Category Archives: New Movies 2014
Top most weekly Hollywood Movies
Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman star in a fantastic adventure in which their director, Chris Weitz, is based on the first novel in the Phillip Pullman trilogy, Dark Matter.
The story takes place in a parallel world in which the souls of the people are manifested as small animals and to which comes Lyra, a 12 year old girl who is looking for her best friend. However, your little adventure will become an extraordinary quest to save your world and ours. Get full story on Movie Counter site.
The Inner Life of Martin Frost
Writer Paul Auster directs a film that premiered during the last edition of the San Sebastian festival and stars David Thewlis, Irène Jacob, his daughter, Sophie and Michael Imperioli. Auster raises the relation between a scarce writer of inspiration who, during his stay in the field, far from the world, meets an enigmatic and effervescent admirer of his work that soon will become his lover and muse.
Hundreds of real images are mixed with fictional scenes to make credible the assassination of George W. Bush in this fake documentary by Gabriel Range in which he denounces the still bleeding wounds of the Iraq war. Range makes the event plausible and goes on to the most typical plot of the detective genre in which, as he scans the FBI's investigation with supposed actual testimony, it shows the treatment and accusations of potential culprits.
Director Bruce A. Evans turns Kevin Costner into a businessman, generous philanthropist, father and devoted husband, in a mystery tape in which the most famous bodyguard in Hollywood history is accompanied by William Hurtand Demi Moore. Although Mr. Brooks has all the ingredients to be a perfect man, he hides a dark secret: he is a serial killer, so sinister and intelligent that he has never raised a single suspicion, although what until now had been a game for him can start to turn into a nightmare. Get more Latest movies online for free in HD print.
THE NANNY'S DIARY
Scarlett Johansson gets into the skin of a first-time nanny in this romantic-tinged comedy where she shares a chart with Alicia Keys, Laura Linney, Paul Giamatti and Chris Evans, directed by Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman. To pay for college, Annie begins working as a nanny for a well-to-do family who will find it hard to get used to and where, between flirting and flirting with a wealthy neighbor, she will take care of a spoiled child whom she will teach that money is not the important thing.
The French cinema's César surrendered to the adaptation of director Pascale Ferrán of The Lady Chatterley's lover, a classic of literature that won the best film award, as well as the awards for best actress for Marina Hands; Best adapted script; Costumes and photography. When her husband returns from the front with an irreversible paralysis, the young Constance Reid falls into a state of sadness and desidia that will surpass next to the zone ranger, with whom it will initiate a close relation.
This entry was posted in 2017 Movies, Action Movies, Adventure Movies, Comedy Movies, Crime Movies, Hollywood Movies, New Movies 2014, Romance Movies, Scary Movies, Thriller Movies, Top Hollywood Horror Films and tagged 2017 Movies, All latest movie, Download a Latest Movies, downloading free movies, free film downloads, Free HD movie download online, free movies to download, Latest Movies Download HD, Latest Movies English Online, Latest movies online for free, Movie counter on May 3, 2017 by admin.
The Top Famous Horror films about possessions
If a few years ago the zombies were the protagonists of the summer horror films, it seems to be, with a simple glance at the billboard, that possessions and haunted houses with vengeful visitors have taken their place. In both cases, the origin of the threat is similar: on the one hand, the dead man who returns to take justice by his hand; And on the other, ex-humans eager to devour brains.
At a time when horror cinema seems to have exhausted many of its formulas to scare the viewer, the industry has found in the label "based on real facts " a useful external justification to whisper to the one who is sitting in the chair "tremble , This could happen to you. " Even Exorcist (The Exorcist, William Fried kin, 1973) was based quite generally on an exorcism held in Maryland in the late forties.
As may be expected, on many occasions, the interpretation of these "real facts" is quite free, if not directly invented then visit download free full movie. In others, it takes advantage of the ambiguity surrounding some unresolved criminal cases as ideal material for fiction. But how do some of the most famous films reflect reality?
The Conjuring, the Warren Files, James Wan, 2012
One of the great successes of summer – both public and critical – has as catalysts two of the most controversial figures in the American paranormal world, Ed and Lorraine Warren, who dedicated their lives to "demonology", opened the Occult Museum and Founded the New England Society for Psychical Research. They claimed to have performed more than 10,000 exorcisms throughout his career (this is one of them), and his career has been a common subject of controversy. Nevertheless, the Perron, true protagonists of the history, defend that everything happened is certain and have participated of active way in the promotion of the film. Of the Warren also arises the material that gave form to another horror film,
Devil inside (William Brent Bell, 2012)
The film tells the story of Isabel Torelli, who investigates the reasons that led her mother to murder three people in 1989, so she was admitted to a psychiatric facility and apparently linked to a failed exorcism. Indeed, the deaths took place, but perhaps the satanic subplot is a bit introduced by the hair. According to information published in the newspapers of the time, Maria Rossi murdered her 70-year-old neighbor Edna Philips with her friend Christina Molloy, when both were 17 years old. Maybe it was the brutality of the murder. "They shifted the old woman and bounced eggs on the corpse.
The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Scott Derrick son, 2005
The film starring Laura Linney and Tom Wilkinson tells the controversial story of Anneliese Michel, a young woman who died in 1976 after being subjected to 67 rites of exorcism. According to the film, the German case was battered by controversy because, after her death, a jury ruled that both Anna's parents and two of the priests who participated in the exorcism process of the young woman were guilty of homicide by negligence. Forensics said the girl's problems were medical and could have been solved by science. The film, quite true to the facts, did not like the surviving members of the family. Get full Story only on the Latest movies.
The Exorcist, William Fried kin, 1973
The canonical work of the genre was also inspired by a real event. In this case, the exorcism of a 13-year-old boy named Roland Doe (a nickname hiding his real name) who, according to the Church archives that relate his exorcism, made strange noises, could move the furniture at his own will And that after 30 attempts at exorcism was finally healed by the Rev. Edward Hughes at Georgetown University Hospital. This story was one of the main sources of inspiration for William Peter Blatty's novel that would later jump to the big screen. The truth is that the young Doe did much better than Linda Blair, The girl who played Reagan, who went through a drug ordeal before triumphing in horseback riding. Unlike other films on this list, Fried kin never boasted of relying on real facts.
The Possession, Ole Bornedal, 2012
On this occasion, the terror comes from a wooden box innocently bought in a market, from which arises an evil spirit from the Hebrew culture. The object was located for the first time in an eBay bid in which the box ended up costing more than 300 dollars. It belonged to Kevin Mannis , who claimed to have acquired it from a 103-year-old Holocaust survivor, and disengaged himself from it since after his purchase began to happen strange events. For this reason, he sold it on the Internet to Losif Nietzke, who also began to have problems: he broke his fingers, suffered a plague of rats and was a victim of incipient alopecia. Now, the box is located at the Kirksville Institute of Osteopathic Medicine.
The Haunting in Connecticut, Peter Conwell, 2009
The clearest case demonstrates the wide barrier that separates reality from fiction (and the wishes of film producers). The film is based on a novel called In a Dark Place: the Story of True Haunting (Villard), written by Ray Garton, which narrated the history of the Snedeker family. The author would not hesitate to acknowledge that his story was pure fiction and that he had in fact intended to promote it as such, but that his publisher had insisted on presenting it as a true story. In fact, Ed and Lorraine Warren also participated in this investigation and, in the words of Garton himself, encouraged him to give a little color to the matter and make it more terrifying.
This entry was posted in Hollywood Movies, Horror Movies, Horror movies 2012, Mystery Movies, New Movies 2014, Scary Movies, Top Hollywood Horror Films and tagged Devil inside movie, download free full movie, free full movie downloads, free Horror films, free movie downloads, full movie downloads, The Conjuring movie, The Exorcist movie on March 28, 2017 by admin.
Download The Better Angels 2014 Full Movie
AJ Edwards addresses a little-known chapter in the history of Abraham Lincoln, his childhood in a wooded area of Indiana, in a cabin in which the future president would grow under the protection of two women who shape his character. His biological mother, who died of disease, and the second wife of his father. The idea is to build a trilogy about the early youth of Lincoln, but counted from a particular perspective malickiana. Edwards is a director of pupil The Tree of Life . This is demonstrated in the composition of planes, camera shots, staging and even how to slide the camera through the spaces. It is a style that is visually appealing, and Malick has managed to make it yours. The main problem is evident. The similarities are too alarming so, to a point where one can come to doubt the true authorship of the tape. In the middle of the deep woods of Indiana survived the Lincoln family in a simple log cabin. The seven-year-old Abraham grows up in poverty, hard work counts in his younger years already part of everyday life. When he was nine years old, his mother died. Some time elapsed before his father, a widow married with three children, all of which feed into the hut. Download The Better Angels 2014 Full Movie for free without any cost. Latest Hollywood movies download from direct downloading links.
