Outdoor-lifestyle retailer Essay Essay Example

Outdoor-lifestyle retailer Essay Essay Executive Summary BBQfun will be the taking outdoor-lifestyle retail merchant. catering to the turning demand for supplying new and renovated homes in the greater Brisbane country. The mixture offer of BBQs. out-of-door furniture and BBQ accoutrements will place BBQfun as best inclass for outdoor-lifestyle retailing. BBQfun will reinvent the manner people shop for outdoor-lifestyle merchandises. BBQfun will construct its repute on offering the fullest mixture of merchandises possible in our chosen Fieldss. integrating both local and imported goods with merchandises sold on easy to pull off long-run payment programs. Our after gross revenues service and 3 twelvemonth warrants will happen grip with a market dominated by low-quality. Situation Analysis BBQfun is close to come ining its 5th twelvemonth of operation. We will write a custom essay sample on Outdoor-lifestyle retailer Essay specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Outdoor-lifestyle retailer Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Outdoor-lifestyle retailer Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Te initial rollout of shops has been good received. and selling is now critical to its continued success and future profitableness. The shop offers wide-ranging outdoor-lifestyle points on easy to pull off payment footings and supplies a three twelvemonth warrant on every point sold. The basic market demand is for quality. stylish and alone outdoor-lifestyle points that caters to the house-proud demands of our market. Market Summary BBQfun possess good information about the market and knows a great trade about the common properties of our most prized and loyal clients. BBQfun will leverage this information to better understand who is served. their specific demands. and how BBQfun can break communicate with them. Market Demographics †¢ Accessibility. The frequenter can derive easy entree to the shop with minimum delay. †¢ Customer service. The frequenter will be impressed with the after gross revenues service and Guarantees. †¢ Competitive pricing. All products/services will be competitively priced comparative to comparable high-end outdoor-lifestyle lines. Above all. BBQfun believes that easy to entree shops with extended picks in our chosen Fieldss. that are sold on an easy to pull off payment program with a three twelvemonth warrant are the keys to our customer’s demands and wants. Market Tendencies The market tendency for outdoor-lifestyle shops is headed toward a more sophisticated and informed client. The outdoor-lifestyles frequenter today relative to yesterday is more sophisticated in a figure of different ways. †¢ Item quality. The penchant for high-quality points is increasing as clients are larning to appreciate the qualitative differences. †¢ Unique. Our frequenters appreciate the chance to include outdoor-lifestyles in their place that stand out from the mass produced and sold low quality points. †¢ Selection. Peoples are demanding a larger choice of picks. they are no longer accepting a limited offer in outdoor-lifestyles. The ground for this tendency is that within the last twosome of old ages at that place has been an detonation of media in the signifier of Television shows and magazines that have promoted alien and different outdoor-lifestyles. Our frequenters no longer necessitate to accept a limited figure of options. With more picks. frequenters have become more sophisticated. This tendency is intuitive as you can detect a more sophisticated frequenter in larger metropolis markets such as Sydney or Melbourne where there has been more picks available. BBQfun strongly believes that clients are more interested in scope of merchandises. after gross revenues service and easy to pull off payments than any other issues. These are the grounds that they will shop with us and go loyal frequenters. Technological developments with the broadband rollout across greater Brisbane and Australia is opening up important chances for cyberspace shopping and for supplying information for our clients about our merchandise scope. Market Growth In 2008. the National outdoor-lifestyle market reached $ 300 million dollars. Outdoor lifestyle gross revenues are estimated to turn by at least 6 % for the following few old ages. This growing can be attributed to several different factors. The greater disposable household income from the two income households. the greater handiness of low-cost and interesting quality imports with the high value of the Australian dollar and the selling by popular Television shows like ‘Homes Beautiful’ and ‘Better Outdoor-lifestyles’ . Economy Based on economic prognosiss. BBQfun assumes that involvement rates are remaining steady and so will hold no affect on disposable income. The same premise is made about employment degrees. where BBQfun assumes that unemployment degrees remain the same at 4. 7 % . Political From research carried out. BBQfun identified that the Government focal point and accent in future legislative way will be about ‘growing the economy’ and ‘population base which BBQfun sees as a positive for their concern theoretical account. There is besides a strong push for environmentally sound concern patterns in the legislative model. BBQfun. as concern runing in Australia. will stay by the jurisprudence in all its traffics and comply with all statute law that impacts on its concern activities. SWOT Analysis The undermentioned SWOT analysis captures the cardinal strengths and failings within the company. and describes the chances and menaces confronting BBQfun. Strengths †¢ Excellent staff who are extremely skilled and knowing about outdoor-lifestyles. †¢ Great retail infinite that is bright. functional and efficient for a commercial urban territory.†¢ High client trueness among repetition clients.†¢ Assortment offerings that exceed rivals offerings in quality. scope and handiness. Failings †¢ A limited selling budget to develop trade name consciousness due to the deficiency of critical mass and shop screen.†¢ The battle to continually fund the turning long term refund programs taken out by our clients. Opportunities †¢ A turning market in a high growing country with a important per centum of the mark market still non cognizant of BBQfun’s offer.