Five feature-length action adventures based on the Marvel comic.

In 'X-Men' (2000), mutants Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellen) are former friends, but look set to become mortal enemies when fascist US senator Robert Frank Kelly calls for the registration of all humans with abnormal powers. While telepath Xavier, who runs an altruistic academy for superhuman 'X-Men', wishes to enlighten non-mutants and break down the prejudices which divide them, Magneto believes that the only solution is for the mutants to take over. Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) - an aggressive loner with an admantium skeleton and the ability to heal his body of any wound - and teenager Rogue (Anna Paquin), who can absorb the life force of others simply by touching them, are selected by Xavier to join his academy, but it isn't long before Magneto's followers are attempting to capture them so that they can assist in his plan for world domination.

In the sequel, 'X-Men 2' (2003), Xavier, Wolverine and the X-Men find themselves in the firing line after a failed assassination attempt on the president points the finger at the school. It was in fact the mysterious teleporter Nightwalker (Alan Cumming) who ordered it, and, in an attempt to clear their names, the X-Men are led into a trap set by the evil William Stryker (Brian Cox), a mysterious scientist apparently working for the government. As it soon becomes evident that Stryker's agenda is to destroy all mutants, the X-Men need to call in the help of many of their old friends and foes, including Magneto, if they are to stop him.

In the third film, 'X-Men: The Last Stand' (2006), the mutants are given the option of giving up their powers and becoming human after a private laboratory supported by the government finds a way to use the DNA of a powerful boy to correct the mutants. However, Magneto opposes and decides to join a force to fight against the government and kill the mutant boy. Meanwhile, Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) resurrects, uncontrolled by Xavier, and with the personality of the powerful Dark Phoenix. She destroys Cyclops (James Marsden) and Xavier and allies herself to the evil forces of Magneto, making them almost invincible.

The fourth film in the franchise, 'X-Men: Origins - Wolverine' (2009) is a prequel to the other three films. Hugh Jackman reprises his role as Wolverine, who, some 20 years before the action of the original movie, is seeking revenge on his half-brother Victor Creed (Liev Schreiber) for the death of his girlfriend, and eventually signs up to the ominous Weapon X programme.

Finally, 'X-Men: First Class' (2011) charts the beginning of the saga, following Professor X (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) through their formative years in the 1960s as they come to terms with their newfound superpowers. Initially close friends who work together to fight against evil, the two men are driven apart by a conflict of opinion that ultimately leads to the eternal war between Magneto's Brotherhood and Professor X's X-Men.

Animated adventure sequel featuring the voice talents of Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, Jamie Foxx and Andy Garcia. Following their romantic escapades in the first film, Blu (voice of Eisenberg) and Jewel (Hathaway) are now happily married macaws with three children. Adventure lies in wait for the fledgling family when they leave Rio de Janeiro for the wilds of the Amazon to visit relatives. Not only does Jewel's estranged father Eduardo (Garcia) intimidate Blu - who is already out of his comfort zone so far from the city - but Nigel (Jermaine Clement), his nemesis, returns with his heart set on revenge. To complicate matters further, Blu and Jewel learn that the fragile habitat of the Amazon faces a grave threat. Can the couple save the environment that nourishes the creatures they visit and cope with the many challenges thrown their way?

Animated comedy adventure featuring the voice talents of Jesse Eisenberg and Anne Hathaway. Blu (voiced by Eisenberg) is a rare macaw living in a bookshop in small-town Minnesota. Believing himself to be the last of his kind, he is thrilled to hear that a female macaw of the same species has been spotted in South America. Blu must now overcome his social ineptitude and fear of flying and set out for Rio de Janeiro to track down the feisty and independent Jewel (Hathaway) and try to win her heart.

This book by the author of Why Am I Afraid to Love? contains insights on self-awareness, personal growth and communication with others. Why do people continually hide their real selves from the people around them? Why are so many so insecure and afraid to open up? The answer, explains John Powell, is that maturity is reached by communicating and interacting with others. This book considers the consequences our real self faces if no one else ever finds out what we are like. In this enduring classic, the companion to Why Am I Afraid to Love?, John Powell explains how to be more emotionally open, and shows how people adopt roles and play psychological games to protect their inner selves. The courage to be our real selves can be developed, and then we can begin to grow. Now newly designed for a fresh audience, Why Am I Afraid to Tell You Who I Am? is as relevant as it has been for twenty years. With a proven track record, it continues to speak to the needs and aspirations of people today. It is best included in self help sections of general bookshops, but also has a religious appeal.

