MediaCorps Police and Thief Essay Example for Free

MediaCorps Police and Thief Essay 1. Short summary of my understanding of the question and my thesis statement 2. State some obvious similarities and differences between the 2 case studies. 3. Dissect each case study with the following categories in mind: a. Narratives b. Genres c. Representation d. Ideology e. Scenes 4. Conclusion 5. Some other things to think about: a. Give concrete examples. b. Aspects of styles. These two shows are very Singaporean. By this I mean that they contain many elements which are unique to my country, elements which only within the paradigm of our society will resonate with local viewers. Homerun, an Asian remake of the internationally acclaimed Iranian movie Children of Heaven is a movie directed by Jack Neo, who is a local celebrity best known for his comedic prowess and the many comedy shows under his name. Police and Thief is a relatively new weekly half-hour sitcom shown on Channel 5 which has yet to set a foothold in the heart of local audiences. These locally produced shows use, essentially different techniques in many areas to present the story to us while making use of our experiences as Singaporeans to help us understand and appreciate the shows from their story/plot to the surprises and nuances contained within. I will proceed to show you how the techniques used are also more different than similar. A distinction between the two shows is the element of narration. Cause and effect is employed to effectively present the story or stories in the shows. It is not uncommon to find secondary stories in an episode of a situation comedy or sitcom. These are often inserted into the plot and often come together in conclusion at the end of the episode. In Police and Thief, the show starts off on this episode with Lee Tok Kong the main character of the show wanting to get under the blanket with his wife and due to common reasons of tiredness and falling asleep quickly, has his pleas ignored. This scene is related to how Tok Kong later reacts to the wiles of a less than archetypical femme fatale. There is another story inserted in between, which shows how the neighbours sons, Rudy and Rafi having an unspoken conflict over a common love interest. This plot development has no explicit and implicit impact on the main story mentioned earlier. It almost feels like tokenism has taken place, either to fill up the half hour of screen time or to give emphasis to the other characters in the sitcom. In Homerun, it is quickly established that poverty leads to a lack of options and hence with the losing of shoes early into the movie, we see the main cause in the show that explains later effects. The show revolves around how the main characters are thwarted at every attempt to obtain a new pair of shoes or retrieve the old pair. We do not see scenes that have no relation to any other. In fact the entire narration of Homerun is about a search for a cause-shoes. Both the shows have different range of stories. There is less suspense buildup in Police and Thief and this is probably due to restricted narration where both the audience and the characters in the show know the same information at relatively equal times. The only example of unrestricted narration in the recent episode was when Rudy cheated on his promise to his brother Rafi behind his back to get a chance to go out with the girl, Cecilia, they both like. Rafi only found it out in another scene when Cecilia whom similarly does not know of the conflict called their home. In this case, we know more than several characters in the show at a particular time. In Homerun, during the opening sequence of Chew Kiat Kun running errands for his family, it is quickly established that a rag-and-bone man had taken away the pair of shoes which Kiat Kun had put down. Kiat Kun has no idea how the shoes had mysteriously disappeared and hence his sister Seow Fang too. In this scene alone, a beautiful play on camera angle suffices to keep us in suspense till much later in the show. This seemingly passing top down close up scene of the gnarled hands removing the shoes helps to tug hard at our heart strings when we later realize the rag-and-bone man is blind. The above is a good example of how both restricted and unrestricted narration can be developed from one scene. We know who had taken away the shoes (unrestricted narration) but like the characters in the show we have no idea he was blind (restricted narration). These two shows belong to the 2 commonest genres in Singapore. Police and Thief can be classified as belonging to the HDB genre. In fact this plot of this particular sitcom revolves around the conflict faced by two men who live in close proximity. It has an appeal particular to local viewers who are able to appreciate the familiar settings. One example which we can relate to is the scene of Lily, Tok Kongs wife who repeats a punch line in a scene where her face is framed in the center of our common older HDB window panes. It is common to see neighbours walking and talking from the same angle for those who have lived in HDB flats. Homerun is a social commentary and even as it is based in 1965, the year Singapore became independent, it reflects on socio-political situations which were prevalent during the time of filming i.e. the water issue between Malaysia and Singapore. Another genre which is mixed into both these shows is the coffee shop genre, featuring many scenes of meeting and interactions at local coffee shops. We see this in Police and Thief where Tok Kong was being interviewed by a lady near the beginning of the show and in Homerun, Kiat Kun helps out his teacher from school who is close to collapsing from shortness of breath at a roadside coffee shop. There is obvious stereotyping in Police and Thief. Tok Kong is your typical gangster or Ah Beng in