†¢ Increasing gross revenues chances outside of our mark country – greater Brisbane. Menaces †¢ Competition from local mugwumps that can cut down monetary values as proprietor operators lower than our staff tally shops.†¢ Competition from National ironss traveling into the Brisbane market.†¢ A slack in the economic system cut downing customer’s disposable income spent on outdoor-lifestyles. Competition National Competition †¢ The Yard: has a limited choice but important deepness. All Australian made. No important selling or publicity. The monetary value point is high. but the quality of merchandises are rather good. Not in Brisbane. Largely in Sydney and Melbourne. †¢ BBQ’s R us: Broad scope of outdoor-lifestyle merchandises including bangles and trappingss. Tonss of inexpensive imports. Concentrating on established markets. Strong in the replacings section. Not in Brisbane. Largely in Melbourne and Adelaide. †¢ Outdoorz: Large operations of merely a few shops per metropolis. Mass markets out-of-door life styles at good value monetary values. No imported goods. Extensive advertisement. Low to medium quality. Not in Brisbane. Strong in the replacing section instead than new and refurbished homes. Strong in other capital metropoliss. Local Competition †¢ All mugwumps. These shops are owned by single proprietor operators. Ranges vary harmonizing to proprietor penchants. Very small imports. Largely retailing Australian manufactured goods. Jointly their mean item sale monetary value is $ 250. hold a market portion of 48 % . and are turning at approximately 8 % per twelvemonth. BBQfun do non see the rivals altering their selling scheme or merchandise offer in the foreseeable hereafter. Growth and Share Analysis New homes – growing in possible clients 10 % . Estimated Brisbane client Numberss in 2010 is 95. 000. Renovations – growing in possible clients 7 % . Estimated Brisbane client Numberss in 2010 is 35. 000. Replacement – growing in possible clients 5 % . Estimated Brisbane client Numberss in 2010 is 120. 000. Service Offer BBQfun has created a outdoor-lifestyles scope of retail merchandises that are differentiated and superior to rivals. Customers can see the quality of the merchandise as it is displayed in the shops. The following are features of the merchandise: 1. BBQfun’s recognition offer is backed by a top grade bank.2. Imported merchandises make up 33 % of the mixture.3. The 3 twelvemonth warrant is alone in the market topographic point.4. Broadest possible scope in chosen Fieldss. BBQfun’s prides itself on supplying service that is on par if non better than any of the local independent shops and far in surplus of the national ironss. BBQfun will guarantee that all facets that are involved in the bringing of satisfaction to the client will work utilizing an incorporate attack. At a Glance–The Prototype BBQfun Shop: †¢ Location: a commercial. suburban vicinity. or urban retail territory.†¢ Design: bright and functional.†¢ Size: 1. 000 to 1. 500 M2.†¢ Employees: 15 to 20 full clip plus casuals†¢ Types of minutess: 60 % hard currency. 40 % on long term refund program. Keies to SuccessLocation.BBQfun’s site choice standards are critical to success. Scott Bremmer. former spouse of an international concatenation. helped us place the undermentioned site choice standards: †¢ New brooding populations.†¢ Shopping patterns necessitating easy entree.†¢ Customer auto parking counts. Critical Issues BBQfun is still in the bad phase as a possible franchise construct or joint venture. Its critical issues are: †¢ Committed to gross revenues growing which allows for greater options in import mixtures and in decreased monetary value with volume bargains. This will advance our singularity and contribute to improved net income borders. †¢ Continue to finance the easy manage long term refund program for clients. †¢ Locate in easy entree sites near to the turning markets in new home development. Marketing Strategy BBQfun’s advertisement budget is set at $ 250. 000 for the twelvemonth. The advertisement plan will aim local letter-box beads. wireless and magazines. BBQfun’s will make direct mail and local advertisement. with voucher inserts in the BrisNews magazine probably to be the most successful of the runs. BBQfun will seek to acquire articles about BBQfun into the BrisNews magazine. Previous characteristics in the BrisNews magazine has seen a dramatic addition of gross revenues instantly after the article was published. Mission BBQfun’s mission is to supply clients with the most extended mixture of quality outdoor-lifestyle merchandises available in the market. Our after gross revenues service is 2nd to none supported by our easy to pull off long term refund programs which make unique. imported and high quality outdoor-lifestyle low-cost to all. BBQfun exist to pull and keep outdoor-lifestyle clients wishing to buy merchandises that give our clients pride in their places. Our services will transcend the outlooks of our clients. Marketing Aims 1. Increase gross revenues from $ 15million per twelvemonth to $ 20million per twelvemonth in the following three old ages 2. Increase our trueness clients list from 10. 000 to 16. 000. 3. Establish trade name acknowledgment in Brisbane so that at least 2 in 3 people recognise our trade name in a random study taken in 18 months clip. 3. 3 Fiscal Aims 1. A double-digit growing rate for each future twelvemonth.2. Reduce the overhead per shop through disciplined direction of disbursals.3. Continue increase our gross net income borders.Target SellingThe market can be segmented into three mark populations: †¢ New homes – by and large want to buy full suites. Typically shopped as twosomes. Price sensitive to a point but co-ordination is the highest precedence. †¢ Renovations – demand for high quality and different points. Unique and alien over rides monetary value concerns. †¢ Replacement – basic functional merchandises that replace and interrupt or have on point. Single shopper. Cheap monetary value required. The BBQfun clients are largely aged between 20 and 50. doing up 50 % of the new and renovated brooding market. Outdoor-lifestyle shops have been really successful in base entirely. extended auto park entree. shut to new lodging estates being established. These countries have households who have household disposable incomes of over $ 40. 