1.
The Lost City of Z (book)
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The Lost City of Z, A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon is the debut non-fiction book by American author David Grann. It tells the story of the British explorer Percy Fawcett who, in 1925, for decades, explorers and scientists have tried to find evidence of his party and the Lost City of Z. Perhaps as many as 100 people perished or disappeared searching for Fawcett over the years, Grann made his own journey into the Amazon, revealing new evidence about how Fawcett died and showing that Z may have really existed right under his feet. The city was surrounded by not merely a single moat but several in concentric circles, what was more, Heckenberger found evidence of wooden structures and roads that cut through the jungle. There was black Indian earth which showed evidence of making the infertile soil of the Amazon rich for planting. Perhaps most intriguing were the parallels between the site, referred to as Kuhikugu, and tribes of the area. Even the villages were laid out in patterns similar to the sites of the ancient cities. Kuhikugu encompasses more than 20 settlements, each supporting as many as 5,000 people with a sense of engineering. Though made of wood instead of stone, the society flourished from approximately 200 A. D. until around 1600 according to carbon dating data obtained from the moats and pottery. These people overlapped with the coming of the Europeans to the New World, the New York Times critic Michiko Kakutani named it one of the ten best books of 2009. Mr. Grann treats us to a reconstruction of Fawcett’s forays into the Amazonian jungle. It reads with all the pace and excitement of a thriller and all the verisimilitude. It was also reviewed by author Simon Winchester in The Wall Street Journal, barnes & Noble named The Lost City of Z the single best nonfiction book of 2009. The adaptation, directed by James Gray, who wrote the screenplay, premiered on October 15,2016. The film stars Charlie Hunnam as Percy Fawcett, Sienna Miller as Fawcetts wife, Tom Holland as Jack Fawcett, the Lost City of Z, A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon. A paperback edition was released in January 2010, the Lost City of Z has been translated into more than 25 languages. Lost City of Z, The New Yorker, September 15,2005, original article that led to the book. Lost City of Z, official book website, the Lost City of Z, Chapter 1, book excerpt, The Wall Street Journal The search for a mythical lost city, NPR interview with David Grann Anonymous
The Lost City of Z (book)
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First edition cover design
2.
Robert Pattinson
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Robert Douglas Thomas Pattinson is an English actor, producer, model, and musician. Pattinson started his career by playing Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Twilight brought Pattinson worldwide fame, and established him among the highest paid, in 2009, he portrayed Salvador Dalí in Little Ashes. That same year, a film, Robsessed, about the actors fame. He appeared as a young man in Remember Me and also starred in a romantic drama. His performance as a tough, cold-hearted and calculating billionaire in David Cronenbergs Cosmopolis, Pattinson started his career as a model at the age of 12. In 2013 Dior Homme signed him as the face of their Fragrances, in 2016, he also became the first brand ambassador of their Menswear collection. Pattinson composes and plays his own music and he has sang songs for Twilight film series and the 2008 independent comedy-drama film How to Be. He became ambassador of the latter in 2015 to help raise awareness of it. He is also a member of International Medical Corps and has promoted and shared details about cancer through PSAs to raise awareness about the disease and his father, Richard, imported vintage cars from the United States, and his mother, Clare, worked for a modelling agency. Pattinson has two sisters, Victoria and singer Elizabeth Lizzy Pattinson. Growing up in Barnes, London, he attended Tower House School until he was 12 and he became involved in amateur theatre at the Barnes Theatre Company. He auditioned and was cast in a role in Guys. He next auditioned for Thornton Wilders Our Town, and was cast as George Gibbs and he also appeared in Anything Goes and Macbeth. He caught the attention of an agent in a production of Tess of the dUrbervilles. In May 2005, he was scheduled to appear in the UK premiere of The Woman Before at the Royal Court Theatre, later that year he played Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. For this role he was named that years British Star of Tomorrow by The Times and had more than once been hailed as the next Jude Law. In 2006, Pattinson appeared in The Haunted Airman a psychological thriller, aired on BBC Four on 31 October, the Stage praised his performance by saying that played the airman of the title with a perfect combination of youthful terror and world weary cynicism
Robert Pattinson
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Pattinson at GO Campaign 's charity function in November 2014
Robert Pattinson
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Pattinson at the Photocall for The Twilight Saga: New Moon at the Crillon Hotel in Paris in 2009
Robert Pattinson
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Pattinson at the New York premiere of Water for Elephants
Robert Pattinson
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Pattinson at the photocall of The Rover at 2014 Cannes Film Festival, May 2014
3.
Sienna Miller
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Sienna Rose Diana Miller is a British-American actress, model, and fashion designer. Her film roles include the crime thriller Layer Cake, the comedy Alfie, the biopic Factory Girl, the drama The Edge of Love, in 2014, she starred in two biographical dramas, Foxcatcher, playing Nancy Schultz, and American Sniper, portraying Taya Renae Kyle. Born in New York City, United States, Miller moved to London with her family when she was just over a year old and her mother, Josephine, is a South African-born English former model. Her father, Edwin Miller, is an American banker turned dealer of Chinese art, Miller has a sister, Savannah, and two half-brothers, Charles and Stephen, as well as a step brother, Tanner. Miller attended Heathfield School, Ascot, a school in Ascot, Berkshire. In 2001, she made her film début with South Kensington, with Rupert Everett and Elle Macpherson, in 2004 Miller had a supporting role in the remake Alfie with Jude Law and in Layer Cake. In 2007, Miller had a role in Matthew Vaughns adaptation Stardust and played a starlet to Steve Buscemis reporter in Interview. Later in 2007, she portrayed an undead bride opposite James Franco in Camille and she appeared in the 2009 live-action film adaptation of the comic book and cartoon G. I. Joe, The Rise of Cobra, playing The Baroness and she starred as Patricia in the London production of Flare Path at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in 2011. Then in 2012, she starred in The Girl, an HBO film about the relationship between director Alfred Hitchcock and actress Tippi Hedren, in 2014, Miller appeared in Bennett Millers Foxcatcher and Clint Eastwoods American Sniper playing Taya Renae Kyle. Her 2015 films included High-Rise and Burnt and she will take over the role after Emma Stones scheduled departure from the production on 15 February and will perform for the remaining six weeks of the shows engagement, until 29 March. She was selected to be on the jury for the competition section of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. She co-starred in Ben Afflecks period crime drama Live by Night, before her professional acting career, Miller worked as a photographic model. She signed with Tandy Anderson of Select Model Management London, and modelled for Coca-Cola, Italian Vogue, and posed topless in the 2003 Pirelli Calendar. Miller has also been associated with the style of fashion that became known as boho chic. Miller signed a contract with Pepe Jeans London, the jeans ad campaign first appeared in magazines March 2006. In February 2009, Hugo Boss Fragrances announced that Miller would be the new ambassador for their womens BOSS Orange womens perfume, in 2006 it was announced that Miller would design a fashion capsule for Pepe Jeans, the project was later expanded to become a complete fashion label. Called Twenty8Twelve, it gets its name from Millers date of birth and is backed by Pepe Jeans
Sienna Miller
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Miller, jury member at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival
Sienna Miller
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Miller at the Military Fashion Show in 2008
4.
Tom Holland (actor)
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Thomas Stanley Holland is an English actor and dancer. Holland was born in Kingston upon Thames, London, to Nicola Elizabeth, a photographer, and Dominic Holland, who is a comedian and author. He has three brothers, twins Sam and Harry, three years younger, the latter of whom appears in the 2013 film Diana, and Patrick and his paternal grandparents were born on the Isle of Man and Ireland. As of December 2012, he was attending The BRIT School for Performing Arts, Holland began dancing at a hip hop class at Nifty Feet Dance School in Wimbledon. His potential was spotted by choreographer Lynne Page when he performed with his school as part of the 2006 Richmond Dance Festival. After eight auditions and subsequent two years of training, on 28 June 2008, Holland made his West End debut in Billy Elliot the Musical as Michael and he gave his first performance in the title role on 8 September 2008, receiving positive notices. In September 2008, Holland appeared on the programme on channel FIVE. The following year, he was featured on ITV1 show The Feel Good Factor and he trained five British schoolboys for a dance routine he front for the final The Feel Good Factor show on 28 March 2009. On 8 March 2010, to mark the anniversary of Billy Elliot the Musical, four current Billy Elliots. Holland was chosen to be a lead at the show on 31 March 2010. Holland had been appearing on a basis as Billy in Billy Elliot the Musical. In 2011, Holland was cast in the British version of the animated film Arrietty and he provided a voice for the principal character Sho. Holland starred in The Impossible, directed by Juan Antonio Bayona, alongside Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on 9 September 2012, Holland was featured in Screen Internationals UK Stars of Tomorrow –2012 and was among the newcomers chosen for the inaugural British Academy of Film and Television Arts Breakthrough Brits in 2013. Holland played Isaac in How I Live Now, released in the U. K. on 4 October 2013, also in 2015, he appeared in BBC Twos TV series Wolf Hall, as Peer Gregory Cromwell. As of December 2016, Holland is currently in negotiations to co-star as Todd Hewitt in the adaptation of Patrick Nesss bestselling YA series Chaos Walking along with Daisy Ridley. In 2017, he star in The Current War as Samuel Insull. Billy Elliot the Musical casts Tom Holland at the Internet Movie Database Tom Holland on Twitter Tom Holland on Instagram media. gettyimages. com
Tom Holland (actor)
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Holland in London, 31 March 2010
Tom Holland (actor)
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Holland (center) performing at the 5th anniversary of Billy Elliot the Musical, 31 March 2010
5.