From then on, life is marked by yet more consideration needs to be worked on daily life even more. Abraham suffers greatly from the loss of his mother and withdraws increasingly. He taught himself to read and write in and finds unexpected support in his stepmother. She tries to give his enormous thirst for knowledge space and to give him the necessary space. She opposes the educational methods of her husband and her stepchild preferably before their biological children. The 16th President of the United States of America is the focus of The Better Angels . For once it's not about the adult statesman, but a previously unknown insight into his childhood. In his directorial debut dealt AJ Edwards, who previously worked as an editor for Terrence Malick, exclusively with the period from the seventh to tenth years Lincolns. The film is not set up as a typical biopic, but rather a held in black and white almost poetic narrative. It is hardly spoken, but the film lives through his paintings. The nature and the tranquility of the forest stands in the foreground, the lives of people in this pristine area is shown without much explanation.
This entry was posted in Biography movies, Drama Movies, Hollywood Movies, New Movies 2014 and tagged Download The Better Angels 2014 Free Full Movie, Free Download The Better Angels 2014 Movie, Online Download The Better Angels 2014 Movie, The Better Angels 2014 Movie, The Better Angels 2014 Movie Download Free, The Better Angels 2014 Movie Online on October 30, 2014 by admin.
Download Wild 2014 Movie Free
Jean-Marc Vallée came to Toronto, as it did last year with Dallas Buyers Club, supported by the first great comments after the progress of her new job. Reese Witherspoon in the role of a strong physical, gritty requirement, devoid of makeup and nude, soon generated comments about the nomination pretty sure the actress for the role. Indeed, Wild is intended for showcasing. The demanding emotional journey of an ex-addict who seeks to make peace with his memories: those of an emotionally unstable mother, his loss and his subsequent fall into drugs as a way to escape herself. In a structure reminiscent of Danny Boyle used for 128 hours, Vallée, through a dash of Nick Hornby overestimated something, review the experiences of Cheryl Strayed, while taking note of their sacrifices and strength in the long walk 1000 miles that the girl made in 1995 through the Pacific Mountain trail, a route around the mountains of the west coast. Download Wild 2014 Movie Free without fill any sign-up form. Download recent movies for free with high quality prints.
A true story based on the book written by Cheryl Strayed own based on their own experiences. Like all motivational story, the tape does not lack great reflections with voice off , music with guitar riffs and a felt excited and interpretation, as it must in such cases. Witherspoon, much like the anti heroine that draws the film addresses a mature and far from the last notes of his character's filmography. Notes superficiality and brimming with Wild, come to an apparent end looking McConaughey rotation. A radical change in critical elections and regain some prestige in his career. With Wild has secured since Vallée has given him perfect for this character. On the other hand, we keep the review criteria of good musical director, who already Floré Coffee provided an exquisite soundtrack and level here, even without much presence, maintained with a couple of outstanding issues, especially the lovely theme end credits of Simon & Garfunkel, El Condor Pasa. The problem of Wild is that it is so studied to thrill you to no avail. No looking affectation, fortunately, but the spontaneity is not part of the formula and it shows. We could say the same for The Theory of Everything.
This entry was posted in Biography movies, Drama Movies, Hollywood Movies, New Movies 2014 and tagged Download Wild 2014 Free Full Movie, Free Download Wild 2014 Movie, Online Download Wild 2014 Movie, Wild 2014 Movie, Wild 2014 Movie Download Free, Wild 2014 Movie Online on October 13, 2014 by admin.
Download Inherent Vice 2014 Movie
Los Angeles 1969, All of a sudden appeared the former girlfriend of private eye Larry Doc Sportello from scratch again with him. She has prepared a strange story and asks his help: Your new lover is a billionaire, in which she is head over heels, and his wife and her lover plan to kidnap the man and put in a loony bin. On this particular day of paranoia end of the psychedelic 60s Doc recognizes that "love" another one of those overused words like trip or groovy is but this usually means more trouble. And in which the investigators infected now, while crossing various shapes his way. Surfer, drug addicts and rockers, also a murderous greedy loan shark, LAPD detective, a saxophone player who plays undercover and mysterious creature known as The Golden Fang which could also be just a tax dodge some dentists. Taking into account that it is then also abundantly watered by an extensive irony, with a hint of absurdity. In short, to be sipped and savored slowly. Download Inherent Vice 2014 Movie for free from direct downloading links. Download latest Hollywood movies for free.
And everything about the character, that is, a private detective. No denying it, when you come across such a character, often have been encountered in the classic cliche of the policeman in an identity crisis, maybe divorced and maybe with alcohol problems behind. Not that this will not have any problems, in fact, it would seem quite limestone hand, but the difference is in his show, as it were, more normal at first glance would not seem so much a super cop and ready to annihilate ravenous horde of enemies. There is a whole dimension very attractive and nice, from the protagonist that is likely to seem at times even clumsy Fantozzi, although of course then demonstrates its effectiveness with a gun in his hand. Frankly, the first images that flow in this trailer. I think that much of the enthusiasm partitomi is due to an interpretation of Joaquin Phoenix nothing short of superb, but also the rest of the cast is not jokes at all Benicio Del Toro, Owen Wilson, Josh Brolin, then Martin Short and Jena Malone.
This entry was posted in Comedy Movies, Crime Movies, Drama Movies, Hollywood Movies, New Movies 2014 and tagged Download Inherent Vice 2014 Free Full Movie, Free Download Inherent Vice 2014 Movie, Inherent Vice 2014 Movie, Inherent Vice 2014 Movie Download Free, Inherent Vice 2014 Movie Online, Online Download Inherent Vice 2014 Movie on October 9, 2014 by admin.
Download Nightcrawler 2014 Movie
Dan Gilroy has already become a favorite of Toronto. Nightcrawler is an acid portrait, black as night, disturbing and quite critical about the underworld of American television. Specifically, about photojournalism that makes sales of images and then extracts chain managers decide to issue in their programs. Graphic material in which a woman stabbed a foot of the camera or a criminal is shot dead, both da bleeds. For Gilroy, neither the directors out unscathed, because ultimately they are the buyers, and to embody the ruthless amorality of the world has had an amazing success casting and few would have predicted. View Rene Russo embody the archetype of executive hungry for success, gives the trick. Especially when you're looking ahead is a Jake Gyllenhaal straight out of a mental institution. So much comes unscrupulousness of these cameras, they are ready to cause crimes just to have images. Download Nightcrawler 2014 Movie free without pay any charges. Download new release movies free from direct downloading links.
The boundary of the story is questioned, but ethics obvious, since it has no place in a news program. The entire film takes place at night, and that gives a street environment. Gilroy has not only discovered as a director of a firm hand, owner of highly dynamic sequences, but as a builder of very interesting characters. Lou Bloom has springs of a serial murderer in power, lacking in empathy and emotion, always alert and labia too perverse. He's part of the fun of Nightcrawler, his humor without laughter, or the power of persuasion, is a gift to the actor, and has known how to use it. In summary, it has been one of the best bets of the day, betting TIFF has hit Gilroy. The writer raised doubts despite the good feeling of the trailers but there remains no trace; its debut is solid as few have seen lately in Hollywood. Through an environment noir slightly reminiscent to the Drive for Winding Refn in their violence, their cars, their neon lights, music or brutality, Nightcrawler has secured letters to become certainly one of the favorites of the public and a server.
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Download Camp X Ray 2014 Movie
The young Amy Cole wants to escape the small town life and writes ado one in the military. After her training, she hopes to serve their service in Iraq, but is sent to Cuba in the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay. The imprisoned there men who are deprived of their human rights, sometimes living for eight years at this location. Cole increasingly plaguing moral remorse because of the unjust treatment and torture of inmates. As a result, she befriends the prisoner Ali Amir that for which they developed empathy and compassion. As best they can, Cole tries to do their duty for their country, but also the advances of her boss Corporal Randy and the clear hatred of some of their comrades must defend himself. Kristen Stewart, the young actress known to the general public for the blockbuster Twilight and Snow White and the Huntsman, has turned into a soldier. A dramatic film with a political background who wants to denounce the unacceptable behavior of some members of the American army in prison Guantanomo Bay between torture and repression. Download Camp X Ray 2014 Movie for free without any cost. Download recent movies online with high quality prints.