000 per twelvemonth. Combining several cardinal demographic factors. BBQfun arrives at a profile of the primary client as follows: †¢ Sophisticated people who are house proud. †¢ Shoppers who will drive to an easy to entree shop.†¢ A clients who requires payment programs to distribute their committedness over an drawn-out period. †¢ Renovators and new place builders†¢ 20-50 twelvemonth oldsPositioning BBQfun will place itself as a wide mixture. quality. alone outdoor-lifestyle retail merchant. Brisbane consumers who appreciate high-quality and singularity will acknowledge the value and alone offerings of BBQfun. Patrons will be individual every bit good as households. ages 20-50. BBQfun’s placement will leverage their competitory border: †¢ Product. The merchandise will be broad runing. quality and unique. It offers the house proud client a different option from the inexpensive mass produced offer prevalent in the market †¢ Service. BBQfun offer the lone 3 old ages warrant in the market. Our easy play payment strategy is merely what our mortgage refunding clients welcome. Our experient staff can help with merchandise cognition 2nd to none in the industry. By offering a superior service in scope and singularity. BBQfun will stand out comparative to the competition and accomplish our aims. Scheme Pyramids The individual aim is to place BBQfun as the premier outdoor-lifestyles shop in the greater Brisbane country. commanding a bulk of the market portion within five old ages. The selling scheme will seek to first make client awareness sing their services offered. develop that client base. and work toward constructing client trueness and referrals. The message that BBQfun will seek to pass on is that BBQfun offers the widest. most alien. easy entree outdoor-lifestyle merchandises in Brisbane. This message will be communicated through a assortment of methods. The first will be direct mail. The direct mail run will be a manner to pass on straight with the consumer. BBQfun will besides utilize ads and inserts in Brizzy magazine. The last method for pass oning BBQfun’s message is through a grassroots PR run. This run will ask for people from Brizzy for tiffin to acquire articles written about BBQfun into the intelligence. Because of this degree of effectivity and low/zero cost. BBQfun will work hard to acquire imperativeness in the Brizzy. BBQfun besides believe that the local frequenters far prefer to have information from the shop via circulars in the letterbox. Marketing Mix BBQfun’s selling mix is comprised of these following attacks to pricing. distribution. advertisement and publicity. and client service. †¢ Pricing. While BBQfun will monetary value at comparable monetary values for comparable quality. it will non be inexpensive. We push value over inexpensive and back this up with a 3 twelvemonth warrant. †¢ Distribution. BBQfun merchandises will be distributed through a concatenation of retail shops which clients can entree easy via the big auto parking agreements. †¢ Ad and Promotion. The most successful advertisement will be ads and inserts in the Brizzy every bit good as a PR run of informational articles and reappraisals besides within the Brizzy. Promotions will take the signifier of in shop amusement and competitions with awards to alien abroad finishs. †¢ Customer Service. BBQfun’s doctrine is that whatever needs to be done to do the client happy must happen. this investing will pay off with a ferociously loy al client base who is highly vocal to their friends with referrals. Merchandise development It is envisaged that new merchandises will be developed on a regular footing in line with alterations in client gustatory sensation which is targeted at every 12 months. The program for merchandise testing is to prosecute market research houses. By acquiring feedback from these houses. alterations can be made or merchandises ‘canned’ so that merely tested and proved merchandises make it onto the shop assortment list. Marketing Research During the initial stages of the selling program development. several focal point groups were held to derive insight into a assortment of frequenters of outdoor-lifestyle shops. These focal point groups provided utile penetration into the determinations. and determination devising procedures. of consumers. An extra beginning of market research that is dynamic is a feedback mechanism based on a suggestion card system in shop. The last beginning of market research is competitory analysis/appreciation. BBQfun direction will continually see local outdoor-lifestyle shops for two grounds. The first is for competitory analysis. supplying BBQfun with timely information sing other store’s service offering. The 2nd ground is that local concern proprietors. are frequently portion of an informal fraternal organisation where they support each other’s concern. Financials. Budgets. and Forecasts This subdivision will offer a fiscal overview of BBQfun as it relates to the selling activities. BBQfun will turn to Break-even Analysis. gross revenues prognosiss. expense prognosiss. and how those link to the selling scheme. Break-even Analysis The Break-even Analysis indicates that $ 1. 1 million in gross revenues per twelvemonth will be needed to make the break-even point. Fixed costs are estimated at $ 150. 000. Variable costs are 40 % of gross revenues. therefore gross revenues of $ 1. 0 million will be sufficient to pay for the fixed and variable cost. Gross saless Forecast The first twelvemonth of the program will be used to acquire the coffeehouse up and running. By twelvemonth two things will acquire busier. Gross saless will bit by bit increase with profitableness being reached by the beginning of twelvemonth two. Gross net income is anticipated at 50 % . Ongoing gross revenues prediction will be to utilize the services of Cannon’s Consultants who will rede on all facets of the selling map that BBQfun will be engaged with. Cannons will besides be given entree to the selling cost informations so that they can sporadically analyze and formalize selling costs in line with industry benchmarks. They have ever been the preferable advisers because they are locally based unlike the national group of advisers. Brown A ; Holingsworth. based in Melbourne.

