Lost in Translation (film)

Lost in Translation is a 2003 romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Sofia Coppola. Bill Murray stars as Bob Harris, a fading American movie star who is having a midlife crisis when he travels to Tokyo to promote Suntory whisky. There, he befriends another estranged American named Charlotte, a young woman and recent college graduate played by Scarlett Johansson. Giovanni Ribisi and Anna Faris also feature. The film explores themes of alienation and disconnection against a backdrop of cultural displacement in Japan. Further analysis by critics and scholars has focused on the film's defiance of mainstream narrative conventions and its atypical depiction of romance.
Coppola started writing the film after spending time in Tokyo and becoming fond of the city. She began forming a story about two characters experiencing a "romantic melancholy" in the Park Hyatt Tokyo, where she stayed while promoting her first feature film, the 1999 drama "The Virgin Suicides". Coppola envisioned Murray playing the role of Bob Harris from the beginning and tried to recruit him for up to a year, relentlessly sending him telephone messages and letters. While Murray eventually agreed to play the part, he did not sign a contract; Coppola spent a quarter of the film's $4 million budget without knowing if he would appear in Tokyo for shooting. When Murray finally arrived, Coppola described feelings of significant relief.
Principal photography began on September 29, 2002, and lasted 27 days. Coppola kept a flexible schedule during filming with a small crew and minimal equipment. The screenplay was short and Coppola often allowed a significant amount of improvisation during filming. The film's director of photography, Lance Acord, used available light as often as possible and many Japanese places of business and public areas were used as locations for shooting. After 10 weeks of editing, Coppola sold distribution rights for the United States and Canada to Focus Features, and the company promoted the film by generating positive word of mouth before its theatrical release.
The film premiered on August 29, 2003, at the Telluride Film Festival and was a major critical and commercial success. Critics praised the performances of Murray and Johansson, as well as the writing and direction of Coppola; limited criticism was given to the film's depiction of Japan. At the 76th Academy Awards, "Lost in Translation" won Coppola Best Original Screenplay, and the film was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director (Coppola), and Best Actor (Murray). Other accolades won include three Golden Globe Awards and three British Academy Film Awards.
Plot.
Bob Harris is a fading American movie star who arrives in Tokyo to appear in lucrative advertisements for Suntory whisky. He stays at the upscale Park Hyatt Tokyo and is suffering from strains in his 25-year marriage and a midlife crisis. Charlotte, another American staying at the hotel, is a young Yale University graduate who is accompanying her husband John while he works as a celebrity photographer in Japan. Charlotte is feeling similarly disoriented as she questions her recent marriage and is unsure about her future. They both grapple with additional feelings of jet lag and culture shock in Tokyo and often pass the time by lounging around the hotel.
Charlotte is repelled by a vacuous Hollywood actress named Kelly, who is at the Park Hyatt Tokyo promoting an action film and gushes over photography sessions she has previously done with John. Bob and Charlotte frequently happen upon each other in the hotel and eventually acquaint themselves in the hotel bar. After several encounters, when John is on assignment outside Tokyo, Charlotte invites Bob into the city to meet some local friends. The two bond through a fun night in Tokyo, where they experience the city nightlife together. In the days that follow, Bob and Charlotte spend more time together, and their friendship strengthens. One night, while each cannot sleep, the two share an intimate conversation about Charlotte's personal uncertainties and their married lives.
Bob spends the night with a lounge singer from the hotel bar on the penultimate night of his stay. Charlotte hears the woman singing in Bob's room the next morning, leading to tension between Bob and Charlotte during lunch together later that day. The pair reencounter each other in the evening when Bob reveals that he will be leaving Tokyo the following day. Bob and Charlotte reconcile and express how they will miss each other, making a final visit to the hotel bar. The next morning, when Bob is leaving the hotel, he and Charlotte share sincere but unsatisfactory goodbyes. Bob takes a taxi ride to the airport. He sees Charlotte on a crowded street, stops the car, and walks to her. He then embraces Charlotte and whispers something in her ear. The two share a kiss, say goodbye, and Bob departs.
Analysis.
Themes.
The film's writer-director, Sofia Coppola, has described "Lost in Translation" as a story about "things being disconnected and looking for moments of connection", a perspective that has been shared by critics and scholars. In a cultural sense, Bob and Charlotte are disoriented by feelings of jet lag and culture shock as a result of foreign travel to Japan. Bob is bewildered by his interactions with a Japanese commercial director whom he cannot understand, realizing that the meaning of his communication is "lost in translation" by an interpreter. Moreover, both are sleepless from a change in time zone, choosing to cope with their wakefulness by making late-night visits to the hotel bar. Such feelings provoke a sense of estrangement from their environment, but they also exacerbate deeper experiences of alienation and disconnection in their lives. Bob and Charlotte are both in troubled marriages and facing similar crises of identity; Charlotte is unsure of what to do with her life and questions what role she should embrace in the world, while Bob is invariably reminded of his fading stature as a movie star and feels disassociated from the identity by which he is already defined.
Such experiences are heightened by the characters' contact with the city environment of Tokyo; Bob feels alienated by seeing his likeness used in an advertisement while he is driven from the airport to his hotel, and the colorful cityscape is rendered as a frenetic environment by which he is overwhelmed. Charlotte feels adrift as she attempts to find meaning while wandering Tokyo, and she feels isolated as she peers over the city from her hotel room window. The Park Hyatt Tokyo offers hermetic qualities that insulate the characters from the city and is the site Bob chooses to seek refuge from his ails. These shared impressions of alienation create common ground for Bob and Charlotte to cultivate a personal connection. When Charlotte invites Bob to experience the Tokyo nightlife, she reduces his sense of distance from the city and the two develop a connection based on small moments together. In the little time they have together, each realize they are not alone in seeking a sense of something deeper in their lives. Coppola, speaking about the brief nature of their encounter, remarked, "For everyone, there are those moments when you have great days with someone you wouldn't expect to. Then you have to go back to your real lives, but it makes an impression on you. It's what makes it so great and enjoyable."
Geoff King, a scholar who wrote a book about the film, comments that the experiences of the central characters are one factor that lends "Lost in Translation" to varied interpretations by academics. Todd McGowan reads the film from a Lacanian psychoanalytic perspective, arguing that the film encourages the embrace of "absence" in one's life and relationships. He describes Coppola's depiction of Tokyo "as a city bubbling over with excess", which offers an empty promise of gratification. In his view, both Bob and Charlotte recognize that they cannot find meaning in Tokyo's attractions, so they bond over their shared sense of emptiness in them. Lucy Bolton offers a feminist reading, arguing that "Lost in Translation" evokes the thought of feminist philosopher Luce Irigaray by highlighting issues of young womanhood. She argues that the film provides a complex portrait of Charlotte's female subjectivity and an optimistic rendering of the character's pursuit for individual expression.
Narrative.
"Lost in Translation" has been broadly examined in terms of its narrative structure, with commentators noting that it contains few plot events as compared with films in the Hollywood mainstream. Narrative events are mostly focused on the development of Bob and Charlotte's relationship, with few "external" obstacles that impact the central characters. King notes, "More time is taken to evoke the impressions, feelings, and experiences of the central characters", which represents "a shift in the hierarchical arrangement of [film elements]" that prioritizes character experiences over plot. The literary critic Steve Vineberg argues that "the links of the story are indeed there, only they're not typical cause-and-effect connections. They're formed by the emotions that gather at the end of one episode and pour into the next". King maintains that while the plot does progress according to a basic linear causality, "If the episodic quality often seems to the fore, this is partly a matter of the pacing of individual sequences that are very often leisurely and dedicated to the establishment or development of mood and atmospherics". Coppola said she wanted the story to emphasize the qualities of an intimate moment, and she did not want to impose grandiose narrative devices on the characters such as "a war keeping them apart".
The film's opening shot has been another point of discussion among critics and scholars. The 36-second shot, which features Charlotte's backside as she lies on a bed wearing transparent pink panties, is based on the photorealist paintings of John Kacere and has often been compared to the initial appearance of Brigitte Bardot in the 1963 film "Contempt". While some have described it as a foreshadowing of a romance between Bob and Charlotte, the film historian Wendy Haslem argues that "Coppola's intention with this opening shot appears to be to defy taboos and to undermine expectations surrounding what might be considered the 'money shot' in more traditionally exploitative cinema." Correspondingly, the academic Maria San Filippo maintains that "[Coppola] doesn't seem to be making a statement at all beyond a sort of endorsement of beauty for beauty's sake." King notes that the image contains both "subtle" and "obvious" appeal in its combination of aesthetic and erotic qualities, which signifies "Lost in Translation"s position between mainstream and independent film. The film scholar Todd Kennedy interprets it in terms of feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey's conception of the male gaze, arguing that the shot "lasts so long as to become awkward—forcing the audience to become aware of (and potentially even question) their participation in the gaze."
"Lost in Translation" has also been noted for defying the conventions of mainstream romantic films. Haslem writes that the classic romantic comedy assures the audience that the couple has a future, but Coppola defies expectations by refusing to unite the central characters. She points to elements such as Bob and Charlotte's lack of sexual consummation as one factor that obscures whether their pairing is more romantic or platonic. Writing about the concluding sequence in which the characters make their final goodbyes, Haslem argues, "Conventionally in mainstream cinema, the kiss... signifies resolution by reinforcing the myth of romantic love. But in this new wave of contemporary anti-romance romance, the kiss signifies ambiguity." The academic Nicholas Y.B. Wong contends that the film's lack of "heart-melting connections and melodramatic (re)unions between characters" represents a postmodern portrait of love, writing that "Lost in Translation" is "about non-love, the predominance of affairs and the complexities of intimacy. Characters vacillate between falling in love and out of love. They are neither committed to someone nor emotionally unattached." Coppola said Bob and Charlotte's relationship is "supposed to be romantic but on the edge... [A] little bit more than friends but not an actual romance... To me, it's pretty un-sexual between them—innocent and romantic, and a friendship."
Production.
Writing.
After dropping out of college in her early twenties, Coppola often traveled to Tokyo, trying out a variety of jobs in fashion and photography. Unsure of what to do for a career, she described this period as a "kind of crisis" in which she meandered around the city contemplating her future. She came to feel fond of Tokyo, noting an otherworldly quality brought on as a foreigner grappling with feelings of jet lag in an unfamiliar setting. After many years, she settled on a career in filmmaking and returned to the city, staying at the Park Hyatt Tokyo to promote her first feature film, the 1999 drama "The Virgin Suicides".
