Born with cystic fibrosis, 28 year old Ethan Rice faces his demise with a dark sense of humour and more concern about what his passing will mean to those he leaves behind than for himself.
Parents, educators, students and college admissions professionals all intimately understand the financial, emotional and intellectual burden of the SAT/ACT—tests that are not only an integral part of the college admissions process for most American students, but also can be a rite of passage for teenagers in the United States. Even as adults, few of us forget our score, or how we felt about what it took to earn it. The Test & the Art of Thinking traces the history and evolution of the SAT/ACT as a major player on the pathway to higher education in America, and it documents its current power in our culture. In so doing, it strives to support individuals who are embarking on the road to college, by examining what the SAT/ACT measures and means, and asking a range of educational leaders, admissions professionals and stakeholders in the test—from tutors to parents to test designers—to grapple with the test’s use, ramifications and future.
On the south shore of Long Island in the summer of 1982, a group of working-class teenagers and 20-somethings work their summer jobs, fall in and out of love, and wrestle with what the future holds when the summer ends and the real world beckons.
In Dublin, two couples (Jim and Danielle; Yvonne and Chris) are seemingly living in marital bliss. However, when Chris's behaviour begins to change, Yvonne seeks solace in the arms of Jim, and before long they are in the midst of an affair. When a life-changing secret is later revealed, all four are forced to re-evaluate their lives, their marriages, and their friendships - but can anything be salvaged from the wreckage?
A ragtag group of former TV stars and comic book artists who make their living working at conventions decide to steal the loot from a crooked promoter and an overbearing former TV icon.
To send humanity to a distant galaxy, the mysterious CEO of The Fuller Corporation must develop a cutting-edge computer-brain interface to keep his hibernating colonizers safe and sane for a journey of unknown length.
An Armenian-American journalist turns into an unwilling ghost hunter while researching the sudden deaths in her family and their connection to a paranormal mystery.
After being sent to Nigeria against his will, a stubborn Nigerian-American teenager joins forces with an internet scammer in order to return to the United States.
Andy is a front desk clerk with a little ambition until he finds his muse. Hayley is a beautiful shampoo girl chasing big dreams in NYC. When their worlds collide in a hapless run-in, the starstruck lovers assume false identities and follow the script of life from the same self-improvement book which lead to potentially bigger problems than they could have ever dreamed.
A woman learns about the death of her Orthodox Jewish father, a rabbi. She returns home and has romantic feelings rekindled for her best childhood friend, who is now married to her cousin.
Eric, the top investment manager at his firm, is assigned to help Julia, the stunning owner of a recently acquired company. He falls for her, and realizes he has to go back in time to meet her before she becomes engaged.
A company of actors arrive at a castle deep in the Irish countryside and set into motion the story of Shakespeare's Hamlet. The lives of the actors and their characters intertwine as Prince Hamlet confronts the ghost of his father and seeks revenge on the treacherous Claudius, his uncle and newly appointed king. Hamlet's pursuit of vengeance scorches the lives of everyone inside the castle walls and lays bare the many contradictions and ambiguities of human existence. At the play's end, seven days have passed and the actors emerge, leaving the castle and characters behind.
In search of transcendence through stone skipping, an idealistic drifter arrives in a quiet lakeside town. Facing resistance from unimpressed locals, and pursued by members of his former skipping crew, he is forced to consider the merit of his lifelong quest.
The persona of a celebrated author is threatened when her best friend and muse reveals the dark secret behind her first novel's provenance, igniting an incendiary tale of sex, lies and betrayal.
Nineteen-year old Leon returns home to take care of his alcoholic mother and adjust to life as an adult after an adolescence spent in and out of foster care. Frustrated by his lack of an education and his bleak financial prospects, Leon finds solace in the boxing ring. He soon meets the rebellious and beautiful Twiggy, who is squatting in abandoned houses to escape her family’s unfeeling affluence. As rumblings of riots begin in the streets and police and protesters engulf his neighborhood, Leon must decide whether to join his friends and fight or seek a new life with Twiggy.