Composer Artist Paper Essays - Adoration Of The Magi In Art

Composer Artist Paper Essays - Adoration Of The Magi In Art Composer Artist Paper The baroque period was characterized by a heroic, dramatic and emotional theme. With well know names like Rembrant, Bach, Pennini, Caravaggio, Bernini, Tintoretto, Velasques, Poussin, Handel, and Rubens, the period produced many popular pieces of music and art. The art of the period was filled with movement, light versus shadow, and the use of the whole surface. The composers incorporated new ideas into their music such as different major and minor scales, the use of the violin, a regular rhythm, a melody that was hard to sing to, terrace dynamics, the basso continuo, and instrumental music was now considered as good as vocal music. The baroque period was an important piece of history in the shaping of the music and art world. George Frideric Handel was a composer of amazing talents and abilities. Although in todays society he is not as well known as Bach, his work was kept in high regards by the people of the time. Both Handel and Bach were born in 1685 about a month apart, and together the world was stunned by the masterpieces created by these great minds. Handel, being born on February 23, in Halle, Germany, was not from a musical family. As a child he was introduced to the harpsichord by his aunt, and soon after he began to practice the art that he loved. His father showed no interest in Handels music and disowned him saying, Then let him be a clown, a tightrope walker, a minstrel or a bear trainer! On a business trip, Handel accompanied his father to the city of Weissenfels, where he happened to slip away into the town church, and began to play an improvised rendition of the postlude to the service. After seeing the remarkable talent of the young boy, the duke of the church persuaded Handels father th at to ignore this talent would be a sin against God.2 Handel began his lesson with Duke Zackow soon after, being instructed in the playing of the organ, the harpsichord, and the violin. At the age of 17, Handel experienced the loss of his father. He would quickly move on and enroll as a law student t Halle University. Shortly after beginning school, he became the organist at the protestant cathedral. After a year of school, Handel moved on into the world of the theatre. Handel was inspired to attempt his hand in composing an opera. Almira was Handels first attempt at an opera, and was warmly welcomed by the audience. Almira was characterized by a nondescript libretto, German recitatives, and a small amount of Italian arias.2 This work was recognized by even the greatest of composers, notably Bach who admired the opera and borrowed part to put in his own works. The popularity of his first opera convinced Handel to write a second. Handel immediately followed up his first work by writing his second opera, Nero. unlike the first opera, this one was a complete failure, only being preformed three times. Although Nero was a failure, Handel pursued his career as an opera writer with such works as Agrippina, Joshua, and Israel in Egypt. Handle would move on to new and different types of music including many oratorios such as Handels famous Messiah written in 1741. The Messiah is a piece lasting two and one half hours long and amazingly composed in only 24 days. Messiah was first preformed in Dublin, Ireland in 1742. The piece was very popular after its premier, convincing Handel to take it to bigger and better places. He moved on, taking the Messiah into London, England. The first performance of the Messiah in London was poorly received by the audience due mostly because of religious opposition to the use of a Christian text in the theatre. Finally, after ten years of unpopularity, it began to become desirable in London. The Messiah consists of three parts. The first part begins with angels announcement of the Messiahs coming arrival and the birth of Christ. The second part has been described as the accomplishment of redemption by the sacrifice of Jesus, mankinds rejection of Gods offer and mankinds utter defeat whe n trying to oppose the power of the Almighty. The third part shows the

To See and Not See Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

To See and Not See - Essay Example For instance, Virgil is known to have lived in blindness for nearly forty-five years and when this surgery is fronted up, for him it does not seem oblivious of any worries given that he longed to see. Several reasons can be suggested as to whether the surgery was right or wrong, but, it is clear even before the operation that the success of the surgery would have meant a new hope for all cases of blindness like Virgil. In essence, the success of the surgery would have appeared as start up for surgeries for the blind people in the future. According to Amy, there was nothing to be lost given that Virgil was already blind and not trying the surgery even if it would fail would have been detrimental (Sacks, 2012). Therefore, by pushing for the surgery, Amy was doing the right thing given that at the end of it all, it was successful and Virgil got his sight back despite a few challenges of confusion upon regaining back his sight. Additionally, the case of Gregory’s patient who received transplant at the age of fifty years was an indication that the surgery could be successfully achieved regardless of age. Several other surgeries of similar kinds had been done thus, indicating that Virgil’s could succeed (Sacks, 2012). This type of surgery that was performed on Virgil in 1991, and since then, based on the technological advancements that have been witnessed in the field of medicine, it would be expected that the methods of conducting the surgery have been advanced. Other than this, the advantages attached to the success of this surgery would be beneficial to a blind patient. Hence, I would gladly support someone I knew who would be contemplating this surgery. However, as Sacks notes in his book, the patients who have undergone through this process, just like Virgil, are commonly faced with the challenge of the state of confusion in

In what ways does low-wage work involve more Essay

In what ways does low-wage work involve more - Essay Example (Miller, 1992) Normally, a married couple shares household expenses making it easier to support the financial needs of the family. This way, married women have ample time to do housework and duty as a mother. In the case of single mothers, the only way she could increase the income is by increasing the working hours. It means that a single mother usually ends up sacrificing her leisure time with her children in exchange for the income she would earn while working. For example: Jack is earning $5,000 a month working 8 hours a day as a manager in a five-star hotel whereas Cindy earns only around $500 a week working 8 hours on a part-time job as a waitress because she is taking care of her child as a single mother in the morning. For Cindy to be able to earn $5,000 a month, she will have to work longer hours so she financially supports her child. For Cindy to earn the same earnings of Jack, she will have to work for a total of 80 hours a month. [($500 / 8hours) = $62.50 / hour; $5,000 a month / $62.50 per hour = 80 hours a month] (Jones, 1999) Yes. I agree that the U.S. government should protect the workers and their retirement savings from a similar case with the Enron. The pension law prepared by the Department of Labor clearly states that each employer has the duty to provide the 401(k) plans for its employees. In this case, the trustees who are responsible in overseeing the 401(k) plan as well as the top executives or directors who monitors the plan should be held liable to employees in case of the court could prove that there was a breach in the fiduciary duty. (Dugas, 2002) The main cause of Enron’s bankruptcy was illegal in the sense that the top executives of the company manipulated the corporate statement of account for many years in order to mislead the public shareholders with billions of dollars and eventually abandon its employees with their pension funds. (Jezer, 2002) Setting the corporate top executives who are

