Why «Angels in America»?

This week and final post is about the TV series Angels in America.

In Angels in America, Playwright Tony Kushner adapts his political epic about the AIDS crisis during the mid-eighties, around a group of separate but connected individuals.

To some spiritualists, this is about the looking for a spiritual past in a country where there are no indigenous spirits.  The title seems to suggest that there really are angels in our country fair. When an angel falls from the ceiling before the end of Millennium Approaches, it seems that there is definitely an angel, at least. The angel is referred to as the Continental Principality of America, seeming to imply that it is the spiritual essence of the U.S.

This tittle might be given, to criticise the extreme religious, with the tittle, the fact that Prior Walter, a gay man with AIDS experiences various heavenly visions, and also the fact of Louis Ironson being gay is a Jew, transmitted the idea that religion isn't perfect, and even gay people can have their one religion and be prophets.

Angels are a mystification of the perfect human figure without sins or evil, but the rhetorical question the tittle make us is : are angels that perfect? Or they might have their mistakes and continue to be angels in their own perfect way? 

The 'angels' referred to in this series aren't perfect to society eyes, but they are perfect for who loves them, in their own way they are perfect, but is perfectness possible?

To conclude, this tittle was given to not only criticise religion stereotypes, but also brings up the notion of what an angel really is and the spiritualists way of thinking about America.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0318997/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angels_in_America:_A_Gay_Fantasia_on_National_Themes#Characters

Pop Artist - Claes Oldenburg

About the artist itself, he is a Swedish American sculptor, most renowned for his public art installations typically presenting very large replicas of everyday objects.

Sculpture, although very large, often have a interactive capabilities. Aninteractive sculpture, such an original sculpture was a soft lipstick tube to empty unless a participant re-pumped air into it.

In 1974, this sculpture, Lipstick (Ascending) on caterpillars, was redesigned in a way tough aluminum, the giant lipstick being supported vertically on top of tank treads.Was originally installed in the Beinecke Plaza at Yale, it now stands in the courtyard of Morse College.

In the 1960s he became associated with the Pop Art movement and created many so-called events, which were productions related performance art of the time. The name he gave to his own productions was "Ray Gun Theater."

In the middle of freedom of expression around the country and anti-war protests, a group of Yale School of Architecture students and teachers, dubbing themselves the Corporation of Connecticut colossal memory,envisioned the creation of one of the monuments on campus as a statement revolutionary aesthetics and politics. The event celebrated first time installation of Lipstick on Beinecke Plaza in 1969, where hisaggressive presence interrupted the public space. Intended as a platform for public speakers, the sculpture was made ​​of inexpensive materials:wood tracks and a red balloon vinyl, made ​​to be inflated for visibility.Vandalism and deterioration led to the removal of the work which was finally renovated in color-ten steel, aluminum and fiberglass, and installed in Morse College in 1974.

The lipstick on top of the caterpillar concerns the stage of the post-war experienced in the United States.

The world economy has suffered greatly from the war, although the participants of the Second World War have been affected differently. TheUnited States emerged far richer than any other country, the country came the "baby boom" in 1950, its gross domestic product (GDP) per capita the highest in the world and dominated the world economy. The United Kingdom and the United States implemented a policy of industrialdisarmament in West Germany in the years 1945-1948.

On the one hand the war brought women the agony, despair and incurablepain of losing their sons and husbands, rape following all possible kinds ofsexual and physical violence, the need to survive the war brought women the freedom to leave their homes and engage in something more thanhousework.

What happened was that in wartime scarcity is a fact. With the departure ofalmost all men for war, the workforce of the country is extinguished and theempty factories and the economy going to the breakdown . The only way toresolve the situation was to convince women to give up her housework andraising children and go to work.

And women had the opportunity to come to the factories showing his real strength work. However, at the end of wars, with the return of the soldiers,the vast majority having lost his job to work for domestic workers earning a misery to survive. Those who remained in the factories had to submitabsurdly lower wages than men, even performing the same tasks.

