...Chuck Palahniuk’s 1996, Fight Club, started out as a book that inspired a massive following. Its popularity prompted David Fincher to use its storyline to shoot the 1999 movie by the same title. Like the novel, the movie also garnered a cultic following. The novel focuses on an unreliable and seemingly tormented narrator, whose name remains unnamed, and his relationship with the mysterious Tyler Durden. The duo creates a fight club, an underground boxing club, which later grows into an organization whose mission, Project Mayhem, is to tear down the social structure. The book entails anti-consumerism ideals and taps into human emotion on this very subject. Both protagonists appear to have deep-seated issues and, in the end, it emerges that they are, indeed, the same person despite their differing psyches (Wartenberg 41). The narrator, co-creator of fight club is an insomniac, who holds a job in the automobile industry. He despises his job and his station in life. He is in enviable physical health, yet he attends a number of support groups for people living with terminal diseases. Toward the end of the book, he discovers that he and Tyler are the same person. However, it already too late for the narrator, as he has unwittingly adopted some of Tyler’s persona. In the beginning, the two are inseparable, but the situation changes when the narrator realizes that Tyler is going to take over his life and make the narrator lose himself (Wartenberg 98). On the other hand, Tyler, is a vicious...
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...Introduction Mass culture would have most readers and viewers believing that the Post-modern American male is a simple creature. Common stereotypes margin male satisfaction in a minimal setting – a Lazyboy armchair in a lounge with a flat screen TV playing ‘the game’ along with primal banter regarding women. More often than not, this is washed down with a beer. With this array of comfort and leisure we are inclined to believe that male lifestyle has reached its peak on the timeline of satisfaction. This was until David Fincher took Chuck Palahniuk’s novel Fight Club and made it into a big budget Hollywood blockbuster. With the male demographic being the hardest to pinpoint in the literature sense, David Fincher’s adaptation helpfully put Palahniuk’s thoughts into the cinematic forefront. This increased the popularity of Palahniuk’s other works and placed him in the cannon of Post-modern American fiction. It is the issues of modern masculinity that grasps critics’ attention more so than any other Palahniuk themes. It is very apparent that masculinity has changed as a natural progression of modernisation. This dissertation will analyse masculinity as it is depicted in Palahniuk’s writings and explore Palahniuk’s intentions and beliefs. I will interpret the responses of select critics in order to gain some understanding of what Palahniuk deems to be the ideal model of masculinity in the modern world, beneath his post-modern twists, transgressive characterization and...
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...When you hear of Converse, what comes to mind? The shoes, Chuck Taylors All-Star shoe. Probably, but basketball, The NBA, Wilt Chamberlain, Nike? Probably not any of those things. And it's even more likely, that chances are, you probably don’t even know who Charles (Chuck) Taylor is. That's why i’m here. Let it be known, there is much more to Converse than you think. Let's start with the man that started it all, in 1917, Marquis Mills Converse, is the founder of the company. He wanted to make a performance shoe that was comfortable, stylish and wouldn’t do damage to your feet. Marquis Converse, was never much of a basketball player Next, in 1920, came a man named Charles Hollis Taylor also known as Chuck Taylor, an american basketball player, but he was terrible at basketball.He started a world wide fad but, he was not a good basketball player. What he wanted was a good basketball shoe. A shoe that was comfortable, that was easy to play in, and that he could actually play in. He claimed to have played on pro basketball teams, but he played only one season for a company team. He was the creator of the “non-skid” shoes. Chuck Taylor endorsed them and made them known around the globe....
