TOLKIEN THE MOVIE

Tolkien is an American biographical drama film written by David Gleeson and Stephen Beresford and directed by Dome Karukoski in 2019
It pictures the early life of the author of The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings by English professor J.R.R. Tolkien.
 

I have been looking very impatiently to the premiere of the movie, as I considere myself a big lords od the rings fan. It is undoubtedly one of the best book trilogies ever. I think the movie is wonderful opportunity to discover what drove the author J.K.K. Tolkien to write one of the best pieces of literature of all times.
The film discusses the formative years of the life of the famous author, where he sets up friendship, demonstrates bravery, and discovers inspiration among a group of college fellow writers and artists.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ1vn85iQRE

The first scenes of the movie show Young Roland (Harry Gilby) playing with swords during his idyllic childhood in Sarehole village. His love of myths was passed on to him from his mother Mabel (Laura Donnelly), who brings up her two sons with stories of dragons, knights and gold. After his mother Mabel dies, Ronald and his brother are orphaned, and become wards of Father Francis Morgan (Colm Meaney). They are being placed in a boarding house for children in similar life circumstances.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yapQt6XuIQ

At the beginning of the school period, Ronald finds himself with three best friends, Christopher Wiseman (Ty Tennant), Robert Gilson (Albie Marber) and Geoffrey Bache Smith (Adam Bregman). They meet daily at Barrows after school and discuss their artistic pursuits, describing themselves the T.C.B.S. (Tea Club, Barrovian Society).

This is the formation of Tolkien's cherished "fellowship," underlined by sweeping music in case you missed the connection. The young actors create a believable bond, as do the group of older actors who portray them once they reach college college (Nicholas Hoult, with intense blue eyes and sharp cheekbones, as Tolkien, Anthony Boyle as Geoffrey, Tom Glynn-Carney as Christopher, and Patrick Gibson as Robert).

His war time experience also had an influence on his writing. J.R.R. Tolkien participated in one of the bloodiest battles of the I world war - The Battle of Somme.
He firsthandly wittnesed the carnage, suffering and pointless losses of life. The devastating experince had a profound effect on Tolkien's works, mostly on The Lord of the Rings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_dcHK3sPus

I really enjoyed the astonishing depth of the world Tolkien created. The story seems so real, despote the fantastic elements. It is one of the most insightful analysis of the nature of good, and more specifically the nature of good, in all literature. A central question posed is the lust for power. The characters acknowledge, that the ring is very powerful. However not all of the realize that the only way to defeat Sauron is to destroy it. Boromir dies, because the power overwhelmed. He tries to take the ring from Frodo. Saruman, once a good wizard gets corrupted by it and turns to the evil side The rings influences negatively even the best of men.

The recurring motive of the stories is also sacrifice. Character like Frodo have to give up their happy painless life and pursue a task. The final success is a result of cooperation between extraordinary characters like Gandalf and Eragorn and ordinary ones like Frodo and Sam. Eventually Frodo is the one who carries and destroys the ring. He is given this responsobility, as hobbits were modest in nature, they did not seek power. Unlike many other heroes in the book who got ruined because of their lust for power. This way he was resistent to the power of the ring. He could withstand the temptations.Tolkien emphasizes altruism and responsobility. The characters are willing to give their own lives in order to fulfill their obligations.



1. Are you a Lord of the Rings fan ?
   What did you like the most about the series ?
   Do you think it is the movie trilogy ever ?
2. Did you match the Tolkien movie, are you planning
   to go to cinema to see it ?
3. Did you like the Lord of the Rings or Hobbit movies
    more ?


Sources:
https://www.filmweb.pl/film/Tolkien-2019-794466

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3361792/

https://eu.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/movies/2019/05/08/review-nicholas-hoult-lily-collins-star-tolkien-bio-drama/3554125002/

Week 7 [03.06-09.06] Why Formula One is number one?

Due to the return of Robert Kubica, the Formula One in our country is reviving. Open TV broadcasts starting from a forty-fifth minute of every race are available to everyone. Whether Formula One is something more than just a summer substitute for ski jumping in Polish homes?