Angus Macfadyen
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He has made appearances on several television series such as Californication, Criminal Minds and the final season of Chuck. He currently stars as Robert Rogers in the AMC historical drama Turn, Washingtons Spies, Macfadyen was born in Glasgow, Scotland and lived a colourful childhood, being brought up in such places as the Philippines, Africa, Singapore and France. His father was a doctor in the World Health Organization, Macfadyen attended the University of Edinburgh and the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. Macfadyens first role was Philip in the made for television The Lost Language of Cranes. He portrayed a man who must tell his parents that he is gay. Playing the role of his father was fellow Scottish actor Brian Cox and that role led to his role as Robert the Bruce in Mel Gibsons film Braveheart. He also co-starred alongside Don Cheadle and Ray Liotta when he played Peter Lawford in the HBO film The Rat Pack, Macfadyen played Orson Welles in Tim Robbinss third directorial film Cradle Will Rock. Although the film received a nomination for the Palme dOr at Cannes, Macfadyen next made the Shakespearan film Titus, alongside Anthony Hopkins, where he played Lucius, eldest son of Titus Andronicus. Directed by Julie Taymor, the film was a critical triumph, after the noir film Second Skin, Macfadyen acted in a number of poorly received films. One such film was the action film Styx which starred Peter Weller, a year later, he acted in the comedy film Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood alongside a number of famous names, Sandra Bullock, Ellen Burstyn, Maggie Smith and Ashley Judd. That same year, Macfadyen took the role of Vice-Counsel Dupont in Equilibrium, the film, also starring Christian Bale, Sean Bean, Taye Diggs and Emily Watson, is set in the future, where a fascist regime forbids all emotions. Macfadyen acted as Marcus Crassus in the TV version of Spartacus, the character of Bill in The Pleasure Drivers, and he then played the pirate Blackbeard in a television film of the same name. His next big role was that of Jeff Denlon in Saw III, Jeff is a man obsessed with revenge, and he is led into a series of traps that test his ability to forgive. The film was a hit for its 10 million dollar budget. Macfadyen then co-starred in the box office bomb Redline, the year he appeared in Saw IV. Macfadyen continued making films, starring as the outlaw Will Tunney in his western film Shadowheart and he has appeared on television on the series Californication and Killer Wave. He has also acted in the mystery film San Saba and the thriller film Clean Break and he starred as Lucas Blackstone in the Christian film Taken by Grace. Currently Macfadyen stars as Robert Rogers in AMCs historical drama series Turn, Washingtons Spies, in late 2014, he began principal photography on Macbeth, a feature-length film adaptation of the Shakespearean play in which he stars and directs
Angus Macfadyen
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Angus Macfadyen in the film Timeless
6.
Ian McDiarmid
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Ian McDiarmid is an Olivier and Tony award-winning Scottish character actor and director. He has appeared in 47 films since 1976, internationally, he is most famous for his role as Palpatine in the Star Wars film series. McDiarmid was born in Carnoustie, Scotland and he became a theatre aficionado when he was five years old, when his father took him to see an act named Tommy Morgan at a theatre in Dundee. In 2004, he stated, It sort of fascinated me, all those lights, all that make-up. I said to myself, I dont know what this is, however, fearing his fathers disapproval, McDiarmid attended Queens College, Dundee, part of the University of St Andrews, where he received an M. A. in psychology. Soon after, he decided to pursue a career in the theatre instead, in 1968, McDiarmid received a gold medal for his work, the first of many recognitions given to him for his work in the theatre. McDiarmid claimed he became its recipient by doing all the jobs you have to do when you are young. McDiarmid is renowned for his work in British theatre, having won plaudits as an actor and director from a variety of sources. He has starred in a variety of Shakespeare plays, including Hamlet, The Tempest, Much Ado About Nothing, Ross, from April to June 2012, he played the title role in Timon of Athens at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. He played Ivanov in Tom Stoppards play Every Good Boy Deserves Favour at the Mermaid Theatre in 1978, the two men resigned in 2001 with the venue in good shape. In 1998, they shared the Special Evening Standard Award for Theatrical Achievement of the Year and their tenure was marked by a string of highly successful performances involving actors such as Kevin Spacey and Ralph Fiennes. While connected with the Almeida, McDiarmid directed plays such as Venice Preservd, in 2002, McDiarmid won Almeida Theatres Critics Circle Award for Best Actor for his role as Teddy in a revival of Brian Friels Faith Healer. Five years later in 2006, he reprised this role in his debut on Broadway, directed by Kent, he performed alongside Ralph Fiennes and Cherry Jones, and won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play. One theatrical performance of note is his portrayal of Harry Hackamore in Sam Shepards play Seduced, by McDiarmids own description, Hackamore was a Howard Hughes-type character. To play the part, he was made-up in prosthetics, including a false beard, after a minor part in the film Dragonslayer, McDiarmid was cast by George Lucas in Return of the Jedi as Emperor Palpatine, the main villain. In the 2004 re-release of The Empire Strikes Back, a scene between Darth Vader and a hologram of Emperor Palpatine was updated to include McDiarmid. McDiarmid made an appearance during Celebration Europe. Ian McDiarmid also voiced a pig version of Palpatine for a video on Angry Birds Star Wars II
Ian McDiarmid
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McDiarmid at 2007 Celebration Europe.
7.
Biographical film
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A biographical film, or biopic, is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a person and the central characters real name is used. Because the figures portrayed are actual people, whose actions and characteristics are known to the public, biopic roles are considered some of the most demanding of actors and actresses. Biopic scholars include George F. Custen of the College of Staten Island, Custen, in Bio/Pics, How Hollywood Constructed Public History, regards the genre as having died with the Hollywood studio era, and in particular, Darryl F. Zanuck. On the other hand, Binghams 2010 study Whose Lives Are They Anyway, ellen Cheshires Bio-Pics, a life in pictures examines UK/US films from the 1990s and 2000s. Each chapter reviews key films linked by profession and concludes with further viewing list, christopher Robé has also written on the gender norms that underlie the biopic in his article, Taking Hollywood Back in the 2009 issue of Cinema Journal. The Hurricane is not a documentary but a parable, some biopics purposely stretch the truth. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind was based on game show host Chuck Barris widely debunked yet popular memoir of the same name, Kafka incorporated both the life of author Franz Kafka and the surreal aspects of his fiction. The Errol Flynn film They Died with Their Boots On tells the story of Custer but is highly romanticized, casting can be controversial for biographical films. Casting is often a balance between similarity in looks and ability to portray the characteristics of the person, anthony Hopkins felt that he should not have played Richard Nixon in Nixon because of a lack of resemblance between the two. The casting of John Wayne as Genghis Khan in The Conqueror was objected to because of the American Wayne being cast as the Mongol warlord. Egyptian critics criticized the casting of Louis Gossett, Jr. an African American actor, also, some objected to the casting of Jennifer Lopez in Selena because she is a New York City native of Puerto Rican descent while Selena was Mexican-American. Biographical novel Biography in literature List of biographical films
Biographical film
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Chapaev
8.