The Stewart as here the role of an ordinary girl who, bored by life in the deep province of the States, he decided to enlist. A gesture risky, especially in relation to the fact that the naive girl is sent just in one of the most controversial and notorious in recent years. There, the girl will eventually forge a bond strong and dangerous with a prisoner locked up for 8 years. Director of Camp X-Ray are Peter Sattler, known graphic designer and screenwriter here to debut behind the camera. Produced by Gina Kwon and Sophia Lin with Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, David Gordon Green and Lindsay Williams, the film starring male Peyman Moaadi, the Iranian actor that the world has learned about thanks to the masterpiece A Separation , a film that has won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film two years ago. Ali will play the dangerous prisoner with whom he will relate the character of Stewart.
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Download Force Majeure 2014 Movie
Force Majeure describe the decomposed relish using a small incident a normal Swedish family. But first things first. Tomas and Ebba are a normal married couple from Sweden. Together with their two children, Vera and Harry have a short holiday to a French winter sports indulged in a much needed quality time for the family, as Tomas spends way too much time at work and even on vacation again and again, its connection to the outside world. That would perhaps be no problem and is determined in many families, but then happens on the second day of the holiday something unexpected that brings the dilemma in a nutshell. When the family settles down for lunch on the terrace of a ski lodge, is near an avalanche controls placed on care a spectacle that turns within a few seconds in a seemingly dangerous situation, because the avalanche becomes larger and larger and hurtling straight toward the terrace of the restaurant and there the initial fascination turned to the natural spectacle in naked panic. Tomas reacts instinctively in those seconds. Download Force Majeure 2014 Movie for free without any cost. Download new release movies free with high quality prints.
Instead of worrying about his wife and children, he grabs his cell phone and leaves his family for a brief moment in the lurch. Although the avalanche comes in front of the terrace to a standstill, but the near-disaster Elba's confidence in her husband deeply shaken – they just can not forget that he has just left her and the children in the face of death in the lurch. Again and again she must speak of those seconds. This constant confrontation with his guilt, which he loaded in a single unguarded moment to be set in Tomas mechanics in a way, the devastating effect on the family. How people behave in extreme situations? And how does this instinctive behavior especially if it was not within the meaning of morally correct wrong to them and their fellow human beings? From this very simple, but at the same time deeply philosophical question out of the Swedish director Ruben Östlund developed a fascinating study of family structures and the behavior in extreme situations.
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Download Big Hero 6 2014 Movie
After a successful collaboration with the release of the Marvel superhero movies that live-action. The Avengers and Captain America, this time Disney has been trying to bring something different through the superhero movie Big Hero 6 animated format. Big Hero 6 is a movie with a genre superhero movie that was adapted from the work of well-known comics from Marvel. This film will be directed by Don Hall who worked on Winnie the Pooh and collaboration with Chris William. With a story that takes place in the city in the future ie canggig San Fransokyo. Told there was an intelligent teenager and can make the robot by the name of Hiro Hamada. Download Big Hero 6 2014 Movie for free without any membership account. Download New Hollywood movies for free.
Who has just made a new best robotic creations with names Baymax. But it turns out that fat robot created not in accordance with the result of his imagination. However, Hiro does not think that the physical behind a unique robot, the robot will be helped and help keep the city from the enemy. For now the first teaser trailer has just been released officially by the Disney. With humor when it first showed Hiro designing robots funny it, Baymax. This film will be filled with the sounds of TJ Miller, Maya Rudolph, and Jamie Chung. You can see the latest animated masterpiece from the film processing Wreck it Ralph, and the best-selling animated movie in the history of the movie Frozen is from the beginning of November 2014. This film will be a unique movie that not only show the uniqueness of the robot. Big Hero 6 movie will also feature Hiro persistence in creating this cute robot. Although initially did not like the design, but he will find a sincere relationship with this creation. The story of his life will be changed with the creation of this robot.
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Gov. Beshear Orders Flags to Half-staff to Honor Fallen Police Officer
Governor Steve Beshear has directed that flags at state office buildings be lowered to half-staff Wednesday in honor of a Richmond police officer killed in the line of duty.
33 year old Daniel Ellis died Friday, less than two days after he was shot in the head while searching an apartment for a robbery suspect identified as 34 year old Raleigh Sizemore who has been charged in connection to the officer's murder.
Funeral arrangements for the fallen officer will be held Wednesday morning in the Eastern Kentucky University Alumni Coliseum in Richmond.
Ellis, a seven-year veteran of the force, is survived by his wife, Katie, and 4-year old son.
Governor Beshear encourages individuals, businesses, organizations and government agencies to join in this tribute to honor the 33 year old police officer.


Second Opinion Saves Local Womans Life
A routine eye examination at Specsavers in Teignmouth saved the life of Jasmin Harris after the optometrist spotted signs of a brain tumour.
But the 19 year old specs wearer had only visited the store in Bank Street to get a second opinion after an initial appointment at another opticians found nothing to be irregular. Jasmin booked her first eye examination after experiencing severe headaches, loss of balance, blurred vision, tinnitus and other symptoms. But after the check up she was just advised to rest her eyes. However, when this didn't work Jasmin decided to book in for another eye examination at Specsavers.
During the appointment, optometrist and Teignmouth store director, Simon Simmonds noticed that her optic nerve was raised with enlarged blind spots.
Simon immediately referred Jasmin to the Torbay Hospital eye clinic where doctors conducted CT and MRI scans, as well as two lumbar punctures. The tests showed that she was suffering from benign intracranial pressure. The rare condition, which effects only one in 100,000 people, is caused by a build up of Cerebral Spinal Fluid (CSF) in the brain. This puts pressure on the brain and eyes, which is what had caused Jasmin's symptoms including her raised optic nerves. If left unchecked, the build up of CSF could have become fatal.
Jasmin says: 'I am so grateful to Specsavers for diagnosing my condition. Living with the constant headaches and other symptoms was awful. What's more scary is that if I hadn't gone to Specsavers, I could have died. I would tell anyone to get a second opinion if they are not entirely convinced with a diagnosis as it really could save their life.'
Simon says: 'The optic nerve transmits signals from the eye to the brain, so any condition that affects it can be very serious.
'We're glad to have been able to help Jasmin and hope that this highlights the importance of regular eye exams. Benign intracranial pressure is a fairly rare condition but can be fatal.
'Looking into your eyes can allow your optician to spot the early signs of a wide range of conditions including brain tumours and so should be part of your general health care routine.'
For an appointment or for more information please pop in to the store, at 4 Bank Street, Teignmouth, TQ14 8AL, call 01626 870 513 or visit www.specsavers.co.uk.
Specsavers notes to editors
Specsavers was founded by Doug and Dame Mary Perkins in 1984 and is now the largest privately owned opticians in the world
The couple still run the company, along with their three children. Their eldest son John is joint managing director
Specsavers has more than 1,060 stores throughout the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Spain and Australia
Annual turnover for the Specsavers Group is forecast to reach a record £1.05 billion for the financial year 2008/9
The group plans to continue its successful international expansion by opening stores in New Zealand
Specsavers optical stores and hearing centres are owned and run by joint venture or franchise partners.
Specsavers employs more than 26,000 staff
Specsavers was voted Britain's most trusted brand of opticians for the seventh year running by Reader's Digest in 2008
One in three people who wear glasses in the UK buy them from Specsavers Opticians - eight and a half million glasses were sold during 2007
Specsavers is the largest retail provider of home delivery contact lenses in Europe and one of the top two retail suppliers of continuous wear lenses in the world
Specsavers is now the largest retail dispenser of digital hearing aids in the UK and will offer a hearing service from more than 400 locations by the end of 2008
Specsavers supports numerous optical and hearing charities, including Diabetes UK, for whom they have raised more than £250,000 to fund research into diabetic retinopathy
Since 2003 a quarter of a million glasses have been collected and recycled by Specsavers stores for Vision Aid Overseas for use in developing countries
www.beattiegroup.com


Expeditions: Viking Makes Landfall On April 27th
Game News - posted by Infinitron on Wed 8 February 2017, 21:34:21
Tags: Expeditions: Viking; Logic Artists
After the last newsletter, I figured Expeditions: Viking was going to be delayed, and sure enough, the Logic Artists published an update on the game's Steam community page today confirming a new release date of April 27th. I guess that's not too bad. Here's what the update says:
Danish indie studio Logic Artists along with distribution partners EuroVideo and IMGN.PRO are announcing that Expeditions: Viking, the highly anticipated sequel to Expeditions: Conquistador, is scheduled for release on April 27th, 2017.
After the warm welcome of Expeditions: Conquistador - Logic Artists' PC debut title, the developers are finally ready to do it again four years later with a long awaited sequel. Logic Artists is pleased to announce April 27th as the release date of Expeditions: Viking.
Expeditions: Viking features a branching dialogue system that allows the game to manage and react to player choices. We initially estimated a word count of 200,000, but we've decided to increase it by an additional 80,000 words to provide players with more content and give them more options and choices on how they progress through the story. Said Ali Emek, Expeditions: Viking Producer.