Graffitis impact on society Essay Example for Free

Graffitis impact on society Essay Who is responsible for the pervasion of this so called artcrime in todays society The word graffiti is derived from the Latin term graphium which means to write. Graffiti evolved during ancient times but first impacted on modern society in the late 1960s, when political activists used it as a medium of revolt against governing powers. Thereafter, individual artists began to gain recognition. TAKI 183 was the first known artist to write tags, starting in central New York subways. After seeing the regular appearance of TAKI 183s tags, new artists began to flourish throughout New York City, establishing personal tags visible to almost everyone. The artists goal was to be the most prolific and visible, leaving tags on subways, buses, trains and walls around the city. Graffiti later developed into an art form, where the writer with the most unique style and conspicuous presence was deemed the best. While the competition between artists in New York reached boiling point at this time, the rest of the world began to experience the first of these so called artcrimes. Graffiti is just another form of art, and art is all self expression, legally or illegally Inevitably, laws were introduced aiming to control the outbreak of graffiti artists. This provoked a race amongst artists to paint as many trains and subways as possible, before the law caught them. The recognition of style and technique gained more appreciation by fellow writers as the use of vivid colours and seemingly cryptic language developed. The original style of tagging progressively became an artform. Today there is a definite distinction between tagging to deface and  street art. Graffiti has developed over time to create a complex social framework, involving breakdancing, DJing, MCing and graffiti to form a popular youth culture referred to as The urban Hip-Hop culture. These arts arose from New York, where gangs used these various methods as a way of self expression and often in other ways to settle arguments. Recently, legal street art has been used by local government and youth centres to discourage the tagging and vandalism which regularly occurs in their area, to present to the upcoming youth a form of self expression without involving illegalities. But unfortunately, official attempts are often in vain. The reason these artists enjoy painting walls results from the adrenaline rush involved in expressing yourself illegally, which in our case just happens to be via graffiti. To me graffiti is just another form of art, and art is all self expression, legal or illegal states local Perth artist Dave K. Dave goes on to say, The ultimate rush comes from painting in a more difficult place, especially trains. There are plenty of new kids to the scene who just tag for a kick but dont understand the deeper meaning of graffiti as an artform and its those people who give us a bad name. Yet the continuation of youth projects such as that at the Claremont Showgrounds show a positive effect on the community, lighting up the walls and reducing vandalism in the area. A surfer travels the world for the perfect wave, writers travel the world for the perfect train yard Senior policeman, Constable, Nick Steele, has become a full time youth advisor, and organises legal graffiti for the kids of Perth. He says, We use it as a gateway for the kids, to discourage the unartistic forms of graffiti like tagging and scratching, and encourage youth to get involved in projects such as the Claremont Showgrounds wall. To me these projects have positive effects on the kids and the community. We can expect more legal graffiti to be organised in the near future. The graffiti explosion has touched over 75% of the world, creating a worldwide network where writers from Australia may travel in Europe to paint trains Graffiti is similar to surfing, as a surfer travels the world for the perfect wave, writers travel the world for the perfect train yard, says renowned artist CES of New York. The complexity of todays youth culture continues to grow. Todays graffiti problem is commonly considered a burden on society, as the regular removal of graffiti costs an enormous amount of money. An estimated $15 billion (US) worldwide each year is spent on the consistent removal of sprayed, marked and scratched surfaces. If, as Constable Steele suggests, the artistic form of graffiti as street art can override the more defacing form of tagging scratching, the graffiti culture may yet prove an asset to society by minimising graffiti done as vandalism.

Homosexuality in Robert Louis Stevenson The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde :: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Essays

References to Homosexuality in Stevenson's Jekl and Hyde Stevenson's choice of certain words in the novel is extremely pertinent to a homoerotic reading of the text. In some Victorian circles (and most certainly not in others), certain words had very explicit homosexual connotations. The word "homosexual" seems to have come into the English language around 1869, introduced by a Hungarian named Benkert but not generally used by the British until the 1880s. Yet, according to Theo Aronson, there were other words used at that time to identify the love between the same gender. "Homogenic love," "similisexualism," and "Uranism" were apparently among the more common references to homosexuality. Within the novel, however, the word "homosexual" is never used. If it were, perhaps, then such a homoerotic interpretation as this would be redundant. There are, however, certain, rather ambiguous, words that Stevenson uses that have Victorian homosexual connotations. During their walk together, Utterson and Enfield come across the home of Edward Hyde. After relating his story about Hyde, Enfield refers to the place as "Black Mail House" (8). When asked if he ever inquired about the man who lived therein, Enfield replies, "No sir, I make it a rule of mine: the more it looks like Queer Street, the less I ask" (9). Both of these references to Hyde's home are more direct references to Hyde himself, made by a man who, at least publicly, must acknowledge the distinction between himself and the man who lives in Soho. Poole also makes a reference to Hyde's homosexuality: "Then you must know as well as the rest of us that there was something queer about that gentleman - something that gave a man a turn. . . " (57). During the 19th century, of course, homosexuality was acknowledged by heterosexuals (particularly of the upper classes) as an existing activity among the lower classes - an activity that thrived in London's own East End. Those who were thought to be homosexuals were often blackmailed. With the Labouchere Amendment in 1885, homosexuals faced a greater threat of exposure through blackmail. In fact, "the threat of exposure as a sodomite is the basis of more than half of the prosecutions throughout the eighteenth century" ("Jekyll & Hyde," par. 8). Other Victorian writers, like Oscar Wilde, faced this threat, which often damaged their reputations if the affair ever made it to a court. Enfield's reference to "Queer Street" also denotes a homosexual connotation.