Percy Fawcett
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Lieutenant Colonel Percival Harrison Fawcett DSO was a British geographer, artillery officer, cartographer, archaeologist and explorer of South America. Percy Fawcett was born on 18 August 1867 in Torquay, Devon, England, to Edward Boyd Fawcett and he received his education at Newton Abbot Proprietary College along with Bertram Fletcher Robinson. Percy Fawcetts India-born father was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and his elder brother Edward Douglas Fawcett was a mountain climber, Eastern occultist and author of philosophical books and popular adventure novels. Fawcett attended the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, as a cadet, on 13 January 1896 he was appointed adjutant of the 1st Cornwall Artillery Volunteers, and was promoted to captain on 15 June 1897. He later served in Trincomalee, Ceylon, where he met his future wife. He married Nina Agnes Paterson in January 1901 after having previously ended their engagement and they had two sons, Jack and Brian. He joined the RGS himself in 1901 in order to study surveying and mapmaking, later, he worked for the British Secret Service in North Africa while pursuing the surveyors craft. He served for the war office on Spike Island, County Cork from 1903 to 1906 and he became friends with authors H. Rider Haggard and Arthur Conan Doyle, the latter used Fawcetts Amazonian field reports as an inspiration for his novel, The Lost World. Fawcetts first expedition to South America was in 1906 when at the age of 39 he travelled to Brazil to map an area at the border of Brazil. The Society had been commissioned to map the area as a third party unbiased by local national interests and he arrived in La Paz, Bolivia in June. Whilst on the expedition in 1907, Fawcett claimed to have seen and shot a 62 foot long giant anaconda, Fawcett made seven expeditions between 1906 and 1924. He was mostly amicable with the locals by gifts, patience, in 1908, he traced the source of the Rio Verde and in 1910 made a journey to Heath River to find its source, having retired from the army on 19 January. After a 1913 expedition, he claimed to have seen dogs with double noses. These may have been Double-nosed Andean tiger hounds, based on documentary research, Fawcett had by 1914 formulated ideas about a lost city he named Z somewhere in the Mato Grosso region of Brazil. He theorized that a complex civilization once existed in the Amazon region and this city became a secondary destination for Fawcett, after Z. After the war Fawcett returned to Brazil to study local wildlife, in 1920, he made a solo attempt to search for Z, but ended after suffering from a fever and shooting his pack animal. Fawcett left instructions stating that if the expedition did not return, Fawcett was a man with years of experience travelling, and had brought equipment such as canned foods, powdered milk, guns, flares, a sextant, and a chronometer. On 20 April 1925 his final expedition departed from Cuiabá, in addition to his two principal companions, Fawcett was accompanied by two Brazilian labourers, two horses, eight mules, and a pair of dogs
Percy Fawcett
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Fawcett in 1911
9.
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria
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His assassination in Sarajevo precipitated Austria-Hungarys declaration of war against Serbia. This caused the Central Powers and Serbias allies to declare war on each other, Franz Ferdinand was born in Graz, Austria, the eldest son of Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria and of his second wife, Princess Maria Annunciata of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. In 1875, when he was eleven years old, his cousin Duke Francis V of Modena died. Franz Ferdinand thus became one of the wealthiest men in Austria, in 1889, Franz Ferdinands life changed dramatically. His cousin Crown Prince Rudolf committed suicide at his lodge in Mayerling. This left Franz Ferdinands father, Karl Ludwig, as first in line to the throne, Karl Ludwig died of typhoid fever in 1896. Henceforth, Franz Ferdinand was groomed to succeed to the throne, despite this burden, he did manage to find time for travel and personal pursuits, such as the trip round the world he embarked on in 1892. After visiting India he spent time hunting kangaroos and emus in Australia in 1893, then travelled on to Nouméa, New Hebrides, Solomon Islands, New Guinea, Sarawak, Hong Kong and Japan. After sailing across the Pacific on the RMS Empress of China from Yokohama to Vancouver he crossed the United States and this caused both barrels of the gun he was carrying to be discharged, the shot passing within a few feet of the archduke and myself. I have often wondered whether the Great War might not have been averted, or at least postponed, had the archduke met his death there, Franz Ferdinand had a fondness for trophy hunting that was excessive even by the standards of European nobility of this time. In his diaries he kept track of an estimated 300,000 game kills,5,000 of which were deer, about 100,000 trophies were on exhibit at his Bohemian castle at Konopiště which he also stuffed with various antiquities, his other great passion. Franz Ferdinand, like most males in the ruling Habsburg line and he was frequently and rapidly promoted, given the rank of lieutenant at age fourteen, captain at twenty-two, colonel at twenty-seven, and major general at thirty-one. While never receiving formal training, he was considered eligible for command. He exerted influence on the armed forces even when he did not hold a command through a military chancery that produced and received documents. This was headed by Alexander Brosch von Aarenau and eventually employed a staff of sixteen and his authority was reinforced in 1907 when he secured the retirement of the Emperors confidant Friedrich von Beck-Rzikowsky as Chief of the General Staff. Becks successor, Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, was personally selected Franz Ferdinard, in 1894 Franz Ferdinand met Countess Sophie Chotek at a ball in Prague. To be eligible to marry a member of the Imperial House of Habsburg, the Choteks were not one of these families, although they did include among their ancestors, in the female line, princes of Baden, Hohenzollern-Hechingen, and Liechtenstein. One of Sophies direct ancestors was Albert IV, Count of Habsburg, she was descended from Elisabeth of Habsburg, Franz Ferdinand was a descendant of King Rudolf I
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria
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Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria
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Archduke Franz Ferdinand with his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, and their three children (from left), Prince Ernst von Hohenberg, Princess Sophie, and Maximilian, Duke of Hohenburg, in 1910
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria
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Château Konopiště in Bohemia – summer residence of Franz Ferdinand and his family
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria
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As described by contemporary Spanish magazine El Mundo Gráfico: "The moment when the Austrian archdukes, following the first attempt against their lifes, arrived at the City Council (of Sarajevo), where they were received by the mayor and the municipal corporation."
10.
Royal Geographical Society
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The Royal Geographical Society is the UKs learned society and professional body for geography, founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences. Today, it is the centre for geographers and geographical learning. The Society has over 16,500 members and its work reaches millions of people each year through publications, research groups, the Geographical Society of London was founded in 1830 under the name Geographical Society of London as an institution to promote the advancement of geographical science. It later absorbed the older African Association, which had been founded by Sir Joseph Banks in 1788, as well as the Raleigh Club and the Palestine Association. Like many learned societies, it had started as a club in London. Founding members of the Society included Sir John Barrow, Sir John Franklin, under the patronage of King William IV it later became known as The Royal Geographical Society and was granted its Royal Charter under Queen Victoria in 1859. From 1830 –1840 the RGS met in the rooms of the Horticultural Society in Regent Street, London and from 1854 -1870 at 15 Whitehall Place, London. In 1870, the Society finally found a home when it moved to 1 Savile Row, London – an address that became associated with adventure. The Society also used a lecture theatre in Burlington Gardens, London which was lent to it by the Civil Service Commission, however, the arrangements were thought to be rather cramped and squalid. A new impetus was given to the Societys affairs in 1911, with the election of Earl Curzon, the premises in Savile Row were sold and the present site, Lowther Lodge in Kensington Gore, was purchased for £100,000 and opened for use in April 1913. In the same year the Societys ban on women was lifted, Lowther Lodge was built in 1874 for the Hon William Lowther by Norman Shaw, one of the most outstanding domestic architects of his day. Extensions to the east wing were added in 1929, and included the New Map Room, the extension was formally opened by HRH the Duke of York at the Centenary Celebrations on 21 October 1930. The history of the Society was closely allied for many of its years with colonial exploration in Africa, the Indian subcontinent, the polar regions. It has been a key associate and supporter of many explorers and expeditions, including those of Darwin, Livingstone, Stanley, Scott, Shackleton, Hunt. The early history of the Society is inter-linked with the history of British Geography, exploration, information, maps, charts and knowledge gathered on expeditions was sent to the RGS, making up its now unique geographical collections. The Society published its first journal in 1831 and from 1855, accounts of meetings, in 1893, this was replaced by The Geographical Journal which is still published today. With the advent of a systematic study of geography, the Institute of British Geographers was formed in 1933, by some academic Society fellows. Its activities included organising conferences, field trips, seminars and specialist research groups and publishing the journal, the RGS and IBG co-existed for 60 years until 1992 when a merger was discussed
Royal Geographical Society
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Lowther Lodge, Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) headquarters, designed by Richard Norman Shaw
Royal Geographical Society
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Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers)
Royal Geographical Society
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2012 Poster for exhibition in the glass Pavilion on centenary of Scott's final expedition to the South Pole
Royal Geographical Society
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Statue of Shackleton by Charles Sargeant Jagger outside the society headquarters
11.
