Ielts Preparation Essay Example for Free

Ielts Preparation Essay Onam is one of the greatest festivals of INDIA. It is celebrated with Joy and enthusiasm all over the Country by all communities. It is celebrated in the beginning of September. It is a celebration of 10 days. The Legend of ONAM is, It is celebrated to welcome the King Mahabali, whose spirit is said to visit India at the time on ONAM. The story goes that, the beautiful state of Kerala was once ruled by a Demon King , Mahabali. The king was greatly respected in his kingdom and was considered to be wise, judicious and extreamly generous. It is said that Kerala witnessed its golden era in the reign of King Mahabali. Everybody was happy in his kingdom and there was no discrimination on the basis of caste or class. Rich and poor were equally treated. There was neither crime nor corruption. People did not even lock their doors, as there were no thieves in the kingdom, there was no poverty sorrow during his reign and everybody was Happy. Looking at his fame and growing popularity, Gods became jealousy on him, and send him to an unknown world(nether world), Since Mahabali is o attached to the people of India, before send him to the nether world, the God gave him a boon to visit India once in a Year. During his visit India celebrate as ONAM. During the 10 days festival, The government declared as a Public holidays for School and colleges. During the festival; all the families gather together and celebrate. There are various sports loke Snake Boat rice, Elephant race, tug of war etc are celebrated. People bun w dresses, and it is festival of unity and happiness.

Feminism in William Gibsons Neuromancer Essay -- Feminism Feminist Wo

Feminism in Neuromancer Neuromancer is an amazingly complex novel. Being one of the first of its kind, Gibson tells a chilling tale of a world where computers, and a thing called " the matrix," become more "real" than reality. The story, set in the not-so-distant future, has our hero, Henry Dorsett Case, embarking on an adventure that stretches the limits of the reader's imagination. But even though Case is our main character, there are others with as much or more power and influence. Women play a significant role in aiding Case throughout his mission. Not only are they noteworthy, they hold most of the "power" and at the end, it is a woman who holds the final "key." By using the feminist approach to literary criticism, we can explore these female characters to find out how they contribute to the overall plot. Feminist literary criticism looks at how literary works portray women. They look to see if there is any social power exerted by females. Feminists also see our culture as a "patriarchal society organized in favor of the interest of men." (HCA...

Bend It Like Beckham Review

The title of the movie that was instructed to me to write a movie review is bind It Like Beckman,'I a genial ethnic sports comedy directed by Grinder Chad. â€Å"Bend It Like Beckman† is a British film co-funded with Germany. It was released in the UK in 2002 and in the United States in March 2003. It turned out to be one of the surprise hits of 2002, making over Ell million at the UK box office, while also proving popular with American and European audiences. Beckman is David Beckman, star of the Manchester United soccer am (and the husband of one of the Spice Girls).The observation â€Å"nobody bends it like Beckman,† from which the title derives, apparently refers to his ability to curve the ball past the opposing goalkeeper. The story centers around eighteen-year-old Jess, a hardworking Indian girl who loves British soccer star David Beckman and Jules, an English girl who befriends Jess after she observes her running circles around a group of strapping young men pla ying soccer in the park. Jess comes from a very strict Indian family where gender roles are clearly defined. Women are expected to learn to cook and are for their husbands, who are, of course, expected to be the sole breadwinners.This might be fine for Jess' older sister Pinky, however Jess has a dramatically different vision of her own future, and it doesn't entail settling down and cooking the perfect chapatti. More than anything, she wants to join her idol on the football pitch, but her parents will never accept a football player for a daughter. Jess sees herself as a female version of her hero, David Beckman, competing in soccer rather than cooking for an acceptable Indian man as tradition dictates. So Jess is forced to hide her passion from her loved nest, even her sister Pinky, who is about to be married to her long-term boyfriend Teeth.Jess is then secretly joins Jules' competitive women's soccer team which is the Winslow Harriers and is forced to lead a double life in order to not disappoint her parents and still play the sport for which she lives and breathes. Sneaking out to practice and traveling with the team to tournaments puts a strain on her home life. She has to lie to justify her absence from home. To complicate matters, she finds herself falling for her soccer coach. Jess is the main character in the film. She tries to be a good girl for her other and father but can't help sneaking Off to play football.While Jess has to lie and sneak around a lot, her rebellious streak is not aimed to hurt her parents. Jess' dream is to play football professionally, at the beginning of the movie it was just a dream, but when she was invited on a proper team and started to see herself as a proper player, her dream started to become her goal. Jess has always been very strong and determined in the movie, except over time she becomes more determined, and even stronger. We see Jess talking to Beckman at the beginning of the movie, and as she grows and tauter, she finds out she can have trust in other people.She finds Jules and Joe who she feels she can confide in and talk freely to. Jess also gains more confidence as she progresses through the movie, at fritterers would never dream of confronting her parents like she did at the end of the firm. Joe, Jules, Tony and her whole football team support her in her goals and she gathers up more and more courage and self-esteem. A great example of her self- esteem gain is when Jess at first does not want to show her scar to the world, she hides it away and will not go onto the field in her shorts because everyone will see it.Joe talks to Jess and they bond over their injuries, this makes Jess feel more comfortable with herself and realize that she may not be the only one and when she is on the field, no one will care. By the end of the movie, Jess is able to stand up for herself, share her Opinion and feel confident about herself. Bend it like Beckman is and overall a good firm and an excellent movie for everyone to watch although it is lacking in plot and dialogue. It has a warm feel good message of girl power and breaking traditional barriers but it is predictable in its storyline.One thing that was a great asset to the film was the colorful Punjabi culture and ceremonies. Some may say ‘it's just a movie' but I know from personal experience that millions of youth face difficulties in choosing cultures when living amongst two different ones. From this movie, the moral values that I've learn is firstly, respect. Jess was never disrespectful to her parents. On the other hand, it was her parents who were being disrespectful to her. They didn't look at her for who she was, instead they only saw who they wanted her to be. The second moral value that learned from this movie is caring.Jesses parents made mistake in their attempts to parent their children, but they also had real strength. The strength was their basic and strong love for Jess. The problem was that they didn't loo k at who Jess had become. They saw her as they wanted her to be. This caused Jess to deceive them but didn't do her any real damage because, before it was too late, they saw what was important to their daughter and changed their position. Had they not done this, Jess would have had to choose between her relationship with her parents and her dream to be a football player. That would have really damage their relationship.