Coppola began writing "Lost in Translation" after returning home from this press tour. Having been influenced by her background in Tokyo, she resolved to write a screenplay set there and began forming a story about two characters experiencing a "romantic melancholy" in the Park Hyatt Tokyo. Coppola was long attracted to the neon signs of the city and envisaged Tokyo taking on a "dreamy feeling" in the film. She recruited her friend Brian Reitzell, who ultimately served as the film's music producer, to create dream pop compilation mixes that she listened to while writing to help establish this mood.
Coppola did not initially write the screenplay in traditional script form, citing the difficulty of mapping out a full plot. Instead, she opted to write "little paragraphs" largely based on disparate impressions and experiences of her life in Tokyo, which she then adapted to a script. Among the first images she included was of her friend Fumihiro Hayashi performing a karaoke rendition of the Sex Pistols' "God Save the Queen", which Coppola saw him perform during the time she worked in Tokyo. After writing the first 20 pages with help from her brother, Roman Coppola, she returned to Tokyo for further inspiration. There, she videotaped anything she could use as a further writing aid.
Coppola envisioned Murray playing the role of Bob from the beginning, wanting to show off "his more sensitive side" and feeling amused by the image of him dressed in a kimono. She described her mental pictures of Murray as a significant source of inspiration for the story. For the character of Charlotte, Coppola drew from her own feelings of early-twenties disorientation, citing the strain in her relationship with her then-husband Spike Jonze as an influence for the relationship between Charlotte and John. She also drew inspiration from J. D. Salinger's character Franny in "Franny and Zooey", finding appeal in "the idea of a preppy girl having a breakdown".
As she developed the relationship between Bob and Charlotte, Coppola was compelled by the juxtaposition of the characters having similar internal crises at different stages of their lives. She cited the dynamic between Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in "The Big Sleep" as a source of inspiration for their relationship. Coppola reported doing little re-writing of the script, which took six months to complete and culminated in 75 pages, much shorter than the average feature film script. Despite worrying that the screenplay was too short and "indulgent" for including assortments of her personal experiences, she resolved to begin production of the film.
Development.
Coppola maintained that she would not have made "Lost in Translation" without Murray. The actor had an 800 number for prospective clients interested in casting him, but he had a reputation as a recluse who was difficult to contact. Coppola relentlessly pursued him and sent telephone messages and letters for months. She also sought people in her professional network that might help her make contact. She recruited screenwriter Mitch Glazer, who was a longtime friend of Murray's, to accept an early version of the script and try to persuade him. Glazer was impressed with the story and said he called the actor frequently, telling him, "You need to read this", but he would not provide an answer. After up to a year of cajoling, Murray finally agreed to meet with Coppola at a restaurant to discuss the film. He then accepted the role, saying "she spent a lot of time getting me to be the guy. In the end, I felt I couldn't let her down."
Despite Murray's agreement, Coppola had to take him at his word, as he did not sign a formal contract. She described this as "nerve-wracking", wondering if he would show up for filming in Tokyo. She discussed the issue with director Wes Anderson, who had previously worked with the actor and encouraged her, saying, "If he says he's going to do it, he'll show up." For Murray's co-star, Coppola liked Johansson's performance in "Manny & Lo", remembering her "as a cute little girl with that husky voice". She then invited Johansson to a restaurant to discuss the role. Initially worried that the 17-year-old Johansson might be too young to play a character in her twenties, the director concluded that she appeared older and could convincingly play the part. Coppola offered Johansson the role without an audition, which she accepted.
Feeling a sense of personal investment in the project, Coppola wanted to maintain final cut privilege and feared that a distribution deal with a North American studio would threaten her influence. It was also unlikely that a studio would provide such backing, given the short length of the screenplay and Murray's lack of formal involvement. Instead, she and her agent opted to sell foreign distribution rights to an assortment of companies to fund production costs of $4 million. She struck a deal first with Japan's Tohokushinsha Film, then with distributors in France and Italy, and finally with the international arm of Focus Features for the remaining foreign market. By piecing together the funding from multiple distributors, Coppola reduced the influence of any single financier. Still not knowing if Murray would show up in Tokyo, Coppola spent $1 million of the budget, knowing that his absence would doom the production. When he finally arrived, days before filming, she described feelings of significant relief.
Filming.
Principal photography began on September 29, 2002, and lasted 27 days. With a tight schedule and a limited $4 million budget, filming was done six days per week and was marked by a "run-and-gun" approach: Coppola was keen to stay mobile with a small crew and minimal equipment. She conducted few rehearsals and kept a flexible schedule, sometimes scrapping filming plans to shoot something she noticed on location if she thought it better served the story. Since the screenplay was sparse, missing details were often addressed during shooting, and Coppola allowed a significant amount of improvisation in dialogue, especially from Murray. One example includes the scene in which Bob is being photographed for Suntory whisky; Coppola encouraged Murray to react to the photographer spontaneously as she whispered names for the man to repeat to Murray as unrehearsed dialogue, such as "Roger Moore".
While key crew members were Americans that Coppola invited to Tokyo, most of the crew was hired locally. This proved to be challenging for the production, as most of the Japanese crew could not communicate with Coppola in English, so both sides relied on translations from a bilingual assistant director and a gaffer. The production encountered frequent delays while translations took place and suffered from occasional cultural misunderstandings; in one example, Coppola described a shoot in a restaurant that ran 10–15 minutes late, something she said was normal on an American shoot, but it prompted the restaurant owner to feel disrespected; he subsequently disconnected the crew's lights and the film's Japanese location manager resigned. Despite this, Coppola said she worked to adapt to a Japanese style of filmmaking, not wanting to impose an approach that her crew was not used to.
Coppola worked closely to visualize the film with her director of photography, Lance Acord. She showed him and other key crew members a book of photographs she created that represented the visual style she wanted to convey in the film. To evoke a sense of isolation in Bob, Coppola and Acord used stationary shots in the hotel and avoided conspicuous camera movements. They also had numerous discussions about shooting on video, but they ultimately decided that film better suited the romantic undertones of the story. Coppola remarked, "Film gives a little bit of a distance, which feels more like a memory to me. Video is more present tense". Acord believed that new film stocks would reduce the need for excessive lighting, ultimately using Kodak Vision 500T 5263 35 mm stock for night exteriors and Kodak Vision 320T 5277 stock in daylight. Most of the film was shot on an Aaton 35-III while a smaller Moviecam Compact was used in confined locations.
With high-speed film stocks, Acord chose to utilize available light as often as possible, only supplementing with artificial lights when necessary. He reported "never really" rigging lights for night exteriors, relying on the natural light on Tokyo's city streets. For interior sequences in the Park Hyatt Tokyo, he relied mostly on the hotel's practical lighting sources, shooting at a wide open f-stop and heavily cutting the light to eliminate reflections in the hotel window. Acord said he heard objections about lighting from some of the Japanese electricians, who were unaccustomed to relying so much on available light and were concerned that the exposure would not be sufficient. Acord, assured that the film stocks would hold up against lower lighting, ultimately shot much of the film two stops underexposed.
Many of the shooting locations were Japanese places of business and public areas at the time of filming, including New York Bar in the Park Hyatt Tokyo and Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo. On public streets and subways, the production did not secure filming permits and relied on city bystanders as extras; Coppola described the shooting as "documentary-style" and was worried at times about getting stopped by police, so she kept a minimal crew. In the hotel, the production was not allowed to shoot in public areas until 1 or 2 a.m. to avoid disturbing guests. In the film's concluding sequence in which Bob and Charlotte make their final goodbyes, Coppola reported being unhappy with the dialogue she had scripted, so Murray improvised the whisper in Johansson's ear. Too quiet to be understandable, Coppola considered dubbing audio in the scene, but she ultimately decided it was better that it "stays between the two of them". After production concluded, Coppola supervised 10 weeks of editing by Sarah Flack in New York City.
Soundtrack.
The film's soundtrack was released by Emperor Norton Records on September 9, 2003. It contains 15 tracks, largely from the shoegaze and dream pop genres of indie and alternative rock. The soundtrack was supervised by Brian Reitzell and contains songs from artists and groups including Death in Vegas, Phoenix, Squarepusher, Sébastien Tellier, and Happy End. The Jesus and Mary Chain's song "Just Like Honey" and "Sometimes" by My Bloody Valentine featured, and four original tracks were written for "Lost in Translation" by the latter band's frontman, Kevin Shields. Other tracks produced for the film include two co-written by Reitzell and Roger J. Manning Jr., and one by Air. Songs featured in the film that are not in the soundtrack include karaoke performances of Elvis Costello's cover of "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding" and The Pretenders' "Brass in Pocket". A further performance by Murray of Roxy Music's "More Than This" is included as a bonus track.
During the screenwriting stage, Coppola spoke to Reitzell about the "moody" and "melancholic" qualities she wanted the music to convey in the film, as well as what Reitzell understood to be the "strange, floating, jet-lagged weirdness" that would define the central characters. Coppola said she wanted the soundtrack "to be less like a score" and more like the dream-pop mixes Reitzell made to assist her writing of the film. While Shields had released little music since the release of "Loveless" in 1991, at Reitzell's suggestion, he and Coppola enlisted him to help write original music for the film; Reitzell believed Shields "could capture that droning, swaying, beautiful kind of feeling that we wanted." He then joined Shields in London for some two months of overnight recording sessions, and they used the screenplay and dailies from production as inspiration while they worked on songs for the film. Shields commented on the challenge he felt in songwriting for a film, saying "I was barely aware of the language of music that's not essentially just for your ears. ... In the end, just the physical movement of the film, that was a delicacy. And I suppose that's why I ended up doing stuff that was so delicate."
King argues that music often plays the most significant role in setting mood and tone in the film, writing that it is substantial "in evoking the dreamy, narcotised, semi-detached impressions of jet-lag" as well as broader feelings of alienation and disconnection, "making what is probably the largest single contribution to the widespread understanding of the film as a 'mood piece'." He points to the use of "Girls" by Death in Vegas, featured in the early sequence in which Bob is driven from the airport to the hotel, arguing that it "plays a role equal to if not dominating that of the visuals..., creating a drifting, ethereal and somewhat dreamy quality that precisely captures the impressions of temporal and spatial disjunction". He also points to the use of "cool and distant" tracks like "Tommib", used in the extended sequence featuring Charlotte observing Tokyo while seated in her hotel room window, as playing a significant role in establishing feelings of isolation and disorientation in the character. In King's view, some sequences feature combinations of music and visuals so as to function as "audio-visual set pieces", which offer distinct points of appeal in the film for its target audience.