Discuss the various perceptions of love in Shakespeare’s Essay

William Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet in 1595. When it was written, Shakespeare was quite young, 31, already five years into his career. Queen Elizabeth I was on the throne at the time, and many of the characteristics of Elizabethan lifestyle are included within the play. In the Elizabethan times, it was not unusual for people to get married and have children young. In the play Lady Capulet says, â€Å"By my count, I was your mother much upon these years,† to Juliet, who appears to be about 12 years old. She is telling Juliet that she was already a mother at Juliet’s age, implying she should be getting ready to marry now. Women were also not considered of much importance in those days. They were not as ‘important’ as men, and just used for sex, which plays a big part in the topic of conversation between characters throughout the play. Women/girls also had to obey their fathers until they got married, and then obey their husbands when they did get married. It was a very male dominant era. Romeo and Juliet is partly a comedy, tragedy and history. It is a tragedy obviously because of all the death in it. It is a comedy because of the irony and contrast the characters raise, and also because of the humour some characters like Mercutio and the Nurse bring into the play. It is a history as well because of the fact it was written a long time ago, and has historical contents in it. There is a great deal of love and passion in this play, but not all the same. Different characters have different perceptions of love, and different passions. The play is also as much about hate as it is about love, which is a very important element. Shakespeare puts emphasis on themes such as the relationship of love and hate and old and young. This is what I will be analysing in the essay. The play tells the story of Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet; the children of two rival families living in Verona, who fall in love and get married without their families knowing. The hatred felt by their families leads to the death of five people. Two of who are Romeo and Juliet, the star-crossed lovers who die because they want to be together but cant be. It shows the young as they struggle to escape from the morass of hatred created by their elders. The ancient family feud makes Romeo and Juliet’s union even more significant as they both hate each other’s families, but manage to overcome it when they meet each other. This play represents ‘true love’ because it shows pure hatred turn into pure love. Romeo and Juliet went against everything they were brought up with and gave up their lives to be together. Romeo is a very passionate person when we first meet him, and his passion stays throughout the play. We do learn however, that Romeo is very impulsive, and acts on this impulsive streak very often, and it leads him to do some stupid things, which I will show further on in the essay. The first reference to love in the play is in the opening scene where we meet Sampson and Gregory (two Capulet servants). They are both very vulgar and crude characters and show this straight away when they are talking about the Montague women. In lines 17-20, Sampson says, â€Å"Tis true, and therefore women being the weaker vessels are ever thrust to the wall. Therefore I will push Montague’s men from the wall, and thrust his maids to the wall. † This is where the punning becomes sexual. He is implying that he will assault the Montague maids against the wall. Later on in lines 27-28, he says, â€Å"Ay, the heads of the maids, or their maidenheads- take it in what sense thou wilt. † Here he is saying that he will either chop off the heads of the Montague maids, or rape them, depending on what he feels like. Their behaviour shows that they do not actually think of love itself, and only think of sex. They view women as mere objects to serve their pleasure. They are not the only bawdy characters in the play to have this perception of women and love thought. In act two, scene one (lines 34-38); Mercutio is making fun of Romeo’s talk of love for Rosaline. He talks about a ‘Medlar tree’, and describes sex as a ‘Medlar fruit’. He is saying that Romeo really wishes Rosalie were a Medlar fruit, even though he says he loves her, all he really wants is sex. This is probably because this is all Mercutio sees love as. The Nurse is another one of these characters. She constantly talks about the physical side of marriage. To her, love is merely about sex and having babies. For Sampson, Gregory, Mercutio and the Nurse, love is something non-emotional, and they have obviously never experienced love like Romeo and Juliet’s. Love for Romeo and Juliet is very emotionally bonded, and they cannot live without each other. This however does not mean there is no physical element to their relationship. Romeo and Juliet eagerly look forward to the physical side. This can be seen in act three, scene two, lines 1-30, where Juliet is looking forward to her wedding night, or her â€Å"love-performing night. † But even this is altered by their love into something of which Mercutio, the Nurse and the servants know nothing of. In act one, scene one, Romeo’s parents show parental love when they are concerned about him. The first evidence to show they care about Romeo is in lines 118-119, where Lady Montague says, â€Å"Right glad I am he (Romeo) was not at this fray,† meaning she was glad that Romeo was not involved in the fight that had just happened. In lines 133-144, Montague talks about Romeo’s worrying behaviour. He says that he is always crying, distances himself from everyone else, and shuts out light, making himself â€Å"an artificial night†. Montague is obviously worried about his son’s behaviour, and asks Benvolio if he could talk to Romeo because he does not understand him. This doesn’t mean however, that he does not care how Romeo feels, but he evidently does. It just shows the contrast between young and old. The first time we meet Romeo, he seems very sad and down (in the exact state his father describes him to be in). he is sad because he is ‘in love’. For Romeo, being in love (at this stage in the play) is a very painful, negative thing, especially because here there is a situation of unrequited love. However, by studying Romeo’s language in this scene, I believe that he is not in love with ‘Rosaline’, but infact in love with the idea of love itself. The fact that he does not say Rosaline’s name once, but talks about being in love, shows that the she is irrelevant. Romeo’s doting over Rosaline is introduced to show the difference between love and infatuation. He talks about love as a painful situation to be in, as shown in lines 195-196, â€Å"A madness most discreet, a choking gall, and a preserving sweet. † This changes drastically though, when he meets Juliet. From the second he sees Juliet (in act one scene five); you can see he has changed. He suddenly