Researching Web 2.0 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Researching Web 2.0 - Essay Example It is a mind-set, not a hi-tech: An acceptance that Web 2.0 is not principally regarding a set of principles or apps, but a novel mindset to how the internet may be employed. Secondly it is a network upshot: This defines apps which are more efficient as the numbers of consumers increase. This outcome is renowned in computer set of connections, with the Web offering an illustration of how network jam may be more flexible as the numbers of tools on the Internet increases. Thirdly, it is a long tail: As the levels of subscribers of the Web increases, this may create business chances for niche marketplaces which formerly it might not have been lucrative to reach. It also includes small pieces, loosely related: As the scientific communications of the Web becomes stable, it becomes achievable to incorporate small apps. This allows services to be Data overload. In excess of information is day after day posted by numerous citizens with diverse notion. This creates disorder for the readers as well as the excellence of the content is not consistent. Today’s learners have been bought up with digital hi-techs at their fingertips. For this age band, utilizing Web 2.0 hi-tech at school may make education a lively rather than inactive medium, which improves the education process. With Web 2.0 hi-techs students may work together with others, make projects, converse the results to an actual audience, and obtain valuable response. Web 2.0 hi-tech may increase teaching opportunities and excellently equip learners with the 21st-century expertise essential for their future (Web 2.0, 2014). The company’s latest earnings shock helped to lift the share subsequent to numerous unsatisfactory reports during the past decade had sustained to discourage investors. Following up its concrete quarter with an additional round of products earnings would be tremendously motivating, and higher expenditure levels might be simply the ticket.

Morality and Relagion Essay Example for Free

Morality and Relagion Essay Morality refers to a set of principles that guide an individual on how one evaluates right and wrong. People believing in religion consider morality is shaped by religion because they believe that morality can be understood only in the context of religion; therefore, those religious people insist if there were no religion, people would be out of control. However, religious beliefs give people a wrong definition of moral value, indeed, morality is shaped only by instinct and environment. Regardless of religion, morality comes from instinct. Human beings are social creatures; they have to live in groups for reproduction and survival that has not changed at all since the ancient time. Looking back to history, people live in groups to share food, to take care of infants and build social networks to meet the daily challenges of their environment. Similarly, at the present time, people value their society for the same purposes. Even though the way to live has changed for instance, in the Stone Age people hunted and shared foods for their living, unlike people who do business for their living nowadays; they still depend on each other for reproduction and survival. Therefore, people instinctively have to keep their relationship between each other, and morality is formed to maintain the relationship. Consequently, every human being has morality regardless of religious beliefs. If the religious people insist that religions shape morality, non-religious people or atheists shouldn`t have morality. However, those people do have morality and they can judge the things right or wrong like other people who believe in religion. Furthermore, people who believe in religion said that the religion shapes morality, yet there are so many different religions around the world. Some people believe in Christianity, other believes in Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam etc. Each religion worships different Gods, and has difference belief systems. Christians, for instance, believe in Jesus Christ while Buddhists venerate Gautama. Even though the same religion, there are different branches. Christianity, for instance, has Catholics and Protestants; on the other hand, Buddhism separate to Mahayana and Theravada. Therefore, if the morality is formed base on religion, the definition of morality should vary since there are many different regions. However, morality that people use in an attempt to do the right thing is the same. â€Å"Trolley Problem†, posted by Phillipa Foot in her 1967 paper, â€Å"Abortion and the Doctrine of Double Effect† help for clear understanding about morality (Clark). She was a British philosopher, and she explained if a person put in dilemma to choice for saving five people`s lives or a person`s life, he or she must choose five people`s lives to save instead of one no matter whatever religion he or she believes. Therefore, religion does not affect morality. If the religions control people`s moral values, different religions will define different moral values, and the answer about â€Å"Trolley Problem† may vary. On the other hand, not only humans but also animals have morality. Frans de Waal, Charles Howard Candle professor of Primate Behavior in the Emory