Therefore, the lipstick was a way of giving an artistic historical milestone regarding the changes in gender roles.

http://www.yale.edu/publicart/lipstick.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claes_Oldenburg

http://clubedolivro.wordpress.com/2009/03/08/a-mulher-e-a-guerra/

http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segunda_Guerra_Mundial

Tiffany & Co.

 Tiffany sells jewelry, sterling silver, china, crystal, stationery, fragrances, personal accessories, as well as some leather goods. 

Most of these products are sold under the name Tiffany at Tiffany stores and by direct mail merchandising and corporative. Tiffany is famous for its luxury items, especially for its diamonds, diamond jewelry, and especially their diamond engagement rings, Tiffany sells itself as an arbiter of taste and style.

The founders of Tiffany were Charles Lewis Tiffany and Teddy Young and it was founded in September 18, 1837.

Regarding the influence of Tiffany stores in the USA economy, in 2009 their revenue was 2.86 billion US dollars, their operating income was 375 milion US dollars, their net income was 220 million  US  dollars,  their  total  assets  was  3.10 billion  US dollars,  their total equity was 1,59 billion US dollars and in that same year (January 31, 2009) they had 9000 employees.

As the U.S. economy has stagnated since the financial crisis of 2008, seems to rich consumers are doing very well.

In its last quarterly report the company posted a 33% increase in profit to $ 90 million, or 69 cents a share. Revenue grew 30% to $ 872.7 million and comparable-store sales increased 22% sizzling. There are some pros and cons  about the economical influence of the company. Although  the severe global economic crisis, Tifanny´s present a big foreign influence specially in countries like China, Russia and Japan. In Japan, regardless of the strong earthquake that destroyed the country, Tiffany´s sales are 21% of the total amount of sales, globally speaking.

Despite the risk factor of dependence and competition, during the past decade, Tiffany has invested heavily in their infrastructure. This has involved gathering stronger supply agreements, as well as the implementation of the information technology systems. The company has also invested in the capital of the diamond mines for tying supplies.

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http://www.investorplace.com/2011/08/tiffany-luxury-stocks-stocks-to-buy/


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiffany_%26_Co.

50´s economy

   Regarding the economy, the 50's were a period relatively stable and found that agradual growth which explains why the U.S. was in 1960 a super economic power.

  During the 50's, inflation proved to be a big problem because of two major waves of inflationary conditions swept the country at this time: the first followed the end of World War II and the second at the onset of the Korean War in 1950 . Post World War II America waited expectantly for the United States to postwar suffer the Economic Collapse. The recession started  in the third quarter of 1948 and lasted until the second quarter of 1950. Slow economic growth and slow increases in the money supply are considered the most probable culprits.

   Consumer prices increased significantly over this decade due to a number of factors. The first of which was the slow growth of productivity in the US economy at the time especially in the service sector. The service sector experienced the biggest price increases due to lapses followed by the removal of price controls after W.W.II.  The Federal Reserve Bank set policies that were used to try to limit the economy to diving into only mild recessions instead of large economic declines. Large increases in consumer demand and credit were also factors in the increase of consumer prices due to corresponding poor productivity of the industrial sector. Huge increases in indirect business taxes and social security taxes also played a role as both nearly doubled during the decade.

   With the great surge in construction and industrial investment as well as with consumer credit reaching previously unattained levels the economy seemed to be booming. The bond market reacted accordingly and it surged over the decade in step with the economy. The average yield in 1950 was 2.86 percent compared to the 4.73 percent average yield in 1960. This increase in bond prices and corresponding decrease in the stock market ( below the averages of all classes of bonds in 1958) was the result of the Federal government's high-interest-rate policy.

Growth in the economy also led to increasing popularity of other financial intermediaries. Life insurance companies flourished for the first half of the decade and a large number of new private firms entered the market to absorb the excesses of personal savings. Savings and Loan Association holdings of mortgage loans during the decade clearly demonstrate the boom in construction at this time. In 1950 $13.6 billion was held rising to $60.1 billion in 1960. Another important growth in the 1950s capital markets was in pension funds. This industry grew from $11 billion in 1950 to $44 billion in 1960.