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...other brand has been independent enough to be tied to so many market segments. This paper will provide insight into how Converse and the Chuck Taylor All Star was able to maintain its prominent position in the shoe market for over 100 years, despite competition, an ever changing market, and even bankruptcy. History Of Converse In 1908, Converse began as a rubber shoe company specializing in tennis shoes, rubber boots and automobile tires. The All Star shoe was created in 1917 as a specialized basketball shoe. It was competing with A.G. Spalding, U.S. Rubber, and Goodrich. Spalding invented the basketball as we know it today, and the basketball shoe, which included a rubber sole for traction. Previously, athletes competed in a high top shoe with a leather sole. At this time, the sport of basketball was still primitive and lacked the national prominence it has today. In 1921, Converse brought on Charles “Chuck” H. Taylor as a traveling sales representative to help promote the brand. Chuck was previously a professional basketball player who was looking for an off-season job. He was brought on as an athlete to help improve the shoe. Chuck made design changes for traction and added the ankle patch for extra support. He later went across the nation putting on basketball clinics to teach children the sport of basketball. While on these tours, Chuck would...
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...Chuck Close’s Big Self-Portrait http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSEKVTaoMkCzaJyJ8u_jDeytZRcUc_23q7K1sk46Win7pfLiZnO Chuck Close’s Self-Portrait (1967). Chuck Close is known as a reinvigorator of art and painting from late 1960’s until now. Its been decades when photography challenged paintings. Chuck emerged from the 1970s painting movement of Photorealism, also known as Super-Realism. He moved to the city New York in 1967 with a group of artist of his generation and been in his class at Yale University in New Haven. Chuck use to photograph his subjects and then works from the print, uses people close to him as his subjects he like. Close work is highly popular. The subject of this art work is a portrait. In this picture I can see that the artist used a face of a man. At background the artist didn’t use anything. In the foreground Chuck used charcoal & pencil to complete the work. The main subject looks real. The artist chose to depict this subject because he is trying to show his self-portrait & the style of his work. The texture looks smooth & sharp which compliments the subject because it is a composition of Close. To create the work, Chuck used pencil, charcoal, & ink. The artist’s use of tone, texture, colour is successful because it adds descriptive layers to create a describing mood or effect. The tones used are dark which gives a bright effect. The lines are confident which gives a I think the artist is trying...
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...1. Company history playback In 1975, when the Securities and Exchange Commission deregulated brokerage commissions, Charles Schwab & Co reshaped the market by charging 75% less per stock transaction than the large brokerage firms. In 1996, Schwab reached a million customers. In the same year, Schwab lunched online trading platform, which help the company to win a lot of customers. By 2004, Schwab broad the range of financial services through in three business divisions: Investor services, Institutional and U.S. Trust. 2. The alarming market situation However, from July 2004, a deepening rift began to appear between the company and the customers, which cause a decline in the profitability and market share. I would like to use SWOT to give an overview of the whole marketing situation and the running situation of the company itself at that time. From...
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...Chuck Wright: A New Sheriff in Town Chuck Wright: A New Sheriff in Town All public positions no matter the jurisdiction come with a great deal of scrutiny that their appointees have to endure and this is no different for the Sheriff of Spartanburg County. Chuck Wright was elected to be the 40th Sheriff of Spartanburg County in 2005 and he put himself in position to managing a large and complex government bureaucracy. The Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Department is a goal directed organization, tasked with protecting the citizens within the County. In today’s modern society leadership in the police force is very important to the existence of the community. There is a belief that “the age of modern leaders is declining” but I believe that Sheriff Chuck Wright is a modern leader (Ages, 2011). I had the pleasure of watching Sheriff at a Town Hall Meeting in Spartanburg County where he addressed the issues that were plaguing the citizens of the county and some of his recent comments that had been in the media. Sheriff Wright stood by his record as a leader in Spartanburg County. He spoke in front of hundreds of people packed into a meeting room to listen to him discuss protections tips, including everything from cutting back bushes around home to carrying guns. In my opinion for someone to be a positive leader they must put the department’s goals ahead of fulfilling his personal needs of achievement. Since, his election in 2005 Sheriff Wright has continually but the...