Release.
Marketing.
Coppola did not sell distribution rights for the United States and Canada until she and Flack finished editing the film. In February 2003, the director showed the film to top executives at the domestic arm of Focus Features, the company to which it had already sold most of the foreign distribution. The prior contract proved to be significant for Focus, as it received privileged access to the film while competing buyers complained that they were restricted to the viewing of a three-minute trailer in the Focus offices at the American Film Market. Coppola initially offered the domestic distribution rights for $5 million, but she decided to sell them to Focus for $4 million, citing her appreciation for the international deals the company had secured for the film.
Once Focus was involved, it began promoting the film by employing a conventional "indie-style" marketing campaign. The strategy involved generating positive word of mouth for the film well before its September 2003 release. The distributor arranged advance press screenings throughout the summer of 2003 and combined this with a magazine publicity campaign. Posters and trailers emphasized the recognizable star presence of Murray, highlighting his performance in the film's comic sequences, which favored wider audience appeal. Immediately prior to its release, Focus placed "Lost in Translation" in film festivals and hosted "intimate media screenings" that included question-and-answer panels with Coppola and Murray. Many of these marketing tacks were designed to promote the film at minimal cost, a departure from more costly strategies often employed in the Hollywood mainstream, such as major television advertising.
Theatrical run.
"Lost in Translation" had its premiere on August 29, 2003, at the Telluride Film Festival in the United States. Two days later, it appeared at the Venice Film Festival in Italy, and on September 5, 2003, it was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival in Canada. It opened to the public in limited release on September 12, 2003, at 23 theaters in major cities in the United States, including New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The film had already generated speculation about Oscar contention from advance screenings and was noted for opening several weeks earlier than expected for an indie vying for awards—a risk being that opening too early might cause the film to be forgotten by the time nominations were made for major prizes like the Academy Awards. Focus Features co-presidents James Schamus and David Linde commented that the company chose an early release date on the basis of factors including the film's quality and early marketing campaign, as well as a lack of competition from other films. The strategy was intended to give "Lost in Translation" more time to command the marketplace.
The film grossed $925,000 in its opening weekend and was expanded the next week from 23 theaters to 183 in the top 25 markets of the country. There, it grossed more than $2.62 million over the weekend and nearly paid off the total budget of the film. It entered wide release on October 3, its fourth weekend, peaking at a rank of seven in the box office chart; a week later, it expanded to an estimated 882 theaters, the film's highest theater count over its run. "Lost in Translation" grossed an estimated to-date total of $18.5 million through October 13 and was noted by "The Hollywood Reporter" to have been performing well even "in smaller and medium sized markets where audiences don't always respond to this type of upscale material". Following this performance, "Lost in Translation" saw a gradual decline in theater presence progressing into the new year, though it was expanded again after the film received nominations for the 76th Academy Awards. The film was widened from a late December low of 117 theaters to an estimated 632 at the end of January, ultimately ending its run in the United States and Canada on March 25 and earning $44.6 million. Its international release earned $74.1 million, for a worldwide total of $118.7 million.
Home media.
The DVD of "Lost in Translation" was released on February 3, 2004, and includes deleted scenes, a behind-the-scenes featurette, a conversation about the film featuring Murray and Coppola, and a music video for "City Girl", one of the original songs composed for the film by Kevin Shields. Wanting to capitalize on the publicity surrounding "Lost in Translation"s presence at the Academy Awards, Focus Features made the unusual move of releasing the film on home media while it was still screening in theaters, immediately after its Oscar nominations were announced. The strategy was seen as risky, as the industry was generally concerned that theatrical revenues could be harmed by early home video release. "Lost in Translation" ultimately earned nearly $5 million from its first five days of video rentals and sold one million retail copies during its first week of release. Early returns showed it was the second-best selling DVD during this period while the film screened in 600 theaters and box office revenues dropped 19% from the previous week, which "Variety" described as "relatively modest". Focus credited the performance to positive word of mouth and cited the marketing for the film on both media as helpful for whichever platform consumers chose. "Lost in Translation" was later released on the now-obsolete HD DVD format on May 29, 2007, and on Blu-ray on December 7, 2010.
Reception.
Critical response.
"Lost in Translation" received widespread critical acclaim, particularly for Murray's performance and for Coppola's direction and screenplay. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 95% based on 233 reviews, with an average rating of 8.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Effectively balancing humor and subtle pathos, Sofia Coppola crafts a moving, melancholy story that serves as a showcase for both Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has an average score of 89 out of 100 based on 44 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".
Critics widely praised Murray's performance as Bob, commending his handling of a more serious role that was combined with the comic persona for which he was already broadly known. Writing for "Slate", David Edelstein argued that it was "the Bill Murray performance we've been waiting for", adding that "his two halves have never come together as they do here, in a way that connects that hilarious detachment with the deep and abiding sense of isolation that must have spawned it". Lisa Schwarzbaum of "Entertainment Weekly" regarded Murray's performance as Oscar-worthy and lauded it as his "most vulnerable and unmannered" to date; she praised his treatment of a more delicate role as well as his improvisations in the film's comic sequences. "The New York Times" critic Elvis Mitchell had similar praise, calling "Lost in Translation" "Mr. Murray's movie" and remarking that the actor "supplies the kind of performance that seems so fully realized and effortless that it can easily be mistaken for not acting at all".
Coppola received a similar level of acclaim for her screenplay and direction. Kenneth Turan of the "Los Angeles Times" commented that "Lost in Translation" was "tart and sweet, unmistakably funny and exceptionally well observed—[which] marks... Coppola as a mature talent with a distinctive sensibility and the means to express it". Much of the praise was directed specifically at her attention to qualities of subtlety and atmosphere; David Rooney of "Variety" praised the film as "a mood piece", adding that its "deft balance of humor and poignancy makes it both a pleasurable and melancholy experience". Likewise, "Salon" critic Stephanie Zacharek lauded Coppola as a "stealth dramatist" whose understated narrative style made for an artful depiction of emotion; she praised "Lost in Translation" as an intimate story that marks Coppola as an exceptional filmmaker.
Praise was also offered for Johansson's performance as Charlotte; Rooney commented that she "gives a smartly restrained performance as an observant, questioning woman with a rich interior life", and Turan added that Johansson "makes what could have been an overly familiar characterization come completely alive". "Lost in Translation" was listed as a best film of the year by more than 235 critics and has appeared on other "best of" lists in the years after its release. "Paste" ranked it number seven on its list of "The 50 Best Movies of the 2000s", "Entertainment Weekly" ranked it number nine on its list of the decade's top ten, and the film was ranked number 22 on a 2016 list of the BBC's 100 Greatest Films of the 21st Century, based on a poll of 177 critics.
Allegations of racism.
While not a topic of most reviews, "Lost in Translation" received some charges of Orientalist racial stereotyping in its depiction of Japan. The filmmaker E. Koohan Paik argued that the film's comedy "is rooted entirely in the 'otherness' of the Japanese people", and that the story fails to offer balanced characterizations of the Japanese, adding that "it is... the shirking of responsibility to depict them as full human beings, either negative or positive, which constitutes discrimination, or racism". Similarly, the artist Kiku Day charged in "The Guardian" that "[t]here is no scene where the Japanese are afforded a shred of dignity. The viewer is sledgehammered into laughing at these small, yellow people and their funny ways". Prior to the film's release in Japan, local distributors were reported to have concern about how it would be received there, and the film was ultimately met with criticism in some Japanese reviews; among them, critic Yoshiro Tsuchiya of "Yomiuri Shimbun" wrote that Coppola's representation of Japan was "outrageously biased and banal". Perceptions of stereotyping also led to a campaign against the film by an Asian American organization that urged members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to vote against it at the 76th Academy Awards.
The film scholar Homay King argues that while the film ultimately does little to counter Orientalist stereotypes, it fails to establish the perspective from which Japanese representations are made, writing that "the film [does not] sufficiently clarify that its real subject is not Tokyo itself, but Western perceptions of Tokyo... When Japan appears superficial, inappropriately erotic, or unintelligible, we are never completely sure whether this vision belongs to Coppola, to her characters, or simply to a Hollywood cinematic imaginary". Moreover, Geoff King maintains that while depictions such as Charlotte's alienation from experiences like ikebana are evidence that the film abstains from the Orientalist "mythology of Japanese tradition as source of solace", the film often situates Japan as a source of "difference" for the characters by relying on crude jokes and stereotypes of the Japanese as "crazy" or "extreme". Coppola reported being surprised by such criticism, saying, "I think if everything's based on truth you can make fun, have a little laugh, but also be respectful of a culture. I just love Tokyo and I'm not mean-spirited".
Accolades.
"Lost in Translation" received awards and nominations in a variety of categories, particularly for Coppola's direction and screenwriting, as well as the performances of Murray and Johansson. At the 76th Academy Awards, it won Best Original Screenplay (Coppola) and the film received three further nominations for Best Picture, Best Director (Coppola), and Best Actor (Murray). The film garnered three Golden Globe Awards from five nominations: Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, and Best Screenplay. At the 57th British Academy Film Awards, "Lost in Translation" won three awards: Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Actress in a Leading Role (Johansson), and Best Editing.
"Lost in Translation" also received awards from various foreign award ceremonies, film festivals, and critics' organizations. These include Best American Film at the Bodil Awards, Best Foreign Film at the César Awards, and Best Foreign Film at the Film Critics Circle of Australia, French Syndicate of Cinema Critics, and Deutscher Filmpreis, as well as the Nastro d'Argento for Best Foreign Director. The film also won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Film, Best Film – Comedy or Musical at the Satellite Awards, and two prizes at the Venice International Film Festival. From critics' organizations, "Lost in Translation" received awards in the Best Film category from the San Francisco Film Critics Circle, the Toronto Film Critics Association, and the Vancouver Film Critics Circle.