The history of Formula One has its roots in the 20s and 30s of the last century, however, the official date of its creation is 1946. The history of this sport is so beautiful and rich that it is impossible to describe everything now. The legacy of this sport is really great. It is not only about over 1000 Grand Prix but first of all about the history of the struggle and steadfastness of people who took part in races, both on the track and in factories and in pit lane. Now the world of Formula One is bidding farewell to Niki Lauda, the driver who, just six weeks after the macabre accident in which he nearly died, returned to competition. In that season, Lauda lost the championship in the last race of the season, from which the Austrian withdrew after two laps, because he felt that it is too dangerous to race in such rainy conditions as they were then.

Lauda's car in flames

Source: https://bit.ly/2YWID6j

The accident left permanent marks on Niki's body

Source: https://bit.ly/2EAzacX

The current Formula One is mainly about speed, the latest technological achievements and money. The budgets of the two largest teams, Mercedes and Ferrari, are up to 450 million euros. Each. All this money is spent to build the fastest car of the season, a car that will be the pride for the team’s fans. And there is someone to please, because according to estimates, each race weekend brings together around 200,000 fans which is over 4 million throughout the season. According to data presented by Nielsen, the sport’s fanbase in 2018 was about 506 million people. But what is the one and only,  absolute center of Formula One? The answer is extremely simple, the cars. Modern cars are able to accelerate to over 360km/h and even below 200km/h they produce an aerodynamic pressure so large that they can ride on the ceiling. However, all these amazing boundaries that F1 cars can exceed are not worth anything, because the only thing that matters is to be faster than your opponents.

Currently, Formula One offers a number of varied possibilities to watch races. In fact, I should have said to consume races, because it  is not only watching anymore. Thanks to F1 TV PRO, we can choose with which driver we travel during the transmission, listen to his conversations with engineers or follow the situation on the track with the exact times of each sector, differences between drivers and live telemetry.

At the end I attach the video with the best, that is, battles:

Do you think that Formula One is more than a group of guys driving around?

Are you fans of another racing series?

Or maybe there is something in the sport you are passionate about that makes it the number one?

Sources:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formula_One
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niki_Lauda
• https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.f1-race-weekends-attended-by-over-four-million-fans-in-2018.lILWTUMmCkWAAoGE4aYGo.html
• https://www.gptoday.net/en/news/f1/236949/budgets-for-the-formula-1-teams-for-2018

Week 7 [03.06-09.06] On Kawara and Conceptual Art

Conceptual art and On Kawara

Polish-Japanese origin of our school inspired me to write about conceptual art and my favorite japanese artist that made a lot of work in art in this style.

I never had much interest in art, my knowledge about it was pretty limited. I was familiar with art forms and styles presented me in school, mostly from ancient times. I always liked modern art, but never did any research about it, which of course - is a big mistake, because being ignorant is never a good idea. On my trip to NYC a few years ago, I was lucky to visit Guggenheim’s museum where On Kawara exhibition took place. I quickly learned that his work is kept in a conceptual art genre.

So what is conceptual art?

It’s an art form, or even art style, which is based on showing the creative process not the final art piece. It’s not an easy art style to describe! It’s very individual and minimalistic. Because the final art piece is not important this style is dominated by forms that present the creative process like movies, photos, recording or live performances. It is replacing art pieces with the idea of art itself. Every form of art is accepted here. No form is dominant and necessary to make your art being described as conceptual art. Because it’s very hard to properly describe conceptual art it will be best to show some On Kawara work and how it counts as conceptual art.

On Kawara was born on December 24 in 1932 and died on July 10 in 2014. He lived mostly in New York, that’s why his work is often exhibited there. Before he moved to New York, he stayed in Mexico, then traveled through Europe and finally settled in NYC for the rest of his life. 

His most famous work is “Today” paintings series. The idea for the art piece is quite simple. Sometimes every day, sometimes every other day (between 63 and 241 paintings a year) he would paint on a small, square canvas a date of the day that the painting was executed. It’s just a white, minimalistic, carefully painted date on a black, grey or red background. Nothing more. Then, he would take a local newspaper published on the day of the painting (he would paint those paintings during his travels too) cut out headlines and glue them into a cardboard box, made to store the painting when it’s not exhibited. Those paintings are like time-milestones. Just date with news that happened on that day. Marking the idea of time passing.

“One Hundred Year” Calendars - those are quite strange forms of art too. Those are the calendars where he would just mark every day of his life with a yellow dot. He would also put a green dot next to the date if he completed a painting on this particular day.