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...A Look at Art The work of art that I chose to focus on is close and dear to me. I chose a piece done by my uncle Armond Lara whom is a well-known artist in New Mexico and other areas. He has dabbled in pretty much everything from drawing, sculpting, painting, etc. If he can imagine a place for it in his mind it will become part of his art. If you review all of his pieces, and there are many, you can sense his emotions in that piece of art. He has made such beautiful bright pieces and then very dark and tortured pieces. My personal favorite has a few different versions. The one that is sold is slightly different than the one we have kept within the family. The print is called The Jester and is pastel on paper. This particular print was from 1985. During this time his art was on the darker side and shows that he was a struggling artist. In this piece there is a lot of shadow. It is not a dark black shadow but rather a bluish shadow as not to seem as dark. The colors are more earthy and let on to a neutral feeling. There is something about the figure that is eerie though. Is this figure good or bad? Is the jester mocking the viewer or the painter? The face lacks expression. Actually lacks all features but the eyes. He is holding some sort of orb but for what reason we do not know. There really is a lot left to the imagination. If I get permission from my uncle I would really love for you to see the version that has always truly been my inspiration. References ...
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...The Case This case deals with a man by the name of Chuck MacKinnon who was newly appointed the role of Managing Director of Financial Institutions at the Merchant Bank of Canada in New York City. In MacKinnon’s newly appointed position he was unfortunately faced with some ongoing employee problems, coupled with ancient business strategies that were becoming more harmful than helpful. Background Statement As Chuck began to try and combat the multiple issues within his new position, he found that it was not going to come easy. Chuck and his supervisor soon came to realize they had different opinions on the “problems” that face the organization. His supervisor seemed to have the “if its not broken, don’t fix it” attitude and was not on board with chucks idea to implement a new strategy. This supervisor was more complacent and worried about employee morale instead of maximizing business opportunities. However, Chuck also was under the Executive Vice President of the company, and she voiced to Chuck how she was unhappy with how the company had been performing and wanted to cut the dead weight so to speak. She told Chuck that she supported his idea of newer business strategy solutions. These differences of opinions only added to the problems that were in from of MacKinnon already. He found that it would be very difficult to make the change he wanted while keeping the company happy since he was receiving conflicting feedback from his two superiors. This issues continued to grow...
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...Acclaim for Chuck Palahniuk’s Choke “Just as dark and outrageous as his previous work. … His voice is so distinctive that he exists as a genre unto himself.” —The Washington Post “Palahniuk’s language is urgent and tense, touched with psychopathic brilliance, his images dead-on accurate. … [He] is an author who makes full use of the alchemical powers of fiction to synthesize a universe that mirrors our own fiction as a way of illuminating the world without obliterating its complexity.” —LA Weekly “Puts a bleakly humorous spin on self-help, addiction recovery, and childhood trauma. … Choke’s funny, mantra-like prose plows toward the mayhem it portends from the get-go.” —The Village Voice “Oddly, defiantly, addictive.” happily —Daily News “[Choke] shines a flashlight into America’s dark corners. … As darkly comic and starkly terrifying as your high school yearbook photo.” —GQ “Palahniuk is a gifted writer, and the novel is full of terrific lines.” —The New York Times Book Review “[Palahniuk’s] most enduring trait … is that marvelous quicksilver voice of his. … The exuberance of his language makes it still worthwhile to brave these often chilly and dark waters.” —The Oregonian “Choke is another welcome antidote to antiseptic consumer life, and you can’t blame it for grabbing you by the throat.” —Maxim “Palahniuk is a cult writer in the truest sense.” —Entertainment Weekly “His subversive riffs conjure a kind of jump-cut cinema of the diseased imagination, resulting...
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...opera and it is based on a popular book series, it not only put fashion and sex as its main point, but also reversed course and found a way saucily to make a virtue of vacuity and viciousness. Summary 2: TV show This TV show is from Gossip Girl season 4 Episode 2. Serena(S) and Blair (B) still stay at Paris and B get another chance from Prince Louis. But while B was getting ready for her perfect date, S was at Paris Morgue to make sure the people laid may or may not be Chuck Bass. Of course it wasn’t him. When S went back to tell B the whole sordid story B didn’t believe it for she just met Chuck minutes ago. Then S found her wayward stepbrother. Chuck told her that he would never go back. After he losing Blair, he didn’t think there wasn’t any reason worth let him to be the Chuck Bass. B didn’t forgive Chuck though she knew Chuck was shot because he refused robber to give ring which he would use to propose, it didn’t change what he did that destroy B’s heart. In the end, Blair changed her mind for Chuck Bass planed leave Paris and...