colloquial terms. He has wild, pointy gelled hair and wears colourful clothing, even for sleeping attire (Opening scenes). His heavily accented Singapore Colloquial English (SCE) (Dont play with my heart) and his love for techno music scream Ah Beng. He is put in direct contrast with his neighbour and antagonist in the show Sergeant Dollah who is a policeman. Dollah is characterized with short hair, very neat and righteous. These stereotypes alone set the premise for tension and conflict as neighbours. It is akin to Phua Chu Kang versus his sister-in-law Margaret. The stereotypes in Homerun broadly differentiate the rich and the poor. A simple comparison can be made between Beng Soon and Kiat Kun, friends of opposite ends of the economic spectrum whose relationship sours then mends in the course of the show. Beng Soon is cast in shirts, clean with well-gelled hair (in school) and stands at a good head taller than Kiat Kun. His friend however is almost always dirty, with smudges on his singlet and/or face. Even during a game of soccer, Beng Soon provides the soccer boots and he is the only one on the field with soccer socks. Tok Kong as the gangster also becomes an icon easily associated with local shows of similar genres. There is no obvious icon in Homerun. It uses a motif rather, to play out the story. There were multiple scenes of close ups of your Bata white or dirty shoes (in the shops or in the background with Seow Fangs face in the focus). Many scenes of tension started because of shoes e.g. the shoes slipping off and into a canal full of rushing water and even in the scene where Seow Fangs teacher paces as the children are exercising). These scenes feature changes in music, close ups with dialogue in the background, all to draw attention to the motif in the show. During the scene at the well with the confrontation between the two groups of boys, we see wealth being equated with power, that Beng Soon who was the rich one could actually decide who got to use the well. This is perhaps the directors ideology portraying the way Malaysia hordes over us in the water issue. The premise of Homerun revolved around three things: shoes, intelligence and power being associated with wealth. Jack Neo parodies the socio-political situation between Singapore and Malaysia using the three elements with shoes being the water, Singapore being the more intelligent country and power that Malaysia holds over us due to their superior water resource. The two shows end differently too. The end of the sitcom is close without answered questions while the cryptic ending of Homerun leaves us pondering what the director would have us think as we leave the cinema. There is no element of suspense left in Police and Thief to entice the audience to look out for the next episode, unlike a soap opera. Even as both shows make use of our experience to enhance our appreciation and understanding of the shows, they obviously use several different techniques and some similar ones to bring forth the essence of each individual story. These different methods highlight certain elements essential to the plot of the stories and ultimately help us to enjoy the shows as Singaporeans.

How Japan Committed Crimes Against Humanity in Pursuit of Self-Interest

Japan was one of the major powers of Axis Powers during the World War II. From 1937 to 1945, Japan started a series of wars, and resulted in millions of casualties along the way. Japanese battlefield consists of three parts: China, Pacific and Southeastern Asia. Japanese started these wars because they wanted to gain resources and war advantages for their own country. Japan committed crimes against humanity during their wars, which means they neglected human dignity and degraded human value by humiliation. During the Sino-Japanese War, the Pearl Harbor Attack and wars in Southeastern Asia, Japan, in pursuit of self-interest, violated human rights and committed crimes against humanity. Japan's attacking China in 1937 is a crime against humanity. On July 7, 1937, Japan attacked Beijing using a missing soldier as an excuse, without no official declaration to war against China. On December 13, 1937, Japan started a series of massacre in Nanking, which resulted in a casualty of 300,000. During the three-month-long massacre, Japanese army kill for pure fun, and their crime include brutal rape of innocent women, beheading civilians as competition, and murder newborn babies. Unit 731 of Japanese army used Chinese people as human test subjects to develop chemical weapon to win the war. They performed amputation and poison gas test on innocent Chinese civilians. When the war reached stalemate, and Japanese troops suffered from hunger, they kill war prisoners and eat the bodies. Japanese officers forced Chinese women to be "comfort lady" for the troops. While the name sounded great, reality was that these "comfort ladies" ended up raped by Japanese soldiers over and ov er again until death. (Yoshimi 146) These were all crime against h... ...self-interest contradicts humanity and one fails to protect the latter, then it is the unforgivable crime against humanity, and should be punished. Works Cited "Unmasking Horror" Nicholas D. Kristof (March 17, 1995) New York Times. A special report.; Japan Confronting Gruesome War Atrocity Keenan, Joseph Berry and Brown, Brendan Francis, Crimes against International Law, Public Affairs Press, Washington, 1950. Secondary sources: Yoshiaki Yoshimi, 2001–02, Comfort Women: Sexual Slavery in the Japanese Military during World War II. Columbia University Press. Lord Russell of Liverpool (Edward Russell), The Knights of Bushido, a short history of Japanese War Crimes, Greenhill books, 2002 Willmott, Hedley P., and Michael Barrett. "World War II (Causes)." World at War: Understanding Conflict and Society. ABC-CLIO, 2014. Web. 18 May 2014.