With that amount of content, managing localization takes more time. We think it's worth it to make the game accessible to international audience. That's why we've arranged a number of language localizations, so from day one players will be able to enjoy Expeditions: Viking in English, French, German, Polish, and Russian. Emek added.
In addition to this, Logic Artists stated that additional development time will allow them to tweak and balance combat gameplay, implementing new special abilities to the most interesting villains and will also include added flavor and improvements to Expeditions: Viking's animations.
We received great feedback from the testers after our last closed beta session, and rescheduling the release a bit is allowing us to spend our final weeks of development on improving usability and addressing the bugs reported during the beta test. - Emek adds.
More information about the game can be found on the official website www.expeditionsseries.com where folks can sign up to the official newsletter where they can learn more about the game every month, gain access to the the final closed Beta test, and receive special release week rewards!
Hoping to see more Codexers opt in for the beta this time. I'm sure the game could use some of our love.
There are 12 comments on Expeditions: Viking Makes Landfall On April 27th
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How to Engage Franchisees in Better Budgeting and Planning
Written by Keith Gerson
Unless you've spent the past year under a rock, you know that every business sector has experienced uncertainty this year — and that includes franchising. As we approach 2021, no one really knows what to expect from the upcoming year. What will revenues look like? Will franchise units return to full operations, or will they continue to operate at a reduced capacity? How will consumer buying habits evolve along with the pandemic and the economy?
Without knowing the answers to these questions, your franchisees may avoid budgeting and planning, for the simple reason that they can't plan for the future when they don't know what the future holds.
But that's only part of the problem. A study by Bain & Company revealed that in many organizations, individuals aren't clear on company goals. In the study, only 15 percent of those surveyed could name even one of the top three company goals, and 81 percent said that they are not held accountable for progress on the organization's goals. To encourage your franchisees to budget and plan, they must understand the goals for their location and the brand overall, as well as feel compelled to meet those benchmarks.
With all that in mind, how can you encourage franchisees to hold themselves accountable for next year's performance and engage in proactive budgeting and planning? Start with these four building blocks.
1. Build a Better Budget Template
Many franchisors have a budget template that they provide to franchisees at the end of the year. But if it's not intuitive and user-friendly, it's going to be a challenge to get franchisees to actually use it. At a high level, your budget template should be easy to use, hard to break, and adaptable for any franchisee — whether he or she just opened a location or has a mature unit that's been established for many years.
Also focus on building in logic, which can make the template easier to manipulate. For example, any fixed costs should be input as set dollar amounts, while variable costs should be input as set percentages. This way, if a franchisee changes another variable (e.g., "What would my budget look like if sales were X?"), the template automatically recalculates the correct fixed and variable costs.
Without that built-in logic, the franchisee will have to go back and change nearly every variable — which not only discourages use of the template, but opens it up to errors and miscalculations.
2. Challenge the Traditional Way of Thinking
While budgeting templates are necessary and useful tools, you also need to engage your franchisees in candid conversations about the future and how they can be successful. That requires taking a deeper look at factors like your main sales drivers.
Take a home health services franchise, for example. Your franchisee may have identified the main sales drivers as number of customers, their purchase frequency, and the value of each transaction. However, if you take a closer look at each of those sales drivers, it may become clear that the common thread between all three factors is service capacity. It doesn't matter how many customers you have or calls you make if you don't have the staff to provide the care.
Ultimately, this conversation could reveal that the franchisee needs to focus on recruiting and staffing in order to successfully drive sales. This discussion will likely look different for every franchise — but it's a critical conversation to have with your franchisees to get them to think differently about what they need to do to be successful.
3. Pinpoint the Right KPIs
They say that what gets measured gets improved. Part of holding your franchisees accountable for both location- and brand-specific goals is pinpointing the right key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure.
Rather than thinking in terms of standard budgeting KPIs, like sales, gross profit, and net profit, you need to consider the drivers of success for your particular franchise. More accurate KPIs could be number of customers/transactions, average transaction value, revenue per employee, or something specific to your franchise concept, like recruitment activities, marketing/customer acquisition costs, leads, or conversions.
The conversations mentioned above — those that push your franchisees to think differently about planning and budgeting — can help them pinpoint the right KPIs to measure their success.
4. Inspect What You Expect
Unfortunately, not all franchisees will comply with your request to plan for the future and complete a budget template. That's why accountability is so important. If you expect your franchisees to do things like prepare a budget for the upcoming year, pinpoint sales drivers, and identify relevant KPIs, you must follow up and ensure that they actually did those things. You must be able to monitor their planning progress and implementation — and most importantly, you must do it in a way that's scalable, so you can apply it to all franchise locations.
With these tips, you can encourage your franchisees to budget, plan, and take accountability for the success of their individual locations and the overall franchise brand. For a deeper dive into franchisee budgeting and planning, download "The Franchise Budgeting Playbook: Your Roadmap to Unit-Level Profitability." Use this guide to give your franchisees everything they need to plan, build, and monitor their budgets.
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Keith Gerson, CFE is the President of Franchise Operations at FranConnect. Keith brings 40+ years of executive level expertise as a passionate and driven Franchisor and Franchisee with a proven track-record in building rapid-growth, and highly profitable franchise organizations. For nearly the past decade, Keith has worked closely with numerous Executive Boards and Leadership Teams that are part of FranConnect's portfolio of 800+ brands and 150,000 locations. His focus is on helping franchisors to get to their desired future state in sales, operations, and marketing. Recognized in franchising circles for his extensive leadership experience, and ability to drive execution, Keith is a highly rated keynote speaker and author. He has had the rare opportunity to create several leading franchise systems from inception through launch and sustained growth into successful enterprise level brands.


Capital Park changes its strategy
March 27, 2014 | Author: Marta Nowik
Royal Wilanów in Warsaw
The Group announces a new approach to constructed office blocks and their tenants. The changes are connected with the new business model of the company.
During press breakfast, held on 26 March this year, the representatives of Capital Park Group informed that the company is going to a new business model. According to it, also the approach to constructed office investments and their tenants will change.
The new strategy evolves from the approach typical for developer companies, that is, "to purchase, to build and to sell." (...) In this model, the tenants are generally not cared about. Unfortunately, this is noticeable not only in our buildings, but also in the buildings made by our competition , informed Jan Motz, the president of Capital Park, at the meeting. Our strategy involves changing the approach to the objects which we build. We rely on active management of them over a long period and keeping the real estate in closed funds , continued the president of the Group.
The representatives of Capital Park Group, present at the meeting, explained that the decision to change the approach was caused, among others, by the decrease in revenue from lease agreements, related to the ending of the agreements with large tenants last year. The highest revenue decreases were noted in two office blocks in the capital city: the building Alfa, located on Aleje Jerozolimskie Street, and the building on Sobieskiego Street. They amounted to -2.3 million zloty and -0.7 million zloty, respectively.
The Group is working on rebuilding the revenues and has already signed lease agreements for over 4600 sq. m, including the agreement with Provident for 2100 sq. m and with Hebe for 1800 sq. m. At the same time, the company is implementing the new system of taking care of the tenants, the aim of which is to automate and improve the servicing processes. We undertake the huge effort now to implement the system of customer care , ensured Jan Metz during the meeting. The company hopes that the new approach will help in the future to keep their customers and will prevent it from losing its tenants, as it happened last year.
Instead of selling their office blocks, Capital Park considers launching closed investment fund of office assets or including office assets in the high-street fund created last year. This is an alternative way of procuring funds for investments. In 2013, Capital Park sold 85% certificates of the fund in the private offer, gaining 63.7 million gross. So far, only commercial real estate, with a value of ca. 200 million zloty, is included in the dividend fund Real Estate Income Assets FIZ AN.
The entire real estate holdings of Grupa Capital Park included 76 projects located in 39 cities throughout the country. The company concentrates its activity primarily on the market in Warsaw. Here the 3 largest investments of the company are located, that is, Eurocentrum Office Complex (42 337 sq. m), Royal Wilanów (36 707 sq. m) and Art Norblin (64 164 sq. m).
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The Lighthouse: Fiction architecture for sale
One of the things that happens to architects as they grow older is that the buildings they design are sold to new owners. Bruce and Alison Dudon have lived in this house since it was designed for them and built in 1991, and it is now time to move on. I include it here because it is a good example of what I mean by Fiction Architecture. Even the premise of a lighthouse which is on a hill far away from any water is demonstrably fictional and immediately liberates the mind of a visitor from mundane concerns.
