US$1. 59-3. 18 million (RMB10-20 million) in revenue by the end of the year, up from virtually nothing at the present. The market will keep growing and the trend will continue in the next five to 10 years, and the expansion brings about more opportunities for third-party companies,† said Dong Xu, an analyst at research firm Analysys International. Yet growth in the Weibo community may not be sustainable. The government-led research center China Internet Network Information Center issued a report last month stating that new signups for Weibo began to slow in the second half of 2011. Weibo users nearly quadrupled from the end of 2010 to 250 million. With only 500 million internet users in China, however, continuing at that pace will be impossible. Although user growth will slow, there is still much money to be made. Spending on internet marketing is projected to grow to US$12. 5 billion (RMB79. 1 billion) in 2012, up from an estimated US$8. 1 billion in 2011 and US$5. 2 billion in 2010, according to iResearch. Marketing revenue in China is likely to continue growing quickly, said You of iResearch. Advertisers have only recently begun to shift online, attracted by ad space that is often more targeted and cost-effective than traditional print and TV advertising. Marketing and analytics companies can strive to grab more of that revenue by improving on underdeveloped technology and becoming more efficient, said You. Foreign companies with better technology and efficient operations could also enter the market, though they will still be limited by cultural barriers. Taobao and Weibo could also begin providing additional marketing services themselves. Taobao launched an internet marketing division in April 2010 called the Taobao Alliance, which quickly grew to have US$238 million (RMB1. 5 billion) in revenue, according to iResearch. This potential for new entrants means the market for third-party services is likely to remain highly competitive. Many companies that fail to keep up with the pace of innovation will undoubtedly be pushed out of business or be acquired by more successful competitors. But those that do innovate and survive will probably be among the most dynamic companies in China’s internet sector, regardless of the platform. As Wang Weili of Taobao marketing firm Shenzhen Fangwei E-Commerce puts it: â€Å"There might be other websites driving our business in the future. But where there are clients is where we will be. †

Nordstrom Retailing Management Answers

Retailing Management – Case 31 Customer Service and Relationship Management at Nordstrom 1. What steps does Nordstrom take to implement its strategy of providing outstanding customer service? To begin with, Nordstrom employees treat customers like royalty. Customers are even at the top of Nordstrom’s so-called organization chart. All lower levels work towards supporting the salespeople, who in turn work to serve the customers. Salespeople are given personalized business cards to help them build relationships with customers.They are not tied to their respective departments but to the customers, this turns their salesperson a â€Å"personal shopper† of the customers. This opportunity to sell departments enables salespeople to maximize sales and commissions while providing superior customer service. Despite all the efforts in making sure customer satisfaction is met, it starts from the employees. Nordstrom employees are treated almost like the extended family. They are treated like businesspeople and empowered to make independent decisions. Overall, Nordstrom delivers good quality product with good service. 2.How do these activities enable Nordstrom to reduce the gaps between perceived service and customer expectations, as described in Chapter 18? Nordstrom’s policies focus on the concept of the â€Å"Life –time Value of the Customer. † Their service goes above and beyond what other retail stores can offer. Even if little money is made from the first sale, the lifetime value of a customer is calculated, and the positive dollar amount of a loyal customer is staggering. A customer can expect equal level of respect from all departments from each employee. They will also experience a â€Å"personal shopper† who can help them with which product to purchase. . What are the pros and cons of Nordstrom’s approach to developing a competitive advantage through customer service? The number one pro is customer loyalty, be cause of Nordstrom’s above and beyond customer service; customers come back for the good quality products and to the experience of good salesperson. Because of customer loyalty, Nordstrom realizes huge revenue from repeat customers. And another pro is having a great employee; Nordstrom empowers their employees to be individual businesspeople who can make their own decisions within the stores. Because of this, Nordstrom’s hrinkage or loss due to theft and record-keeping errors is under 1. 5% of sales—roughly half the industry average. The only con is the loss money from returns or refunds. Nordstrom’s policy concept of â€Å"Life-time Value of Customers,† sometimes brings them to loss revenue or even negative revenue. Some customers may even abuse the fact of how easy it is to return merchandise even if it was heavily used. But the weight of a positive dollar amount of loyal customer versus loss revenue is heavier. And therefore there isn’t r eally a con to how Nordstrom caters to their customers and as well as employees.