He also had a lot of work that based just on noting and archiving the simples life events that you could imagine. Every day he would print a map of the area that he stayed at and carefully paint a route that he walked and then put that map in a binder where he carefully stored most of his work. On a different piece of paper, he would note the list of people he met every single day and also put in different binders.

Every day he would send a postcard to one of his friends with a simple message - time he woke up on this particular day. Each postcard was sent from the city he currently stayed at. 

He would also note things he read, where he went, every day he would also send one telegram with only one thing “I am still alive”. Nothing more, nothing less. Everything carefully presented in a minimalistic form.

I can’t really describe all of his work, because it would take hours to write about everything he created. But we can stop for a moment and think what his art is all about. For me, his conceptual art was a pure and simple celebration of life itself. He noted and painted the simplest things, he appreciated life by tracking in in the most detailed way possible.

Interesting videos on the subject describing his art in much detail:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrPsfXg088w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXjiWD7j0fM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxOynktWnMw

1. Do you know any other conceptual art artists?
2. What do you think about On Kawara work, does it speak to you at any level?
3. Do you enjoy unconventional art forms? If yes, share it with us!

Sources: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Kawara
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conceptual_art
https://www.guggenheim.org/exhibition/on-kawara-silence

Week 7 [03.06-09.06] The paper cup problem.

How often do you drink coffee? Once a day, maybe twice? Considering that you are a student like me I almost sure that you drink a lot of it. And as every student you are probably suffering from a lack of free time and having a break at some coffee shop is often an inaccessible luxury. Fortunately, a paper cup was created, and coffee on-the-go became popular as it has never been.       

However, have you ever asked yourself what those cups are made of? Well, on the assumption of their name you would answer – paper, they are made of paper. And you would be right, but not completely. The most part of those cups are made of paper but also of a thin layer of plastic which covers the inner section of the cup and does not allow liquid to soak through the paper. The common misconception that paper cups made only of paper leads people to conclusion that they are bio degradable and a paper cup left on a bench or thrown on the ground is not considered as something environment dangerous.

According to a Which? Report published in 2011 2.5 billion of paper coffee cups are used annually in the UK and considering the growth of coffee shop industry the usage of disposable coffee cups will reach 3.75 billion cups per year by 2025. The amount of unrecycled waste produced by the cups reckons up tens of thousands of tons which leaves its mark on the environment. In order to recycle paper coffee cups, the paper should be somehow separated from the plastic and there are only three companies in the UK able to do that, but even then, it would be too expensive and simply not profitable.

What is the solution? Well, if you asked me, I would say – do not use paper cups. Just find some time and have a more usual porcelain cup of coffee. Do it the Italian way where coffee is more of tradition than a routine. But for those who always in a rush and can not find time for coffee break I would recommend reusable cups that can be filled with coffee in almost any coffee shop if ask. However, you can meet some problems if you use extraordinary cup sizes.

So, what are your thoughts about the problem? Should Poland pay attention to it as the UK does, or should it remain unnoticeable? And what are your solutions to it?

Sources:

  1. https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmenvaud/657/657.pdf

  2. https://conversation.which.co.uk/food-drink/recycling-disposable-coffee-cups-starbucks/

Week 7 [03.06-09.06] Big Brother

Currently we are at the end run of polish edition of Big Brother reality show that wasn’t present in Polish television since 2008. Big Brother is a show that feels a lot like a social experiment. Group of people is being locked down in a house and are being watched by dozens of cameras. Of course they are completely cut from the outside world. Their mobile phones are taken away, and no information are being delivered. They need to obey certain rules and are being given task and weekly assignments that need to fulfill for different kind of rewards. At the end of each week participants have to nominate two other members of the group to leave house/ Also one of the participant nominated in previous week have to leave the Big Brother home, that is subjected to viewers votes.

It may sound as yet another reality show like many others out there, but I have to respectfully disagree. There is a certain twist to everything that happens there, tasks and assignments are meant to break some people down, forcing them to do what they don't feel comfortable doing. Participants are being set up against themselves, groups are being formed and people start to gang up on one another. This of course may not sound like something interesting, but quite frankly with modern technology and ability to stream live 24/7 audience can get hole new perspective on human behavior, bot in psychological and sociological aspects. Due to tasks that that are adding up more restrictions, giving some people more power and creating others subjected to that power, we can observe people losing their masks they choose to wear. I think even participants themselves are often surprised about their behavior.