Paul Greengrass directs this Iraq war thriller loosely based on the book 'Imperial Life in the Emerald City' by Washington Post journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran.

Matt Damon stars as Chief Army Warrant Officer Roy Miller, a specialist soldier who joins forces with Wall Street reporter Lawrie Dayne (Amy Ryan) to expose the hotbed of covert and faulty intelligence surrounding the search for Iraq's cache of weapons of mass destruction.

The third film in the popular 'X-Men' film franchise. When a private laboratory supported by the government finds the cure for the mutants, using the DNA of a powerful boy, the mutants have the option of giving up their powers and becoming human. However, Magneto (Ian McKellen) opposes and decides to join a force to fight against the government and kill the mutant boy. Meanwhile, Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) resurrects uncontrolled by Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and with the personality of the powerful Dark Phoenix. She destroys Cyclops (James Marsden) and Xavier, and allies to the evil forces of Magneto, making them almost invincible.

Big budget, CGI-animated update of the classic Dr Seuss parable, with Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, Carol Burnett and Seth Rogen among the actors providing the voice talent. A jungle elephant named Horton (Carrey) discovers a race of tiny beings living in a solitary dandelion. Recognising the dangers they face, the friendly pachyderm resolves to keep his microscopic pals safe. However, as Horton is the only one who hears the inhabitants of 'Whoville', his other animal pals are convinced he's gone crazy and resolve to do something about it. Horton and his miniscule friends must struggle against these impossible odds to prevent disaster.

Treating the cultural giants of the 20th century, this volume traces their reading habits and intellectual development, as well as their contributions to Western culture. Suggesting the literary influences on these figures, the book includes 355 entries on people from a broad range of fields, including scientists, politicians, business figures, writers, religious leaders, and figures from the performing arts and popular culture. The volume is a handy companion to Powell's earlier volume, Biographical Dictionary of Literary Influences: The Nineteenth Century, 1800-1914. Reflecting non-Western influences on Western culture, the volume includes such Asian and African figures as Mohandas Gandhi and Wole Soyinka, while also covering the significant Western figures. As the volume recognizes, forms of cultural influence evolved in the 20th century to include more aural and visual influences. Yet the volume still reveals fascinating literary influences throughout the century.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 7th European Lean Educator Conference ELEC 2021, hosted in Trondheim, Norway, in October 2021 and sponsored by IFIP WG 5.7. The conference was held virtually. The 42 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 82 submissions. They are organized in the following thematic sections: Learning Lean; Teaching Lean in the Digital Era; Lean and Digital; Lean 4.0; Lean Management; Lean Coaching and Mentoring; Skills and Knowledge Management; Productivity and Performance Improvement; New Perspectives of Lean.

Matt Damon returns to star as the deadly CIA assassin in this espionage thriller directed by Paul Greengrass. After spending years off the grid, former agent Bourne (Damon) unexpectedly emerges from the shadows in search of more answers surrounding his hazy past. Meanwhile, new CIA Director Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones) is dealing with the fallout following a major cyber-attack, and authorises a new program to hunt down Bourne after he shows up on agency surveillance systems. Desperate to keep one step ahead of his relentless pursuers, Bourne seeks the help of ex-contact Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles), and once again finds himself on the run across the globe and unable to trust anyone. The cast also includes Alicia Vikander, Riz Ahmed and Ato Essandoh.

This book offers original economic analyses on the economy-environment relationship in Eastern and Central Europe. Drawing on the Hungarian experience, it provides empirical evidence on the reform of environmental policy which can be applicable to similar problems in other transition economies.The macroeconomic shocks of the transition process in Central and Eastern Europe have been exceptional in both their intensity and speed. The implications of this adjustment process are examined in relation to their effects on environmental policy, with special emphasis on the rethinking of standard environmental policy recommendations for transition economies. The authors focus on a variety of issues including the environmental concerns raised by the privatization process and to what extent the less rigorous environmental regulations in Hungary attract foreign direct investment. There is also a critical overview of the existing literature and an examination of the costs of reducing air pollution and the use of the contingent valuation method to measure the economic benefits of improving air quality in Hungary. In addition the authors assess the effects of industrial restructuring on emissions and analyse incentive-based policy measures including prospects for emission trading. Their conclusions challenge the common perception that energy pricing policy is the most important policy measure to induce structural changes in transition economies that are beneficial to the environment. Economics for Environmental Policy in Transition Economies will be of interest to policymakers, academics and postgraduates working in the fields of transition economics, environmental economics and environmental valuation.