When I first visited the steeply-sloping site there was a cleared area of flat ground remaining from a previous house which had burned down in the 1983 bushfires. It was cold and there was frost on the ground even though it was lunchtime. The trees were filled with sunshine and I thought the house should 'reach up' and, perhaps using mirrors like a periscope, reflect light down into the rooms. I can't remember exactly when this idea of a tower morphed into a lighthouse, but once the image became stuck in my mind I knew that it would not be easy to dismiss it! I had a sinking feeling that other members of my profession would not be impressed, but after a while I started to enjoy this thought. I was also unsure how Bruce and Alison would respond.
Ideas which arrive like this come from the intuitive regions of the brain, and it is only afterwards that it becomes apparent how they address all kinds of realities. Alison had said that she was torn between living at their new block, or living by the ocean. Mount Macedon rises up out of a plain in a similar way to an island rising from the sea, and the house is seen from a distance like a lighthouse is seen from the water. Visibility is an attribute of a site like this one. As we are nowhere near the sea, the presence of a lighthouse is about other things than keeping boats safe. Lighthouses are a masculine form, with light shining out from the top, through lenses. Bruce was at that time the proprietor of a shop selling spectacles. Unlike a real lighthouse, this house has a room at the top for the purpose of looking out at the view rather than housing a light to be seen from a distance. Lenses such as spectacles and binoculars may be used to look at the view more effectively.
Light is a metaphor for knowledge, and this fact is particularly potent in a beacon warning ships of danger. In this lighthouse-in-reverse the rays of the sun enter the top of the tower, which serves as a Study, and reflect down the stairway. Each side of the stair is lined with mirrors. Plato links knowledge with light in his Analogy of the Cave, in which he compared normal existence to living in a cave with a fire illuminating shadow puppets which cast shadows on the wall. To become enlightened, a person must leave this unreal world and go up into the sunlight of truth and see the world as it actually is. For Plato, enlightenment was a male concern. In this house the Sitting room, located below the Study, and having a fireplace, may be understood as the cave. The journey up the stairs to the panoramic view above may be experienced as an architectural setting of the philosophical goal of enlightenment.
As I researched lighthouses, I noticed that the tower is usually accompanied by cottages. The design of the house includes three 'cottages' adjacent to the tower. In pre-industrial times the cottage was a place of manufacture. Women made objects which they owned and sold on their own terms, so a cottage can be seen as a symbol of female power. Alison is a primary school teacher and therefore constructs and disseminates knowledge. The relationship between male and female power is a major theme in our times, and the design embodies this in a symbolic form. As artist Narelle Jubelin has pointed out, nineteenth century lighthouses are emblems of patriarchy in the landscape. This house reflects something different: the challenge of feminist thought to the previously unquestioned dominance of male power.
Inside the house the space between the cottages and the tower, which serves as a passage, is configured like a walkway between buildings. The passage widens out to a space like a village green; this is the Dining room. This space represents the possibility of a female public realm such as used to exist around the village pump, where opinions were expressed and decisions made. An antique pump located in a niche in the west wall of this space acknowledges this understanding .
The visual imagery for this house was derived from a photograph of 'Old Smokey', a lighthouse built at Trial Bay in the late nineteenth century to a standard design. As it was a very small lighthouse and accompanying one-room building, it was necessary to enlarge the proportions quite a bit. This surprised me, as I expected to be scaling down from lighthouse to house.
The house is designed to provide the owners with many ways to experience the spectacular views. As well as the panoramic view at the top, there are large windows divided into dozens of small panes, and small windows oriented in particular directions. These windows 'convert' the cottages into parts of a notional lunatic asylum, and refer to the role of these institutions in suppressing challenges from women to the existing paradigms of authority by classifying them as insane and under the power of the dark force of the moon.
There is a frameless sheet of glass between the tower and the Main bedroom which appears to be a nothing more than a gap between buildings, so that the view itself is emphasised, rather than the frame through which it is seen. Other kinds of views are available (along with slight vertigo) from the walkway around the top of the tower, and from the wharf-like deck leading to the front door.
The design of the house very carefully follows typical details of rendered stone or brick architecture from the mid-nineteenth century, although the construction method is pine stud framing incorporating insulation and clad with cement sheet and a textured finish. The pylons supporting the south side of the house imitate cast iron pipe construction, but are actually thin steel posts within compressed cement sheet pipe sections, studded with dome head bolts to imitate rivets.
As in all fiction, deception is rife. The chimney of the fireplace is carefully disguised as the vent at the top of the lighthouse. The stair to the basement room is concealed within the coat cupboard at the entry into the sitting room.
Each visitor to The Lighthouse brings with them many lighthouse memories and associations, and the house acts as a catalyst to trigger these. In my experience ideas which are intuitive are likely to have this kind of potency. As Annie Stevens said in her wonderful article in The Age titled Guided by the Light (18/9/2010) 'The lighthouse, as Virginia Woolf reasoned, is an almost perfect receptacle for projected symbolism. With the isolation, the wild ocean that surrounds it, the old tales of shipwrecks, its guiding role and the faint, salty whiff of madness, it's ripe for plumbing for hidden meanings.'
Acknowledgement: While designing this house I was assisted in our studio by Dr.Mirjana Lozanovska who contributed many insights into the relationship between the evolution of feminist theory and the metaphor linking light with knowledge.
Filed under Uncategorized Tagged with fiction architecture, the lighthouse
Fiction and non-fiction narratives in architecture
There are many examples of buildings which pretend to be other things: large toilet bowls, elephants, pineapples, and so on. These forms are often described as being part of a 'narrative'. The purpose of these literal representations is to advertise or draw attention to a commercial enterprise, or to refer to and signify a building's function, or to acknowledge a valued aspect of the building's context. While they seem fictional when compared to normal architecture I think that their narratives are non-fiction because of this functional or contextual aspect. To explain further, they are like ads on TV: even though they are highly creative there is no freedom to explore the narrative for its own sake.
Here is a nineteenth century example:
Lucy the Elephant is a six-story elephant-shaped architectural folly constructed of wood and tin sheeting in 1882 by James V. Lafferty in Margate City, New Jersey, two miles (3.2 km) south of Atlantic City in an effort to sell real estate and attract tourism. The idea of an animal-shaped building was innovative, and in 1882 the U.S. Patent Office granted Lafferty a patent giving him the exclusive right to make, use or sell animal-shaped buildings for seventeen years. Lucy is the oldest example of zoomorphic architecture. Lafferty, in fact, constructed several elephant-shaped buildings. – Wikipedia
During the Post-modern period, the work of Robert Venturi, Charles Moore and Charles Jencks, among others, broadened the terms of reference for architecture to allow the inclusion of such non-fiction narrative themes (preferably as surface decoration rather than three-dimensional representation).
There are some sophisticated and serious contemporary examples of non-fiction narratives, such as Daniel Libeskind's use of the pentangle in the design of the Jewish museum in Berlin, and the shards of an 'exploded globe' at his Imperial War Museum North, in Manchester.
In Fiction Architecture, as I am proposing it, the architect adopts the same strategies, such as literal representation, and shifts in scale, but the narrative themes are independent of the purpose, function or physical context of the building and can therefore be described as fictional rather than non-fictional. As in novel writing, it is the development of the author's ideas which becomes primary.
How do we summon up the courage to cross this line from non-fiction to fiction expression? What is the nature of this line?
It is not a question of crossing from truth to untruth, as fiction expresses truth as well as (and, some would argue, better than) non-fiction. It is crossing from the premise of honesty to the premise of pretence. To do this we need to let go of the idea that we must always be 'architecturally honest'. And we must also let go of the idea that, since mock-Georgian architecture is merely shallow pretence, therefore all pretence must be shallow. I hold the view that it is better if we are not always honest in architecture, and that not all pretence in architecture is shallow. Therefore it is possible to cross the line and pursue Fiction Architecture.
For some reason we are not as careful to make this fiction/non-fiction distinction in art and sculpture as we are in literature. I think this is because the non-fiction works of art and sculpture are now vastly outnumbered by the fiction works, so that, when we experience any work in one of these media, we assume we are dealing with a fictional narrative. Only occasionally do we come across a portrait or landscape or wildlife image which is intended to be a literal record of what the artist saw. Only rarely in sculpture do we see a life-like representation of a particular person, intended as a record of physical and psychological attributes. By contrast, in literature (and in the documentary format in film and television) we often come across scientific studies, cookery books, travel guides, text books, manuals, and so on, hence the constant concern that exists for distinction between fiction and non-fiction works within these media.
Interestingly, some architects envy painting and sculpture for its formal freedom, but have never analysed that these forms are generated by fictional narratives. Without the confidence to pursue fictional narratives, the architect remains restricted to what can be explained in terms of purpose, function and physical context.