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...What were Chuck Noland’s most prized possessions while stranded on a deserted island? The three items that helped Noland survive while stranded on a deserted are, a Wilson Volleyball, a broken pocket watch, and portable toilet. The items that he uses can no longer function, but he finds ways to make each item work to his advantage. The first thing Chuck Noland finds most valuable is a Wilson Volleyball. He came across a FedEx package containing a Wilson Volleyball and they instantly became best friends. One day, while talking to Wilson, Noland cut his hand, blamed it on Wilson and palmed him away. He felt bad, so he went to find where he landed. Chuck Noland felt so bad that he emphasizes to Wilson, “I’m dory, Wilson. Wilson, I’m sorry! I’m...
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...Fight Club In “Fight Club” by Chuck Palahniuk we follow The Narrator in his problem-riddled everyday life, and his attempt to escape it by fabricating an alternate identity. The essay focuses on themes such as masculinity vs. emasculation, violence and the connection inbetween. Secondly, the essay includes references to the theoretical text “The Crisis of Manliness”. In the text “Fight Club” we follow the unnamed narrator or The Narrator in his daily life at Microsoft. Suffering from relationship problems, self-esteems problems and an insufferable boss, The Narrator has a hard time suffering from insomnia because of this. To handle his problems, he starts a fight club with his alter ego, also known as Tyler Durden. The text uses first person narration, as we see through The Narrators eyes, but also the thought of Tyler Durden, as they are the same person, even though he is written as an independent character in chapter 6. The Narrator and Tyler Durden start fight club as a way to regain their masculinity. This violence begins in the parking lot behind a bar, where Tyler tells the Narrator to hit him. The Narrator is reluctant at first, but gives in. In return he receives a punch to the chest by Tyler. This is the beginning of The Narrators self-realization. The Narrator agrees with Tyler that self-destruction is the way to self-improvement. The Narrator mentions the fight club as not being a solution to his problem, but rather a way to escape from the problems, as mentioned...
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...ENGLISH 1113 SPRING 2014 DR. RUDOLPH RAP HERO CHUCK D. The year 1984, there was a new force on the rise in the music industry; rap. This early form of Rap was no more than some random dude on the mic at the house party going “check one, check two!” That was followed by a long descriptive rant about how awesome he was and what made him so awesome. The content of early rap was boastful and party oriented. The climate of the country was the feeling the leadership was attacking the low income communities. The Republican Party had such a delusional perception of the low income community. True drugs were being dealt daily in the ghetto. Not everyone agreed about who was doing the dealing, the government or local criminals with little resources to obtain the imported cocaine. In the mist of this mistrust and hopelessness came a rap group who was willing to take on the establishment and tell the truth about the Black American Experience. That group was Public Enemy. The front man of the group, Chuck D, the D is for dangerous; was the role model missing and needed in the black community. Chuck D whose real name is Carlton Douglas Ridenhour, said the one thing that had happened to start the group’s mission and became the true focus of the music came about one day when Chuck D was walking around his home area of Roosevelt New York with a Malcolm X t-shirt from back in the day. When a 13 year old boy walked up to Chuck D and asked him why was he wearing a ten t-shirt. This...
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...Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club is a narration on the separation and attempt to find oneself. The men in Fight Club battle each other and every time they hit their opponent, this helps the fighters find a sense of masculinity that has not been corrupted by the consumerism society they live in. The novel takes place in the nineties in a society that gets overpowered by large corporations. The narrator is not playing with a full deck, so to speak. He is only a depiction of one's ego and sometimes he lets Tyler(id) take over for him. Throughout the novel Tyler takes the narrator and himself on a quest to make the narrator's dreams come true. The twist comes in when the narrator becomes stronger from the help of Tyler(id) and he takes control again....
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