Philippine Airlines Essay

Philippine Airlines, Inc. (abbreviated as PAL and also known historically as Philippine Air Lines) operating as Philippine Airlines, is a flag carrier of the Philippines. Headquartered at the Philippine National Bank Financial Center in Pasay City,[2][3] the airline was founded in 1941 and is the first and oldest commercial airline in Asia operating under its original name. 4] Out of its hubs at Ninoy Aquino International Airport of Manila and Mactan-Cebu International Airport of Cebu City, Philippine Airlines serves twenty destinations in the Philippines and 26 destinations in Southeast Asia, South Asia, East Asia, Oceania and North America. [5] Formerly one of the largest Asian airlines, PAL was severely affected by the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. In one of the Philippines’ biggest corporate failures, PAL was forced to downsize its international operations by completely cutting flights to Europe and Middle East, cutting virtually all domestic flights except routes operated from Manila, reducing the size of its fleet, and laying off thousands of employees. The airline was placed under receivership in 1998, and gradually restored operations to many destinations. PAL exited receivership in 2007. Philippine Aerial Taxi Company  On November 14, 1935 Philippine Congress approved the franchise of Philippine Aerial Taxi Company, Incorporated (PATCO) to provide mail, cargo and passenger service particularly in the island of Luzon. The company then had scheduled Manila-Baguio and Manila-Paracale flights. [6] The company became dormant for six years on its scheduled passenger operation under its assigned routes. [4] Philippine Air Lines On February 26, 1941 Philippine Air Lines, Inc. y a group of businessmen led by Andres Soriano – hailed as one of the Philippines’ leading industrialists at the time,[7] who served as general manager, and former Senator Ramon Fernandez, who served as chairman and president. Philippine Air Lines, Inc. acquired the franchise of Philippine Aerial Taxi Company, Incorporated, thus the birth of Philippine Airlines. The airline’s first flight took place on March 15, 1941 with a single Beech craft Model 18 NPC-54 on daily services between Manila (from Nielson Field) and Baguio. [7] On July 22 the airline cquired the franchise of the Philippine Aerial Taxi Company. Government investment in September paved the way for its nationalization. Entry of San Miguel Corporation (2012-present) On April 4, 2012, San Miguel Corporation bought a 49-percent stake in Philippine Airlines for $500 million as part of a strategy to move away from its beer and food businesses. San Miguel, one of the Philippines’ biggest conglomerates, said it planned to help modernise PAL’s aging fleet and rejuvenate Asia’s oldest commercial airline, which has lost its status as the nation’s top carrier in recent years. San Miguel president Ramon Ang said the $500-million investment had bought his company a 49-percent stake in PAL and its low-cost offshoot, Airphil Express (AirPhil). â€Å"The new investment will allow the two airlines to strengthen operations and stay competitive with the implementation of PAL and AirPhil’s fleet modernization,† said a joint statement from PAL chairman Lucio Tan and San Miguel. Ang also stated that they are planning to join a global airline alliance. Billionaire Tan, the country’s second-wealthiest man, is PAL’s controlling shareholder. 34] DestinationsPhilippine Airlines operates two hubs in Manila and Cebu. Virtually all PAL routes are operated from its hubs, with the majority of routes operating from Manila. Domestically, PAL flies to major Philippine cities from Manila and Cebu. It flies between Manila, and Cebu to a lesser extent, and cities in Asia-Pacific, the western United States, Canada and Australia. Many destinations served by PAL, especially destinations in the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan and Hong Kong, are areas with large overseas Filipino populations. citation needed] PAL currently operates three non-hub routes, Bangkok-Delhi, Singapore-Jakarta and Sydney-Melbourne. In the past, PAL operated a number of domestic and international non-hub routes (most notably Iloilo-General Santos, Vancouver-New York, Vancouver-Las Vegas and Zurich-Paris), as well as non-stop services to destinations in Europe and extensive domestic operations; those