University, shared the experimental results that showed the moral behavior in animals. Chimpanzees help each other to get food, and they reconcile after fighting. Those behaviors pretty much indicate their morality (Waal). Since both human and animals have morality, religion that only existence in human world could not be a source of forming moral. Environment shapes moral values. Religion does not affect moral values, but environment does affect because adaption on environment is very important for survival. Darwin`s evolutionary theory â€Å"Natural Selection† proved that all living organisms modified to adapt the environment. Consequently, moral value is different from each environment where people live. Western countries are more individualistic while Asian countries are more collectivistic. Americans, for example, individuality is a moral value; however, helping each other is a moral value in China. Mr Meier, ESL 33B professor, who has an experience for teaching both American and Asian students, mentioned that American students do not willing help each other during the test because they believe self-1 / 2 reliance as a moral value. Contrast, Asian students prefer to help each other during the test because using each other to achieve their gold is a moral value for Asian countries. Consequently, governments get involved in defining the different moral values. The US government has less control on the society; therefore, people have more freedom, and it leads to enhance the self- reliance as a moral value. However, Asian countries, where government strictly controls various aspects, have less freedom and people in those countries have to rely on each other to get to their goals. Therefore, those people regard helping each other as a moral value. In addition, cultures, which co-exist in different environments, also define the moral values. In Asian cultures, people are taught to respect and care elder people. Therefore, people from Asia believe respecting the elder and taking care of those people as a moral value. For instance, in Japan, national health insurance system is running very well because people are willing to pay insurance fees, which helps elder people who need health care services. People consider even though they do not need health services right now, elder people who need health care gain the benefits from insurance system, and they are happy to help those people by paying monthly insurance fees. However, in Western culture, people regard self-belief as a moral value, and they do not prefer to help elder people. Therefore in the US, national health insurance system does not exist, and even though President Obama tried to construct the health insurance system, it did not work well because of different moral values. Therefore, moral value is pretty much related to environment. Religious beliefs exacerbate the collapse the morality. Religion controlled its believers, and people believing in religion tend to believe whatever the rules that religion lay down. For instance, sky burial, which is take place in Tibetan Buddhism, is the most gross burial way if we think from our common sense of morality. Human corpses are placed on a mountaintop as a prey for birds such as vultures, eagles and other scavengers. Buddhist monks are subjected to the sky burial funerary. They go to the mountaintop by themselves to conduct the funeral ceremony. However, that is normal for people who believe in Tibetan Buddhism because religion teaches the believers â€Å"Humans are part of nature. (People) arrive in the world naturally and they leave it naturally. Life and death are part of a wheel of reincarnation. Death is not to be feared. † (Xinran 159). Therefore, they were controlled by religion to believe conducting sky burial is the way to return the body back to the nature. On the other hand, religious belief ignite the people`s competitive spirit that lead to break morality. Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is one of the examples that easy to understand for how religious belief stir the people`s competitive spirit. ISIS, the biggest Islamic terrorist group, attempts to create a new Islamic country in Middle East. ISIS has rapidly expanded by taking over Iraq and Syria territories. ISIS has killed so many innocents who do not follow Islam. This immoral behavior occurred because of ISIS, which was created by extreme Muslim believers, who regard their religion as the best on the world. They want to spread their religion; therefore, they force other people to become a part of Muslim believer by using immoral ways. Therefore, religious beliefs lead people to collapse the morality. In conclusion, morality is important to maintain our society. Every living organism that depends on each other to maintain life cannot survive without morality. However, humans misunderstand that religion shapes morality, but if we think critically, we can understand that morality is formed not because of religion but because of instinct and environment. Works Cited Clark, Josh. â€Å"How the Trolley Problem Works. † How Stuff Works. N. p. ,n. d. Web, 24 Oct. 2014. Waal, Frans De. â€Å"Moral Behavior in Animals. † TED. N. p. , Nov. 2011. Web. 24 Oct. 2014 Xinran, Xue. â€Å"Sky Burial. † Sky Burial. New York: Anchor Books, July. 2006. Print. POWERED BY TCPDF (WWW. TCPDF. ORG).