E-scape

E-scape was a project run by the Technology Education Research Unit (TERU) at Goldsmiths University of London, England that developed an approach to the authentic assessment of creativity and collaboration based on open-ended but structured activities. As such it is an alternative to traditional assessment methodologies.
Background.
Project e-scape originated in a UK Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) project in 2003 and 2004. It was titled 'Assessing Design Innovation' that developed an approach to assessment in design and technology that encouraged creativity and teamwork, and was based on a 6-hour structured coursework activity. The activity is broken down into a series of sub-activities that provide placeholders for students to record the development of their thinking in words and of the development of their prototypes in photographs. This approach has subsequently been adopted by Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations in their General Certificate of Secondary Education for product design. Phase 1 of the e-scape project looked at how Information and communication technologies within subject teaching and learning could be used to encourage the assessment of creativity and teamwork. The UK Department for Education and Skills and QCA supported the phase 1 proof of concept.
In e-scape phase 1 it was established that the use of digital peripheral tools could enable learners to create authentic, real-time, electronic portfolios of their performance. The value of peripheral tools lay in their 'back-pocket' potential. Learners were not tied to desktops and workstations, but could roam the classroom / workshop. The peripheral digital tools enabled them to build an authentic story of their designing through a combination of drawings; photos; voice files and text. Their story emerged as the trace-left-behind by their purposeful activity in the task. The focus of phase 2 was to integrate these techniques into a complete system.
In e-scape phase 2 a prototype system was built that enabled teachers to run design & technology test activities in 11 schools across England. This resulted in 250 performance portfolios on a website that were then assessed using an Adaptive comparative judgement assessment methodology based on work by Thurstone and the Law of comparative judgment. Learners were enthusiastic about using the system in schools and the reliability of the subsequent assessments was significantly higher than is possible using conventional approaches. However, there were two limitations with the phase 2 system:
Firstly, it operated only in design and technology, and this raised the question of its transferable value into other subjects.
Secondly, the phase 2 tests had been run as a research project – with the research team operating the system in schools. This was not a scalable model for national assessment. It was necessary for such a national system to be operable by teachers in their own classrooms and this became the focus of the third phase of the project.
Phase 3 focused additionally on science and geography, with the work evolving through several steps:
The e-scape project expanded to Scotland, where it focussed on a formative assessment approach.
Implementation in schools.
In 2009, awarding bodies in England ran national awards using the e-scape system.


Willard R. Espy

Willard Richardson Espy (December 11, 1910February 20, 1999) was an American editor, philologist, writer, poet, and local historian. Raised in the seaside village of Oysterville, Washington, Espy later studied at the University of Redlands in California before becoming an editor in New York City, as well as a contributor to "Reader's Digest", "The New Yorker", "Punch", and other publications.
In the 1960s, he began publishing books on philology as well collections of poetry collections, and became the best-known collector of and commentator on word play of his time. In 1977, he published the national bestseller "Oysterville: Roads to Grandpa's Village", a semi-autobiographical novel about his familial heritage in the Oysterville community. Espy died at New York Hospital in Manhattan in 1999, and was interred at Oysterville Cemetery.
Early life.
Espy was born in Olympia, Washington in 1910, the sixth of seven children, to Harry Albert Espy (1876–1959) and Helen Medora Espy ( Richardson; 1878–1954). His father, a one-time Washington state senator, was of Scots-Irish descent. His mother was from San Francisco, the daughter of a local preacher.
He and his siblings were raised in the coastal village of Oysterville, Washington, which had been founded in 1854 by his grandfather, R. H. Espy, a settler who arrived in Oregon Territory via The Oregon Trail. Espy graduated from the University of Redlands in 1930 with a B.A. after which he spent a year abroad, enrolling at the Sorbonne in Paris, planning to study philosophy. He returned to the United States in 1932, working as a newspaper editor in California, later moving to New York City where he was eventually hired by "Reader's Digest" in 1941. Espy spent next sixteen years working for "Reader's Digest" in various positions, including as promotion director.
Career.
Espy's writing career took off in the late 1960s; he eventually authored fifteen books on language, and his poetry and articles regularly appeared in "Punch", "Reader's Digest", "The Atlantic Monthly", "The Nation", and "". Espy earned praise from contemporary critics such as Louis Untermeyer and John Chancellor. Summarizing Espy's writing, critic Alistair Cooke wrote:
Later in life, Espy divided his time between Manhattan and his home in Oysterville, and wrote nationally bestselling books on local history, including "" (1977) and "Skulduggery on Shoalwater Bay" (1998). Two of his books on wordplay, "The Game of Words" and "An Almanac of Words at Play", were honored at the Governor's Writers Day Awards (now the Washington State Book Awards),
 and the latter was a national bestseller. He was also a contributing writer for "The New Yorker" and other publications.
Death.
Espy died aged 88 at New York Hospital in Manhattan on February 20, 1999. He is interred in a family plot in Oysterville Cemetery. His second wife Louise, a native of New York, died in November 2011, and was interred beside him.
Legacy.
The Espy Foundation was established in 1998; the non-profit foundation, based out of Espy's home in Oysterville, Washington, served as a retreat space for artists and writers in the Pacific Northwest. In December 2010, the foundation officially closed.
Espy's light verse has been compared to that of Lewis Carroll, W. S. Gilbert, Ogden Nash and Cole Porter.


Mahendra P. Lama

Mahendra P. Lama is an Indian professor and a development economist who was the pro-vice chancellor of IGNOU and the founding vice chancellor of Sikkim University in India. At the age of 45, he became the youngest vice chancellor of a National Central University in India. He is presently a senior Professor in the School of International Studies , Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; Chief Economic Adviser in the Government of Sikkim (Cabinet Minister Rank) and Member of the Eminent Persons Group on Nepal-India Relations appointed by the Prime Ministers of India and Nepal.
Education.
Prof. Lama completed his graduation from St Joseph's College, Darjeeling and did his Masters and Ph.D. from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Lama has worked and published on issues related to cooperation and integration in South Asia and on issues of trade, investment, migration, development, borderlands in the Himalayan Regions and China.
Career.
Prof. Lama had been Chairperson, Centre for South, Central, Southeast Asia and South West Pacific Studies at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, Asia Leadership Fellow in Japan, Nehru Fulbright Fellow in USA, High End Expert at Sichuan University in China, a Ford Foundation Fellow at Notre Dame University, USA, and a Visiting Professor in Hitotsubashi University and Tsukuba University in Japan. He also served as the chief economic adviser in the Government of Sikkim for seven years (2000-2007). Lama was a Member of the National Security Advisory Board of the Government of India and India –China Fellow at the New School University, USA. In 1997 and 2011, he was nominated by the Indian government to serve in the Independent Expert Group (1997-1999) and South Asia Forum (2011-2016) set up by the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). He was also a member of the National Committee for the Revamping of the North Eastern Council in 2004, and the national steering committee for the North East Vision document - 2020. Lama is an author. He has written and edited several books and scholarly articles and some of this works have been translated into Japanese, French and German Language.
Recent engagements.
He is the principal author of the 'North East Region Vision 2035' of NITI Aayog, New Delhi (2021). In the last few years, the President of India has nominated Lama to eight institutions of India as her/his representative. Lama has also been nominated by the University Grants Commission in various Review Committees of the Central and State Universities, as the Chairman of the Area Studies Programme and member Commonwealth Fellowship Selection Committee. He has also been a member of the prestigious Interviews Board for the all
India Civil Services Examinations conducted by the Union Public Service Commission and also at the state level in Public Service Commission of Sikkim.
The architect of the reopening of the historic Nathu la trade route between Sikkim in India and Tibet Autonomous Region in China after 44 years in 2006, he is also a life member of a number of pioneering Nepali literary and cultural organizations in India. He has also served as the member of the
Prime Minister's Task Force on Hill and Mountain Development under the aegis of National Planning Commission. He has been associated as a professional with the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, United Nations Development Programme, USAID, Australian Aid Agency, IDRC of Canada and ICIMOD in Kathmandu and many other international organisations. He was also assigned the task of reviewing the functioning of SAARC by Asian Development Bank and SACEPS since its inception. He also wrote a column known as “Serophero” in Nepal's fortnightly Himal Khabar Patrika. He wrote a column “Ghamko khojima” in Himalaya Darpan, a daily newspaper published from Siliguri. He also contributed columns in Nepal's English daily Kathmandu Post. and continues to write a fortnightly column 'Chuchurobata' in Nepal's daily Kantipur.
He has been associated with a number of national and international organisations including New Delhi's India International Centre,
University Grants Commission, Sahitya Academy, National Book Trust and Indian Council of World Affairs. He has delivered over 250 Special / Public
Lectures in the institutions both in India and abroad including in premier</ref></ref> global institutions like Yale University, Oxford University, Stanford University, Notre Dame University, New School University and National Defense College (NDC), to IFS/IAS/IPS probationers and a large number of Universities and other institutions. He has participated in over 400 Seminars/Conferences both in India and in 34 countries abroad.
Publications.
Select Books and Monographs.
"Fledgling sub-regionalism in Eastern South Asia: Reasons for China’s shift towards Bilateralism in BCIM", Occasional Paper Series, Institute of Chinese Studies, New Delhi, 2021
"India and China : Rethinking Borders and Security", (co-authored with LHM Ling et al). University of Michigan Press, USA, 2016
BBIN Initiatives: Options for Cross-Border Power Exchange , ORF Issue Brief No 137, Observer Research Foundation and Asia Foundation, New Delhi , 2016
"India-Nepal Peace and Friendship Treaty 1950: Implications for Indian Gorkhas and Policy Suggestions", Bharatiya Gorkha Parisnagh and Darjeeling Dooars United Development Foundation, Darjeeling , 2016
"Unravelling Inclusiveness in North East India : Lessons from the Experimentations of Indian Gorkhas"; Samata Annual lecture IV, SAMATA Foundation, Kathmandu, 2014
"SAARC 2015 : Expanding Horizons and Forging Cooperation in a Resurgent Asia : The Delhi Statement" , (with Ambassador KK Bhargava) Fredrich Ebert Stiftung, New Delhi, 2007
"Pipelines and Powergrids for Peace", (with Rasul Bakhsh Rais, Quaid-I- Azam University, Islamabad), ICPI, Mumbai and Kings College, London ( 2001)
"New Perspectives on India-Nepal Relations" ( with Kalim Bahadur), (Har-Anand Publications, New Delhi, 1995)
"Economic Cooperation in the SAARC Region : Potential, Constraints and Policies", (with VR Panchamukhi et al.), (Interest Publications, Delhi, 1990)
"Tea Plantation Workers in the Eastern Himalayas"‚ (with RL Sarkar), (Atma Ram and Sons, Delhi, 1986)
"The Eastern Himalayas : Environment and Economy"‚(with RL Sarkar), (Atma Ram and Sons, Delhi, 1986)
"The Economics of Indo-Nepalese Cooperation: A Study on Trade, Aid and Private Foreign Investment"‚ (Atma Ram and Sons, Delhi, 1985)