   By mid- 1955, the country had pulled out of the previous year's recession and gross national product was growing at a rate of 7.6 percent. The boom was so great that the budget for 1956 predicted a surplus of $4.1 billion. With the surges in production and the economy, the 1950s is often recognized as the decade that eliminated poverty for the great majority of Americans. Over the decade, GNP per capita almost doubled and the public welfare reacted accordingly as the cost of living index rose by just 1 percent and unemployment dropped to 4.1 percent. An average of three million people per year were added during the postwar "Baby Boom". With their rising incomes and increasing public welfare, booms in consumer spending were prevalent and items that had been previously thought of as luxuries were now necessities. Examples of this include fashion clothing, televisions, washing machines, etc. The propensity of the mid-fifties is attributable to the middle-class family striving for the American dream through increasing their number of material possessions.

The economy turned sharply downward in the summer of 1957 and reached its low point in spring 1958. Industrial production fell 14 percent, corporate profits plummeted 25 percent, and unemployment rose to 7.5 percent. The president did little to stimulate the economy because he worried about inflation - not unemployment - as the real danger. Subsequently, fiscal year 1959 realized a $12 billion deficit, a new record for a budget shortfall during peacetime.

http://homepages.gac.edu/~jcullip/workexamples/mea.html

The Oscars

   The 84th Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2011. The ceremony took place on February 26, 2012, at the Hollywood and Highland Center in Hollywood, California, and was televised live in the United States on ABC.
  
  The winners of the most important night of the year assisted by 1.5 million people in the entire world were:
     - Best Picture: The Artist – Thomas Langmann;
     - Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist;
     - Best Actor: Jean Dujardin – The Artist as George Valentin;
     - Best Actress: Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady as Margaret Thatcher;
     - Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer – Beginners as Hal Fields;
     - Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer – The Help as Minny Jackson;
     - Best writing (original screenplay): Midnight in Paris – Woody Allen;
     - Best writing (Adapted Screenplay): The Descendants – Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash fromThe Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings;
     - Best Animated Feature: Rango – Gore Verbinski;
     - Best Foreign Language Film: A Separation (Iran) in Persian – Asghar Farhadi;
     - Best Documentary (feature): Undefeated – TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay, and Richard Middlemas;
     - Best Documentary (Short subject): Saving Face – Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Daniel Junge;
     - Best Live Action Short Film: The Shore – Terry George and Oorlagh George;
     - Best Animated Short Film: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore – William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg;
     - Best Original Score: The Artist – Ludovic Bource;
     - Best Original Song: "Man or Muppet" from The Muppets – Bret McKenzie;
     - Best Sound Editing: Hugo – Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty;
     - Best Sound Mixing: Hugo – Tom Fleischman and John Midgley;
     - Best Art Direction: Hugo – Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo;
     - Best Cinematography: Hugo – Robert Richardson;
     - Best Makeup: The Iron Lady – Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland;
     - Best Costume Design: The Artist – Mark Bridges;
     - Best Film Editing: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter;
     - Best Visual Effects: Hugo – Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossmann, and Alex Henning.


   Now, regarding the economy behind the oscars  we can say that it get to many people in the world by media and for it is used the national channels of each country. In the case of our country (Portugal), TVI (the channel that transmitted the oscars) had a big audience, half of the Portuguese who were watching television attended the "Great Night of the Oscars' broadcast by TVI, February 26, totaling 173,000 viewers, the lowest number in five years.
   According to Kantar Media / Media Monitor, on the morning of February 26, the program "The Great Night of the Oscars", which was broadcast by TVI in direct, had a share ofviewers (share) of 46.4 percent. These data were collected up at 2:30 in the morning.Since the repetition of the issue, held on February 27, had a share of 55.7 percent.

    When it comes to the profits of the movies Hugo (the movie with more nominations) it was not well received. It only had a profit of 69,414,000 dollars in North America, and  46,400,000 dollars in other territories worldwide, collecting 115,814,000 dollars. The film's budget was 150 million dollars. The Iron Lady had a budget of 13 millions dollars and a profit of 34.7 million dollars. On the other hand, The Artist had a budget of 15 million dollars and a profit of 76.451.962 millions dollars. The Help had a budget of 25 million dollars and a profit of 205,2 million dollars.