Amazons New Store Utility Computing Information Technology Essay

Amazons New Store Utility Computing Information Technology Essay With the leadership of the dynamic, young chief executive and co-founder Jeff Bezos known as the king of cyber commerce, who started a business with selling books from his house basement in a Bellevue garage to creating Seattles biggest Internet venture, Amazon made the first sale on the cyber and crossed the borders with its invention that gave millions of people the opportunity to sell and buy online with ease and freedom. Amazon the worlds largest online retailer was probably the first truly worldwide community that was built online with allowing average consumers to create online product reviews and gave them the opportunity to research them before buying. (Frey, Cook, 2008) Since its toddler years, Amazon creation was based on new and invented ideas which no one has made before, first by adopting the explosion of cyber era and creating the first online store which gave consumers easy access to products they never seen before with a feasible price they will not find in the retail stores, then Amazon astonished the public by providing the first online community that allows consumers to create product reviews and gave them a chance to closely know and research the products before they buy them. In despite of losses that exceeded a billion dollar in its early years, Amazon didnt stop its continuous improvements and revolutionary products and services with introducing new concepts and technologies which are completely new inventions no one made before which have an extensive advantage and promise in the advancement of the whole world. One of Amazons recent great inventions in the cyber is cloud computing, also known as on-demand computing or utility computing which will be our main concern in the discussion of this case study and to discover how Amazon which is not known as a technology company exceeded its reputation as a retailer and possessed an infrastructure considered by many to be among the most robust in the world and getting ahead of technology companies like IBM, HP, and Sun Microsystems with offering utility computing without requiring service-level agreements. (Laudon, 2010) Also among our study of Amazons cloud computing, we will compare other suppliers of utility computing and exhibit the services they provide, their availability promise, payment model, and their target clients in comparison to new services offered by Amazons utility computing. Furthermore, I will go through some of the IT infrastructure hardware and software components which are explained in chapter five of the Laudon, K. C., Laudon J. P., Management Information Systems textbook and discuss their relevant to Amazons case; also we will describe how these components fit into Amazons Web services and/or the customers that subscribe to these services. In the last part of our discussion, I will try to discuss an idea of a Web-based startup business and explain how this business could utilize Amazons S3 and EC2 services which should give us a practical example of a real live scenario. Cloud Computing: What Is It Really? There has been a huge amount of Hype around the term Cloud Computing, with people wanting to move Applications on the Cloud, or Security on the Cloud and now even talks of an OS on the Cloud. The question for folks who have just heard of the term typically is, what really is Cloud Computing and How is it going to change things in IT? (Raghupathi, 2009) So lets first explain in more detail the concept of cloud computing and what it does, so we can understand the whole story and discover its pros and cons. Well Cloud Computing has recently emerged as one of the very hot technology trends and is quickly turning into a game changing trend given the significant implications that it can have on all of IT and IT driven businesses. Cloud Computing as the term indicates implies using the Cloud Infrastructure or Internet Based Shared Infrastructure to host and access critical business and personal applications. Typically it involves hosting applications and their corresponding data on shared servers on the Internet and accesses the applications through a browser. (Raghupathi, 2009) Today Cloud Computing changed the way of IS with complete shift from a desktop based model. Most applications have been installed on desktops and are used locally and typically needs to be installed on each desktop that needs to access that specific application or data. With the Cloud computing model, applications are Web Based hosted on a Cloud Server and users can access their applications and data from any machine which has a browser and Internet access. Also Cloud Computing change the way of hosting Applications and services. Today most businesses own and operate their own servers within their network firewalls and host and maintain their application and servers. This typically adds an additional overhead for companies to maintain their infrastructure and is typically sub optimal in terms of utilization of resources. Moving the Cloud model involves businesses hosting their applications and services on third party servers using shared resources. (Raghupathi, 2009) Amazons Technology Services Amazon provides cloud computing, also known as on-demand computing or utility computing. Similar to other