This experiment it's not as extreme as Stanford Prison Experiment under lead of Dr. Zimbardo that took place in 1971 where students were divided in groups of prisoners and guards , but in many cases BB creates even more opportunities to look into people's minds. We can observe how they change in the presence of group and how they react and leave among people they are not used to in they normal lives. This is actually very interesting on its own. People that were chosen to participate in the program come from variety of social ground and have very different social skills. That very often creates an explosive mixture that can blow up any moment.

1. Have you ever watched any Big Brother show?
2. Would you agree to participate in some kind social experiment?
3. Would you feel comfortable being observed all the time?

Sources

https://bigbrother.tvn.pl/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Brother_(franchise)

Week 7 [03-09.06.2019] Best presentation

Dear Students,
Vote for the best presentation. Justify your choice.

Week 7 [03.06 – 10.06] Prosperity for privacy

In the XXI century, information is the most valuable currency. All companies and corporations struggle every day to collect as much data about us as possible. Our interests, political views, culinary tastes, secret dreams – nowadays this information is more valuable than all money in the world. Funny thing is that very often we give out the data completely for free.

Probably, your first thought was something like „That’s not true, I don’t share my private matters with anybody!”. Now, think about all „Like” buttons you pressed on Facebook or about last time you were looking for an attractive price for flight using Google. This info can be used or sold by big companies for millions of dollars. Now think again about what I was saying, maybe your response will be different.

Corporations collect and collect our data all the time but we must remember that we also gain many benefits from this fact. For example, your new, shiny smartwatch sends all data about your physical activity, sleeping habits or heart rate, but for you it is ok, because you can improve quality of sleep and you have something that notifies you that you should practice a bit. You can also easily link all products you bought in store with your personal account, because in exchange you gain attractive discounts and notifications about sales. I think that you have no problem with the fact that Google Calendar sets reminders because of your tomorrow flight. The fact, that application read your mail to gather this information is not a big deal.

I could present examples for a long time, but I think that you know what I want to tell you. We consciously give up our privacy, because in return we get a comfortable life. Maybe from time to time we think that we should delete our Facebook account or think more about things we send on the Internet, but ultimately we feel too good in the current situation. We don’t feel any harm in sharing information about ourselves with others. There is a big chance that company like Facebook knows You better than your friends, family and even you. It’s terrifying to think how this power can be used in the future.

At the end, I should say if we can do something to prevent further development of this situation. Personally, I think not. What's more, I think that we do not even want to change it. Probably a comfortable life is a proper price for our privacy.

Questions:

•        What do you think about the processing of data about us by corporations?
•     Do you wonder about the importance of the data you place on the internet before sending it?
•         Do you think that more comfortable life is a good price for our privacy?

Sources:

• Yuval Noah Harari, Homo Deus: A brief history of tommorow, Vintage Publishing, 2017
• https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/28/all-the-data-facebook-google-has-on-you-privacy
• https://techcrunch.com/2015/10/24/when-facebook-knows-you-better-than-you-know-yourself/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer_us=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_cs=jUN3i1SbAOHKbjFyBUDqEw
• https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/facebook-data-scandal-free-products-sheryl-sandberg-a8294006.html

Week 7 [03.06-09.06] Spotify or Tidal?

Spotify vs Tidal - which one to choose? These are services thanks to which we can listen to music from the Internet. For too little money we have access to a huge number of artists, albums and songs. Which is better?

1. Quality of sound
I will start with something important, though not the most important thing for many people - sound quality. In my opinion, Tidal wins here, but only on condition that we choose a Hi-Fi subscription in which we can not only listen to lost compressed songs (FLAC), but also receive Master Quality Authenticated technology, which offers sound quality at the level originally recorded in recording studio. Tidal Master is only available in the desktop program and on some players, but not in the mobile application. It is worth noting, however, that the difference in quality will be appreciated only by people with more sensitive hearing and better playing equipment. You can hear not only better detail but also dynamics.

2 Interface, ease of use
In both cases it is good. (but this is a subjective matter). The most important things, such as your own playlists, saved albums, artists, or recommended music in both services, access is easy on both the PC and smartphone. Tidal will create for you "Your Mix" or automatically generated playlist based on the music you like. Spotify has "Daily Mix" in several scenes - each Mix is ??based on a different style / musical genre. Both of these solutions are useful and visible in the main interface of the PC and mobile applications.