speaks in a more positive tone, with more positive views on Juliet not just of love. â€Å"O she doth teach the torches to burn bright. † Romeo is referring to Juliet as an actual person, whereas before he was talking about being in love (supposedly with Rosaline), but never refers to her as a person. On meeting Juliet he experiences ‘love at first sight’. He goes on to say, â€Å"For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night†. This shows that he has forgotten about Rosaline already, almost like she never existed. Romeo constantly compares Juliet to a saint throughout the play, â€Å"O then dear saint. † He has made Juliet out to be the most important person (to him), in the matter of minutes. In their first meeting, Romeo and Juliet share a sonnet (lines 94-107). This immediately shows the connection of love and harmony that exists between them. In the sonnet, love as a religion seems to be the key subject, and Romeo talks about it so passionately. He refers to Juliet as a â€Å"holy shrine†, and his lips â€Å"Two blushing pilgrims†. By studying Romeo’s language here, and that of which he used when we first met him, you can see that his feelings have gone from being self-centred, self deceiving and essentially negative, to less self-centred, genuine and sincere passion, positively approached when he meets Juliet. The love between Romeo and Juliet is different from any other in the play, because both share the same view on love. It is so strong that they fought through everything to be together and when they weren’t they felt empty and sad. No one else in the play shows love for anything this deep. The words Romeo and Juliet use when flirting with each other emphasise their love for one another. They use words to do with the body â€Å"lips, hands, palms†, religion â€Å"pilgrims, saints, prayer, devotion and holy† then they put both ideas together, â€Å"holy palmers’ kiss† and â€Å"saints lips†. Romeo is trying to ‘woo’ Juliet with romantic gestures. In line 139 Juliet says, â€Å"My only love sprung from my only hate! † Two types of love are at conflict here for Juliet. Romantic love (for Romeo) and love for her family, (because she was brought up to hate the Montague’s). This saddens her. There is another type of love in the play – parental and familial love, the love between parents and their children. We do not learn much about the Montague parents, but we do see a great deal of the Capulet parents. At first when we see Capulet talking to Paris, he is saying Juliet is his only daughter and she means a lot to him, so he does not want her to marry as young as she is. However, this changes completely by Act 3, scene 4 when he shrewdly decides to marry off his daughter to Paris and arranges the wedding. In Act 1, scene 3, Lady Capulet has a talk with Juliet about marriage (to Paris). She does not seem to care much about Juliet’s opinion, but more than she does later on. This is where we see her first selfish streak, and realise that their mother-daughter relationship is not a very close one. It is not until Act 3, scene 5 we see the Capulets completely fail their daughter, when they force an arranged marriage onto her. This is a striking scene, where Lady Capulet wishes Juliet was dead after she says that she does not want to marry Paris â€Å"I would the fool were married to her grave†. Capulet is even more heartless in this scene. He completely loses his temper with Juliet, and threatens to throw her out and disown her is she does not marry Paris. The love of the Capulets’ for their daughter is so possessive and domineering, that when she doesn’t do as they wish, it turns into utter cruelty and really makes you question whether they love Juliet or not. Her parents want to force her into a loveless marriage because they obviously do not consider love to be at all important in a marriage, and also because they think they know what is best for Juliet and that she is theirs to treat however they like â€Å"An you be mine I’ll give you to my friend; An you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in the streets, for by my soul, I’ll ne’er acknowledge thee,† (line 192-194). This also shows the contrast between young and old – the old don’t understand the young. Lord and Lady Capulet actually show more love for Juliet when they find her supposedly dead, but even this is selfish love as they are more worried about how they are going to live without her. This shows just how superficial their love for Juliet is. Other characters that act as surrogate parents for Romeo and Juliet and the Nurse and Friar Lawrence. The Nurse nursed Juliet as a baby, and has practically brought her up. The Friar is someone who both lovers turn to for advise. Romeo goes to the Friar when he wants to marry Juliet. The Friar and the Nurse acted as messengers between Romeo and Juliet. They showed great support and parental love towards Romeo and Juliet when they got married, but even this was partially superficial. At the end of Act 3, scene 5, just after the big argument between Capulet and Juliet, the Nurse is trying to comfort a distraught Juliet, but instead she fails her miserably. When Juliet asks the Nurse what she thinks she should do, the Nurse surprises her by saying that she might as well marry Paris because Romeo has been banished and they can no longer be together. She thinks that love (marriage) is no more than having sex and having babies, then to her Paris would make just a good husband as Romeo would. She does not understand the depth of emotion involved in true love, and Juliet is very upset by this because she thought that the Nurse understood how she felt. After this conversation, Juliet goes to the Friar for advice (Act 4, scene 1). The Friar helps her a great deal, and you think he really understands Romeo and Juliet, but he in turn fails Juliet in Act 5, scene 3. When Juliet wakes up and find Romeo dead she wants to spend more time with him, but the Friar insists that they leave when he hear people coming their way, â€Å"Come I’ll dispose of thee among a sisterhood of holy nuns†. The Friar’s inadequacy in this crisis is shown by this ironic suggestion. He is fine until now to help the lovers be together, but when it comes to him nearly being caught out, he just tries to run away from the situation. This shows his selfishness, and the fact he does not understand the lovers’ affections and intentions to be together always. In this play of overflowing love and passion we are introduced to a character very different from all the others – Paris. Paris is an altogether good man, who is genuinely in love with Juliet and is the only one genuinely upset when she dies. Here there is another situation of unrequited love for Juliet from Paris. He is quite an innocent character caught up in the Capulet family’s complications and does not think there is anything wrong with the arranged marriage. He does not actually speak to Juliet until they meet in the Friar’s cell in Act 4, scene 1, and