services were discontinued in light of the Asian financial crisis. Some of its previous domestic operations, namely, service from Manila to Naga, Tuguegarao, and more recently, Ozamiz have been taken over by Airphil Express, while services to others were stopped altogether. In addition, services to Legazpi City, Puerto Princesa, Butuan, Cagayan de Oro, Cotabato City, Dipolog, Zamboanga City, Dumaguete and Tacloban, while retaining the â€Å"PR† flight codes, have been operated by Airphil Express on behalf of PAL since 28 October 2012. Service to the Middle East continued after the Asian financial crisis; however, that was also eventually discontinued due to high fuel prices and an oversupply of seats, as well as intense competition from Middle Eastern carriers. PAL discontinued service toRiyadh, its last Middle Eastern destination, on 2 March 2006, and re-introduced flights again in 2010 but discontinued once again in April 2011. PAL maintains code-share agreements with carriers based in that region, specifically with Emirates to Dubai, Etihad to Abu Dhabi, Gulf Air to Bahrain, and Qatar Airways to Doha. After exiting from receivership, PAL has expressed interest in increasing its frequencies to Canada such as an expansion to Toronto and Montreal, introducing flights to Dhaka, Guangzhou and Mumbai, and expanding its presence in the United States by commencing service to Saipan, Seattle, Dallas, San Diego, and Houston, as well as restoring service to Chicago and New York,[51] and restoring service to India and Europe,[52][53] as well as the Middle East. [54] The downgrading of the Philippines’ aviation status by the Federal Aviation Administration however, has prevented PAL from expanding its coverage in the United States. PAL commenced Manila to Toronto service effective November 30, 2012 with a stop-over in Vancouver(YVR) on the Toronto-to-Manila leg. On 15 October 2010, Philippine Airlines announced that its Manila–Brisbane services will be suspended indefinitely as of October 31, with Melbourne-bound services reduced from 5 flights a week to 3. The company cited marketing considerations for the suspension of Brisbane services. [55] However, more recently, the airline has since recommenced a daily frequency to Australia: Sydney is served four days a week and Melbourne three using a B777-300ER plane. The former triangular routing that served both Australian cities on one flight was discontinued in favour of direct flights. The carrier re-introduced flights to New Delhi after decades of absence in the Indian subcontinent; there were initially three direct flights while three other flights stopped at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport. [56]However, as of 18 March 2012, Philippine Airlines discontinued it direct flight to New Delhi and retained the thrice-weekly New Delhi via Bangkok flights. On 28 April 2012, Philippine Airlines re-established its direct air links between Manila and Bali, Indonesia’s prime holiday destination, via twice-weekly flights departing Manila every Wednesday and Saturday. It is the airline’s second destination in Indonesia, following Jakarta, the country’s capital, where the flag carrier flies five times a week direct from Manila and four times a week via Singapore. [57] On 23 July 2012, PAL announced that it will launch non-stop flights to Toronto on November 30, 2012. [58] The Philippines’ flag carrier is also planning to launch direct flights from Manila to New York and some key cities in Europe. However, PAL is being prevented since the FAA made PH under category 2, which prevents PAL to expand its U. S. network, and blacklisting PH aviation by EU, which stops Philippine Airlines in restoring its previous European routes. [59] Philippine Airlines (PAL) has filed with the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) permit to start flight to Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport in Russia Capital starting September 2013, using the high-gross variant of Airbus A330-300 aircraft 4 times weekly. Moscow flight leaves Manila on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays, with Turkey flight leaving Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. It is the second destination in Europe to be flown by PAL after announcing flights to Turkey beginning August 5. Both destinations are outside the European Union. PAL is also slated to fly daily services on