Why to be a chemical engineer

An individual should take on chemical engineering due to requirement of diverse knowledge, the striving to better them self, and to increase their potential. In the diverse knowledge column, there are a set of base standards one has to meet. To prepare for such a high paying and Incredible Job, the applicant must have a â€Å"Bachelor's degree In chemical engineering for entry-level; masters or doctoral degree for advanced positions†. (n. Page. With this education one must have, the applicant can really be a dependable to the company's success and can be prone to raises, extra jobs and many opportunities to go deeper in their occupation. When preparing to look into actually becoming and pursuing the occupation of a chemical engineer, applicants are safe under the studies and modern statistics about supply and demand of the occupation Itself. On a Job outlook done by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the statistics stated, â€Å"Demand for chemical engineers' services depends la rgely on demand for the products of various manufacturing industries. (n. Page) To penetrate the demand and supply to a deeper extent, chemical engineering has a shining virtue in the statistics column, there is a 2% unemployment in the engineering fields, yet there are jobs that [not taken]. pig. 2) Also In the preparation portion, advice along with a Job notice states the following preparation for an applicant. â€Å"Be prepared to work In areas of â€Å"blended engineering† where chemical engineering principles walk hand in hand with mechanical, civil, electrical, and/or industrial engineering.Be willing to diversify because you will excel. † (pig. 2) Preparation for this Job is quite simple due to the consistent stated postulate of the job being blended and diversified with other engineering types. If an applicant should ever wonder why the occupation is blended, an actual account of a chemical efferent Job sectors that a chemical engineer can fit into. It is impor tant to do your homework and identify what your interests are up front. You can waste a lot of time and effort if you are taking a shotgun approach.If you are interested in a certain sector or a certain geographic area, you're better off to expend your energies on those Jobs. † With the blend of other engineering occupations, the choice of chemical engineering could benefit a possible applicant by strengthening the weaknesses in parts of their knowledge that are lacking. This blend leads to discipline in the occupation to better the applicant. Not only could this blend draw out discipline in the occupation, but could also strengthen personal and social issues one could have.An engineer with personal experience in these categories advices applicants by stating, â€Å"Work with others it varies from Job to Job, probably from about a 3 Tao 10. Accept criticism. But this is a life issue, not an engineering issue. â€Å"(n. Page) With actual experience and not statistics with stu dies, this valuable advice could prepare an applicant to be disciplined in a different category than engineering itself, therefore, expanding their diversity of knowledge and interaction. These could truly be attributes an applicant would want to desire even if they didn't decide to pursue chemical engineering.In chemical engineering, an applicant would not only want to submerse themselves in complete knowledge of chemical engineering, but also in learning qualifications that could get them noticed and hired. To be a chemical engineer, an applicant should not be only strong in the occupation itself, but also in their interaction and sociability. A chemical engineer informs a group of applicants by stating, â€Å"A lot of my work is team-oriented. I work with a few other people and we all upend on each other to bring certain results or knowledge to the group as a whole so that we can accomplish our overall goal. (n. Page) By having interactive qualities, it is clear and also postula ted that one cannot be an introverted person when looking to get hired. By actual accounts of a chemical engineer, he postulates and informs applicants that, â€Å"All engineers must at some point (if not nearly always) work as part of a group or team, and all engineers must be able to communicate the results of their work – to their peers, supervisors, upper management, subordinates, and the outside world. You could have the most wonderful idea, but if you can't convince others of its merit, your idea will die on the vine. (n. Page. ) With the plethora ideas and accounts of the social and interactive aspects, applicants most likely will look to improve on speaking or getting a certain point or idea across. More information and advice from a group of engineers concludes the interaction and speaking qualities by advising applicants, â€Å"The key, which many engineers and scientists Just don't realize, is not to dazzle the audience with technophobia, but to be as clear, conc ise, and to he point as possible. The hardest thing for many engineers to do is get to the point. This information and advice that is given could strike the desire to expand interactive qualities. Companies are not only looking for social and interactive people, but also responsible applicants. An account of an experienced chemical engineer gives his personal point of view by inferring, â€Å"l would believe that I was hired because I tend to take on lots of responsibility. † An applicant could have all the qualities required to be hired, except for the drawback of irresponsibility. While an individual could be the ND with a high probability not want an irresponsible chemical engineer to be staffed with.If an applicant were to search for a generally high paying Job, they would most likely find that outside of chemical engineering, requirements could possibly appear unreasonable and very rigorous to go through. On a Job that medians at $187,000 per year such as a medical docto r, the requirements would most likely be postulated to be longer, and more rigorous than those of chemical engineering. Statistics and accounts done by Education Portal