Kuya language

Kuya (Kouya, Kowya) is a Kru language of Ivory Coast. The language was first put in written form in the 1980s.


Manoj Prasad

Manoj Prasad (born 16 December 1970) is an Indian plant geneticist, virologist and working as a Senior Scientist and JC Bose National Fellow at the National Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR). Known for his research on the stress biology of plants and virology, he is an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, the National Academy of Sciences, India, the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Indian Virological Society and was a recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship. The Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to biosciences, in 2014.
Biography.
Manoj Prasad was born on 16 December 1970 in Ballia in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. After completing early schooling at Pannalal Institution in Kalyani, West Bengal, he pursued he graduated with honours in science from Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Centenary College, Kolkata in 1992 and secured a master's degree from the prestigious University College of Science campus of University of Calcutta in 1994. Subsequently, he did his doctoral research at the same university from where he earned a PhD in 1999. His career started as a research fellow at the Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut in 1998 and in 2000, he moved to Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersleben as a post-doctoral research fellow where he stayed until 2003. Returning to India, he joined the National Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR), New Delhi in 2004 as a staff scientist Grade III and continues to serve the institute as a Staff Scientist Grade VI.
Prasad lives in Jawaharlal Nehru University campus, along Aruna Asaf Ali Marg in New Delhi.
Professional profile.
Prasad focuses his studies on crop science and his laboratory at NIPGR is involved in the studies related to salt and drought stress as well as abiotic stress in foxtail millet ("Setaria italica") and genetic studies of tomato leaf curl virus (ToLCV). His studies have been documented by way of a number of articles and ResearchGate, an online repository of scientific articles has listed 219 of them. He edited the book, "The Foxtail Millet Genome", and has contributed chapters to books published by others.
Prasad is a former member of the editorial boards of journals such as "Scientific Reports", "The Plant Cell" and "Molecular Biology Reports" and sits on the editorial boards of "BMC Plant Biology", "PLoS ONE", "Plant Molecular Biology Reporter", "Plant Cell Reports", "Tissue and Organ Culture", "Acta Physiologiae Plantarum", "Plant Breeding", and "Journal of Genetics". He was also one of the coordinators of the International Climate-Resilient Crop Genomics Consortium (ICRCGC), held in January 2012, at San Diego, California.
Awards and honors.
Prasad, who held the National Merit Scholarship of the Government of India during his master's studies (1992–94), received the Alexander von Humboldt fellowship in 2000. The National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) selected him as a Young Scientist in 2003 and as an Associate in 2006, the same year as he was selected for the Biotechnology Overseas Associateship of the Department of Biotechnology. He was awarded the Prof. Hira Lal Chakravarty Award by the Indian Science Congress Association. The National Academy of Sciences, India elected him as a fellow in 2012 and he became an elected fellow of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences the next year. The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards in 2014. He was elected by the Indian Virological Society and the Indian National Science Academy in 2015 and 2017 respectively. In between, he was selected for the TATA Innovation Fellowship by the Department of Biotechnology in 2016.


Bradley Inman

 Bradley Inman ( Brad Inman) is a journalist and entrepreneur who founded several media companies. Inman's knowledge of the real estate industry dates back to his days as a syndicated real estate columnist with the "San Francisco Examiner". Inman is also the author of a novel The Right Way to Do Wrong and non-fiction books California Real Estate: the 1980s and 1990s, Real Estate Will Never be the Same and Livable Neighborhoods of the Bay Area. Inman grew up in Carlinville, Illinois and graduated from Boston University.