the Manila-Kuwait route by April 2013 usingAirbus A330-300, while daily flights to Darwin, extending 3 mornings a week to Brisbane and 4 mornings a week to Perth commence on 1 June 2013 using Airbus A320s. [60] Philippine Airlines soon to launch flights to Sao Paulo, Brazil with stopovers on Los Angeles. [61] A codeshare agreement, sometimes simply codeshare, is an aviation business arrangement where two or more airlines share the same flight. A seat can be purchased on one airline but is actually operated by a cooperating airline under a different flight number or code. The term â€Å"code† refers to the identifier used in flight schedule, generally the two-character IATA airline designator code and flight number. Thus, XX123, flight 123 operated by the airline XX, might also be sold by airline YY as YY456 and by ZZ as ZZ9876. It allows greater access to cities through a given airline’s network without aving to offer extra flights, and makes connections simpler by allowing single bookings across multiple planes. Most major airlines today have code sharing partnerships with other airlines and code sharing is a key feature of the major airline alliances. Under a code sharing agreement, the airline that actually operates the flight (the one providing the plane, the crew and the ground handling services) is called the operating carrier. The company or companies that sell tickets for that flight but do not actually operate it are called marketing carriers.

Summary Of The Monmouth Mall - 1494 Words

Elena and Kayleigh walked to Elena ´s house and got ready to go to the Monmouth Mall. Elena s mom said â€Å"Are you girlys ready†. We replied â€Å"Yes†, we run downstairs and went to the car. I unlocked the car for us.  ¨Here Kayleigh, we can sit in the back. I put the car on and put the music on and sat in the back with Kayleigh. Kayleigh got a text from Carl â€Å"Hey Kayleigh, I have to ask you a question it s really important† said Carl. Kayleigh looked at the message and looked at Elena. Elena looked at her â€Å"Tell him to meet us at the Monmouth mall with Michael†. Kayleigh told Carl to meet them at the mall and to bring Michael. Elena’s mom came into the car and drove. She said â€Å"ok what mall are you guys going to†, we replied at the same time†¦show more content†¦. .Do yooouuu . . .um . . .want to go to the Halloween Dance with me?† She looks at Kayleigh and catches her eye and raises her eyebrows. Kayl eigh mouths â€Å"What† Elena feels knots in her stomach. She can’t think of anything to say to Paul. â€Å"Can I get back to you?† Elena says slowly, â€Å"when I figure all this out?† Paul says, â€Å"Sure.† Elena hangs up the phone and notices the boys calling her over. â€Å"What was that all about?† Michael asks. Elena replies, â€Å"It was just my friend.† Kayleigh gives Elena a look that says tell me i m your best friend Elena looks back at her i m sorry I can t. Kayleigh Looks at her please Elena â€Å"says† fine Elena walks over to Kayleigh and looks at her Paul â€Å"asked me to go to the dance with him†, â€Å"but I really want to go with Michael† Kayleigh looks at Elena and says â€Å"well follow your heart and go with the person you want to go with† Eleana looks at her â€Å"well I don t know because if I go with paul it would be weird because i m dating Michael but if I say no to paul he will be mad at me† Kayleigh looks at her if â€Å"I was you I would just go with Michael Elena looks at her â€Å"yea you re right i ll just ask him myself†. â€Å"Come on let s go with the boys said Elena† Elena walks over to the boys and grabs michael s hand â€Å"let s go look for our dresses and suits for the dance† Kayleigh says â€Å"yea lets go guys† Elena walks past hollister and goes into Jc penney and finds this beautiful dress and calls kayleigh over kayleigh walks to Eleana ElenaShow MoreRelatedFundamental Financial Accounting Concepts13807 Words   |  56 Pagesfinancial ratios but also explain how those ratios are used to evaluate businesses. We provide unparalleled coverage of financial statement analysis. A separate section titled the â€Å"Financial Analyst† is included in each chapter of the text. Further, a summary of financial ratios is included in an appendix at the end of the text. Finally, a complete chapter covering financial statement analysis is available online. Providing coverage in multiple formats allows the instructor to establish the level of emphasis