utility providers like electric, water, and natural gas, Amazon provides computing capacity to businesses that want to pay only for what they use. (IT Infrastructure, 2009) Amazon can generate extra revenue from other businesses by offering its excess capacity to those that need it. Like most companies, Amazon used only a small portion of it total computing capacity at any one time. Its infrastructure is considered by many to be among the most robust in the world. (Laudon, 2010) Subscribers to the Simple Storage Service (S3) can use only what they need without having to purchase their own hardware and software. That reduces the total cost of ownership for small and medium-size businesses. The system is scalable and reliable for both Amazon and subscribers. The Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) service enables businesses to utilize Amazons servers for computing tasks without having the overhead costs. Risks associated with incorporating the technology are minimal for businesses-Amazon takes most of the risks. Companies may want to go with more established names in computing; Amazon is not known as a technology company-its reputation is more as a retailer. Its combating this perception by not requiring service contracts. However, its competitors like IBM, HP, and Sun Microsystems may follow Amazons lead and offer utility computing without requiring service-level agreements. Some companies are wary of using a supplier that doesnt offer SLAs which guarantee the availability of services in terms of time. The growth of Amazon Web Services (AWS) could be harmful to its Web services line as well as its retail line if the company doesnt position itself to handle a dramatic increase in demand on its infrastructure. (Laudon, 2010) Customers may experience outages in the service and not have any recompense since there are no service level agreements-only Amazons word that it will maintain 99.9 percent availability. (IT Infrastructure, 2009) Businesses, large and small, can benefit from using AWS. The service relieves small business from the TCO of having its own systems. AWS creates the opportunity for others to work at Web scale without making the mistakes that Amazon has already made and learned from. Large businesses can use AWS as an auxiliary unit without having to increase their hardware and associated TCO. (Laudon, 2010) In my perspective, Amazon made a great shift in the IT field with the introduction of Cloud Computing services. Having the ability to run many applications on many different operating systems and storing your data through a web browser for a fraction of a dollar with no need to multiple devices or operating systems is really awesome. In using Amazons services, individuals and especially developers have more advantage than mid-size or large businesses because they cant afford to have many devices or systems if they want to try different applications or operating systems but with using Amazons services everyone will have the opportunity. To learn how Amazon Web Services enables you to achieve your goals with great flexibility, go to Amazon Web Services site and sign up to free account and explore the potentials of Cloud Computing Figure Home Page Of Amazon Web Services Source: http://aws.amazon.com/ Capacity planning, scalability, and TCO Amazon must provide hardware capacity planning and scalability for not just its own needs but for all its subscribers. Overestimates will create a drain on Amazons financial assets. Underestimating capacity and scalability will create shortages for its own business and its subscribers. Too many instances of non-availability will create the impression that Amazon cant manage the service. Estimating scalability for such a large, diverse number of users without breaking down is a huge task. Amazon must bear the total TCO of its services, all the while ensuring it can profit from it. The services subscribers benefit from not having to worry about these issues and not bearing the brunt of TCO issues. (IT Infrastructure, 2009) I think Amazon should pay a serious attention to the capacity and scalability issues because these two factors may lead to the demise of Amazon. Amazon should plan a head to increase its capacity due to the proliferation of its AWS and the growing number of subscribers to its cloud computing services. Utility Computing Suppliers There are many different suppliers of utility computing and everyone provide different services with different prices and variety of targeted clients, even though Amazon is considered to be the cheapest utility computing supplier which made it possible to everyone to have a chance of trying and implementing this new trend of technology. In the table below we will compare Amazon to other two suppliers based on different criteria. Criteria Amazon Sun Microsystems Hewlett-Packard HP Available Services Amazon provides cloud computing through Web Services, Simple Storage System (S3), and Compute Cloud (EC2) offers utility computing through grid computing provides utility computing for PCs, server storage, mail and messaging, print, and centralized data center infrastructure through its distributed grid technology. Target Clients Serve start-up businesses because it has been geared towards small and medium sized businesses since its inception. It doesnt bring the same baggage to the