søndag 20. januar 2013

Scotland


Scotland may be most famous for the bagpipe, the kilt and whisky, but the country has a lot more to it. Scotland is an independent country located in Northern Europe. The country is one of 4 which make up The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. (www.wikipedia.com)

Scotland Flag

Scotland has three main geographical areas; they are called the Southern Uplands, the Central Lowlands and the Highlands. In the North we find the islands, the Hebrides, the Orkneys and the Shetlands. Scotland has a total of 790 islands, which is quite a lot. The Scottish climate is very temperate and oceanic, and it is usually very changeable. Scotland had generally a lower temperature than the rest of the United Kingdom. (www.ndla.no)

There are 5.1 million habitants in Scotland, and most of them are located in the Central Lowlands. In the north we find mountains and beautiful surroundings, but fewer people live here, in fact the region is one of the least habited areas in Europe. The capital of the country is called Edinburgh; this town is probably most famous for its castle and it’s amazing New Year’s celebration. Even though Edinburg is the capital; the largest city is called Glasgow. The city used to be famous for its shipbuilding industry, but today the main industries are software and financial. (www.ndla.no)

The people of Scotland mainly speak Scottish Standard English, but there are a few that speaks languages called Scots and Gaelic. In the southern part of Scotland agriculture is very important. Like Norway, oil, hydroelectric power and tourism are very important industries, but they also find sheep farming, forestry, salmon, and high technology important. Most of these are located in the Central Lowlands.

The most famous lake in Scotland is called Loch Ness. It is a deep freshwater lake which is as deep as 700ft at its deepest. The reason this lake is so famous is the Loch Ness monster, or Nessie, which is said to live in the lake. Several people have claimed to have seen the monster in the past 200 years, but no one has ever managed to prove the monsters existence. However, the lake attracts tons of tourists hoping to get a glimpse of Nessie. (www.ndla.no)


The Scottish education system separates from the UK. In 1872 it became mandatory for all children to go to school. As a result of this, Scotland has had a higher percentage of the population who are educated in primary school, secondary school, colleges and universities than any other country in Europe. When they reach the age of 15/16 pupils take a “Standard Grade” exam, and after this they can choose to drop out of school, or to stay and get higher education. (www.wikiepedia.com)

Since Scotland is a part of the United Kingdom, their head of state is Queen Elizabeth ll. All of the countries in the UK have a common monarch and government.  In the 1990s the countries within the UK, was granted limited power, but the British Parliament in Westminster can at any time modify, extend or abolish these national self-government. The Scottish parliament has 129 members. The queen appoints one of the members of the parliament to be the “First Minister” or “Minister premiere” that acts as a “prime minister”. Scotland is also represented with 59 members in the House of Commons.  (www.wikipedia.com)


Bibliography:
http://ndla.no/en/node/63403 20.01.13                                

Picture Sources:



fredag 14. desember 2012

The American Dream - Homework


It was the American historian and author James Truslow Adams that in 1931 first used the expression in "The American Dream” and since then it’s been diligent used. The sentence that best describes the well-known term “The American Dream” is this one “Everyone can achieve a successful and happy life, if you only work hard enough”. Since 1931 the term has changed its definition, and today Americans use it when they talk about a search for a better life. (www.historienet.no)

I believe that the term was originally used to describe that people moving from their countries to America had a chance to work hard and get a better life. The opportunity was there, you just had to take it. Nowadays I think people use it to describe the perfect life, and they often use the example of a family living in a white house with a fence around it. Today the idea is unreachable for many, and in some ways I think that it is a fake dream. No lives are perfect, but it doesn’t mean you can’t be happy.






Bibliography:

8 mile movie analysis


The title of this movie is 8 mile. The movie was produced and directed by Curtis Hanson. It was made in the United States of America.
List of important actors in the movie:  
×          Eminem as Jimmy “B-Rabbit” Smith
×          Brittany Murphy as Alex Latorno
×          Kim Basinger as Stephanie
×          Evan Jones as “Cheddar Bob”
×          Anthony Mackie as “Papa Doc”
×          Chloe Greenfield as Lily
×          Mekhi Thira Phifer as David “Future” Porter
×          King Gordy as Big “O”

Genre:
Drama, self-biography and music.

Setting:
The movie is produced in the US and the action takes place in the poor part of Detroit,Michigan. The poor part is recognized by how the people live and act. For instance Rabbit live with his mother in a truck, and they have problems paying the rent. The way people act is characterized in a lot of fighting and conflicts as well as it is normal to carry a gun.  Most of the time the action takes place in the trailer park where Jimmy lives, at his work on a stamp fabric and the “rap club” the Shelter.

