Flicks to check out

Le Havre (2011)

Time: Oct.21, 23-25

Venue: China National Film Museum

Price: 40 yuan

    Le Havre is a comedy-drama. It centers on a shoeshiner who takes pity on an immigrant child in the French port city Le Havre. He tries to save him by inviting him to his home. The film premiered(初次公演) in competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, where it received the FIPRESCI Prize.

Mia et le Migou (2008)

Time: Oct. 29

Venue: China Film Archive

Price: to be announced

    Also known as Mia and the Migoo, this animated film describes the adventure of a young girl named Mia. Motivated by a premonition(预兆), Mia sets out on a journey across mountains and jungles to search for her father. The film won the European Film Award for Best Animated Feature. Director Jacques-Remy Girerd will also show up at China Film Archive.

Le Voyage dans la Lune (1902)

Time: Oct. 22, 24-25

Venue: China National Film Museum

Price: 20 yuan

    Also known as A Trip to the Moon, this silent movie was inspired by the French novels From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon, by Jules Verne. It follows a group of astronomers who travel to the moon and explore it. They meet lunar inhabitants and capture one before returning to Earth.

    Find schedule and ticket information about the French movie panorama at http://www. gewara.com/

    The China Film Archive will also present a short lecture before each French movie on how to understand it.

    Rodney Smith, Jr. started mowing the lawns (割草坪) in Huntsville, Alabama last fall. He used his time between classes at Alabama A&M to reach a goal of mowing 100 yards before winter. Smith has been cutting grass for free to help single moms, the elderly, and the disabled, while teaching the local youth the values that can turn boys into men. “I'm doing something positive. I want boys to follow me and be better than me,” he wrote on his Facebook page.

    Rodney is from Bermuda. He says people there help each other and are always friendly. “That's what drives me to help people.”

    In May this year, he was getting ready to launch his mowing service for the summer when he heard about a 93-year-old woman trying to cut grass by herself. Smith and a friend showed up to do the job for her.

    In November, a local TV station gave him $300, calling it a special gift for his good work. After he received the money, he used it to create the non-profit(非盈利的) service group, Raising Men Lawn Care Service. He also started a page to collect money to buy lawn equipment and other things—including T-shirts with special logos.

    After I read about Rodney's story, I told my friends about him. We also planned to mow lawns for single moms, the elderly and disabled in our neighborhood. And I hope more and more young people will join Rodney's service group—Raising Men Lawn Care Service.

Zero Waste Awards

    Who should enter?

    Entries(参赛作品) are welcomed from anyone who processes waste. While we expect

    most entries to come from the UK, we welcome international entries, too. Entrants have been split into the following groups: private sector, public sector, community sector and partnerships.

    What are the categories?

    There're five categories which are based on the Waste Hierarchy(层级). We appreciate that companies will have different strengths within those categories as they work towards Zero Waste. The broad categories are: waste prevention, re-use, recycle/recover, energy recovery, general.

    How do I enter?

    Submitting an entry is really easy! Just follow these few simple steps:

    1) Carefully read through the category information;

    ). Write your entry--it should be a maximum of 1,500 words and a word document;

    3) Arrange your supporting material into a single document--maximum six pages long;

    4) Complete the simple online entry form.

    Important dates

    While entries are welcomed all year round, these are key dates—this is to give the judges plenty of time to read through all the entries! These are listed in entry deadlines column below. Don't worry if you have just missed one of the entry deadlines, your submission will be automatically entered into the next session.

    You can submit a maximum of two entries per year—six months apart.

    Awards

    We understand that working towards Zero Waste is an ongoing journey and as such the

    Zero Waste Awards scheme offers organizations a structure to celebrate their progress along the way. The four awards are: Gold (76-100), Silver (51-75), Bronze (26-50), Highly Commended(0-25).

    A young and successful manager was traveling down a neighborhood street, going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar.