Betty Smith

Betty Smith (born Elisabeth Lillian Wehner; December 15, 1896 – January 17, 1972) was an American author. She is best known for her 1943 bestselling book "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn".
Early years.
Smith was born Elisabeth Lillian Wehner on December 15, 1896 in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York to first-generation German-Americans John C. Wehner, a waiter, and Katherine (or Catherine) Hummel. She had a younger brother, William, and a younger sister, Regina. At the time of her birth the family was living at 207 Ewen Street (now Manhattan Avenue). When she was four, they were living at 227 Stagg Street, and would move several times to various tenements on Montrose Avenue and Hopkins Street before settling in a tenement on the top floor of 702 Grand Street. It was the Grand Street tenement that served as the setting for "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn".
As a child, Smith developed an early passion for the written word, and at age eight she received an A for a school composition. "I knew then," she was reported as saying, "that I would write a book one day." She made great use of the then-new public library near her home on Leonard Street, and at age 11, had two poems published in a school publication. Smith attended Public School 49 through fourth grade, then transferred to PS 18, which she disliked, before wangling her way into out-of-district PS 23 in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, where she finished eighth grade. At this point in her life, she was compelled to quit school by her mother and to go to work to support the family. She was 14. Four years later, at age 18, endeavoring to further her education, she discovered she could attend Girls' High School in Brooklyn during the day while, at the same time, work a night job in Manhattan. But after two years of this rigorous schedule, she quit school because a well paying job she had accepted with the United States Postal Service required her to work days.
In her teenage years, Smith was an active member at the Jackson Street Settlement House, operated by the School Settlement Association. Offering a diverse range of after school social activities, the Settlement House became one of Smith's favorite destinations. Of particular interest were classes in play writing, as well as acting and other theatrical activities. It was at the Settlement House in 1917 that she first met her future first husband, George H. E. Smith, the coach of her debate team and a fellow German-American, whose family name had been changed during WWI from Schmidt. It is claimed by some it was likely at the Jackson Street Settlement House, rather than near her apartment, that the tree grew which gave name to her best-known novel, but this assertion is unsubstantiated.
Marriage and motherhood.
In 1919, after moving briefly to Richmond Hill, Queens, with her mother and stepfather, she joined George Smith in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he pursued a law degree at the University of Michigan. They married October 18, 1919. During the couple's extended stay in Ann Arbor, Smith gave birth to two girls and then waited until they were in school before endeavoring to complete her education. Because she had only completed two years of high school, Smith first enrolled in Ann Arbor High School, even though the principal thought it "unusual for a married woman to be a high school junior but could find no law against it." However, she again was not able to graduate due to her husband finding work in Belding, Michigan, and later Detroit. Although George Smith's career was thriving, he found the practice of law unfulfilling. As a result, they decided to return to Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan to "start over," with George studying political science, with an aim toward a career in politics. Although she had not finished high school, the university allowed her to take classes as a special student without matriculating. It was during this time that Smith began to take her writing more seriously, realizing it could be a career, and she began to hone her composition and journalism skills, submitting articles and recipes to newspapers as well as writing plays. Despite family money worries, instead of taking part-time jobs as she had before, she continued with her writing endeavors.
In 1933, Betty and George H.E. Smith legally separated, and before the start of World War II, in 1938, they divorced. Although divorced, she continued to use the Smith surname throughout her writing career.
Theater and playwriting.
From a young age, Smith had a deep and abiding interest in the theater. She and her younger brother Willie regularly attended Saturday matinees at Brooklyn theaters for ten cents each, which allowed them to stand in the gallery. In a later autobiographical statement, Smith noted:
In 1916, Smith was able to see Sara Bernhardt perform as part of her farewell tour of the United States. Despite Bernhardt having lost a leg to infection, her memories of the performance and of Bernhardt's "lovely speaking voice and her limpid gestures" remained everlasting.
University of Michigan and Yale.
At the University of Michigan, Smith audited a number of journalism and playwriting courses and was a student in some of the classes of Professor Kenneth Thorpe Rowe. Under the guidance of Rowe, she wrote several plays, including the three-act "Jonica Starrs," a story of adultery and the break-up of a marriage. The play was given a full production in Ann Arbor in June 1930, and later that same year, was performed at the Detroit Playhouse.
Smith's life reached a turning point when she won the University of Michigan's Avery Hopwood Award for a play she had written. Sources differ whether the play was "Jonica Starrs" or "Francie Nolan," which introduced the character that was to later appear in "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn". With the award, Smith received either $1,000 or $1,500, a considerable amount of money in the early 1930s, but, perhaps more importantly, public attention for her work.
With the conferring of the Hopwood Award, Smith was invited to study drama at Yale University, where, under the tutelage of renown teacher George Baker, she wrote several plays during her two-year fellowship. At this time, she met a budding playwright, Robert V. Finch, known as "Bob," who became a close confidante and companion. With outside pressures mounting, particularly money concerns, as the fellowship had ended, her studies at Yale came to an end in the spring of 1934. Moreover, she deeply missed her children, who had been placed with her sister's family on Long Island.
Because Smith never completed high school, she was unable to formally matriculate at the University of Michigan; she never earned a Bachelor of Arts, despite having taken more than enough courses. And without the B.A., she was unable to earn the Master of Fine Arts degree at Yale.
Federal Theatre Project.
With the end of her drama studies at Yale, Smith and her children returned to live briefly in her mother's house in Woodside, Queens. In 1935, an opportunity with the Works Projects Administration fortuitously arose, and Smith began working for the Federal Theatre Project as a play reader. In May 1936, she and three other Federal Theatre Project members, including Bob Finch, were shifted to Chapel Hill, North Carolina to participate in regional theater activities. It was in Chapel Hill that Smith finally found a place to call home, and despite continuing struggles with money, she began to write more earnestly.
Novelist.
In the late 1930s, Smith began to shift her attention from play writing to attempting a novel. Encouraged by her longtime friend, playwright Bob Fitch, as well as her writing group, she turned her eye toward a milieu she was familiar: the tenements and streets of Brooklyn. In total, Smith wrote four published novels during her lifetime, three of which take Brooklyn as a setting. Her first novel, "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," was published in 1943. The book became an immediate bestseller and catapulted Smith to fame. Four years later, in 1947, the novel "Tomorrow Will Be Better" appeared. It would be another 11 years before "Maggie-Now," her third book, was published in 1958. Smith's fourth and final novel, "Joy in the Morning" appeared in 1963.
"A Tree Grows in Brooklyn".
While living and working in Chapel Hill, Smith produced a novel with the working title of "They Lived in Brooklyn." The work was rejected by several publishers before Harper and Brothers showed an interest in 1942. Working with Harper editors Smith substantially revised the novel, trimming characters, dialogue, and scenes, while selectively adding others. Finally, the book was accepted for publication and was released in 1943 with the title, "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn." Smith later acknowledged the novel and its heroine Francie Nolan were largely based on her own life and experiences. The novel is often categorized under the Bildungsroman literary genre.
In 1945, a film adaptation, directed by Elia Kazan, was released. In 1974, a second film adaptation was released. In the early 1950s, Smith teamed with George Abbott to write the book for the 1951 musical adaptation of "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn".
"Tomorrow Will Be Better".
In 1947, Smith's second book "Tomorrow Will Be Better" was published. Set in the tenements of 1920s Brooklyn, the novel presents a realistic portrayal of young adults who seek a brighter future. Published just four years after "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," the second book naturally drew critical comparisons to the first because both novels dealt with family life in Brooklyn and the struggle with poverty. Margy Shannon, the central character in "Tomorrow," is from a poor family with a dominant mother. She meets and is courted by Frankie, a fellow Brooklynite, also contending with poverty. They strive to improve their lot, attempting to overcome the many personal and financial obstacles in their way.
"Tomorrow" was published to mixed reviews. It received a positive notice in "The New York Times," which noted the work is noticeably different in spirit from Smith's first book and praised Smith's writing style as "remarkable for its unpretentiousness—an easy, tidy, direct kind of prose which calls no attention to itself." Other reviews, however, were less warm, often judging the novel as "gloomy."
"Maggie-Now".
"Maggie-Now" was published in 1958.
"Joy in the Morning".
"Joy in the Morning," Smith's fourth, and last, novel appeared in 1963. The novel was adapted into the 1965 film of the same name.
Personal life.
As a child, Smith was called Lizzie, but because she had difficulty pronouncing her z's, her family took to calling her Liddie. She had a younger brother, William (b. 1898) and a younger sister, Regina (b. 1903). Her relationship with her father John was warm and loving even though he was an alcoholic who only provided sporadically for his family. John Wehner died December 21, 1913 at the age of 40.
In 1918, her mother Catherine married a second time to Michael Keogh, an Irishman 13 years her senior who worked in the city's public works department. The marriage brought long needed financial stability to the family. Both William and Regina assumed the Keogh surname, and Lizzie, due to her age, did not. In either 1918 or early 1919, around the age of 22, Smith may have suffered the trauma of sexual abuse. Although she never directly pointed a finger, her later correspondence and writings suggest the involvement of her stepfather Michael Keogh. Additionally, after leaving the Keogh household in 1919, she returned infrequently, and then only briefly, until Keogh died in 1933.
Smith married three times. Her first marriage at age 23 was to George H.E. Smith (1898–1962) on October 18, 1919 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She had met George in 1917 at the Jackson Street Settlement House and then joined him in Ann Arbor where they quickly wed. The couple had two children: Nancy Jean (b. 1922) and Mary Elizabeth (1924–1979). Due mainly to her husband's infidelity, Betty and George separated and then divorced in 1938. Her second marriage was to Joseph Piper Jones (1906–1993), a serviceman and editor she met in Chapel Hill. They married August 7, 1943 in Norfolk, Virginia. By June 1951, the marriage, which produced no children, was in trouble, and Smith cited incompatibility as a reason to divorce, noting they "had nothing at all in common". Smith traveled to Reno, Nevada, gained residency, and filed for divorce on December 13, 1951. Six years later in Chapel Hill, at the age of 61, she married Robert Voris Finch (1909–1959), a longtime friend and companion she had known since her studies at Yale University. Finch, who had issues with alcohol as well as cardiovascular problems, died on February 4, 1959.
Smith was a petite woman with dark brown hair and strikingly deep blue eyes. She enjoyed fishing, particularly at her cottage in Nags Head, North Carolina. She also was an avid bingo player.
Death.
On January 17, 1972, Smith died of pneumonia in Shelton, Connecticut, at the age of 75. She is buried in Chapel Hill Memorial Cemetery in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, alongside her third husband, Robert Voris Finch. A large double marker denotes the graves, with the inscription "Betty Smith Finch Author of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn 1896 1972" on the left-hand side.