In music, there is little concern as to whether the narrative (either as song, song with accompaniment, or melodic narrative) is fictional or not. J.S.Bach's 'St.Matthew Passion' is an example of a non-fiction narrative because believers consider Christ's life to be fact not fiction. Steve Reich, in 'Different Trains', evokes the tragedy of Nazi concentration camps, and therefore the work contains a non-fiction narrative. Brett Dean's opera 'Bliss' is based on Peter Carey's novel of the same name, and therefore the work contains a fictional narrative. These distinctions between non-fiction and fiction narratives in music are seldom made, as they matter little to the modern audience, but they are of interest and importance in trying to define how we have become stuck in the non-fiction narrative mode in architecture established during the period of post-modern theoretical development.
Now hold on to your hat while we consider a further complexity. Within non-fiction narratives such as documentary films, re-enactments may be inserted. While these require a fictive approach to space, decor, clothing and detail of speech and gesture, these re-enactments are intended to be understood by the audience as protraying true situations and stories. The same procedure takes place in some examples of non-fiction narrative in architecture, such the 'reconstructed' bomb craters in ARM's Melbourne Shrine Visitor Centre.
Similarly, in architecture which has a non-fiction narrative due to the building's use as an advertisement (such as the New York NewYork hotel and casino in Las Vegas), we find re-enactments (reconstructions) of buildings and monuments which are clearly fabrications but are expected by the observer to be reasonably accurate replicas of the real thing.
In summary, then, narratives in architecture can be divided into two categories: non-fiction and fiction. Nearly all existing architecture contains non-fiction narratives, and if a narrative is consciously expressed in a building, it is explained in terms of the purpose, function or physical context of the building. A work of Fiction Architecture is predicated on a narrative invented by the architect primarily for the contemplation and pleasure of the user.
Filed under Uncategorized Tagged with architectural narrative, architecture and fiction, narrative in architecture
Once Upon a Place conference on architecture and fiction October 2010 in Lisbon
Great news for all concerned with the relationship between architecture and fiction! (For those who are able to get there, anyway.)
The Once Upon a Place conference will explore a range of themes under the banner of 'Haunted Houses and Imaginary Cities'.
Keynote speakers include Pedro Gadanho (see http://shrapnelcontemporary.wordpress.com) and Peter Fournier who worked with Peter Cook on the Kunsthaus in Graz.
Conference dates are 12-14 October, see the conference website http://www.onceuponaplace.fa.utl.pt:80/
'This notice is provided for general information. This blog is not affiliated or connected with the conference.
Filed under Uncategorized Tagged with architecture and fiction, conference, Lisbon, Once Upon a Place, Pedro Gadanho, Peter Fournier
The birth of fiction architecture is similar to the birth of the novel
The basic idea of this blog is that a fictional mode of expression should exist within architecture which is equivalent to the novel in literature. So, how did the novel begin?
The earliest ones were imitations of real accounts of adventures (eg Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe) and were originally published without the author's name on them, but purported to be written by the 'hero'. While most people would have been well aware of their fictional status, it is not unlikely that some readers would have thought they were real accounts!
Very soon the novel blossomed into a much fuller expression with complex plots, intimate descriptions of the thoughts and feelings of the characters, and the phenomenon of the ordinary person as hero.
It is hard to imagine life without novels but, before the eighteenth century, they didn't exist.
It is this perspective that has led me to the position of proposing that a similar situation exists in the world of architecture at the beginning of the twenty-first century, and that there is a huge amount of pent-up energy amongst architects to explore a fictive mode of expression.
Like a novel, a work of fiction architecture is only possible if the architect adopts pretence as the starting point for the narrative aspects of the design. And like a novel, the building is 'read' as a pretence by the knowing viewer, and enjoyed as such.
Popular Fiction Architecture
A good example of Popular Fiction Architecture is Joanne and Shaun's Gothic house shown on the UK television program Grand Designs in 2009. In the emerging sub-genre of Gothic Fiction Architecture, it embodies the desire of the owners for a sense of romance and history in what is, actually, a new building. Unlike the serious proposal to return to a Gothic expression which manifested itself in the work of Pugin and others in the early nineteenth century, which I would describe as non-fiction, this Gothic expression is clearly chosen by the owners for their pleasure and enjoyment, and is openly acknowledged as fiction. There is no imperative that everyone should build in Gothic, or that the Gothic somehow embodies truth. This house is a pretence: it pursues a Gothic style. There is creativity shown in its composition by Joanne and architectural designer Gerald Sedgewick, however it remains within strict conventions, in the same way that much popular fiction writing does. There is a lack of open-ended exploration of the kind that I am advocating; it does not rise to the level of 'new fiction architecture'.
Consistently the interior shown here adheres to the conventions of Gothic; there is no hybridisation or layering of other ideas. But like much good popular fiction, it is full of pleasure due to both its explorations and its restrictions. (Photos: Grand Designs website).
More examples of Popular Fiction Architecture to come when I get around to it. Send photos to simonthornton@smartchat.net.au
This blog was started in February 2009 by Simon Thornton, a Melbourne architect and partner in Simon and Freda Thornton Architects.
The purpose is to nurture a new type of built architecture known as Fiction Architecture, and any interested person is welcome to submit comments, queries and suggestions.
'Fiction architecture' in the sense that I am proposing may be defined as the expression of ideas through the medium of building, using strategies such as imitation, pretence, trickery and playful deception.
This differs from the main body of architecture, 'non-fiction architecture', which may be defined as the expression of ideas through the medium of building, using a direct, clear, honest and didactic approach.
Fiction architecture is not to be confused with architecture fiction writing (also called architectural fiction writing), where a novel or other piece of fiction writing is organised around a plot or theme relating to architecture, or is an exploration of architectural themes. See works by Barry Maitland and Bruce Sterling.
Also, it should not be confused with imaginary or unbuilt architecture, or architectural drawings of a speculative kind.
Further, it should not be confused with non-fiction architecture which has been inspired by comic book depictions of future worlds, such as the influence of Dan Dare comics on British High Tech architecture (if indeed such influence actually exists). Nor should it be confused with 'futuristic' architecture deriving from earlier predictive work, such as the drawings of Archigram.
And again, for those who read architectural theory, it is not to be confused with Peter Eisenman's idea that Modernism itself was a fiction. In my view Modernist architecture was generally didactic (instructive), and was therefore a non-fiction expression. Like Marxist theory, Modernist theory may look naive and wrong in parts, but that does not turn it retrospectively into fiction. Documentary films may contain errors in fact or wrong beliefs, but that does not alter them from non-fiction to fiction.
GENRES OF FICTION ARCHITECTURE
Fiction architecture may be subdivided into 'popular fiction architecture' such as houses built in the shape of castles, and the more intellectual and explorative 'new fiction architecture' which tends to be an open-ended exploration of fictive themes by an architect with a developed skill in design. (Here I have borrowed the word 'new' from 'new music', a term used by contemporary composers working within the discourse of classical music to describe contemporary compositions.)
Further genres include 'science fiction architecture', 'historical fiction architecture' and 'fantasy fiction architecture'.


How Margaret Thatcher bulldozed over Britain's urban landscape
Owen Hatherley
On her watch the architecture of our cities, and the lives lived within them, became more irrelevant than ever
Tue 9 Apr 2013 03.00 EDT First published on Tue 9 Apr 2013 03.00 EDT
Margaret Thatcher, then prime minister, hands over a copy of the deeds to a family buying a council house in 1980. Photograph: PA
When you first notice it, it's almost funny. Walk east from the Royal Hospital Chelsea, with its sober, restrained baroque brick design by Sir Christopher Wren, and you'll find a new building that was erected in 2009 using exactly the same early 18th-century language. It's a transparently obvious attempt to reproduce Wren, but something has gone horribly awry – the proportions are badly judged, the scale is stodgy and lumpy, the pilasters, brickwork and the crowning Roman pediment look horribly thin, a dressing-up kit draped over a nondescript office block. The legend over the door, in gold lettering reads: The Margaret Thatcher Infirmary.
"By these stones," declared Karl Seitz, the Social Democratic leader of Vienna, opening the huge workers' housing complex Karl Marx-Hof, "shall we be judged." And so, decades later, is Seitz himself judged, with the housing reforms of his era remembered as one of the great achievements of social democracy, irrespective of the views of a handful of disgruntled economists in the same city, who would have to wait nearly half a century for their moment. That moment came when their books, like Friedrich Hayek's The Constitution of Liberty, were declared to be "what we believe" by a British prime minister. How will the stones of her era be judged?
Thatcher herself never made major public pronouncements on architecture, though her era was a time of architectural counter-revolution. Not against modernism per se – in fact, Thatcher supported Peter Palumbo in his abortive efforts to build a Mies van der Rohe tower in the city – but against what modernism had become in the 1970s. After the high-profile failures of "system building" in the 1960s, the next decade had seen a wave of democratic housing reform, with mass squatting, strong tenants' associations and the more participatory planning of the likes of the Byker estate in Newcastle all suggesting the cities of the welfare state could adapt and change, becoming more democratic rather than less.