Box set containing all three films from the hugely popular 'X-Men' film franchise based on the long-running Marvel comic strip. In 'X-Men' (2000), mutants Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellen) are former friends, but look set to become mortal enemies when fascistic US senator Robert Frank Kelly (Bruce Davison) calls for the registration of all humans with abnormal powers. While telepath Xavier, who runs an altruistic academy for superhuman 'X-Men', wishes to enlighten non-mutants and break down the prejudices which divide them, Magneto believes that the only solution is for the mutants to take over. Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) - an aggressive loner with an admantium skeleton and the ability to heal his body of any wound - and teenager Rogue (Anna Paquin), who can absorb the life force of others simply by touching them, are selected by Xavier to join his academy, but it isn't long before Magneto's followers are attempting to capture them so that they can assist in his plan for world domination. In 'X-Men 2' (2003), Professor Charles Xavier, Wolverine, and the Academy for Gifted Youngsters, aka the X-Men, find themselves in the firing line after a failed assasination attempt on the President points the finger at the school. It was in fact the mysterious teleporter Nightwalker (Alan Cumming) who ordered it, and, in an attempt to clear their names, the X-Men are led into a trap set by the evil William Stryker (Brian Cox) - a mysterious scientist apparently working for the government. As it soon becomes evident that Stryker's agenda is to destroy all mutants, the X-Men need to call in the help of many of their old friends and foe, including Magneto (McKellen), if they are to stop him. In 'X-Men 3: The Last Stand' (2006), when a private laboratory supported by the government finds the cure for the mutants, using the DNA of a powerful boy, the mutants have the option of giving up their powers and becoming human. However, Magneto (McKellen) opposes and decides to join a force to fight against the government and kill the mutant boy. Meanwhile, Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) resurrects uncontrolled by Xavier and with the personality of the powerful Dark Phoenix. She destroys Cyclops (James Marsden) and Xavier, and allies to the evil forces of Magneto, making them almost invincible.

Over the past two decades, the process of cultural development and, in particular, the role of reading has been of growing interest, but recent research has been episodic and idiosyncratic. In this biographical dictionary, research devoted specifically to the reading habits of 19th century individuals who shaped Western culture is brought together for the first time. While giving prominent coverage to literary and political figures, the volume's 270 entries also include musicians, painters, educators, and explorers. Each entry includes brief biographical information, a concise summary of literary influences on the subject, and clear direction for further research. The book provides a practical tool for scholars wishing to trace the reading experience of important Western cultural figures.

Subjects were selected from the people most responsible for the cultural development of Europe, Britain and the British Empire, and the Americas between 1800 and 1914. Although selective, the sample of 270 figures is substantial enough to suggest broad, cross-cultural habits and effects, enabling scholars to better understand the relationship between reading and culture. In an introductory essay, Powell explores the patterns and relationships that can be discerned from the entries. The first of three anticipated volumes, the book is an important step forward in researching the role of reading in cultural development.

In Last Poem for Sarah & Other Poems, John Powell Ward, now at the age of eighty-five and in the seventh decade of his career, offers memorable work on childhood and recollections of Wales. Most poignant though is his commentary on grief in the titular elegy for his late wife, Sarah. Last Poem for Sarah contains a sequence of fourteen sonnets of 'childhood and after', where intense memories of joy and pain are captured precisely. There are striking stories here, like that of a mother desperately trying to appease and breastfeed her baby on the train. There is the tale of a grammar school teacher who regularly erupted into violence and hit the boys with the lids of their desks, and a vivid portrait of brothers visiting a log cabin in Ontario where ice is ten feet thick. A sequence of poems about experiences of Wales is rich and well-observed capturing a strong sense of time and place, for example in 'Toby Jugs in the White Lion at Ferryside Station, Dyfed'. Recollections range around important figures from the Welsh arts like a memorable encounter with R.S.Thomas who is drawn into conversation by the sighting of a chough, or the parable about the house of Welsh architect and painter, Ernest Morgan, a recluse in his lifetime but whose house now brims with tourists. Altogether, Last Poem for Sarah is a highly satisfying read from a poet with a wealth of recollections from a life well-lived. In the poems looking back at the past, Ward captures nuances and flavours of the twentieth century. With a Wordworthian appreciation for 'unremembered acts' that take on great importance, Ward reaches back into history, childhood, adulthood and loss and sets those memories aflame.