Die Seele

Die Seele: Ihr Verhältnis zum Bewusstsein und zum Leibe (English: The soul: its relation to consciousness and body) is a book by the German philosopher and psychologist was published in the journal "Wissen und Forschen (Schriften zur Einführung in die Philosophy, Band 6)" in 1914.
With "Die Seele" Geyser aims to clarify the specific processes of the soul and its relation to our consciousness and body thereby discussing the Mind–body problem and different positions such as Materialism or parallelism. Finally, Geyser concludes with an interactionist position ("Wechselwirkung") between mind and body.
Historical context.
 (1869–1948) received his doctorate in philosophy from the University of Bonn in 1898. Later he was teaching in Münster (1904), Freiburg (1917) and Munich (1924). As a supporter of the philosophia perennis he aims at answering questions in an objective, critical and realistic manner while being independent of the temporary situation:
At the time, the pressing question as formulated in Psychological Bulletin at the beginning of 1914 was: "Is psychology purely a study of behaviour, or is it solely a study of mental states and processes, or does its problem lead to research in both fields?" In "Die Seele" (1914) Geyser himself claims to fit the "Zeitgeist" of philosophy and psychology at the beginning of the 20th century to focus not on basic but higher conscious processes. His work is written and published at a time where psychology was in its early shoes. On the one hand, the first experimental psychology lab in Leipzig, Germany has been opened in 1879 by Wilhelm Wundt. During the period of 1970–1914 in Germany and America, psychology has been transformed into an experimental psychology. In this period many mental phenomena started to be investigated in an empirical fashion. Especially visual and spatial perception has been a centre of attention with phenomena such as binocular stereopsis (3D and depth perception) and colour blindness. These developments slowly replaced more traditional associationist psychology which regarded psychology as a science of purely mental phenomena. On the other hand, in parallel to the experimental movement, Sigmund Freud and his publications in psychoanalysis entered the field of psychology. Wundt is seen as a representative of a dual psychology, i.e. dealing with an "experimental psychology of elementary psychic phenomena", as seen in Wundt's physiological psychology and a "non-experimental psychology of higher psychic phenomena" as seen in Wundt's nonexperimental "ethnopsychology" ("Völkerpsychologie"). In Germany as well as in the United States, the "new psychology" in contrast to the old, metaphysical psychology, emerged, usually dated as by 1914.
This development is also reflected by James Watson's publication of "Psychology as the Behaviorist Views it", marking the beginning of Behaviourism. One year prior to "Die Seele" by Geyser, 1913, this work formulates the behaviourist viewpoint from which the discipline of psychology is seen as a purely objective experimental branch of natural science, disregarding introspection and the study of consciousness.
Geyser, combining empirical psychology and philosophical psychology, appreciated experimental results and the Würzburg School. Oswald Külpe, former student of Wundt, associated with the Würzburg School, extended under criticism of Wundt experimental psychology to higher cognitive and mental processes. Geyser's work is influenced by the dual psychology of Wilhelm Wundt which in contrast to the emerging behaviourism does not completely disregard the metaphysical aspects of consciousness, Oswald Külpe and the Würzburg School. While Wundt supports the psychophysical parallelism, stating that mental and physical phenomena form two distinct, parallel existing realms, Geyser closes "Die Seele" with a more interactionist position of the mind-body problem.
Influence on "Die Seele".
With "Die Seele" (1914) Geyser himself says to fit the "Zeitgeist" of philosophy and psychology at the beginning of the 20th century to focus not on basic but higher conscious processes and examines the role of our soul and consciousness as he describes it in his preamble. As Geyser further points out, Metaphysics is inevitable in the question of consciousness, but influenced by Wilhelm Wundt and Experimental psychology the has the opinion to limit metaphysics to an amount only necessary for the human logical need to understand. Further Geyser's work complies with Oswald Külpe's (doctoral student and assistant of Wundt) urge to not completely separate psychology and philosophy since they mutually depend on each other.
"Die Seele" is one of Geyser's earlier and more unknown works and is described as an outsourced summary of the specific parts about the soul of the earlier work ""Lehrbuch der allgemeinen Psychologie" ("1912")." This work integrates into the research interest of the time to clarify general philosophical and psychological concepts as can be seen in contemporary works such as Natorps ""Allgemeine Psychologie nach kritischer Methode" (1912).
Influence of logic in Geyser's work.
Later works of Geyser include "Grundlegung der Logik und Erkenntnistheorie" (English: Basics of Logic and Epistemology; 1919) and "Auf dem Kampffelde der Logik" (English: On the battlefield of logic; 1926) and his strong background in Logic is already noticeable throughout Geyser's earlier work "Die Seele". Arguments of other philosophers are decomposed and analysed such as Paul Natorp's argument which contains the Fallacy Petitio principi.
Reception.
Today Joseph Geyser is rather unknown, but that Joseph Geyser's work was relevant and valued at the time can be seen in the commemorative publication "Philosophia Perennis. Abhandlungen zu ihrer Vergangenheit und Gegenwart"" by Fritz-Joachim von Rintelen in honour of the sixtieth birthday anniversary of Geyser. In more than 1000 pages this commemorative publication combines articles of various contemporary scholars at the time such as Étienne Gilson, Jacques Maritain, Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, Martin Grabmann, Joseph Maréchal, Peter Wust, Antonin Sertillanges, Richard Hönigswald and Dietrich von Hildebrand. Max Ettlinger's (1877-1929) article deals with Joseph Geyser as a Psychologist. Ettlinger points out that Geyser's philosophy and psychology developed through intense exchange within the circle of students at the University of Munich under the "inspiring teacher" Theodor Lipps. Theodor Lipps is described as developing from earlier positions such as Psychologism to metaphysics of mind whereby the latter was congenial to Geyser view.
Valued by the German philosopher Nicolai Hartmann, who was also a supporter of the philosophia perennis and critical realism, Geyser is described as having a "consistently thought-out and complete worldview" which was developed within his Christian belief.
Geyser further called attention through his discussion of the causality principle. In his "Das Prinzip vom zureichenden Grunde" (English: The principle of sufficient reason; Ratisbon, 1929) and in "Das Gesetz der Ursache" (English: The law of cause; Freiburg, 1933) he develops the idea that we can only discover the meaning of causality through experience. He questions whether his principle of causation is a priori. This question is highly "significant for any further epistemological and metaphysical construction that is in accord with experience".
Content.
The book comprises an introduction and six main chapters with several sub-chapters in order to clarify the concept of the soul and its relation to our consciousness and body.
Preamble and Introduction.
While the naive person regards the soul as a homogeneous entity being the "Wurzel, Zuschauer und Täter der mannigfaltigen Vorgänge im geistig Inneren" (English: root, the observer and an actor of various processes in our inner world), Geyser points out that many psychologists doubt this simple view. A consistent name for the sum of all inner, mental processes suggests that there is a soul that feels and thinks, but usually, psychologists regard this view scientifically wrong. Geyser states that his book aims to fill the academic gap between theory and practice by clarifying the concept of "the soul". Either the concept of a soul that is used by the layperson should be scientifically justified or should be abandoned completely.
I. First chapter: The mental facts of experience and the concept of consciousness.
The first chapter introduces the problem of separating mental and bodily states as well as separating psychology and natural sciences. Classically, natural sciences like chemistry and physics were seen as dealing with experiences through sensory organs while psychology deals with everything else, like emotional states. However, Geyser states that the same object e.g. colours can be subject to both research streams:
Therefore, everything we perceive is a result of mental as well as non-mental causes and processes, thereby Geyser opposes pure Idealism. The mental ("Seelisches") is defined as the act of perception and the content of perception. Geyser refers to Max Plancks' notion that perceptions can only give us a hint of the reality but may not depict the reality itself. The chapter concludes with the notions that the act of perceiving accompanies every sensory experience turning it in a psychological experience.
II. Second chapter: The knowledge about the soul out of its existence and characteristics of consciousness.
The second chapter examines how we can know that the soul exists by knowing that we are conscious. One sub-chapter deals with Immanuel Kant's ideas and Transcendental idealism. In another subchapter, Geyser argues against Paul Natorp by stating that our knowledge of our consciousness ("Bewusstsein") implies that we are conscious of it. This paves the way for Geysers' metaphysics of mind. The chapter concludes that we know that the various processes in our consciousness ("Bewusstseinsfeld") exist in the subject that experiences them ("Bewusstsein").
III. Third chapter: general organisation of consciousness.
After defining the terminology of the soul and consciousness several sub-chapter examine the organisation of our consciousness in greater detail.
IV. Fourth chapter: The problem of the unconscious. Being aware, noticing, observing. Real-definitions of the human soul.
The unconscious nature of certain processes is discussed whereby several sub-chapters examine different processes such as being aware, noticing and observing and its unconscious parts. Geyser distances his work from Freud's psychoanalytical view of the unconscious.
V. Fifth chapter: Rejection of the denial of the soul by materialism.
The materialism denies that there is a mental part, a soul. Geyser discusses the different form of materialism in the light of Naïve realism (psychology) and Critical realism (philosophy of perception).
VI. Sixth chapter: The nature of the dependence of mental and bodily processes.
The Mind–body problem is introduced with the question whether there are two separate substances, namely the mental (soul) and the physical (body) and if so, whether and how those two substances interact. Geyser opposes René Descartes who stated the problems of Interactionism (philosophy of mind). The chapter discusses arguments against the notion that substances who interact have to be the same substance. Usually the strong argument against some sort of dualism is the law of conservation of energy argument, however, Geyser rather quickly refutes it. He supports his opinion by referring to Erich Becher and his work on "Leben und Seele" (1912) who argues that interaction ("Wechselwirkung") is not incompatible with results of Rubner, Laulanie and Atwater regarding conservation of energy. Subsequently, the position of Parallelism (philosophy) is discussed and denied.
Finally, Geysers concludes that there must be an interaction ("Wechselwirkung") between mental and physical, as can be seen by the fact that we do not just think but also speak and write about our thoughts with the aim to influence other peoples thoughts and decisions:


Lis Lewis

Lis Lewis is an American voice teacher, author and performance coach. Lewis's clients include Miguel, Gwen Stefani, Rihanna, Courtney Love, Britney Spears, Colbie Caillat, Linkin Park, Demi Lovato, Tyson Ritter of The All-American Rejects, The Pussycat Dolls, Bryson Tiller, Iggy Azalea, and Jack Black.
Musical background.
Lewis grew up in New York City and began training as a child at the Dalcroze School of Music as well as with private music teachers. She attended both the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and has a master's degree in Theater and Music. Lewis has taught voice classes and lectured at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, University of California, Berkeley, Musicians Institute in Hollywood, Blue Bear School of Music, Santa Monica College, National Academy of Songwriters, and UCLA.
Career.
The Singer's Workshop.
Lewis founded a series of workshops, classes as well as private voice lessons called The Singer’s Workshop in Los Angeles. She has been training recording artists since 1983. In 2012 Lewis worked with Grammy winning singer, Miguel. Lewis appeared as vocal coach on CBS’s ' and MTV’s "Rock The Cradle". She has also appeared as a commentator on TV Guide Network’s "Idol Chat", VH1’s ', and "".
Author.
Lewis is the author of "The Singer’s First Aid Kit" and "The Pop Singer’s Warm-Up". Both books not only focus on exercises and information
to train his/her voice, but expand upon the challenges that professional singers face.


Raipiyel Tennakoon

Mahakavi Kiwisuru Tennakoon Arachchige Don Raphael (19 December 1899 – 8 March 1965; ), popularly known as Raipiyel Tennakoon or Raphael Tennekoon, was a prominent Sri Lankan poet, teacher principal, historian and a writer. He holds the Guinness World Record for writing the most number of poems in the world.
Personal life.
He was born in 1918 in Ganepola Walallavitigalle village in Negombo, Sri Lanka as the youngest child of the family with six siblings. His father Tennakoon Arachchige Don Suddappu was an Ayurvedic doctor. His mother was Kotarupe Abeysekera Wannaku Arachchige Dona Francesina Hamine. He had one elder brother and five elder sisters.
He received his primary education from Raddoluwa Buddhist School in Negombo. He learned Sanskrit and Pali from Ven. Pagnananda Thero of Raddolugama Temple and developed his knowledge of the language from Ven. Dhammananda Thero who was the second in command of the temple. Meanwhile, he studied English from Kotugoda Jayawardena Notary Ralahamy. Raipiyel became the favorite student of Heenatiyana David de Silva, the first teacher of Raddoluwa Buddhist School.
The couple had one son: Keerthi and two daughters: Neetha and Vineetha. His grandson Kithsilu Wickramasinghe is a musician.
He died on 8 March 1965 in Parakum Deniya village, Gampaha.
Career.
As a child, Raphael intended to become a driver, thinking that the driver would make more money than the teacher. However, he later turned to teaching. Therefore after finishing school, he attended to Teacher Training College where he met Kumaratunga Munidasa who was the principal of the college at that time. At the College, Raipiyel excelled in history, geography and literature. Kumaratunga later offered the post of lecturer due to his excellence. He became a member of Hela Havula led by Munidasa. Raphael Tennakoon, Jayantha Weerasekera and Amarasiri Gunawadu were the leading figures in the Hela Havula. Later he became the head of Balapitiya Training College. After the death of Jayantha Weerasekera on 18 June 1949, Raipiyel took the responsibility of leading the Hela Hawula. He held the position until 8 March 1965.
However, rulers harassed his skills in several times and ended his career as the head of the Training College after few years. Seven years from 1952 to 1957, he was the principal of Gangodawila School at Wijerama Junction. To honor him, the college was named as Ra. Tennakoon College. It is currently connected to the Maharagama President's College. After serving as the principal of several schools, Raipiyel finally retired from the education administrative career. In 1939, he composed the poetry with 557 poems and published with the title "Wawuluwa". He was forty years old at the time of writing of "Wawuluwa". In addition, he wrote the poems: "Kukulu Hewilla", "De Vinaya", "Pandu Ambula", "Ruppe Andaraya", "Muluthena Andaraya" and "Gamayanaya" with 5302 verses.
In 1954, D. B. Dhanapala, the editor of the Lankadeepa newspaper, and Mahanama Dissanayake, the deputy editor, started a competition to select a national 'Maha Kaviya' (epic poet). The aim of this competition was to select a poet who can write the history of the Sinhala nation of 2500 years for the 1954 Sinhala New Year. Raipiyel later won the competition and received the Opportunity to write the history of Sinhala nation in 2500 verses from the time Prince Vijaya came to Sri Lanka to the time of the Prime Minister Sir John Kotelawala. Then in 1956, this book 'Sinhala Vansaya' was published as a Saman publication. He published nineteen books of poetry. His six great poems include: "Sak Pubuduwa", "Kuveniwata", "Gamayanaya", "Amuna", "Parangi Samaya", "Kopi Andaraya".
Later Kumaratunga Munidasa honored Raipiyel with the honorary tile 'Kiwisuru'. On the occasion of the 2500th anniversary of the Sinhala nation, he was honored as 'Mahakavi' who wrote the great poem 'Sinhala Vamsaya' with 2500 poems. The poetry later won state awards. His prose essay 'Kawuduwa' was published in 1954. His other prose works include "Giyakala", "Baspara", and literary critics such as "Ape Kavi" and "Ape Asun Kavi". He also wrote commentaries on the Guttila, and Sandesha Kavya such as the Hansa, Gira and Selalihini.
In 2013, the house where Raipiyel lived has been completed as the 'Raphael Tennakoon Memorial Studio' known as Susara Studio.