Bolivia
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Bolivia, officially known as the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in western-central South America. It is bordered to the north and east by Brazil, to the southeast by Paraguay, to the south by Argentina, to the southwest by Chile, and to the northwest by Peru. One-third of the country is the Andean mountain range, with one of its largest cities and principal economic centers, El Alto, Bolivia is one of two landlocked countries that lie outside Afro-Eurasia. Bolivia is geographically the largest landlocked country in the Americas, but remains a small country in economic. Before Spanish colonization, the Andean region of Bolivia was part of the Inca Empire, Spanish conquistadors arriving from Cuzco and Asunción took control of the region in the 16th century. During the Spanish colonial period Bolivia was administered by the Royal Audiencia of Charcas, spain built its empire in great part upon the silver that was extracted from Bolivias mines. After the first call for independence in 1809,16 years of war followed before the establishment of the Republic, named for Simón Bolívar, on 6 August 1825. Since independence, Bolivia has endured periods of political and economic instability, including the loss of peripheral territories to its neighbors, such as Acre. The countrys population, estimated at 11 million, is multiethnic, including Amerindians, Mestizos, the racial and social segregation that arose from Spanish colonialism has continued to the modern era. Spanish is the official and predominant language, although 36 indigenous languages also have official status, of which the most commonly spoken are Guarani, Aymara, modern Bolivia is constitutionally a unitary state, divided into nine departments. Its geography varies from the peaks of the Andes in the West, to the Eastern Lowlands and it is a developing country, with a medium ranking in the Human Development Index and a poverty level of 53 percent. Its main economic activities include agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining, and manufacturing such as textiles, clothing, refined metals. Bolivia is very wealthy in minerals, especially tin, Bolivia is named after Simón Bolívar, a leader in the Spanish American wars of independence. Sucre opted to create a new nation and, with local support. The original name was Republic of Bolívar, some days later, congressman Manuel Martín Cruz proposed, If from Romulus comes Rome, then from Bolívar comes Bolivia. The name was approved by the Republic on 3 October 1825, the region now known as Bolivia had been occupied for over 2,500 years when the Aymara arrived. However, present-day Aymara associate themselves with the ancient civilization of the Tiwanaku culture which had its capital at Tiwanaku, the capital city of Tiwanaku dates from as early as 1500 BC when it was a small, agriculturally based village. The community grew to urban proportions between AD600 and AD800, becoming an important regional power in the southern Andes
Bolivia
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Former President, Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada
Bolivia
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Flag
Bolivia
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Current President, Evo Morales
Bolivia
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Evo Morales' inauguration as President.
12.
Brazil
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Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. As the worlds fifth-largest country by area and population, it is the largest country to have Portuguese as an official language. Its Amazon River basin includes a vast tropical forest, home to wildlife, a variety of ecological systems. This unique environmental heritage makes Brazil one of 17 megadiverse countries, Brazil was inhabited by numerous tribal nations prior to the landing in 1500 of explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral, who claimed the area for the Portuguese Empire. Brazil remained a Portuguese colony until 1808, when the capital of the empire was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, in 1815, the colony was elevated to the rank of kingdom upon the formation of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. Independence was achieved in 1822 with the creation of the Empire of Brazil, a state governed under a constitutional monarchy. The ratification of the first constitution in 1824 led to the formation of a bicameral legislature, the country became a presidential republic in 1889 following a military coup détat. An authoritarian military junta came to power in 1964 and ruled until 1985, Brazils current constitution, formulated in 1988, defines it as a democratic federal republic. The federation is composed of the union of the Federal District, the 26 states, Brazils economy is the worlds ninth-largest by nominal GDP and seventh-largest by GDP as of 2015. A member of the BRICS group, Brazil until 2010 had one of the worlds fastest growing economies, with its economic reforms giving the country new international recognition. Brazils national development bank plays an important role for the economic growth. Brazil is a member of the United Nations, the G20, BRICS, Unasul, Mercosul, Organization of American States, Organization of Ibero-American States, CPLP. Brazil is a power in Latin America and a middle power in international affairs. One of the worlds major breadbaskets, Brazil has been the largest producer of coffee for the last 150 years and it is likely that the word Brazil comes from the Portuguese word for brazilwood, a tree that once grew plentifully along the Brazilian coast. In Portuguese, brazilwood is called pau-brasil, with the word brasil commonly given the etymology red like an ember, formed from Latin brasa and the suffix -il. As brazilwood produces a red dye, it was highly valued by the European cloth industry and was the earliest commercially exploited product from Brazil. The popular appellation eclipsed and eventually supplanted the official Portuguese name, early sailors sometimes also called it the Land of Parrots. In the Guarani language, a language of Paraguay, Brazil is called Pindorama
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Megaliths in the Solstice Archaeological Park, in Amapá, erected between 500 and 2000 years ago, probably to carry out astronomical observations.
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Flag
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Representation of the landing of Pedro Álvares Cabral in Porto Seguro, 1500.
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Painting showing the arrest of Tiradentes; he was sentenced to death for his involvement in the best known movement for independence in Colonial Brazil.
13.
James Murray (biologist)
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James Murray was a biologist and explorer. In 1902, he assisted the oceanographer, Sir John Murray, Murray undertook both biological and bathymetric surveys. In particular, he contributed to tardigrade and bdelloid rotifer science, describing 113 species, in 1907, at the age of 41, he served under Shackleton on the Nimrod Expedition where he was in charge of the base camp. In 1913, he co-wrote a book about the expedition, titled Antarctic Days, with George Edward Marston, a fellow member of the expedition. In 1911, at 46, he joined with the explorer Percy Fawcett, Henry Costin and Henry Manley to explore, Murray, unused to the rigors of the tropical regions, fared poorly. Eventually Fawcett diverted the expedition to get Murray out, such was his condition and he briefly dropped out of sight, having been recovering in a house in Tambopata. He reached La Paz in 1912, learning that he was thought to have died, Murray, angry at perceived mistreatment at Fawcetts hands, wanted to sue, however friends at the Royal Geographical Society advised him against it. In June 1913, he joined a Canadian scientific expedition to the Arctic aboard the ill-fated Karluk as oceanographer, the ship became trapped in the Arctic ice in August 1913. Eventually, Murray mutinied against the captain and departed across the ice with three others, none of whom were seen or heard from again, the Tardigrada of the Scottish Lochs. 41,677 -698 Murray, J.1905,54,94 -96 Murray, J.1905. The Tardigrada of the Forth Valley,55,160 -164 Murray, J.1906. The Tardigrada of the Forth Valley,60,214 -217 Murray, J.1906. Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, Tardigrada of the South Orkneys,45,323 -339 Murray, J.1906. 57,25 -30 Murray, J.1906,60,214 -217 Murray, J.1907. Club,10,55 -70 Murray, J.1907, Arctic Tardigrada, collected by Wm. S. Bruce. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh,45,669 -681 Murray, some Tardigrada of the Sikkim Himalaya. 1907,269 -273 Murray, J.1907,45,837 -854 Murray, J.1907. London,5,515 -524 Murray, J.1907, some Tardigrada from the Sikkim Himalaya, Journ
James Murray (biologist)
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James Murray with Adélie Penguin chick (Nimrod-Expedition)
14.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
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Clockwise from the top: The aftermath of shelling during the Battle of the Somme, Mark V tanks cross the Hindenburg Line, HMS Irresistible sinks after hitting a mine in the Dardanelles, a British Vickers machine gun crew wears gas masks during the Battle of the Somme, Albatros D.III fighters of Jagdstaffel 11
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Sarajevo citizens reading a poster with the proclamation of the Austrian annexation in 1908.
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This picture is usually associated with the arrest of Gavrilo Princip, although some believe it depicts Ferdinand Behr, a bystander.
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Serbian Army Blériot XI "Oluj", 1915.
15.
Battle of the Somme
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The Battle of the Somme, also known as the Somme Offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British and French empires against the German Empire. It took place between 1 July and 18 November 1916 on both sides of the reaches of the River Somme in France. The battle was intended to hasten a victory for the Allies and was the largest battle of the First World War on the Western Front, more than one million men were wounded or killed, making it one of the bloodiest battles in human history. The French and British had committed themselves to an offensive on the Somme during Allied discussions at Chantilly, Oise, in December 1915. Initial plans called for the French army to undertake the main part of the Somme offensive, the first day on the Somme was, in terms of casualties, also the worst day in the history of the British army, which suffered 57,470 casualties. These occurred mainly on the front between the Albert–Bapaume road and Gommecourt, where the attack was defeated and few British troops reached the German front line, the battle is notable for the importance of air power and the first use of the tank. At the end of the battle, British and French forces had penetrated 10 km into German-occupied territory, the Anglo-French armies failed to capture Péronne and halted 5 km from Bapaume, where the German armies maintained their positions over the winter. Debate continues over the necessity, significance and effect of the battle, David Frum opined that a century later, the Somme remains the most harrowing place-name in the history of the British Empire. Allied war strategy for 1916 was decided at the Chantilly Conference from 6–8 December 1915, in December 1915, General Sir Douglas Haig replaced Field Marshal Sir John French as Commander-in-Chief of the BEF. Haig favoured a British offensive in Flanders close to BEF supply routes, to drive the Germans from the Belgian coast, Haig was not formally subordinate to Marshal Joseph Joffre but the British played a lesser role on the Western Front and complied with French strategy. A week later the Germans began an offensive against the French at Verdun, by 31 May, the ambitious Franco-British plan for a decisive victory, had been reduced to a limited offensive to relieve pressure on the French at Verdun with a battle of attrition on the Somme. The Chief of the German General Staff, Erich von Falkenhayn, intended to end the war by splitting the Anglo-French Entente in 1916, Falkenhayn chose to attack towards Verdun to take the Meuse heights and make Verdun untenable. The British would then have to begin a hasty relief offensive, Falkenhayn expected the relief offensive to fall south of Arras against the Sixth Army and be destroyed. If such Franco-British defeats were not enough, Germany would attack the remnants of armies and end the western alliance for good. Eloi, south of Ypres and reduced the German counter-offensive strategy north of the Somme, to one of passive, the Battle of Verdun began a week after Joffre and Haig agreed to mount an offensive on the Somme. The battle changed the nature of the offensive on the Somme, as French divisions were diverted to Verdun, German overestimation of the cost of Verdun to the French contributed to the concentration of German infantry and guns on the north bank of the Somme. The German offensive at Verdun was suspended in July, and troops, guns, the Brusilov Offensive, absorbed the extra forces that had been requested on 2 June by Fritz von Below, commanding the German Second Army, for a spoiling attack on the Somme. During the offensive the Russians inflicted c. 1,500,000 losses including c. 407,000 prisoners, three divisions were ordered from France to the Eastern Front on 9 June and the spoiling attack on the Somme was abandoned
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The Western Front 1915–1916.