The Cape Cod Style House in the New World

The Cape Cod style house is one of the most recognized and beloved architectural designs in America. When British colonists traveled to the New World, they brought a housing style so practical that it endured through the ages. The modern day Cape Cod houses you see in nearly every part of North America are modeled after the rugged architecture of colonial New England. The style is a simple one — some may call it primitive with a rectangular footprint and gable pitched roof.  You will rarely see a porch or decorative embellishments on a traditional Cape Cod home. These houses were designed for easy construction and efficient heating. Low ceilings and a central chimney kept rooms comfortable during cold winters in the northern colonies. The steep roof helped slough off the heavy snow. The rectangular design made additions and expansions an easy task for growing families. Fast Facts: Colonial Cape Characteristics Post and beam, rectangular footprintOne story with additional half story under roofSide gable roof, fairly steepCenter chimneyShingle or clapboard exterior sidingCenter front door, two double-hung windows on each sideLittle ornamentation History The first Cape Cod style homes were built by Puritan colonists who came to America in the late 17th century. They modeled their homes after the half-timbered houses of their English homeland, but adapted the style to the stormy New England weather. Over a few generations, a modest, one- to one-and-a-half-story house with wooden shutters emerged. Reverend Timothy Dwight, a president of Yale University in Connecticut, recognized these houses as he traveled throughout the Massachusetts coastline, where Cape Cod juts out into the Atlantic Ocean. In an 1800 book describing his travels, Dwight is credited with coining the term Cape Cod to describe this prolific class or type of colonial architecture. Traditional, colonial-era homes are easily identifiable — rectangular shape; moderately steep roof pitch with side gables and a narrow roof overhang; one story of living area with a half story of storage area below the roof. Originally they were all constructed of wood and sided in wide clapboard or shingles. The facade had a front door placed at the center or, in a few cases, at the side — multi-paned, double-hung windows with shutters symmetrically surrounded the front door. The exterior siding was originally left unpainted, but then white-with-black-shutters became the standard later on. Homes of the original Puritans had little exterior ornamentation. Cape Cods styles smaller than what is known as double Capes include the single Cape with a facade of two windows to the side of the front door, and the three-quarter Cape with a front door offset from the center chimney allowing only one window on the short side. The rectangular interior could be divided or not, with a large central chimney linked to a fireplace in each room. No doubt the first homes would have been one room, then two rooms — a master bedroom and a living area. Eventually there may have been a center hall in a floor plan of four rooms, with a kitchen addition in the back, separated for fire safety. Certainly a Cape Cod house had hardwood floors that replaced original dirt floors, and what interior trim there was would be painted white — for purity. 20th Century Adaptations Much later, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, a renewed interest in Americas past inspired a variety of Colonial Revival styles. Colonial Revival Cape Cod houses became especially popular during the 1930s and later. Developers and architects anticipated a building boom after World War II. Pattern books and catalogs flourished and publications held design competitions for practical, affordable dwellings to be bought by a burgeoning American middle class. The most successful marketeer  who promoted the Cape Cod style is considered to be the architect Royal Barry Wills, a  Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)-educated marine engineer.  