table as the larger, more diverse companies do It provides platforms for its target users in computational mathematics, computer aided engineering, electronic design automation, financial services, life sciences computing tasks. Software developers It targets small, medium and large sized companies for a variety of computing services Price 15 cents per 1 gigabyte of stored data per month and charge 10 cents per CPU hour It charges $1 per CPU hour Costs were not available on its web site Availability It promises 99.9 percent availability It promises 99.9 percent availability 99.9 percent If I decide to launch a start-up web business, I will definitely choose Amazon for my web services and needs, also I believe most of us will be in the same track as I did because Amazon is the cheapest supplier and it has been geared towards small and medium sized businesses since its inception and It promises 99.9 percent availability. Furthermore, everyone when starts a business especially online will always look for efficient and affordable services. Amazons IT infrastructure Amazons Web services use the following hardware components: (IT Infrastructure, 2009) client/server architecture as the server grid computing distributed processing storage area networks virtualization multi-core processors Customers using Amazons Web services utilize the following hardware components: (IT Infrastructure, 2009) client/server architecture as the client distributed processing storage area networks Amazons Web services use the following software components: (IT Infrastructure, 2009) Linux and Unix operating system software Java, Ajax, and HTML as the provider XML Software as a Service (Saas) as the software provider Customers using Amazons Web services utilize the following software components: (IT Infrastructure, 2009) Windows operating system or Mac OS Java, Ajax, and HTML as the recipient Software as a Service (Saas) as the software user Mashups, widgets, cloud computing could be used by customers Startup Business Utilizing Amazons Utility Computing Every student knows how expensive is buying text books directly from the college/university book store which most of us sometimes cannot afford if want to graduate without a heavy load of student loans. My startup business idea will be based on this issue in which I will try to give students an affordable source for buying textbooks and then selling them back at the end of the semester. My startup business will be an e-commerce website the give the users the ability to buy or sell textbooks online or give them an option to buy electronic version of the text book they need which is in common more affordable than buying a hard copy. Every new user will sign up for a free account and provide his/her Name, Address, DOB, University/College, School Year, Major, and Last Semester. Then based on this information which the user just entered, I will add his university, major, and current term to my database of universities, their majors, terms, and related courses with the required text books. The users will have three options: buy a used book which is available and offered by another user, list his/her book for sale, or buy an electronic version of the text book. The users will have the freedom to put the prices they want to sell their text books for, in case they want to buy a text book they are free to accept the listed price or to negotiate with the seller to further reduce the price, the last option will be a fixed price for the electronic version of the text book which I will get from other providers and add a three dollars as a profit. When users sell their text books, they will pay three dollars for listing fee. This startup business will utilize the following Amazons web services: Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud which delivers scalable, pay-as-you-go compute capacity in the cloud. (Amazon Web Services. 2010) Amazon SimpleDB which works in conjunction with Amazon S3 and Amazon EC2 to run queries on structured data in real time. (Amazon Web Services. 2010) Amazon Simple Storage Service that provides a fully redundant data storage infrastructure for storing and retrieving any amount of data, at any time, from anywhere on the Web. (Amazon Web Services. 2010) Utilized EC2 and S3 of the proposed system Our e-commerce website which will provide students with affordable text books will have the below EC2 and S3features: Instance type is a Standard Instance and this family of instances is well suited for most applications. At the start up of the business we will choose Small Instance (Default) 1.7 GB of memory, 1 EC2 Compute Unit (1 virtual core with 1 EC2 Compute Unit), 160 GB of local instance storage, 32-bit platform which will be more than enough at the first year of launce. Operating System: we will run the website on the Amazon Linux AMI Databases: we will run the website on Oracle Database Management System which is the most reliable and famous among DBMS. (Amazon Web Services. 