That abruptly ended when Thatcher brought in the right-to-buy, with central government rather than councils pocketing the receipts and new building of council housing practically prohibited. Interventionist local governments were one of the many enemies within – either abolished, as in London, or crushed, as in Liverpool. Hardline Thatcher loyalist Nicholas Ridley's assault on planning created "enterprise zones" outside of local government control.
Architecture itself was warped by Thatcher's influence. The city architect's departments that lived in and carefully tended provincial cities became obsolete, and firms like RMJM, once public servants crafting well-made civic buildings for local authorities, became vast multinational corporations, specialising in the "emerging markets" of China and the Middle East. However, the handful of buildings named after Thatcher herself tell their own story.
The Thatcher Infirmary was designed by Quinlan Terry, specialist in an effete, bloodless neoclassicism, who also redesigned No 10 under Thatcher's watch. Terry's woefully uninspired parodic classicism shows one aspect of Thatcherism in full effect – a cheap, gimcrack evocation of a long-lost imperial greatness. But what of the Margaret Thatcher Centre at Somerville College, Oxford? This recent addition to the women's college where Thatcher was educated is a relatively modern building, evoking the traditional houses around it without direct references. A more interesting contrast is offered by the Thatcher papers in Churchill College, Cambridge. It uses the same materials as the post-war buildings around it, in brown brick and concrete – but in an era where the construction industry did extremely well out of the destruction of town planning, construction standards went down accordingly. It's strangely satisfying to see the florescence running down the brickwork of the archives while the hated architecture of the social democratic era around it is bearing up well. These two buildings represent something more subtle – a vacant modernism eviscerated of social purpose, which would be much more widespread under her successors, John Major and Tony Blair.
Influential among Thatcher's intellectual outriders was the geographer Alice Coleman, who, in her book Utopia on Trial, presented a stark vision where "security" was all, with architecture a matter of preventing crime via design choices. Dismissing the terrace, the tower, the tenement, the courtyard or the apartment building as "utopian" crime-traps, Coleman favoured one solution – the semi or detached house with a very big garden or driveway in front. The market was ready to provide it, especially in the form of Barratt Homes, notorious for their poor space, but insular and traditionalist enough to reassure worried buyers as the gap between rich and poor widened. Thatcher famously bought a detached Barratt Home in 1985, in a gated community in Dulwich, to great fanfare, as if to assure suburban Britain that she too shared their taste for brick cladding and cul de sacs. However, she never actually lived in it, and cashed in the equity two years later. Under Thatcher's watch, the quality of cities, of their design and the lives lived within them became more irrelevant than ever. Buildings, especially houses, were now investments, not pieces of a shared and coherent urban landscape. We all live in the Margaret Thatcher infirmary.


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By the nineteenth century, "expos" that encouraged arts, manufactures and commerce had become worldwide. They weren't only vastly popular but affected worldwide concepts. For instance, the 1878 Paris Exposition facilitated worldwide cooperation about ideas, improvements and requirements. From London 1851 to Paris 1900, "in excess of 200 million visitors had entered the turnstiles in London, Paris, Vienna, Philadelphia, Chicago and a myriad of smaller shows all over the world." 141 143 Since World Struggle II "nicely over 500 million visits have been recorded by way of world expo turnstiles". one hundred forty four As a form of spectacle and entertainment, expositions influenced "every thing from architecture, to patterns of globalisation, to basic matters of human identity" a hundred and forty four and within the course of established the shut relationship between "fairs, the rise of malls and art museums", a hundred forty five the fashionable world of mass consumption and the leisure trade.
One of the earliest forms of parade had been " triumphs " – grand and sensational shows of overseas treasures and spoils, given by triumphant Roman generals to rejoice their victories. They presented conquered peoples and nations that exalted the prestige of the victor. "In the summertime of forty six BCE Julius Caesar selected to celebrate 4 triumphs held on completely different days extending for about one month." 131 In Europe from the Middle Ages to the Baroque the Royal Entry celebrated the formal go to of the monarch to town with a parade by way of elaborately embellished streets, passing numerous reveals and shows. The annual Lord Mayor's Show in London is an example of a civic parade that has survived since medieval instances. For instance, within the movement image business, one of the largest hits that the company I ran was concerned with was "House Alone." "House Alone" was not only unexpected, it was so unexpected that the one purpose we had it at Fox is as a result of Warner Bros. put it into turnaround three days into physical manufacturing. Never happens, after all.
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Prime Arts And Leisure Web sites In The World
For these of you who are involved about your privacy and don't desire every other users who've entry to your laptop to know what sites you've been visiting online, need to know find out how to fully erase web history. One of the penalties of the development of the leisure trade has been the creation of latest forms of employment Whereas jobs corresponding to author , musician and composer exist as they all the time have, people doing this work are more likely to be employed by a company somewhat than a patron as they as soon as would have been. New jobs have appeared, equivalent to gaffer or special results supervisor in the movie industry, and attendants in an amusement park. Films and video games, for example, although they use newer media, proceed to inform stories, current drama, and play music. After all that does not make any sense in any respect. Because the implication is you are super focused on video games however you have been simply unwilling to purchase a console. I mean, I'm certain there were folks like that, but when they are so fascinated that they want to pay $60 or $70 for a front-line title, it's laborious for me to consider they had been unwilling to spend $250 on a console to have the ability to do it ever in their life.
Exactly. So the biggest change in motion pictures and television has been distribution models or the ability to time-shift or subscription models. However the precise creativity hasn't modified. In the case of interactive entertainment, it's a nascent industry still. It is only 35 years previous, and we have not hit our stride yet. Understanding where consumers and advertisers are spending their time and money in the leisure and media industry will help inform many vital business selections. Some leisure, equivalent to public executions, at the moment are unlawful in most countries. Activities akin to fencing or archery , once utilized in searching or battle , have develop into spectator sports activities In the identical way, other activities, resembling cooking , have developed into performances among professionals, staged as world competitions after which broadcast for leisure. What is leisure for one group or individual may be thought to be work or an act of cruelty by one other.
Relatively minor changes to the shape and venue of an leisure proceed to come and go as they are affected by the period, vogue, culture, know-how, and economics. For instance, a story advised in dramatic kind may be introduced in an open-air theatre, a music hall , a movie theatre , a multiplex , or as technological potentialities superior, by way of a private electronic gadget such as a tablet computer Entertainment is provided for mass audiences in goal-constructed buildings reminiscent of a theatre , auditorium , or stadium One of the vital famous venues in the Western world, the Colosseum , "devoted ADVERT eighty with a hundred days of games, held fifty thousand spectators," and in it audiences "loved blood sport with the trappings of stage exhibits". 26 Spectacles , competitions, races , and sports activities have been as soon as offered on this goal-built enviornment as public leisure. New stadia proceed to be built to go well with the ever extra refined requirements of world audiences.
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Disney Leisure And Shows
NetEnt is a digital leisure firm, offering premium gaming solutions to some of the world's most successful on-line casino operators. One of many earliest types of parade have been " triumphs " – grand and sensational shows of foreign treasures and spoils, given by triumphant Roman generals to rejoice their victories. They introduced conquered peoples and nations that exalted the prestige of the victor. "In the summer of forty six BCE Julius Caesar chose to have fun 4 triumphs held on different days extending for about one month." 131 In Europe from the Middle Ages to the Baroque the Royal Entry celebrated the formal go to of the monarch to the city with a parade through elaborately adorned streets, passing numerous exhibits and shows. The annual Lord Mayor's Present in London is an instance of a civic parade that has survived since medieval instances. For instance, in the movement picture enterprise, one of the biggest hits that the company I ran was involved with was "House Alone." "Residence Alone" was not only unexpected, it was so unexpected that the one cause we had it at Fox is as a result of Warner Bros. put it into turnaround three days into bodily production. By no means happens, of course.
one thing affording pleasure, diversion, or amusement, particularly a performance of some type: The highlight of the ball was an elaborate entertainment. The stage and the areas set out in entrance of it for an audience create a theatre. All kinds of stage are used with all kinds of seating for the viewers, including the impromptu or improvised (2, three, 6); the momentary (2); the frilly (9); or the traditional and everlasting (5, 7). They're erected indoors (three, 5, 9) or outdoor (2, 4, 6). The ability of managing, organising and getting ready the stage for a efficiency is called stagecraft (10). The audience's experience of the leisure is affected by their expectations, the stagecraft, the type of stage, and the type and customary of seating supplied.
