Reykjavík

Reykjavík (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈreiːcaˌviːk], English /ˈreɪkjəˌvik/; RAYK-yə-veek) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It has a latitude of 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state and a popular tourist destination. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of the Faxaflói Bay. With a population of around 120,000 (and over 200,000 in the Capital Region), it is the heart of Iceland's cultural, economic and governmental activity.

Reykjavík is believed to be the location of the first permanent settlement in Iceland, which Ingólfur Arnarson is said to have established in AD 874. Until the 18th century, there was no urban development in the city location. The city was founded in 1786 as an official trading town and grew steadily over the next decades, as it transformed into a regional and later national center of commerce, population, and governmental activities. It is among the cleanest, greenest, and safest cities in the world.

Mike Newell (director)

Michael Cormac "Mike" Newell (born 28 March 1942) is an English director and producer of motion pictures for film and television. Newell won the 1994 BAFTA Award for Best Direction for Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Early life

Newell was born in St Albans, Hertfordshire, the son of amateur actors. Newell was educated at St Albans School and Magdalene College, Cambridge. He then attended a three-year training course at Granada Television, with the intention of entering the theatre.

Career

Newell directed various British TV shows from the 1960s onwards (such as Spindoe (1968), credited as Cormac Newell, and Big Breadwinner Hog). However, he eventually graduated into film direction.

His first film was The Man in the Iron Mask (1977), made for TV. His first critically acclaimed movie was Bad Blood (1982), concerning the 1941 manhunt for the New Zealand mass-killer, Stan Graham, played by Jack Thompson. This was followed by Dance with a Stranger (1985), a biographical drama starring Miranda Richardson as Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Great Britain. For his directing efforts, Newell won the Award of the Youth at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival.

101 Reykjavík

101 Reykjavík ( pronunciation ) is a 1996 novel by Hallgrímur Helgason which found international fame in 2000 when made into a film. Both are set in Reykjavík, Iceland. The film was directed by Baltasar Kormákur and stars Victoria Abril and Hilmir Snær Guðnason. The title is taken from the postal code for down-town Reykjavík, "the old city". The film won nine B-class film awards and received ten nominations most notably winning the Discovery Film Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Plot of the film

Geek Hlynur is approaching the grand old age of 30, he still lives with his mother who is divorced from his alcoholic father, downloads cyberporn and wanders around Reykjavík half-heartedly searching for a job while spending lots of time in Kaffibarinn, the central Reykjavík bar (the bar is owned in real life by writer/director Baltasar Kormákur and his soundtrack composer Damon Albarn, a long-standing Icelandophile). The cramped, dark and oddly furnished house in which Hlynur and his mother live features a bath which transfigures into a sofa as Hlynur steps naked out of it, in the middle of the lounge with his mother watching.

Scholarship

A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further their education. Scholarships are awarded based upon various criteria, which usually reflect the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award. Scholarship money is not required to be repaid.

Scholarships versus grants

The term '"scholarship"' is sometimes used to describe any financial aid given to a student that does not have to be repaid. However, more precisely, and universally among college financial aid offices, scholarships and grants are quite different.

A scholarship is given to a student because of a reason: the student has qualified for or won it by academic, artistic or athletic ability, or by agreeing to follow a particular career, or has some special ethnic or other characteristic. Scholarships are not given for financial need alone.

United States

In the U.S., a grant is given on the basis of economic need, determined by the amount to which the college's Cost of Attendance (COA) exceeds the Expected Family Contribution (EFC), calculated by the U.S. Department of Education from information submitted on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) following formulas set by the United States Congress. (The federal EFC is sometimes modified, usually upwards, in awarding non-federal grants.) The federal Pell grant program is an entitlement: if the applicant meets the requirements - has economic Need (COA exceeds EFC), is studying at least half time towards a first undergraduate degree, is a U.S. citizen or eligible alien - the award of the money is automatic. The student has a right to it (is entitled).

Scholarly method

The scholarly method or scholarship is the body of principles and practices used by scholars to make their claims about the world as valid and trustworthy as possible, and to make them known to the scholarly public. It is the methods that systemically advance the teaching, research, and practice of a given scholarly or academic field of study through rigorous inquiry. Scholarship is noted by its significance to its particular profession, and is creative, can be documented, can be replicated or elaborated, and can be and is peer-reviewed through various methods.

Methods

Originally started to reconcile the philosophy of the ancient classical philosophers with medieval Christian theology, scholasticism is not a philosophy or theology in itself but a tool and method for learning which places emphasis on dialectical reasoning. The primary purpose of scholasticism is to find the answer to a question or to resolve a contradiction. It was once well known for its application in medieval theology, but was eventually applied to classical philosophy and many other fields of study.