Film essays

Film essays The Power of Illusion Isolation has a very powerful effect on some people, and an extreme case of this is shown in Stanley Kubrick's film The Shining. The name alone tends to scare me as scenes of Jack Torrence (Jack Nicholson) flash through my head. When the story of a prior family that served as winter overseers for the Overlook Hotel, during which time the husband became insane, is told we hear Jack reply, "You can rest assured Mr. Ulman, that's not going to happen to me." Kubrick uses many effective techniques to create this movie from Stephen King's novel, and at the same time intensify it on the screen. The only two characters that really understand the powers that the hotel hold are Jack's son Danny and Dick Hallorann, the cook. Flashback type images are used throughout when Danny has a shining experience. With so much beauty and peacefulness surrounding the hotel it is hard to imagine that seclusion could destroy your mind state. Enough time to think was not actually what Jac k needed at the hotel since he happened to have too much time. The main issue this movie continuously throws in the audience's face is the question of truth and illusion, and trying to figure out exactly why things are happening. Right from the beginning, the eerieness of this movie hits the audience with full force, as Kubrick uses the soundtrack to do an amazing job. The music along with the beautiful nature shots seemed to give me a lighter case of anxiety then that which was felt during Regio's Koyaanisqatsi. Towards the latter end of the movie when it's very obvious that Jack has lost his mind, the music becomes much louder and intense causing a tremendous effect on the audience. Kubrick capitalized wonderfully on using deep-focus photography to accentuate the vastness of the hallways throughout the hotel. In watching Danny ride his Big Wheel around, and observing Danny and his mother (Shelly DuVaul) walking in the shrubbery labyrinth we see excellent ...

Abortion Pro

Abortion Pro At present it is evident that the topic that elicits endless and hot debates is the topic of abortion. As a result there are two groups, pro-choice movement and pro-life movement supporting and opposing abortion respectively. Although there are various definitions for abortion, I will define abortion as a safe medical procedure aimed at early termination of pregnancy (Thomson 6).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Abortion: Pro-choice and Pro-life Movement specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Statistics show that more and more women are carrying out abortion; in those countries where it is not legalized, women are forced to hide the fact of abortion (Boonin 92). They are compelled to do it in hospitals that do not have qualified personnel and necessary equipment. This ultimately results in serious health complications. Based on the arguments of Mills who brought forth the concept of utilitarianism and greatest good for the greatest number of people, abortion should be considered to be right in certain circumstances. For instance, if a woman from a given community is raped and gets pregnant, it is worth noting that the woman and the unborn child will be called names and scolded; this ultimately depicts a bad picture of that society (Boonin 34). Since there is no one who wishes to be called bad names, it would be rational to support abortion in this case since it will bring happiness not only to the woman but also the entire community. It has been shown that women who get pregnant from illegal acts such as rape, incest more often than not undergo serious psychological harm as compared to their victims particularly when they continue carrying the pregnancy and later in life when the child is born (Thomson 17). The question arises whether a woman should give birth when indeed she is living in extreme poverty. In my humble opinion, a decision to medically terminate the pregnancy is a lesser evil compared t o bringing the child into this world where he or she will not be provided with enough food, clothing, education, parental care and medical care. This can be exemplified by the happening in developing countries where there is increasing number of street children and street families. This could not be the case if these women had an option of legally terminating the pregnancy (Thomson 22). On the same line of reasoning, ethics and laws of the land advocate for personal freedom and privacy. This is where an individual is allowed to decide the course of his or her life. This is very important in terms of human civil rights. For this reason a pregnant woman is the one who knows what is happening in her body. If she concludes that she is not capable of bearing the stresses associated with pregnancy, then she needs to have a choice of either carrying the pregnancy or terminating it. When the law does not allow her to procure an abortion this amounts to serious violation of her right to basi c freedom (Boonin 23).Advertising Looking for essay on health medicine? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More As suggested by Thomson 12 another scenario is when doctors have shown that the unborn child is suffering from serious health complications and he or she will not lead a normal life. In this situation, it would amount to subjecting the mother and family to serious financial burden as well as stress in paying medical bills for the rest of the child’s life. In my view, it would be better to terminate such a pregnancy. Abortion should be legalized since there is increased a number of unsafe abortion which put the lives of women in danger. Boonin, David. 2003. A Defense of Abortion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Print. Thomson, Jarvis. A Defense of Abortion. Philosophy and Public Affairs, 1.1 (1971): 47-66. Print.

Wind Turbines for Power Generation Research Paper

Wind Turbines for Power Generation - Research Paper Example For instance, there are activities that can be applied in setting up these structures, which include manufacturing of materials and transportation of these components to the sites. Furthermore, CO2 omissions occur in the process of turbines construction and other supporting infrastructure, maintenances and decommissioning of the site (Kubiszewski, Clevelan & Endres, 2010, 286). However, this is one of disadvantages associated with wind turbine for power generation; thus, there will be other disadvantages discussed in this paper. Opponents of wind power generation whether onshore or offshore claim that there increased requirements of construction and operation, which does not put into consideration other types of power generation (Firestone & Kempton, 2007, 1584). Therefore, there is need to considered requirement of installation energy in order to assess the suitability of wind power generation based on its cost-effectiveness in the process of developing it as a source of energy. In this case, the cost incurred in the process of setting up the infrastructures need for site installations is not comparable to the anticipated energy generation during the lifespan of these structures. On other hand, the time consumed to install and generate energy is long; hence it results to increased costs in manufacturing and construction of these infrastructures due reduced payback period (Blanco, 2009, 1372). In addition, there have been significant increases of costs in generating wind power for the last three years due to increased demand and high prices of raw materials. Setting up an offshore wind power generation site requires increased amount of capital cost due to the operations and management costs involved; in fact, they are twice the costs incurred in setting onshore sites (Firestone & Kempton, 2007, 1585). In this case, offshore sites involve increased costs incurred in the process of laying foundation, setting submarine transmission cables and installation faciliti es. Moreover, there are difficulties experienced in dealing adverse sea condition in the process of setting up an offshore site for wind power generation (Green & Vasilakos, 2011, 496). Apparently, this high capital cost requires the government to incur significant const in the process of financing this developing industry. Besides, this requires additional capital to integrate the operations of the plant with technology, thereby decreasing the economies of scale. There is a degree of uncertainty involved in generation of power using wind; hence, this increases problems caused by wind unavailability. In fact, this has created significant challenges, which are faced by transmission operators compare to traditional way of generating power (Strbac, Shakoor, Black, Pudjianto & Bopp, 2007, 1214). Furthermore, there are not chances of predicting and integrating wind availability with the national grid. However, these challenges are deal by incurring financial costs, though there are other disadvantages associated with underestimation of resilience offered by distribution of wind; thus resulting to under applied resources. There are other limitations associated with use of wind turbines for power generation, whereby it involves resources that are not available without uninterrupted supply, hence, it is irregular. In this case, this limitation is considered a critical factor bearing in mind that dealing with power generation output should be balanced with demand; in fact, this is due the fact that electricity for major energy supply cannot be stored efficiently. For instance, output is decreased by lowering the