Roe Conn & Richard Roeper look again on the awards that ought to have been! Pay attention to listen to which films and performances popular award ceremonies overlooked. Even as the Disney Forged Member guides you round our site, they are going to be unable to entry or view any information or information in your machine or something you kind. Performs , 85 musicals , 86 monologues , pantomimes , and efficiency poetry are a part of the very lengthy history of theatre, which can also be the venue for the kind of efficiency known as stand-up comedy 87 Within the twentieth century, radio and television , typically broadcast live, prolonged the theatrical tradition that continued to exist alongside the new varieties. Whereas technology increases demand for entertainment products and affords elevated velocity of supply, the forms that make up the content material are in themselves, comparatively secure. Storytelling, music, theatre, dance and video games are recognisably the identical as in earlier centuries.
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Leisure News, Bollywood Information, Hollywood Information, Celebrity News And Gossips, Hindi Movie Opinions
For those of you who're involved about your privacy and don't desire every other users who've entry to your computer to know what sites you've got been visiting on-line, need to know methods to fully erase web history. something affording pleasure, diversion, or amusement, especially a efficiency of some kind: The highlight of the ball was an elaborate leisure. The stage and the spaces set out in entrance of it for an viewers create a theatre. All kinds of stage are used with all types of seating for the viewers, including the impromptu or improvised (2, 3, 6); the non permanent (2); the elaborate (9); or the normal and permanent (5, 7). They are erected indoors (three, 5, 9) or outdoors (2, four, 6). The ability of managing, organising and making ready the stage for a efficiency is named stagecraft (10). The audience's experience of the leisure is affected by their expectations, the stagecraft, the kind of stage, and the kind and standard of seating provided.
Within the case of GTA IV, one would argue that was a couple-yr expertise. And within the case of GTA V, now that's been a seven-yr expertise and it's still going robust. Actually, GTA Online may have another document year this fiscal 12 months for us. And this is obviously not true only for Take-Two; it's true for the complete industry. So at the same time, at Take-Two more lately, before the launch of the primary Pink Useless Redemption, the perception was Western-theme video games always fail as a result of the one one anybody had ever heard of was called Gun, and it failed. Most forms of entertainment have persevered over many centuries, evolving resulting from adjustments in tradition, expertise, and style. Prestigious awards are given by the trade for excellence in the numerous forms of leisure. For instance, there are awards for Music, Video games (including video games), Comics, Comedy, Theatre, Television, Movie, Dance and Magic. Sporting awards are made for the outcomes and ability, relatively than for the leisure value.
The "fire, sudden noise and smoke" of fireworks is still a major part of public celebration and entertainment. For example, fireworks were one of the main forms of show chosen to have fun the turn of the millennium all over the world. Because the clock struck midnight and 1999 grew to become 2000, firework shows and open-air parties greeted the New Year because the time zones changed over to the following century. Fireworks, fastidiously deliberate and choreographed, were let off against the backdrop of most of the world's most well-known buildings, together with the Sydney Harbour Bridge , the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, the Acropolis in Athens, Purple Sq. in Moscow, Vatican City in Rome, the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and Elizabeth Tower in London.
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5 Leisure Sites To Verify Out This July!
NetEnt is a digital leisure firm, providing premium gaming solutions to among the world's most profitable online on line casino operators. Precisely. So the largest change in movement footage and television has been distribution models or the flexibility to time-shift or subscription fashions. However the precise creativity hasn't modified. Within the case of interactive entertainment, it is a nascent industry still. It is only 35 years outdated, and we haven't hit our stride yet. Understanding the place consumers and advertisers are spending their time and money within the entertainment and media business can assist inform many necessary business choices. Some entertainment, resembling public executions, are actually unlawful in most nations. Activities akin to fencing or archery , as soon as used in looking or struggle , have change into spectator sports In the identical way, other actions, akin to cooking , have developed into performances amongst professionals, staged as world competitions and then broadcast for entertainment. What's leisure for one group or individual may be thought to be work or an act of cruelty by one other.
Court leisure usually moved from being associated with the court docket to more general use among commoners This was the case with "masked dance-dramas" in Korea, which "originated along with village shaman rituals and finally became largely an entertainment form for commoners". 30 Nautch dancers within the Mughal Empire carried out in Indian courts and palaces. Another evolution, much like that from courtly leisure to common practice, was the transition from non secular ritual to secular entertainment, corresponding to occurred throughout the Goryeo dynasty with the Narye festival. Originally "solely spiritual or ritualistic, a secular element was added on the conclusion". 31 Former courtly entertainments, resembling jousting , usually additionally survived in children's games.
Gear varies with the game. Board games , comparable to Go , Monopoly or backgammon want a board and markers. One of many oldest recognized board video games is Senet , a recreation performed in Historic Egypt, loved by the pharaoh Tutankhamun 48 Card games , equivalent to whist , poker and Bridge have lengthy been played as evening entertainment amongst pals. For these video games, all that is needed is a deck of enjoying playing cards Other video games, such as bingo , played with numerous strangers, have been organised to involve the participation of non-players via gambling Many are geared for youngsters , and might be performed outdoor, together with hopscotch , cover and search , or Blind man's bluff The checklist of ball games is sort of intensive. It includes, for example, croquet , garden bowling and paintball in addition to many sports activities utilizing various forms of balls The choices cater to a variety of ability and health ranges. Physical video games can develop agility and competence in motor skills Quantity video games akin to Sudoku and puzzle video games just like the Rubik's cube can develop mental prowess.
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AMBODE SWEARS IN…
AMBODE SWEARS IN NEW HEAD OF SERVICE AND PERMANENT SECRETARIES
Lagos News News
Sumbo
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode on Wednesday swore in the newly appointed Head of Service (HOS), Mrs. Olabowale Toluwatope Ademola with a charge on her to see the appointment as a call to duty and immediately get to work, prove herself and justify the responsibility placed on her.
The Governor also elevated three substantive Directors; Mr. Tunde Tairu Ogunleye, Mr. Taofik Adeyemi Fashola and Mr. Fola Padonu as Permanent Secretaries in the Ministry of Finance, Audit Service Commission and Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment respectively.
Governor Ambode who spoke at the Executive Council Chambers, Lagos House, Ikeja, said the appointments was in line with the practice of his administration to continually select and appoint experienced, dedicated and tested professionals to key positions in the government.
He charged the HOS to build on the achievements of her predecessor and work to take the state to the highest level in the delivery of good governance for the benefit of all residents and investors in Lagos State.
"The Lagos State Public Service is the reference point in public administration in Nigeria and is the engine room of the State government. The dynamism of the Lagos State Public Service lies in the pedigree of its leadership which has charted the course of proactive interpretation and implementation of government policies and programmes over the years".
He told Mrs. Ademola that the immediate responsibility before her is to build on the gains of the recent reforms and re-alignment the current administration has undertaken in the civil service and ensure that the overall objectives of prompt, efficient and effective service delivery are achieved.
"The watchword is lean government, quality service".
"As the number One civil servant in Lagos State, you must show leadership and inspire the over 100,000 Civil/Public servants to be united in their commitment to discharge their responsibilities in line with global best practices".
"The goal of this administration is to strategically position Lagos State to be globally competitive in all sectors, the public service inclusive. A globally competitive public service must be proactive, knowledgeable, courteous, transparent, law abiding, accountable and selfless".
He expressed confidence in the ability of the HOS to rise up to the challenge before her considering her years of experience and knowledge of the dynamics, peculiarities and strengths of the Lagos State Public Service.
"It is my expectation that in discharging your responsibilities, all sectors of the public service including the Body of Permanent Secretaries will be carried along and given a sense of belonging as active stakeholders", he said.
Meanwhile, Governor Ambode, while swearing-in the three newly appointed Permanent Secretaries, charged the appointees to see their appointment as a reward for dedication, urging them to promptly attend to all matters always.
The Governor reminded the appointees that they were chosen from a pool of equally qualified and competent officers, adding that they must uphold the tradition of excellence which the Lagos State Public Service is known for.
"I have confidence in your ability to meet this expectation given your pedigree and sufficient understanding of the goals of this administration to re-position the State Public Service. No excuse will be acceptable for non-performance," the Governor stated.
Earlier, the Head of Service, in what was her first official duty, introduced the newly appointed Permanent Secretaries, saying that their appointment, apart from being in line with the tradition of excellence which Governor Ambode is known for, was also in accordance with the powers conferred on the Governor by Section 208 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
Responding on behalf of the appointees, Ogunleye, who is a Chartered Accountant and a Lawyer, thanked the Governor for the opportunity given to himself and his colleagues to serve the State.
"We will do our best to ensure that Lagos excels. Your excellence has come with lofty ideas and we are ready to key into the ideas and serve," Ogunleye said.
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