Plot
The movie is about a young man named Jimmy “B-Rabbit” Smith. In the opening scene Rabbit chokes in a rap battle, which is predominantly the basis of the movie. People in the town jokes around about the incident and Rabbits friend Future signs Rabbit up for a new battle.
Later he meets Alex who turns out to be an important person in his life. He realizes that he has to take control of his life and decides to enter the rap battle even though he refused to do so at first.
During the movie Jimmy and his friends meets several conflicts and in the end Rabbit battles at the Shelter. He wins this battle and walks away with new hope of a music carrier.

Structure
The story takes place in the present and is chronologically structured.  As far as I remember there are no flashbacks in the movie. The narrator is third person, but the story is told thru Rabbits eyes, the main character. We do not get to know what he is thinking at any point during the movie unless he talks about it to another person.
In one way I would also say that there is a parallel action. This is because there is a story about a struggling rapper, but also about a young man who tries to take care of his family.
When Jimmy loses the battle and Future signed him up for another one, it all adds up to a new battle later. This is an example of a foreshadow in the movie. The suspense in the movie is about if he will receive a record deal or not, will he enter a second rap battle and if he do, will he choke or will he rap.

Theme
The theme of this movie is mainly the American dream. However there are a couple of other themes as well such as poverty and independence.
The theme could be independence because in the movie, Jimmy does not want to be dependent to other. He shows us that it is possible to achieve success without too much help from other human beings.  Achieving success is also a big part of finding the American Dream. Jimmy symbolizes the American Dream because he managed to go from a life in poverty to a life in wealth.  The last theme I think it might be is poverty. This is because you see poverty thru the whole movie, and it basically symbolizes the movie.

Conflict:
I find it hard to find a conflict in this movie and I do not think that there is a main conflict.  I think that perhaps Rabbit has a lot of smaller conflicts and issues about himself. These conflicts include how he does not want to disappoint anyone, but still wants to do what’s best for him. He has to solve these conflicts internal. In addition to this I also think that Rabbit is affected by the environment that surrounds him.  

Characterization
I do not think that the characters are just static people who do not change during the movie. More the other way around. For instance, in the end everyone understands that Rabbit has to do what’s best for himself and that he have to develop his freestyle rap skill in his own way, and they actually respects it.
This is a very serious movie and I believe that both the characters and the action are believable.

Narrator and point of view:
The story is told thru Rabbits point of view, although we do not get to hear his thoughts and feelings. I think that the narrator perhaps is a third person limited narrator.

Imagery:
One of the instruments in the movie is poverty. The colors are mostly dark and cold, such as grey, brown, dark blue and so on.

Sources:
Starpulse «8 Mile Summary»  http://www.starpulse.com/Movies/8_Mile/Summary/ (04.12.12)
Wikipedia (2012) “8 Mile”  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8_Mile_(film)#Cast (04.12.12)

søndag 11. november 2012

New York





New York is the biggest city in the USA, and it is located in the state of New York. In 2010 the city itself had 8,1 million inhabitants, but if we take Northern New Jersey and Long Island into consideration, the city had 18,9 million inhabitants is 2010. The climate in New York is varied, with extremely cold winters and heat waves in the summer.

The city consists of 5 boroughs, Manhattan, The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, and Manhattan is considered to be the central New York.

Every year there are 40 million tourists visiting New York. Among the most popular tourist spots we find the Empire State Building, Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty, Times Square, Central Park and museums suck as Metropolitan Museum of Art. When visiting New York, tourists also spend quite an amount of time shopping in Fifth Avenue, and exploring Broadway theater productions.

Funfacts:

-New York produces more waste than any other city in the world. It is estimated that New York produces 24 thousand tons of waste every day.

- New York is known as "The Big Apple" or "The city which never sleeps"

-In New York there are 63746 miles of streets.

-36% of the current population in New York, was not born in the USA.

-Every year over 100 million Chinese food cartons are used.





When I think about the USA, the first thing that pops into my head is New York City. The skyscrapers, Brooklyn Bridge and all of the lights. I think the reason I think of NY would have to be the TV show Gossip Girl. I have always loved the show, and it really reminds me of New York and USA. I used to think that every city in USA looked like New York, but I know now that they don’t.



Source: http://www.google.no/imgres?um=1&hl=no&sa=N&biw=1517&bih=714&tbm=isch&tbnid=sRIka5CA8Rj14M:&imgrefurl=http://www.drimmit.com/HillOnATree/new-york-new-york&docid=GtJXEnIzc0NNsM&imgurl=http://www.drimmit.com/public/dreams/dream--time-2012-06-28_09-26-47-userid-178.jpg&w=1024&h=768&ei=rgCgUM3IE8fJsga2ioHgDw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=199&vpy=343&dur=3285&hovh=194&hovw=258&tx=182&ty=101&sig=109510710746466887149&page=1&tbnh=141&tbnw=217&start=0&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:6,s:0,i:90

Elin