Gardens provoke thought and engagement in ways that are often overlooked. This book shines new light on long-held assumptions about gardens and proposes novel ways in which we might reconsider them. The author challenges traditional views of how we experience gardens, how we might think of gardens as works of art, and how the everyday materials of gardens - plants, light, water, earth - may become artful. The author provides a detailed analysis of Tupare, a garden in New Zealand, and uses it as source material for his analysis of the philosophical issues art gardens raise. His new account of gardens highlights the polymodal, multi-sensual, and improvisatory character of the garden experience, it offers an ontological comparison between gardens and humans and other animals, and it explains how identical plants, and arrangements of plants, may be mundane when encountered beyond the garden but artful, meaningful, and aesthetically valuable when experienced within it.

Proven Player serves as an instructional manual to be used by coaches and athletes to strengthen the development of their character as it pertains to sports and life. In this life there seems to always be a need to prove one's self and with that thought a person needs to know what it takes to demonstrate the accurate character traits that makes one a "Proven Player." If a person is to know how to handle certain situations on the plateau of their given sport or within this life, he or she will need a plan to insure that the situations on the playing field and in life are responded to in a proper manner that brings a greater passion for life and those around them that are affected by their responses. Proven Player is that plan!

The book is divided into two major sections: (1) "Reclaiming Integration"; (2) "Reclaiming the Language of Race." Both sections are located in the context of the "post-racial" era and analyzed by nationally renowned scholars in various dimensions. The purpose of this organization is to link structural efforts to encourage voluntary integration with discursive efforts to broaden our social understanding of race in ways that advance the project of American democracy. It is our firm belief that we cannot achieve meaningful advances against enduring racial inequalities without linking structural impacts of racialization (e.g., racial inequalities in economics, education, healthcare, etc.) to the social discourse of race, specifically in terms of the rejection of post-racial politics that are based on the false idea that racism and discrimination are no longer obstacles to opportunity in the United States.

The book is divided into two major sections: (1) "Reclaiming Integration"; (2) "Reclaiming the Language of Race." Both sections are located in the context of the "post-racial" era and analyzed by nationally renowned scholars in various dimensions. The purpose of this organization is to link structural efforts to encourage voluntary integration with discursive efforts to broaden our social understanding of race in ways that advance the project of American democracy. It is our firm belief that we cannot achieve meaningful advances against enduring racial inequalities without linking structural impacts of racialization (e.g., racial inequalities in economics, education, healthcare, etc.) to the social discourse of race, specifically in terms of the rejection of post-racial politics that are based on the false idea that racism and discrimination are no longer obstacles to opportunity in the United States.

While much recent attention has been focused on the subprime lending and foreclosure crisis, little has been said about its radically-disparate impact. Drawing upon history as well as insight into the current crisis, this book shows that this crisis is not an anomaly, especially for people of color; nor is it over. People of color have been excluded from wealth-building opportunities via homeownership continuously throughout United States history, from the outright denial of credit and residential racial discrimination, to federally-sponsored urban renewal programs. The subprime lending and foreclosure crisis is predicted to strip a quarter of a trillion dollars in wealth from black and Latino homeowners. It has reversed home ownership gains for people of color and has decimated neighborhoods across the United States while impacting local, regional, national, and international economies. The consequences are devastating. This collection of essays provides a framework for creating equitable policy and ultimately building more stable communities for all Americans.

Animated comedy adventure featuring the voice talents of Jesse Eisenberg and Anne Hathaway. Blu (voiced by Eisenberg) is a rare macaw living in a bookshop in small-town Minnesota. Believing himself to be the last of his kind, he is thrilled to hear that a female macaw of the same species has been spotted in South America. Blu must now overcome his social ineptitude and fear of flying and set out for Rio de Janeiro to track down the feisty and independent Jewel (Hathaway) and try to win her heart.

This volume traces the development of Ghana's informal engineering section through stories of the progress of the actual people involved. The first generation of grassroots engineers are wayside vehicle mechanics, or "fitters", engaged in repairing imported machinery. The author argues that the evolution of the fitter from this role to that of a manufacturer of tools, machines and equipment serving a wide range of "secondary" urban and rural industries is central to progress in engineering, and that engineering - and engineers - are central to the develoment of an economy.;The book charts the progress of the men and women who have been able to make this transformation, with the assistance of the Technology Consultancy Centre and the Intermediate Technology Transfer Unit. It shows that all progress depends upon the human factor; on the people with the courage, the entrepreneurial qualities and the skill eneded to pioneer any new industrial and commercial activity. All this the author sets in the context of the national and international economies, the policies of development agencies - and the slowly evolving background of social infrastructure and skills.

The capacity to love is in everyone. Yet so often it remains trapped and waiting to be released. In this text the author confronts the barriers that restrain. He looks at the fear of rejection, the motives for love, how to truly understand the inner self and what true love looks like. He then considers the true test of love: can self be forgotten in loving others.