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Battle of the Somme 1 July – 18 November 1916
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Men of 10th Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment of the 31st Division marching to the frontline, 28 June 1916.
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A young German Sommekämpfer in 1916
16.
Harry Melling (actor)
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Harry Edward Melling is an English actor, best known for playing Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter films. His maternal grandfather was actor Patrick Troughton, best known for his role as the Second Doctor in Doctor Who and he is also the nephew of actors David Troughton and Michael Troughton, and the first cousin of cricketer Jim Troughton and actor Sam Troughton. Melling attended St Pauls Primary School and Mill Hill School and he was a member of the National Youth Theatre. He trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, in his early career, Melling starred in stage productions of The Provoked Wife, King John, Antigone, and Plenty. He appeared in five of the Harry Potter films as Harry Potters spoiled cousin Dudley Dursley, in 2009, he starred in a revival of Mother Courage and her Children at the Royal National Theatre. He appeared in an episode of the BBC series Merlin entitled The Sorcerers Shadow and he also played Robert Brown in the BBC series Just William. In October 2009, it was announced that Melling had lost so much weight since his last appearance in Harry Potter that he was now unrecognisable. His role as Dudley Dursley was almost recast for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and he commented positively about the change, I can now shed the child actor thing, like the fat, and start a new career, because no one sees me as Dudley. Harry Melling at the Internet Movie Database Melling at Mill Hill School Agency CV
Harry Melling (actor)
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Harry Melling
17.
David Lean
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Sir David Lean, CBE was an English film director, producer, screenwriter and editor, responsible for large-scale epics such as The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago. He also directed adaptations of Dickens novels Great Expectations and Oliver Twist, Lean was born in Croydon, Surrey, to Francis William le Blount Lean and the former Helena Tangye. His parents were Quakers and he was a pupil at the Quaker-founded Leighton Park School in Reading and his younger brother, Edward Tangye Lean, founded the original Inklings literary club when a student at Oxford University. Lean was a schoolboy with a dreamy nature who was labeled a dud of a student, he left in his mid-teens. A more formative event for his career than his formal education was an uncles gift and you usually didnt give a boy a camera until he was 16 or 17 in those days. It was a compliment and I succeeded at it. Lean printed and developed his films, and it was his great hobby, at age 16, his father deserted the family when he ran off with another woman, and Lean would later follow a similar path after his own first marriage and child. He was taken on as a teaboy, promoted to clapperboy, by 1930 he was working as an editor on newsreels, including those of Gaumont Pictures and Movietone, while his move to feature films began with Freedom of the Seas and Escape Me Never. He edited Gabriel Pascals film productions of two George Bernard Shaw plays, Pygmalion and Major Barbara and he edited Powell & Pressburgers 49th Parallel and One of Our Aircraft Is Missing. After this last film, Lean began his career, after editing more than two dozen features by 1942. As Tony Sloman wrote in 1999, As the varied likes of David Lean, Robert Wise, Terence Fisher and Dorothy Arzner have proved, David Lean was given honorary membership of the Guild of British Film Editors in 1968. His first work as a director was in collaboration with Noël Coward on In Which We Serve and it has since become a classic, one of the most highly regarded British films. Two celebrated Charles Dickens adaptations followed – Great Expectations and Oliver Twist and these two films were the first directed by Lean to star Alec Guinness, whom Lean considered his good luck charm. The actors portrayal of Fagin was controversial at the time, the first screening in Berlin during February 1949 offended the surviving Jewish community and led to a riot. It caused problems too in New York, and after private screenings, was condemned by the Anti-Defamation League, to our surprise it was accused of being anti-Semitic, Lean wrote. We made Fagin an outsize and, we hoped, an amusing Jewish villain, the terms of the production code meant that the films release in the United States was delayed until July 1951 after cuts amounting to eight minutes. The Passionate Friends was the first of three films to feature the actress Ann Todd, who became his third wife, madeleine, set in Victorian-era Glasgow is about an 1857 cause célèbre with Todds lead character accused of murdering a former lover. The last of the films with Todd, The Sound Barrier, has a screenplay by the playwright Terence Rattigan and was the first of his three films for Sir Alexander Kordas London Films
David Lean
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Sir David Lean, CBE
18.
Paramount Pictures
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Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film studio based in Hollywood, California, that has been a subsidiary of the American media conglomerate Viacom since 1994. In 1916, film producer Adolph Zukor contracted 22 actors and actresses and these fortunate few would become the first movie stars. Paramount Pictures is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America, in 2014, Paramount Pictures became the first major Hollywood studio to distribute all of its films in digital form only. Paramount is the fifth oldest surviving studio in the world after the French studios Gaumont Film Company and Pathé, followed by the Nordisk Film company. It is the last major film studio headquartered in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles. Paramount Pictures dates its existence from the 1912 founding date of the Famous Players Film Company, hungarian-born founder, Adolph Zukor, who had been an early investor in nickelodeons, saw that movies appealed mainly to working-class immigrants. With partners Daniel Frohman and Charles Frohman he planned to offer feature-length films that would appeal to the class by featuring the leading theatrical players of the time. By mid-1913, Famous Players had completed five films, and Zukor was on his way to success and its first film was Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth, which starred Sarah Bernhardt. That same year, another aspiring producer, Jesse L. Lasky, opened his Lasky Feature Play Company with money borrowed from his brother-in-law, Samuel Goldfish, the Lasky company hired as their first employee a stage director with virtually no film experience, Cecil B. DeMille, who would find a site in Hollywood, near Los Angeles, for his first feature film. Hodkinson and actor, director, producer Hobart Bosworth had started production of a series of Jack London movies, Paramount was the first successful nationwide distributor, until this time, films were sold on a statewide or regional basis which had proved costly to film producers. Also, Famous Players and Lasky were privately owned while Paramount was a corporation, in 1916, Zukor maneuvered a three-way merger of his Famous Players, the Lasky Company, and Paramount. Zukor and Lasky bought Hodkinson out of Paramount, and merged the three companies into one, with only the exhibitor-owned First National as a rival, Famous Players-Lasky and its Paramount Pictures soon dominated the business. It was this system that gave Paramount a leading position in the 1920s and 1930s, the driving force behind Paramounts rise was Zukor. In 1926, Zukor hired independent producer B. P. Schulberg and they purchased the Robert Brunton Studios, a 26-acre facility at 5451 Marathon Street for US$1 million. In 1927, Famous Players-Lasky took the name Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation, three years later, because of the importance of the Publix Theatres, it became Paramount Publix Corporation. In 1928, Paramount began releasing Inkwell Imps, animated cartoons produced by Max, the Fleischers, veterans in the animation industry, were among the few animation producers capable of challenging the prominence of Walt Disney. The Paramount newsreel series Paramount News ran from 1927 to 1957, Paramount was also one of the first Hollywood studios to release what were known at that time as talkies, and in 1929, released their first musical, Innocents of Paris
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Logo used as of 2012
Paramount Pictures
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Paramount Pictures logo, based on a design by founder William Wadsworth Hodkinson, from 1917 to 1967.
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Lasky's original studio, a.k.a.: "The Barn"; as it appeared in the mid-1920s. The Taft building, built in 1923, is visible in the background.
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The original Paramount logo seen on its 1930s films and Popeye shorts.
19.