the marriage is arranged through Capulet. He is very thoughtful towards Juliet’s feelings, and in lines 6 and 7, he says he has not talked to her about ‘love’ (the marriage), because she has been weeping and is very sad about Tybalt’s death, but thinks that by getting married she will be happy again. Another character apart from Romeo and Juliet who is also driven by great passions and love is Tybalt. Tybalt shows the greatest passion for hate. In Act 1, scene 1 he says, â€Å"what, drawn and talk of peace? I hate the word, as I hate hell, and all Montague’s and thee†. He is a very passionate character who also shows a tremendous amount of familial love, because he is prepared to fight and in turn die for his family. Mercutio is also another one of these characters. Although he is neither Capulet nor Montague, he shows a great amount of love of friendship towards Romeo and the Montague’s he dies whilst duelling against Tybalt for them. In his â€Å"Queen Mab† he lets his tongue run away with him because he is talking passionately about something (love) that he doesn’t believe in. The mood in the scenes in which we see Romeo and Juliet together, contrast with the atmosphere of most the other scenes in the play, because of their feelings for each other. They are the two main characters who are star-crossed lovers, so obviously their scenes are going to be much more romantic and intense with passion for love than any other. Their scenes are also more calmer, relaxed and create a pleasant, positive atmosphere, whereas the rest are mainly to do with the family feud or other less positive things (such as the arranged marriage). In the balcony scene (Act 2, scene 2), you can tell that they both see their love as more important than any ancient family feud. In lines 66-69, Romeo speaks of how â€Å"stony limits cannot hold love out†, meaning that even high walls are no challenge for love and that nothing can stop them from sharing their love. By the end of the play Romeo and Juliet have changed quite a bit. Romeo went from being almost in a state of depression, to this fiery most positive character. However the same impulsive streak he has at the beginning is still there right till the very end when he acts on his impulse and decides to drink the poison not knowing the facts of Juliet’s ‘death’. Juliet was quite childish at the beginning of the play, because she does exactly what she was told by her parents. You could say that both character stayed childish right till the end, because of the way they hid everything from most people because they were too scared to come out. You could also say though that they grew up, matured a lot and became more independent because they disobeyed their parents and found a way to be together practically by themselves (even though the Nurse and the Friar knew, they did not understand Romeo and Juliet properly). I also think that by spending their first night together, Romeo and Juliet matured more as they cemented their love. They both made huge sacrifices for each other, making their love even truer, and even though they both died in the end, Romeo died after kissing Juliet, and Juliet died after kissing Romeo. Just before Romeo takes his poison, he says, â€Å"here’s to my love! † and just before Juliet stabs herself she says â€Å"Oh happy dagger! † This shows they didn’t mind dying as long as they were able to be together. Also in the play, the actions for the older members, affect the younger members a lot. Because of them, Mercutio, Tybalt, Paris and Romeo and Juliet all die. This is what makes Romeo and Juliet such an immense tragedy. Now I have shown the various perceptions of love in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, I will now pick out two contrasting scenes I have discussed and explain how I would stage them to show their differences. The two scenes I have chosen are, act 1, scene 1, with Sampson and Gregory (lines 11-27), and act 1, scene 5, where Romeo and Juliet meet for the first time (lines 94-107). Sampson and Gregory are two very crude characters, and this has to be shown by not only their performances, but also their surroundings. The actors should wear green or khaki colours, with their swords hanging from a belt on their sides. This makes them look like they are army soldiers, who are ready to fight at any moment. They would have stubble showing, and walk as if they had something heavy on their shoulders, which makes them look ‘rough’, and rude. I would have them talk very loud, almost shouting, as if they owned the place, inconsiderate to other peoples’ feelings and are boosting about what they are saying. The lighting should be a bold green when Sampson says, â€Å"A dog of that house shall move me to stand. † Green is quite a hard, ‘sick’ looking colour, which will emphasise their foul minds. They should walk side-by-side, in the middle, and people should walk on the very edges (of the stage) to look as if they are trying to stay away from them. When they talk about the Montague maids and pushing them against the wall, one of them should pretend he is going to push a woman passing by into the wall, and then they both laugh about it. Romeo and Juliet’s first meeting is very special. In lines 94-107 they share a sonnet, so this should be a very romantic scene. Juliet should be dancing with someone else, then they all switch partners, and Romeo hurries to be hers. Until they start dancing with each other, there should be other people all around the room (on the stage), but as soon as Romeo says his first line, â€Å"If I profane†¦ † they should all move into the background, the music (at the party) should die slowly into a soft beat. Romeo and Juliet will dance in he middle, up-stage, and this will show the audience who they should be looking at and listening to. The lighting would hover from a calm yellow, to subtle orange, then to a soft red, then eventually to a light pink. These colours remind me of a beautiful sunset, and also romance, so I think it will work well because of the softness. They should go behind a pillar on the right side of the stage to kiss to show they are hiding it from everyone else. Romeo should wear a mask all throughout, and pull it off just before they kiss, and they should both look into each other’s eyes the whole time. This will show that they do not care about each other’s bodies. Both would be in their party outfits- Juliet’s should be in a long cream or white dress to show her purity, with red flowers or embroidery on it, also wearing red lipstick. Romeo’s outfit should be a red or maroon velvet material, with a yellow belt and silver mask. This will make him look like a ‘prince’, and the red worn by both characters, emphasises the ‘red’ associated with romance. They should speak softly to each other, and when they speak it should not be as if this is their first meeting, but as if they have known each other for a lifetime. This will show the special connection they have straight away.