Okaka Oamen
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The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World
In this study of energy policy, looking primarily at the period since the Gulf War, and in particular the first decade of the 21st century, Daniel Yergin continues to focus on the subject matter of his Pulitzer prize winning book The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money and Power.(1) Since the publication of that book, and the success of the accompanying TV series, Professor Yergin has become regarded as an authority on energy policy, international politics and economics, heading a leading energy research and consultancy firm. This new book reflects his widening interests. The scale of the book – over 700 pages of text – is also reflected in the ambitions of the content. Although appearing to incorporate part of his previous book’s title – ‘The Quest‘ – this is an ambitious survey not only of more recent developments in the production and transportation of oil, but also of all forms of energy, and in particular the generation of electricity, upon which our modern world relies so heavily. To a large extent, the focus is on the contemporary energy situation and its future prospects. Will the world be able to generate enough energy for its continually rising needs? How may the security of those supplies, where consumers are rarely self-sufficient, and producers have their own political and economic goals, be guaranteed? In answering both these questions, what will be the impact upon the world environment and climate?
By Okaka Oamen3 years ago in Art
Amazing Story of Man
Mark Hamill stars as a high school graduate who has no interest in following life’s conventional routes. Instead of going to college and getting a job, he just wants to live free and relax because his outlook was informed by a mystical troll he met as a child. The creature told him to keep his childhood treasures as they’d pay off for him one day, but was that good advice? The years pass and the boy becomes an old man with suicidal thoughts and no money, but it might not be too late for him after all. “Gather Ye Acorns” is a thought-provoking episode that also taps into the collector culture fad that’s become prevalent throughout the years, and it’s bound to strike a chord with anyone who still values their geeky childhood possessions, this story revolves around Gather Ye Acorns when he a kid, his grandpa, and a house that’s built on an old railway, which just so happens to be the route of a supernatural train. 75 years ago, the grandpa fell asleep on the railway while waiting on the train, causing it to crash and kill all of the passengers. Now that he’s back in town, he expects the train to return for him and take him to the afterlife. The episode is pure Spielberg, from its sentimental characters to the special effects-laden finale, and while it’s not as good as creepy as Poltergeist, “Ghost Train” is still an entertaining encounter of the spooky kind, to lend his talents to an episode of Amazing Stories. It’s also one of the better horror-centric episodes in the entire canon, showcasing a side to the legendary filmmaker that he rarely shows. The tale revolves around a horror novelist who is haunted by a black-robed phantom who keeps appearing in the mirror, which causes the writer to lose his mind. What ensues is a tale of mystery that explores the idea of artists being unable to separate their working life and personal one. This was essentially a director-for-hire project for Scorsese after hitting a rough patch in the ‘80s, but it’s an entertaining episode that’s chock-full of suspense, and one which paved the way for some of the director’s subsequent flirtations with the horror genre such as Cape Fear, Bringing Out the Dead, and Shutter Island, In this one, the great Gregory Hines plays a nightclub psychic whose job involves him reading people’s minds while blindfolded. During one show, however, the psychic reads the thoughts of a serial killer who just happens to be in attendance, but he can’t identify the homicidal maniac due to the blindfold covering his eyes. He then teams up with a detective to track down the killer, and the episode culminates with one of the series’ great twist endings. “The Amazing Falsworth” suspenseful mystery that was clearly inspired by the work of Alfred Hitchcock, and it packs a lot of story into its brief running time, This is a notable episode because it’s the only animated one in the entire original series, but it’s also one of the most memorable too. Furthermore, the bold stylistic move is backed up with some strong content, so anyone who’s worried about the episode being too out of place can relax, the beauty of Amazing Stories is that it’s quite all over the place at times. “Family Dog” is composed of three short stories, all of which revolve around a family dog, funnily enough, The best of the bunch is the final, which sees the pooch try to protect the family’s house from burglars, Like all of Brad Bird’s work,
By Okaka Oamen3 years ago in History