2010) In the first year of the business launch, we will run the website utilizing EC2 and S3 by choosing the basic plans which are cost effective because at this time our online book store will still unknown and in its early stage and we need to focus our attention on marketing and promoting the website. At this stage, we will not consume a huge amount of data storage or data transfer bandwidth, so choosing basic plans of EC2 and S3 will be more than enough to run our business for its first year of launch. After the first or second year of the launch, if we notice the website is getting well known and we have thousands of users and sales transactions, we can decide and make a plan of expanding our EC2 CPU instance and S3 data storage which can be implemented easily in Amazon AWS without even service interruption. Figure Snapshot of Proposed EC2 Implementation Source: http://aws.amazon.com/ Figure Snapshot of Proposed Amazon S3 Features Source: http://aws.amazon.com/ Figure Snapshot of Proposed Amazon SimpleDB Source: http://aws.amazon.com/ Costs Associated With Utilizing EC2 and S3 Services The total implementation cost of our proposed business based on the selected plans of EC2, S3, and Amazon Simple DB is depicted in the figures below using Amazon AWS Simple Monthly Calculator Figure Estimates of Implementation Costs Source: http://aws.amazon.com/ Figure Costs of S3 Source: http://aws.amazon.com/ Conclusion Today Cloud Computing changed the way of IS with a complete shift from a desktop based model. The term Cloud Computing implies using the Cloud Infrastructure or Internet Based Shared Infrastructure to host and access critical business and personal applications. Typically it involves hosting applications and their corresponding data on shared servers on the Internet and accesses the applications through a browser. (Raghupathi, 2009) Amazon was smart to bet early and bet big on the cloud computing opportunity and has transformed the computing landscape and nurtured what is generically known as the cloud computing industry. By turning expensive storage and computing hardware into a billable service, it has opened up new vistas for entrepreneurs and made corporations rethink how they build and use their computing and storage resources. (Malik, 2010) Amazon gave the opportunity to thousands of individuals to have an affordable access to their full line of computing and web services with pay-as-you-go rule and without any contracts or agreements. Also costs are billed per consumption, so no one get charged while not using Amazons web services. Amazon has twelve AWS product lines, EC2 and S3 are the most services that compete in this subcategory. AWS essentially rents out IT infrastructure to companies that seek to outsource IT needs such as Application Hosting, Web Hosting, High Performance Computing, Storage, E-Commerce, and more. (Malik, 2010) Utilizing some of Amazons web services and cloud computing technologies we can manage to start up a effective and powerful business with an affordable monthly payment without a need to an expensive startup costs which result from buying PCs, servers, and other software applications which are critical components required for the operation of any new business. Figure Amazons Web Services Infrastructure awsplatformexplained.gif

Lincoln Could He Have Preserve :: essays research papers

From the time the South demanded the return of Fort Sumter and Fort Pickens, tension had been building in expectation of Lincoln’s reply. The options available to Lincoln were limited, and those that were available were further limited by constraints of time and man-power. Lincoln’s options were also limited by his goals. Lincoln had a set agenda, with preserving the Union at the head of the list. Lincoln also aimed to preserve Fort Sumter and Fort Pickens. Lincoln’s most pressing goal was to instigate the war without seeming to be the aggressor. This proved to be the most difficult goal, because to achieve this, he had to know how far to push without seeming to push at all. An additional goal was to perhaps lure the border states onto the northern side. This was an important goal because it fell in line with Lincoln’s un-hostile attitude. By being attacked first, he could say he was responding to an act of war on the United States. One of Lincoln’s options was to sit by and do nothing. This was not really an option, however, because abandoning his soldiers at this fort would not only lower the morale of his entire army, but could also turn many of his supporters against him. So, needless to say, Lincoln could not really consider this as an option. Lincoln, for a time, also entertained the idea of compromise. The southern resolve was so concrete that this idea was abandoned rather quickly. Another idea, proposed by Secretary of State Seward, was to abandon Fort Sumter and concentrate on Fort Pickens. Lincoln did not accept this idea either, mainly because abandoning a fort anywhere in the South would recognize the South as an independent nation. Even so, Seward managed to get a force together, and taking one of the strongest ships in the United States Navy, went to Pickens anyway. One idea with similar traits was the idea to abandon both forts, leaving the South. Though open to consideration, this was not at all in line with Lincoln’s thinking. Again this would recognize the South as an independent nation, which would finalize the secession. For lack of a better idea, some suggested the reinforcing of the forts, to protect them from bombardment. This idea was cast aside also, because, first of all, Fort Sumter lies in between two points of land, both protected by forts. To make this idea work, those forts would have to be taken, too.