Benedict Cumberbatch
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Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch CBE is an English actor who has performed in film, television, theatre and radio. He is the son of actors Timothy Carlton and Wanda Ventham, Cumberbatch graduated from the University of Manchester and continued his training at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, obtaining a Master of Arts in Classical Acting. He first performed at the Open Air Theatre, Regents Park in Shakespearean productions, since then he has starred in the Royal National Theatre productions After the Dance and Frankenstein. In 2015, he played William Shakespeares Hamlet at the Barbican Theatre, Cumberbatchs television work includes appearances in Silent Witness and Fortysomething before playing Stephen Hawking in the television film Hawking in 2004. He has starred as Sherlock Holmes in the series Sherlock since 2010 and he has also headlined Tom Stoppards adaptation of Parades End and The Hollow Crown, The Wars of the Roses. From 2012 to 2014, through voice and motion capture, he played the characters of Smaug, Cumberbatch portrays the Marvel Comics character Dr. Stephen Strange in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, first appearing in the film Doctor Strange. Cumberbatch has received awards and nominations for acting including three Laurence Olivier Award nominations, winning Best Actor in a Play for Frankenstein. He has also received four Primetime Emmy Award nominations, winning Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for Sherlock and his performance in The Imitation Game earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. In addition, he has received six BAFTA nominations, five Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, in 2014, Time magazine included him in its annual Time 100 as one of the Most Influential People in the World. He was appointed a CBE by Queen Elizabeth II in June 2015 for his services to the performing arts, Cumberbatch was born at Queen Charlottes and Chelsea Hospital in the White City district of West Londons Hammersmith and Fulham borough, to actors Timothy Carlton and Wanda Ventham. He grew up in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and he has a half-sister, Tracy Peacock, from his mothers first marriage. His grandfather, Henry Carlton Cumberbatch, was an officer of both World Wars, and a prominent figure of London high society. His great-grandfather, Henry Arnold Cumberbatch, was Queen Victorias consul general in Turkey, Cumberbatch attended boarding schools from the age of 8, he was educated at Brambletye School in West Sussex and was an arts scholar at Harrow School. He was a member of The Rattigan Society, Harrows principal club for the dramatic arts and he was involved in numerous Shakespearean works at school and made his acting debut as Titania, Queen of the Fairies, in A Midsummer Nights Dream when he was 12. Cumberbatchs drama teacher, Martin Tyrell, called him the best schoolboy actor he had worked with. After leaving Harrow, Cumberbatch took a gap year to volunteer as an English teacher at a Tibetan monastery in Darjeeling and he then attended the University of Manchester, where he studied Drama. He continued his training as an actor at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art graduating with an MA in Classical Acting. Since 2001, Cumberbatch has had roles in a dozen classic plays at the Regents Park Open Air, Almeida, Royal Court
Benedict Cumberbatch
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At the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con International
Benedict Cumberbatch
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During rehearsals for Frankenstein, April 2011
Benedict Cumberbatch
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Filming Sherlock in Chinatown, London, March 2010
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At the Los Angeles premiere of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, December 2013
20.
Northern Ireland
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Northern Ireland is a constituent unit of the United Kingdom in the north-east of Ireland. It is variously described as a country, province, region, or part of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland shares a border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland. In 2011, its population was 1,810,863, constituting about 30% of the total population. Northern Ireland was created in 1921, when Ireland was partitioned between Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland by an act of the British parliament, Northern Ireland has historically been the most industrialised region of Ireland. After declining as a result of the political and social turmoil of the Troubles, its economy has grown significantly since the late 1990s. Unemployment in Northern Ireland peaked at 17. 2% in 1986, dropping to 6. 1% for June–August 2014,58. 2% of those unemployed had been unemployed for over a year. Prominent artists and sports persons from Northern Ireland include Van Morrison, Rory McIlroy, Joey Dunlop, Wayne McCullough, some people from Northern Ireland prefer to identify as Irish while others prefer to identify as British. Cultural links between Northern Ireland, the rest of Ireland, and the rest of the UK are complex, in many sports, the island of Ireland fields a single team, a notable exception being association football. Northern Ireland competes separately at the Commonwealth Games, and people from Northern Ireland may compete for either Great Britain or Ireland at the Olympic Games. The region that is now Northern Ireland was the bedrock of the Irish war of resistance against English programmes of colonialism in the late 16th century, the English-controlled Kingdom of Ireland had been declared by the English king Henry VIII in 1542, but Irish resistance made English control fragmentary. Victories by English forces in war and further Protestant victories in the Williamite War in Ireland toward the close of the 17th century solidified Anglican rule in Ireland. In Northern Ireland, the victories of the Siege of Derry and their intention was to materially disadvantage the Catholic community and, to a lesser extent, the Presbyterian community. In the context of open institutional discrimination, the 18th century saw secret, militant societies develop in communities in the region and act on sectarian tensions in violent attacks. Following this, in an attempt to quell sectarianism and force the removal of discriminatory laws, the new state, formed in 1801, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, was governed from a single government and parliament based in London. Between 1717 and 1775 some 250,000 people from Ulster emigrated to the British North American colonies and it is estimated that there are more than 27 million Scotch-Irish Americans now living in the US. By the close of the century, autonomy for Ireland within the United Kingdom, in 1912, after decades of obstruction from the House of Lords, Home Rule became a near-certainty. A clash between the House of Commons and House of Lords over a controversial budget produced the Parliament Act 1911, which enabled the veto of the Lords to be overturned. The House of Lords veto had been the unionists main guarantee that Home Rule would not be enacted, in 1914, they smuggled thousands of rifles and rounds of ammunition from Imperial Germany for use by the Ulster Volunteers, a paramilitary organisation opposed to the implementation of Home Rule
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Scrabo Tower, County Down
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Location of Northern Ireland (dark green) – in Europe (green & dark grey) – in the United Kingdom (green)
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Cannon on Derry 's city walls
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Signing of the Ulster Covenant in 1912 in opposition to Home Rule
21.
Colombia
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Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a transcontinental country largely situated in the northwest of South America, with territories in Central America. Colombia shares a border to the northwest with Panama, to the east with Venezuela and Brazil and to the south with Ecuador and it shares its maritime limits with Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Jamaica, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It is a unitary, constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments, the territory of what is now Colombia was originally inhabited by indigenous peoples including the Muisca, the Quimbaya and the Tairona. The Spanish arrived in 1499 and initiated a period of conquest and colonization ultimately creating the Viceroyalty of New Granada, independence from Spain was won in 1819, but by 1830 the Gran Colombia Federation was dissolved. What is now Colombia and Panama emerged as the Republic of New Granada, the new nation experimented with federalism as the Granadine Confederation, and then the United States of Colombia, before the Republic of Colombia was finally declared in 1886. Since the 1960s the country has suffered from an asymmetric low-intensity armed conflict, Colombia is one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse countries in the world, and thereby possesses a rich cultural heritage. Cultural diversity has also influenced by Colombias varied geography. The urban centres are located in the highlands of the Andes mountains. Colombian territory also encompasses Amazon rainforest, tropical grassland and both Caribbean and Pacific coastlines, ecologically, it is one of the worlds 17 megadiverse countries, and the most densely biodiverse of these per square kilometer. Colombia is a power and a regional actor with the fourth-largest economy in Latin America, is part of the CIVETS group of six leading emerging markets and is an accessing member to the OECD. Colombia has an economy with macroeconomic stability and favorable growth prospects in the long run. The name Colombia is derived from the last name of Christopher Columbus and it was conceived by the Venezuelan revolutionary Francisco de Miranda as a reference to all the New World, but especially to those portions under Spanish and Portuguese rule. The name was adopted by the Republic of Colombia of 1819. When Venezuela, Ecuador and Cundinamarca came to exist as independent states, New Granada officially changed its name in 1858 to the Granadine Confederation. In 1863 the name was changed, this time to United States of Colombia. To refer to country, the Colombian government uses the terms Colombia. Owing to its location, the present territory of Colombia was a corridor of early human migration from Mesoamerica, the oldest archaeological finds are from the Pubenza and El Totumo sites in the Magdalena Valley 100 km southwest of Bogotá. These sites date from the Paleoindian period, at Puerto Hormiga and other sites, traces from the Archaic Period have been found
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San Agustín Archaeological Park
Colombia
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Lost City
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Muisca raft. The figure refers to the ceremony of the legend of El Dorado. The legend and the gold would play a pivotal role in luring Europeans to New Granada during the 16th and 17th centuries.
22.