3.Mobile application
Both Spotify and Tidal have applications for the most popular mobile system, i.e. Android and the second in the iOS order. Both applications work very well, are clear, clear and easy to use. In principle, they are quite similar to each other.

4.Offline music
Tidal and Spotify offer the possibility to download songs to the smartphone's memory and listen to them without permanent internet access. So you can download them over Wi-Fi at home and dont use the internet package on the go. It can also be useful when, for example, we are traveling by train and from time to time we lose connection with fast internet.



5. Remote control of the player
Only Spotify has this option in the standard and in my opinion it is a huge advantage. The point is that we get the ability to control music using a smartphone, while playing on another device (such as a computer or console). In Tidal, there is no default - you can use external solutions, but it will not be easy and obvious for everyone.

6.Price
Spotify Premium and Tidal Premium - PLN 19.99 per month (1 person)
Spotify for family and Tidal for the family - 29.99 PLN per month (6 people)
Spotify for student and Tidal for student - PLN 9.99 per month (1 person, during the course of study)
Tidal Hi-Fi - 39.99 PLN per month (1 person)
Tidal Hi-Fi - 59.99 PLN per month (6 people)
Tidal Hi-Fi - PLN 19.99 per month (student)

Sources:
https://tidal.com/pl
https://www.spotify.com/pl/
https://www.sidify.com/topic/tidal-and-spotify-comparison.html

1. Do you use such music applications?
2. Which application is better in your opinion? If you dont use applications what kind of listening to music you prefer?
3. Do you think such applications are a revolution in the music industry?

Week 7 [03.06-09.06] To breakfast or not to breakfast?

How many times did you hear that breakfast is the most important meal of the day? I heard this phrase many times since I was a child. But what if things look quite different than most of us think? Have you ever wondered what if the time you eat is more important than what you eat? Health specialists keep telling us we need to eat constantly and five meals a day is an optimal amount for our health despite the fact that many scientific studies show that it’s exactly the opposite. Most people eat about 16 or at least 12 hours a day (including all snacks and bites). It means your body is always digesting and it does not have sufficient rest periods for cleansing and detoxification.

Nowadays we are struggling with the obesity epidemic. In the US, almost 40% of adults are obese (source below). These numbers are alarming. One of the possible solutions is intermittent fasting. Intermittent fasting is the absence of food during a prescribed period of time. When you eat, insulin is produced by the pancreas in order to help regulate blood sugar. Insulin has a lot to do with other hormones being balanced in the body like progesterone and estrogen. Oftentimes when insulin stays imbalanced, progesterone gets low and estrogen gets high. It can lead to PCOS, that’s polycystic ovary syndrome, severe PMS symptoms, and other hormonal diseases. On the other hand, when we are fasting our insulin levels are low. Also, it helps regulate hormones like leptin and ghrelin. Ghrelin is known as hunger hormone and leptin is released by fat cells and it tells your body that you need to burn fat or to store fat.  Intermittent fasting is also quite convenient because you need to prepare fewer meals. What is more, just skipping breakfast can reduce daily calorie intake by twenty to forty percent. This translates into significant weight loss. Concerning other benefits of intermittent fasting, extended periods of food restriction can lower blood pressure, improve cholesterol profile and even reduce the risk for developing cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. It also promotes the human growth hormone. As we age our human growth hormone declines. This is why we see a lot of men with low testosterone or women with brittle bones and low energy levels.

Despite many health benefits, it’s not a silver bullet for everyone. It should not be applied by diabetics, children, pregnant women and people having chronic heart issues. If you are under a doctor’s care, before starting this way of eating make sure you discuss it with your treating physician. 

Sources:

•    https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db288.pdf

•    https://blog.bulletproof.com/intermittent-fasting-benefits/

•    https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/10-health-benefits-of-intermittent-fasting#section10

•    https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323605.php

Questions:

1.    Have you ever tried this way of eating?

2.    Do you think that intermittent fasting can be good for you or you can’t stand so long period without food?
3.    Do you think that described benefits are possible to achieve just be simply narrowing an eating window or it’s too beautiful to be real?