    As his car passed a park, one child appeared, and a brick smashed into the Jaguar's side door. He stopped the car very suddenly and drove the Jag back to the spot from where the brick had been thrown. He jumped out of the car, grabbed some kid and pushed him up against a parked car, shouting, "What was that all about and who are you? Just what on earth are you doing? That's a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money. Why did you do it?"

    "Please, sir, please, I'm sorry. I didn't know what else to do!" begged the youngster. "It's my brother," he said. "He fell out of his wheelchair and I can't lift him up."

    Sobbing, the boy asked the executive, "Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He's hurt and he's too heavy for me."

    Moved beyond words, the driver tried to swallow the rapidly swelling lump(隆起的肿块)in his throat．He lifted the young mail back into the wheelchair and took out his handkerchief and wiped the scrapes(擦痕)and cuts, checking to see if everything was going to be okay.

    "Thank you, sir. And God bless you, "the grateful child said to him. The man then watched the little boy push his brother to the sidewalk toward their home.

    It was a long walk back to his Jaguar... a long, slow walk. He never did repair the side door. He kept the dent(凹痕) to remind him not to go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention.

    Life whispers in your soul and speaks to your heart. Sometimes, when you don't have the time to listen... Life throws a brick at your head.

    It's your choice: Listen to the whispers of your soul or wait for the brick!

    It happened to me recently. I was telling someone how much I had enjoyed reading Barack Obama's Dreams From My Father and how it had changed my views of our President. A friend I was talking to agree with me that it was, in his words ,“a brilliantly written book” However, he then went on to talk about Mr. Obama in a way which suggested he had no idea of his background at all. I sensed that I was talking to a book liar.

    And it seems that my friend is not the only one. Approximately two thirds of people have lied about reading a book which they haven't. In the World Book Day's “Report on Guilty Secrets”, Dreams From My Father is at number 9. The report lists ten books, and various authors, which people have lied about reading, and as I'm not one to lie too often (I'd hate to be caught out), I will admit here and now that I haven't read the entire top ten. But I'm pleased to say that, unlike 42 percent of people, I have read the book at number one, Gorge Orwell's 1984. I think it's really brilliant.

    The World Book Day report also has some other interesting information in it. It says that many people lie about having read Jane Austin Austen, Charles Dickens, Fyodor Dostoevsky (I haven't read him, but haven't lied about it either) and Herman Melville.

    Asked why they lied, the most common reason was to “impress” someone they are speaking to. This could be tricky if the conversation became more in-depth!

    But when asked which authors they actually enjoy, people named J.K. Rowling, John Grisham, Sophie Kinsella (ah, the big sellers, in other words). Forty-two percent of people asked admitted they turned to the back of the book to read the end before finishing this story (I will come clean: I do this and am astonished that 58 percent said they had never done so.).

    Here is a record of the discussion about AI (artificial intelligence) conducted by several scientists.

    Scientist A: I would say that we are quite a long way off developing the AI, though I do think it will happen within the next thirty or forty years. We will probably remain in control of technology and it will help us solve many of the world's problems. However, no one really knows what will happen if machines become more intelligent than humans. They may help us, ignore us or destroy us. I tend to believe AI will have a positive influence on our future lives, but whether that is true will be partly up to us.

    Scientists B: I have to admit that the potential consequences of creating something that can match or go beyond human intelligence frighten me. Even now, scientists are teaching computers how to learn on their own. At some point in the near future, their intelligence may well take off and develop at an ever-increasing speed. Human beings evolve biologically very slowly and we could be quickly substituted. In the short term, there is the danger that robots will take over millions of human jobs, creating a large underclass of unemployed people. This could mean large-scale poverty and social unrest. In the long term machines might decide the world would be better without humans.

    Scientists C: I'm a member of the campaign to Stop Killer Robots. Forget the movie image of a terrifying Terminator stamping on human skulls and think of what's happening right now: military machines like drones, gun turrets and sentry robots are already being used to kill with very little human input. The next step will be autonomous “murderbots” following orders but finally deciding who to kill on their own. It seems clear to me that this would be extremely dangerous for humans. We need to be very cautious indeed about what we ask machines to do.