Strategic assumptions

Strategic assumptions are the assumptions that are held by decision-makers when building a strategic plan. All strategic plans should be built upon a grounded, validated and accepted set of strategic assumptions. Any strategic plan or decision is only as good as the strategic assumptions upon which it is based. Strategic assumptions surface and are usually identified when scenario planning is undertaken during a strategic planning process. The strategic assumptions surfacing and testing method (SAST) is one rigorous method of identifying strategic assumptions.
Like other types of assumptions, strategic assumptions are the assumptions held by decision-makers about different types of factors and drivers of change that have influenced their thinking, decision-making or planning. Strategic assumptions may be assumptions about events that happened in the past, what is currently happening or what may happen in the future.
There are nine categories of strategic assumptions. These nine types are the assumptions being made about:
Strategic assumptions are the equivalent in strategic planning to financial assumptions when doing financial projections, economic assumptions when making economic forecasts and scientific assumptions when proposing new scientific models.


FableVision

FableVision Studios is a media production studio located on the top floor of Boston Children's Museum in the city's Innovation District. FableVision designs and develops a wide array of educational media, including software, games and interactive activities, mobile apps, animated films, websites, and museum kiosks, as well as providing strategy and media consulting.
Founded by CEO Peter H. Reynolds in 1996, FableVision produces children's broadcast programming, educational videos, and multimedia applications. FableVision Learning's products include software (BrainCogs, Essay Express, Stationery Studio), online curriculum (Get A Clue), books (Ish, The Dot, So Few of Me), animated films (Stories That Matter, Stories That Move, The Dot, Ish), and curriculum tools (The North Star Classroom Resource Guide, North Star Musical Journey, and Off the Path Math With Tobbs).
In addition to publishing educational software, books and films, FableVision collaborates with creative partners and producers to develop animation and interactive solutions for broadcast, web, school, and museum applications.
History.
FableVision was founded in 1996 by twin brothers Peter and Paul Reynolds with Gary Goldberger and John Lechner. Prior to starting FableVision, New York Times bestselling author/illustrator Peter was working for Tom Snyder Production using media, storytelling, and technology to teach kids and challenge them. Paul was working with Cosmic Blender, also using media, storytelling, and technology for adults to make workplace learning more fun. FableVision was originally located in Watertown, Massachusetts alongside Cosmic Blender.
As the company started to take shape, kindred spirits gravitated to the Watertown studio. FableVision President Gary Goldberger has been a cornerstone of the “vision" in FableVision since the beginning. Together, Peter, Paul, and Gary laid the foundation for the studio, an educational media development studio on a 200-year-long mission to move the world to a better place through story, media, and technology.
After 10 years in Watertown, FableVision Studios found its new home above the Boston Children’s Museum, appropriately located in the Innovation District. The building, now named the Yawkey Center for Children and Learning, also houses several other educational organizations, such as JumpStart and Citizen Schools.
FableVision Studios has collaborated with broadcasters, publishers, nonprofits, research groups, and museums, including PBS, The Jim Henson Company, Nick Jr., Smithsonian, MIT, and National Geographic Society to design and develop award-winning websites, games, animated films, museum kiosks, and mobile apps.
FableVision Learning.
FableVision Learning is a K-12 educational media publisher providing creative learning tools, resources, and support for the classroom. FableVision Learning has a front-line relationship with over 42,000 teachers across the U.S. and around the world and makes educational software and curriculum to promote “creativity, communication, collaboration, critical thinking and compassion.”
The Reynolds Center for Teaching, Learning and Creativity.
The Reynolds Center for Teaching, Learning and Creativity is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that encourages creativity and innovation in teaching and learning. They work with like-minded partners to develop & evaluate new media, tools, initiatives that foster and scale authentic, engaged learning. Reynolds TLC also offers workshops, retreats, and PD programs.


Emery Hawkins

Emery Hawkins (April 30, 1912 – June 1, 1989) was an American animator who worked at various studios such as Walt Disney Animation, Screen Gems, Walter Lantz Productions, Warner Bros. Cartoons, the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio, and UPA during the golden age of animation. His most prominent work is the Woody Woodpecker cartoons from the 1940s. He also worked with Art Babbitt and Ken Harris on Richard Williams's unfinished animated feature The Thief and the Cobbler. Hawkins was known for the speed in which he animated, completing scenes quickly, but with perfection. Hawkins (along with Babbitt, Harris and Grim Natwick) is frequently mentioned in Richard Williams' book "The Animator's Survival Kit".
Early life and career.
Hawkins was born in Jerome, Arizona to a father who was a all-round cowboy for two years and to a mother who was a painter. He started drawing when he was two years old and his family had a lot of history with artistic careers, including his aunts. He went to North Hollywood High School but was a college dropout. Hawkins always animated on flipbooks. At the age of 16 in 1928, he did a animation of a clown walking and dancing, showed it to Disney, and thought it was a copy of their animation. He then worked on cels at the Charles Mintz studio. He started working at Disney from the short "Flowers and Trees" (and some of the Donald shorts) all the way to "Dumbo". He went on the Disney animator strike because his colleagues said they would never talk to him again if he didn't strike. He went on to work on Woody Woodpecker. He improved Woody's design to be more streamlined along with Art Heinemann. He briefly did commercials for different companies in the 1950s. Hawkins animated The Greedy on "Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure" along with assistant animator Dan Haskett (who disliked the job).
Hawkins developed Alzheimer's Disease in his later years and was forced to retire. He died in 1989 at the age of 77.


Dillington House

Dillington House is a residential adult education college near Ilminster in the parish of Whitelackington, Somerset, England. The present house, which dates from the 16th century, is owned by Lord Cameron of Dillington and operated by Somerset County Council. There has been a house on the site since before the Norman Conquest, probably taking advantage of the nearby chalybeate spring nearby.
History.
The house has 16th-century origins, but was reshaped around 1838 by its then owner John.E.Lee to the design of Sir James Pennethorne. John Lee, who purchased the house, had been born John Hanning and had assumed the surname Lee on becoming the heir of his uncle Major Edward Lee (d.1819) of Orleigh Court, Buckland Brewer, North Devon. John Lee's brother-in-law and his tenant at Orleigh Court was William Speke of Jordans near Ilminster, father of the celebrated discoverer of the River Nile John Hanning Speke. It is now a Grade II* listed building. Dillington House was the country residence of George III's Prime Minister, Lord North who acquired it through marriage to Anne Speke. The stables which were built in the 18th or early 19th century were remodelled in 1875 by George Nattress and later in the 1960s when the Coach House was converted into a theatre. The two lodges adjacent to the main gate are also Grade II* listed and are in private ownership.
In 1940, the 'Fortress Ilminster' project saw the area prepare for what was thought to be imminent invasion by the Nazis. The drive extending from the town, north toward Dillington House hosted tank barricades and concrete gun emplacements as part of the Taunton Stop Line. Remains of Fortress Ilminster can still be seen today and the drive is now a public footpath.
In the spring of 2009 a new building was opened called 'The Hyde' which provides two studio spaces, additional dining accommodation and 15 fully accessible bedrooms. Designed by Tim Rolt and Dan Talkes of Purcell Miller Tritton, the building won the 2010 South-West Region Architecture Award from the Royal Institute of British Architects.
Present use.
Dillington House offers a range of day courses and residential short courses as well as a programme of public lectures. As well as being a hotel, it is also a venue for conferences and meetings, weddings and other private events. The residential accommodation is set in historic parkland and gardens.
In 2017, the House and Gardens were used as the location for a short documentary film, highlighting the national decrease in the numbers of Pembroke Welsh Corgis.


Michael Peters (psychologist)

Michael Peters is a Canadian neuropsychologist and University professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Guelph. He is known for researching lefthandedness and whether it is associated with other individual characteristics. He has also studied the link between individuals' sexual orientation and their spatial processing abilities.


Arne-Johan Henrichsen

Arne-Johan Henrichsen (31 August 1918 – 8 March 2005) was a Norwegian philologist.
He was born in Kristiania as a son of teacher Gustav Wilhelm Henrichsen (1883–1947) and Birgit Heftye Blehr. He was married twice.
He finished his secondary education in 1935. He studied Romance languages at Sorbonne from 1945 to 1947, and graduated with the cand.philol. degree from the University of Oslo in 1951. He took the dr.philos. degree in 1956 with the thesis "Les phrases hypothétiques en ancien occitan-étude syntaxique". He had been a school teacher, but was in 1956 appointed as a professor in Romance philology at the University of Bergen. He was the dean of the Faculty of History and Philosophy from 1959 to 1961, and rector of the University of Bergen from 1972 to 1977.
He was deputy chairman of NAVF from 1966 to 1969, and was acting chairman for a year. Henrichsen was a member of Åsane municipal council from 1964 to 1965. He was decorated as a Knight, First Class of the Order of St. Olav in 1977. He died in March 2005.