exemplify requirements of a medical doctor by dating, â€Å"Completing a bachelor's degree program is necessary to prepare prospective doctors to enter medical school. † (n. Page. After accomplishing a bachelor's degree, which takes 4 years of college, the student must proceed to 4 years of medical school. The same education portal informs their audience, â€Å"Medical school consists of four years of medical training and education†¦ The first two years of a prospective doctor's medical school experience are devoted to book study and laboratory work to prepare students for diagnosing and treating illnesses. During the second year of med school, dents take the first portion of the United States Medical Licensing Examination, which is administered by the National Board of Medical Examiners. After these two years of rigorous training and examination, the portal informs students, â€Å"During the last two years of medical school, students begin their clinical experience, going through rotations at clinics and hospitals. Students work under attending physicians to begin their practical training in medicine. † (n. Page) In a total of 8 years of college, which could lead to financial problems, the student would fill the requirements of being a medical doctor. If a graduated high school student were to pick to pursue chemical engineering, they have the possibility and are potentially able to earn Just as much with less requirements.A popular career guidance center informs students, â€Å"A Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering is the most common entry- level requirement for Chemical Engineers. † With only 4 years of college and only in the science portion, a chemical engineer has a potential to earn â€Å"$1 1 5,000 or more† (n. Page) per year. With this s alary potential, money spent on college and time is saved to better the encouragement in actually pursuing the occupation of chemical engineering. Leading up to this well-rounded occupation includes many opportunities for experience, life benefits, and a very comfortable potential salary.In the experience column, many encounters by actual chemical engineers advise students, â€Å"Consider participating in an internship with an engineering firm while in college. Most internships are part of a four-year degree program. It will offer you a chance to apply what you have learned in the classroom in an actual work situation and will give you the opportunity to network with people in the field. (n. Page) With these benefits, dents have an opportunity to not go into their occupation completely blindfolded.A career guidance program infers why chemical engineers pick their occupation by inferring, â€Å"They should enjoy making decisions and directing the work of others, as well as be willi ng to improve their knowledge and skills on an ongoing basis. † With this inference that earned positive feedback, these potential encounters could give a chemical engineer the benefits of pursuing that occupation. Life benefits would also pursuing this occupation could potentially earn an engineer â€Å"$1 1 5,000 or more† with also a stated postulate informing applicants, â€Å"it is not uncommon to have incomes ranging from $90,000 to $130,000 or more. (n. Page) This salary would not only draw out applicants who would desire money and being comfortable, but this comfortable living could also be tied in and related to life benefits and experience. To finish off the tied in topics, retirement would not be a problem financially if the certain engineer was responsible with their money. Responsibility was also an inference for qualities an applicant should have which was stated in earlier texts. Ranging from possible, achievable, comfortable, enjoyable, beneficial, and k nowledgeably wide, the occupation of chemical engineering appears to be worth the time and money spent.Salaries tying in with comfortable living can keep a chemical engineer stress free to an extent, and with interaction within the Job itself, can potentially balance personal life, with its own occupation. An actual account of a chemical engineer concludes his interview by stating, â€Å"l believe that a chemical engineer degree is great for opening doors. † This can be agreed with due to all the benefits of pursuing the career of chemical engineering stated previously. As a Heimlich engineer himself said, this great and worth-while occupation has potential to open your doors.

Global awareness about education Essay

Education has become the foundation for socio economic development in the 21st century. Awareness in education varies with each state and continent, South Asia as a region is home to a mass of illiteracy with some 412 million illiterate adults while the situation in Europe or North America is completely opposite. But in order for us to make these estimates we have to keep in mind the definition of a literate person. Literate person is defined as one who can write a simple letter and read a mere newspaper but then again, there is no mechanism to confirm the credentials of a person who claims to be literate. AWARENESS IN PAKISTANI SOCIETY Pakistan’s illiteracy rate remains not only alarming, but concerning too, as over the years it has failed to make a noticeable improvement and still remains at 57%. 25 million children are currently out of school while 3 million have never seen the inside of a classroom. Only a small percentage of individuals exist, and those too from the elite class who afford high grade private education while the majority have never even joined school. The conditions in the rural areas are the worst as the people are not aware of the benefits and the government’s impotency only encourages this. Lack of education only gives rise to other issues such as a higher crime rate; failure to improve the percentage of women educated also keeps them not only suppressed but more prone to domestic violence. Under the 18th amendment, the government re-emphasizes the importance of education but seized to make such a difference. To summarize, it is lack of opportunity and will that serves as a barrier to education and literacy.