How does the filming help to make ‘The Shining’ an exceptional Horror movie? Essay

Stanley Kubrick a.k.a. â€Å"The Master Filmmaker,† was born on July 26, 1928 in the Bronx, New York City. By age 13 he had developed passions for jazz, drumming, chess and photography. In 1951 at 23 years of age, Kubrick used his savings to finance his first film, a 16-minute documentary short about boxer Walter Cartier. On March 7th, 1999, Stanley Kubrick died in his sleep of a heart attack. He was 70 years old. The Shining is a typical example of the horror genre because it works by arousing irrational fear. Stanley Kubrick uses step down imagery to make the terror in the horror, controlled and not too over whelming for the audience, to make it seem more believable. The horror is a paradox because it presents a vision of terror to the audience but the audience try to fight everything the director is trying to achieve by telling themselves that, ‘it is just a movie, its not real, you can’t scare me.’ The Shining was based on Stephen King’s third published novel, which became a best seller upon its release in 1977. What also makes The Shining such an exceptional horror movie is the way Stanley Kubrick keeps the horror hidden from the audience and like most good horror films, there is always a sense of the supernatural, good vs. evil and a sense of isolation. Personally I feel that the Shining is a typical horror film because it’s a situation where the victims are isolated from the outside world and there is a mad man or something out of the ordinary killing them, which is true of most horror films like Nightmare on Elm Street, The Ring, Signs, Jeepers Creeper’s 1 and 2 and Dracula. The camera at the start of the film is moving over a huge mountain pass. We are shown a tiny Volkswagen car driving down a road, the film has many of the most beautiful, atmospheric cinematography, by John Alcott. This scene gives the impression of man’s vulnerability, when seen against the massive powers of nature – a sense of ‘the other’ is also created here by the aerial photography – a dark power looking down on the tiny ‘beetle’. Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) is attending a job interview for the position of a winter caretaker at The Overlook Hotel, located in the rockies of Colorado, built on an Indian burial ground. At the beginning of this film Jack conducts himself as a calm, charming man. He goes for the interview looking smart wearing a collar and a tie, shaven and looking very confident. During his interview the camera is films from behind Jack, making it seem as though someone or something is watching Jack – a sense of the ‘other’ and there are some frontal shots in which the background is peach, soft and warm. This presents a comforting, secure atmosphere. As the movie builds up we begin to release that the Overlook Hotel is not just any other normal Hotel but haunted although the horror is kept hidden from us we just see parts of the supernatural, although as we discover through the movie that this is much more than a mere haunted house tale. One of the things that makes it so interesting is that it shows a wide variety of elements that lead to Jack’s insanity to the point that we are left with the question on our minds whether it really was the house that leads to Jack’s insanity or the isolation for six months, so far from the outside world or Jack’s own psychological make-up or even reincarnation. We are also told very early in the film, that the hotel has something of a ‘history,’ in summary, some years previously, a crazed-psycho (the ex-caretaker) killed his wife and two children by chopping them up into small pieces with an axe! But once the family settle into the caretaker lifestyle it turns out that Torrance’s wife does most of the ‘caretaking’ while her grouchy husband seeks inspiration for a novel he is writing. At first everything goes well but as time goes by, he gets increasingly frustrated with his failure to write and takes it out on his wife (Shelly Duvall). Slowly, Jack begins to change he becomes pale, his clothes become rougher looking more like a labourer and becomes more and more irritable & malevolent towards both his wife and son. In the background, their son played by Danny Lloyd also starts having problems of his very own when he starts receiving psychic visions (E.S.P) of twin girls who were murdered a couple of years ago by their father who was also the caretaker at the Hotel and there are warnings from Tony of ‘redrum’ which spells murder when you read it backwards. It is clear that both Jack and Danny have some form of psychic gift as they are both able to pick-up the Hotel’s own psychic emissions of the horrors that it has seen. The down side is that the visions end up making Jack, go insane. Throughout the movie, the camera follows the