South America
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South America is a continent located in the western hemisphere, mostly in the southern hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the northern hemisphere. It may also be considered a subcontinent of the Americas, which is the used in nations that speak Romance languages. The reference to South America instead of other regions has increased in the last decades due to changing geopolitical dynamics. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east by the Atlantic Ocean, North America and it includes twelve sovereign states, a part of France, and a non-sovereign area. In addition to this, the ABC islands of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Trinidad and Tobago, South America has an area of 17,840,000 square kilometers. Its population as of 2005 has been estimated at more than 371,090,000, South America ranks fourth in area and fifth in population. Brazil is by far the most populous South American country, with more than half of the population, followed by Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela. In recent decades Brazil has also concentrated half of the regions GDP and has become a first regional power, most of the population lives near the continents western or eastern coasts while the interior and the far south are sparsely populated. Most of the continent lies in the tropics, the continents cultural and ethnic outlook has its origin with the interaction of indigenous peoples with European conquerors and immigrants and, more locally, with African slaves. Given a long history of colonialism, the majority of South Americans speak Portuguese or Spanish. South America occupies the portion of the Americas. The continent is delimited on the northwest by the Darién watershed along the Colombia–Panama border. Almost all of mainland South America sits on the South American Plate, South Americas major mineral resources are gold, silver, copper, iron ore, tin, and petroleum. These resources found in South America have brought high income to its countries especially in times of war or of rapid growth by industrialized countries elsewhere. However, the concentration in producing one major export commodity often has hindered the development of diversified economies and this is leading to efforts to diversify production to drive away from staying as economies dedicated to one major export. South America is one of the most biodiverse continents on earth, South America is home to many interesting and unique species of animals including the llama, anaconda, piranha, jaguar, vicuña, and tapir. The Amazon rainforests possess high biodiversity, containing a proportion of the Earths species. Brazil is the largest country in South America, encompassing around half of the land area
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A composite relief image of South America.
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South America
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Cuernos del Paine in Chile (left) and Morro do Chapéu in Brazil (right) serve to illustrate the diversity of landscapes in South America. Click to enlarge.
South America
23.
Greyabbey
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Greyabbey or Grey Abbey is a small village, townland and civil parish located on the eastern shores of Strangford Lough, on the Ards Peninsula in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies 7 miles south of Newtownards, both townland and civil parish are situated in the historic barony of Ards Lower. It is within the Borough of Ards and it had a population of 939 people in the 2011 Census. Greyabbey is often associated with the trade, there being several specialist antique shops in the village. Of particular note is Mount Stewart Estate as well as a coaching inn. The village derives its name from Grey Abbey, a Cistercian abbey-monastery located on the side of the village. Historically it was also called Monesterlee or Monesterlea, which are anglicisations of its Irish name Mainistir Liath and it was founded by Affreca, daughter of Godred Olafsson, King of the Isles, and wife of John de Courcy, Anglo-Norman conqueror of the province of Ulster. The site of the abbey was on the Ards Peninsula,7 miles from Newtownards, at the confluence of a small river and Strangford Lough. Architecturally it is important as the first fully gothic style building in Ulster, it is the first fully stone church in every window arch. The abbey is located in the parkland of Rosemount House, home of the Montgomery family, tradition says that Affreca founded the abbey in thanksgiving for a safe landing after a perilous journey at sea. The abbey was colonised with monks from Holmcultram in Cumberland, with which it maintained close ties in the early years, the construction of the stone church began almost immediately. In 1222 and again in 1237 abbots of Grey Abbey went on to become abbots of Holmcultram, the Latin name of the abbey is Iugum Dei, which means Yoke of God. Little is known of the history, though it appears to have been almost completely destroyed during the invasion of Edward Bruce. No reliable sources concerning the value of the abbey foundation survive, the abbey was dissolved in 1541. In the same part of the monastic property was granted to Gerald. The monastery was destroyed during the military operations of the Elizabethan era. In 1572, Brian ONeill burnt Grey Abbey in order to stop it being used as a refuge for English colonists trying to settle in the Ards Peninsula, in the seventeenth century the church nave was re-roofed and served as a parish church until 1778. In the late nineteenth century repairs were executed by the Commissioner of Public Works, unfortunately, an excessive amount of concrete was used, the crudity of which is still obvious today
Greyabbey
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The abbey after which the village was named
24.
Strangford Lough
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Strangford Lough is a large sea loch or inlet in County Down, in the east of Northern Ireland. It is the largest inlet in the British Isles, covering 150 km2, the loch is almost totally enclosed by the Ards Peninsula and is linked to the Irish Sea by a long narrow channel or strait. The main body of the loch has at least seventy islands along with many islets, bays, coves, headlands, Strangford Lough was designated as Northern Irelands first Marine Conservation Zone under the introduction of the Marine Act 2013. It has also designated a Special Area of Conservation under the EU Habitats Directive. In the medieval and early modern period Strangford Lough was known in Irish as Loch Cuan, Strangford Lough is a popular tourist destination noted for its fishing and scenery. Towns and villages around the loch include Killyleagh, Comber, Newtownards, Portaferry, the latter two are connected by a car ferry. The name Strangford comes from Old Norse Strangr-fjörðr, meaning strong sea-inlet, the Vikings were active in the area during the Middle Ages. Originally, this referred only to the narrow channel linking the loch to the sea. Up until about the 18th century, the body of the loch was better known by the Irish name Loch Cuan. This name was anglicized as Lough Coan, Lough Cone, Lough Coyn, Lough Coin, the narrow channel may have been known in Latin as the fretum Brene. In Ulster-Scots the lochs name is spelt Strangfurd or Strangfirt Loch, common cord-grass C. E. Hubbard was introduced in the mid-1940s is now abundant. The rocky and boulder shores toward the south of the lough are dominated by the seaweed knotted wrack Ascophyllum nodosum, a brown seaweed named Sargassum muticum, originally from the Pacific was discovered on 15 March 1995 in Strangford Lough at Paddys Point. The plants were established on mesh bags containing oysters. The bags had been put out in 1987 containing Pacific oysters imported from Guernsey and this Sargassum is known to be a highly invasive species. Other algae include, Apoglossum rusciofolium J. Ag, Compsothamnion gracillimum de Toni, Compsothamnion thuyoides Schmitz, Calliothamnion corymbosum Lyngb, Rhodymenia delicatula P. Dang. Haemescharia hennedyi Vinogradova, Rhodophyllis divaricate Papenf, calliblepharis ciliata Kütz, Peyssonnelia dubyi P. et H. Crouan, Plagiospora gracilis Kuck, Gloiosiphonia capillaris Carm. Scinaia pseudocrispa Cremades/S. turgida Chemin, Porphyropsis coccinea Rosenv, Fucus vesiculosus L. var volubilis Turn. Fucus cottonii Wynne et Magne, Colpomenia peregrine Hame, Asperococcus compressus Griff, Strangford Lough and Islands is an Important Bird Area
Strangford Lough
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Strangford Lough from Portaferry, looking towards the narrows.
Strangford Lough
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A map of Strangford Lough
Strangford Lough
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Strangford Lough from Portaferry.
Strangford Lough
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SeaGen.
25.
Ballintoy
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Ballintoy is a small village, townland and civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is alongside the B15 coast road,28 km north-east of Coleraine,8 km west of Ballycastle and it is in the historic barony of Cary. The harbour is host to a service on Easter Sunday each year. There has been no significant development within the village in the past and, as a result, the village has modest commercial and social facilities including tourist accommodation, restaurants, several small shops, and two churches. The best known church is the distinctive white Ballintoy Parish Church on the hill above the harbour, the village was originally built around a single street separating the inland pastures from the strip fields running towards the sea. Two of the villages oldest hotels and pubs, the Carrick-A-Rede Hotel, the village is in the area covered by Moyle District Council. The village was used for the town of Lordsport in the Isle of Pyke in the second season of HBOs medieval fantasy television series Game of Thrones. The filming at the harbour took place on 18,19 and 22 August 2011, the local shops and fishermen, who had to temporarily berth their boats in Ballycastle, were compensated by the production. Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge is just outside the village, the bridge links the mainland to the tiny Carrick Island. It is thought salmon fishermen have been erecting bridges to the island for over 300 years, the bridge spans 20 m and is 30 m above the rocks below. It is a major tourist attraction with 140,000 visitors in 2005, sheep Island, County Antrim is off the north coast. The Parish church, built in 1813 incorporating the tower of the older church
Ballintoy
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Ballintoy harbour
Ballintoy
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Beach at Ballintoy
26.