Although Willss designs do indeed breathe sentiment, charm, and even sentimentality, their dominant characteristics are reticence, modesty of scale, and traditional proportions, writes art historian David Gebhard. Their small size and scale exuded puritanical simplicity on the outside and tightly organized spaces on the inside — a combination that Gebhard likens to the inner workings of a marine vessel. Wills won many competitions with his practical house plans. In 1938 a Midwestern family chose a Wills design for being more functional and affordable than a competing design by the famous Frank Lloyd Wright. Houses for Good Living in 1940 and Better Houses for Budgeteers in 1941 were two of Wills most popular pattern books written for all the dreaming men and women waiting for the end of World War II. With floor plans, sketches, and Dollar Savers from an Architects Handbook, Wills spoke to a generation of dreamers, knowing that the U.S. government was willing to back up that dream with GI Bill benefits. Inexpensive and mass-produced, these 1,000-square-foot houses filled a need for the rush of soldiers returning from the war. In New Yorks famous Levittown housing development, factories churned out as many as 30 four-bedroom Cape Cod houses in a single day. Cape Cod house plans were heavily marketed in the 1940s and 1950s. Twentieth century Cape Cod houses share many features with their colonial ancestors, but there are key differences. A modern-day Cape will usually have finished rooms on the second story, with large dormers to expand the living space. With the addition of central heating, the chimney of a 20th century Cape Cod is often more conveniently placed at the side of the house instead of the center. The shutters on modern Cape Cod houses are strictly decorative (they cant be closed during a storm), and the double-hung or casement windows are often single-paned, perhaps with faux grills. As 20th century industry produced more construction materials, exterior siding changed with the times — from traditional wood shingles to clapboard, board-and-batten, cement shingles, brick or stone, and aluminum or vinyl siding. The most modern of adaptations for the 20th century would be the garage facing front so the neighbors knew you owned an automobile. Additional rooms attached to the side or rear created a design that some people have called Minimal Traditional, a very sparse mashup of the Cape Cod and Ranch style houses. Cape Cod Bungalow Cottage Modern-day Cape Cod architecture often mingles with other styles. It is not unusual to find hybrid houses that combine Cape Cod features with Tudor cottage, Ranch styles, Arts and Crafts or Craftsman bungalow. A bungalow is a small home, but its use is often reserved for a more Arts and Crafts design.  A cottage is used more often to amplify the house style described here. The Dictionary of Architecture and Construction defines a Cape Cod cottage as a rectangular frame house with low one-story eaves, white clapboarded or shingle walls, gabled roof, large central chimney, and front door located on one of the long sides; a style frequently used for small houses in the New England colonies during the18th cent. The names we attach to our residential architecture is telling of the times. People who live in small Cape Cod styles homes will rarely use the word cottage to describe where they live. People of means, however, with enough money to have a summer home, might describe their second (or third) home as a cottage — as happened during the Gilded Age with the mansion-cottages of Newport, Rhode Island and elsewhere. Sources Baker, John Milnes. American House Styles: A Concise Guide. Norton, 2002capelinks.com. Cape Cod How Can You Recognize an Original Cape Cod Style House?  http://www.capelinks.com/cape-cod/main/entry/how-can-you-recognise-an-original-cape-cod-style-house/Gebhard, David. Royal Barry Wills and the American Colonial Revival. Winterthur Portfolio, Vol. 27,  No. 1 (Spring, 1992), The University of Chicago Press, p. 51Goldstein, Karin. The Enduring Cape Cod House. Pilgrim Hall Museum. http://www.pilgrimhall.org/pdf/Cape_Cod_House.pdf  Harris, Cyril M. ed. Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. McGraw-Hill, p. 85Library of Congress. Cape Cod Houses Recorded by the Historic American Buildings Survey. July 2003. http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/170_cape.htmlMcAlester, Virginia and Lee. A Field Guide to American Houses. Knopf, 1984, 2013Old House Online. Cape Cod Cottage History of Cape Cod Architecture. August 4, 2010. https://www.oldhouseonline.com/house-tours/original-cape-cod-co ttageWalker, Lester. American Shelter: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the American Home. Overlook, 1998