action like someone is watching (presence in the Hotel) and there is always a sense of claustrophobia, For example when Danny is cycling in the corridors and he meets the two murdered girls, the camera when he meets them zooms to his face then back to the girls four times and gets closer with each shot then a close up again to Danny then a close up of the girls’ dead bodies four times but not for long so that the audience probably would not find it sickening. We know that the twin girls are ghosts because there is an axe on the floor and blood, and when talking to Danny they use repetition, â€Å"Come and play with us, for ever and ever and ever† which is the Lord’s Prayer. After that scene Jack sees a vision of a lift and when the doors open blood flows like a river, Personally I felt that this was technically clever because it emphasis on the horror aspect. The scariest moment in the movie is when Jack has gone completely insane and is trying to â€Å"correct† his wife and son because he had no real idea what his job as the caretaker there was really till Mr Grady (ex-caretaker) had told him to kill his family because they were trying to damage the house and that his son had brought a coloured cook into the house, the climax of the scariest point is when Jack says â€Å"Here’s Johnny† which was rated scariest horror scene out of hundred horror films. This is clever as it uses comedy to make the tragedy seem even more horrific. The end scene is a shot of Jack, frost-bitten and dead in the snow apparently hours later, is a satisfying and scary ending. But Stanley Kubrick delivers an ultimate conclusion, which Stephen King could never have achieved in his novel. The haunting music begins again, the camera sweeps to a framed photo on the wall, and we see a portrait of a ballroom party from decades ago. After the camera zooms in thrice, Jack is seen in the centre of the photo, and the caption reads, â€Å"Overlook Hotel, 1921.† This caption indicates that Jack, or at least his spirit, has always been present in the Overlook Hotel. Kubrick brilliantly arranges each shot in the film so that the viewer is easily drawn into the story. There is no single scene, shot, or camera angle, which does not denote a deeper meaning or have symbolic value. This movie is perhaps Stanley Kubrick’s greatest work. I feel that this movie could not have had a better cast, and there is nowhere else in the world where this movie could have been set. I feel that Jack Nicholson’s performance in The Shining was absolutely stunning. I also feel that without Jack Nicholson, â€Å"The Shining† would have been just another haunted house film. Jack Nicholson’s depiction of a man teetering on the brink of insanity was brilliant. We watch in terror as the insanity slowly settles in and exploding fiercely into this man, transforming him from one who is trying to repair his fragile family life into a stark raving lunatic bent on destroying everything he loves. It is truly a magical movie experience. So I feel that The Shining really is the greatest horror movie ever made.

Be What God Made You essays

Be What God Made You essays Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those others that have been tried time to time. Winston Churchill, after being witness to several forms of government, agreed with most free peoples that democracy is the best choice of government. Democratic governments offer its citizens the freedom to conduct their own affairs as they see fit, provided it is within the bounds of the law. Most people see democracys greatest attributes as the philosophy of one ballot, one vote, freedom of speech, and freedom of religion. Admittedly, a democratic government is not perfect, but it is still better than most other forms of government. Democracies embrace British philosopher, John Lokes idea that the leader is allowed to rule by consent of the people. The people are allowed to show their consent by casting ballots. Despite the fiasco behind Election 2000, this system of choosing leaders has proved to be a good one. Part of the appeal of the democratic voting practice is the philosophy of one ballot, one vote and the fact that once the election is over and the votes are counted, the victor is declared without question. People are not allowed to vote more that once per election and elections are not held repeatedly until the results are to the liking of one of the candidates. This was not the case in Germany when Adolf Hitler was vying for power. Hitler forced several elections to be held until the results were in favor of his political party. To help ensure favorable results, people were taken to polling places so they could vote several times for the Nazis. One of the most basic freedoms granted to citizens in a democratic society is the freedom of speech. Not having to fear retribution ...