County Antrim
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County Antrim ) is one of six counties that form Northern Ireland and one of the nine counties of the province of Ulster, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of 3,046 square kilometres and has a population of about 618,000, County Antrim has a population density of 203 people per square kilometer /526 people per square mile. The majority of Belfast, the city of Northern Ireland, is in County Antrim. It is currently one of two counties of Ireland to have a majority of the population from a Protestant background, according to the 2001 census. The other is County Down to the south, a large portion of Antrim is hilly, especially in the east, where the highest elevations are attained. The range runs north and south, and, following this direction, the most remarkable cliffs are those formed of perpendicular basaltic columns, extending for many miles, and most strikingly displayed in Fair Head and the celebrated Giants Causeway. From the eastern coast the hills rise instantly but less abruptly, all are somewhat exposed to the easterly winds prevalent in spring. It is partially arable, and supports a small population, islandmagee is a peninsula separating Larne Lough from the North Channel. The valleys of the Bann and Lagan, with the shores of Lough Neagh. These two rivers, both rising in County Down, are the ones of importance. The latter flows to Belfast Lough, the former drains Lough Neagh, the fisheries of the Bann and of Lough Neagh are of value both commercially and to sportsmen, the small town of Toome, at the outflow of the river, being the centre. Immediately below this point lies Lough Beg, the Small Lake, County Antrim has a number of air, rail and sea links. Northern Irelands main airport, Belfast International Airport, at Aldergrove is in County Antrim, Belfast International shares its runways with the Royal Air Force base RAF Aldergrove, which otherwise has its own facilities. It is the fifth-largest regional air cargo centre in the UK, there are regular services to Great Britain, Europe and North America. The region is served by George Best Belfast City Airport, a mile east of Belfast city centre on the County Down side of the city. Two of Northern Irelands main ports are in County Antrim, Larne, ferries sail from Larne Harbour to destinations including Cairnryan and Troon in Scotland, and Fleetwood in England. The Port of Belfast is Northern Irelands principal maritime gateway, serving the Northern Ireland economy and it is a major centre of industry and commerce and has become established as the focus of logistics activity for Northern Ireland. Around two-thirds of Northern Irelands seaborne trade, and a quarter of that for Ireland as a whole, is handled at the port, the population of County Antrim was 615,384 according to recent census information, making it the most populous county in Northern Ireland
County Antrim
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The famed Glens of Antrim at Glendun
County Antrim
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Fair Head seen from Ballycastle
County Antrim
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Columnar basalt at Giant's Causeway
27.
Methodist College Belfast
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Located at the foot of Malone Road, in south Belfast, it possesses two preparatory departments, each with 280 pupils, aged 5 –11. There is a Pre-school on the site of Downey House catering for children aged 3 and 4 and it has also had considerable sporting success, especially in rugby, having won the Ulster Schools Cup a record 35 times and the Medallion Shield a record 35 times. Methodist College also has a reputation for music. Its choirs have won awards, such as Songs of Praise Choir of the Year, Sainsburys Choir of the Year. The Chapel Choir has performed in Westminster Abbey and the Carnegie Hall as well as during Queen Elizabeth IIs visit to the Republic of Ireland, the College has also sent several Choral Scholars and Organ Scholars to Oxford and Cambridge colleges in recent years. The College also has a past pupil sporting organisation in Belfast Harlequins, Methodist College Belfast was founded in 1865 by the Methodist Church in Ireland. But the College was not opened until 1868, shortly after, a decision was taken to relocate the site of the school to Dublin. Funds for this school were raised in 1845 and it was opened the year first as the Wesleyan Connexional School and later Wesley College, named after Charles Wesley. The school is operating to this day. It was only in 1855 that the idea was raised of founding a school specifically for the education of sons of ministers like the Methodist Church in England had at Kingswood School in Bath, funds were again raised with significant amounts coming from America and England. The original site for the school was to be in Portadown but the location was changed, land was acquired in Dublin but proceedings stalled. Several prominent Belfast Methodists began a campaign to have the school built in Belfast, a last attempt was made 1863 for the building to take place in Portadown but this failed. The necessary money had been raised by 1864 to satisfy the Conference’s stipulations, Further fundraising missions were made to the United States and England in 1866. These were led by Robinson Scott, the Rev Robert Wallace, Wallace would die on this mission in Cincinnati from Cholera. However an additional £10,000 was raised, several subsequent missions took place to fund building work. The present site of the college, near Queen’s University Belfast on the Malone Road, was purchased by James Carlisle, the site covered 15 acres all of which have been developed by the college to the present day. In addition to the school it was proposed that a strip on the North side be let for building and this would become College Gardens which is still owned by the college. The school originally had a foundation as a school and a theological college
Methodist College Belfast
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Methodist College Belfast
Methodist College Belfast
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Methodist College, as seen from the Malone Road
Methodist College Belfast
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Methodist College Chapel of Unity
Methodist College Belfast
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Methodist College Boathouse
28.
Belfast City Hall
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Belfast City Hall is the civic building of Belfast City Council. Located in Donegall Square, Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, it faces north and effectively divides the commercial, the site now occupied by Belfast City Hall was once the home of the White Linen Hall, an important international Linen Exchange. The Street that runs from the door of Belfast City Hall through the middle of Linen Quarter is Linen Hall Street. Plans for the City Hall began in 1888 when Belfast was awarded city status by Queen Victoria and this was in recognition of Belfasts rapid expansion and thriving linen, rope-making, shipbuilding and engineering industries. During this period Belfast briefly overtook Dublin as the most populous city in Ireland, construction began in 1898 under the supervision of architect Sir Alfred Brumwell Thomas and was completed in 1906 at a cost of £369,000. Belfast Corporation used their profits from the gas industry to pay for the construction of Belfast City Hall, local firms H&J Martin and WH Stephens were among the companies involved in construction. James G. Gamble, architect, was the clerk of works, the city hall in Durban, South Africa is almost an exact replica of Belfasts City Hall. It was built in 1910 and designed by Stanley G. Hudson, the Port of Liverpool Building, designed by Arnold Thornley and completed in 1913, is another very close relative. On 1 August 2006 the City Hall celebrated its centenary with a Century of Memories exhibition, on 3 December 2012, the City Council voted to limit the days that the Union Flag flies from City Hall to no more than 18 designated days. Since 1906, the flag had flown every day of the year. The move was backed by the Councils Irish nationalist Councillors and by its Alliance Party Councillors and it was opposed by the unionist Councillors, who had enjoyed a majority on the council until the Northern Ireland local elections,2011. On the night of the vote, unionist and loyalist protesters tried to storm City Hall and they held protests throughout Northern Ireland, some of which became violent. The exterior is mainly from Portland stone and is in the Baroque Revival style. It covers an area of one and a half acres and has an enclosed courtyard, featuring towers at each of the four corners, with a lantern-crowned 173 ft copper dome in the centre, the City Hall dominates the city centre skyline. As with other Victorian buildings in the city centre, the City Halls copper-coated domes are a distinctive green, the Titanic Memorial in Belfast is located on the grounds of Belfast City Hall. The design of the building is reminiscent of the Old Bailey in London, floodlights have been added to City Hall to light up the building in a variety of colours and combinations. Using the same technology as the Empire State Building in New York, a white illumination will be applied to the building, after dusk, and it will also be colour-washed on special dates. The interior has a number of features including The Porte-Cochère and Grand Entrance, The Grand Staircase, The Reception Room
Belfast City Hall
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Belfast City Hall
Belfast City Hall
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The White Linen Hall, or the Linen Hall Library as it was in 1888. Now replaced by the City Hall.
Belfast City Hall
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The grounds of City Hall are popular for relaxation during the summer. In the background are the dome at Victoria Square Shopping Centre and the Belfast Wheel.
Belfast City Hall
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Belfast City Hall illuminated green for the annual St Patrick's Day celebrations
29.
Royal Belfast Academical Institution
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The Royal Belfast Academical Institution, is a grammar school in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Locally referred to as Inst, the school boys from ages 11 to 18. It is one of the eight Northern Irish schools represented on the Headmasters, the school occupies an 18-acre site in the centre of the city on which its first buildings was erected. The first demands for the school which would become Inst came from a group of Belfast merchants and they insisted that the existing Belfast Academy under William Bruce did not offer a complete, uniform, and extensive system of education. They hoped that a new school would give access to the ‘higher branches of learning as well as to those which would fit youths for a practical commercial career. The foundation stone of Inst. was laid, in pouring rain, on 3 July 1810 by George Augustus Chichester, Donegall owned much of the land in the Belfast area and granted the school a lease for the grounds at an annual rent of £22–5s–1d. The eminent English architect John Soane, who designed the new Bank of England in 1788, the roof of the main building was completed during the winter of 1811. The Institution was formally opened at 1, 00pm on 1 February 1814, William Drennan announced that the aim was to ‘diffuse useful knowledge, particularly among the middling orders of society, as a necessity, not a luxury of life. He also referred to the noble and rural setting of the school – in front a fair and flourishing town. Until the middle of the 19th century, the RBAI was both a school and a university, a function which the Belfast Academy never had. There are numerous clubs and societies, a School Orchestra, Choir and Band, a contingent of the Combined Cadet Force, Scouts and Explorer Scouts, the school offers a wide selection of sports, with rugby union being the most dominant. Inst have won the Ulster Schools Cup outright 32 times along with 4 shared titles, Rugby football and hockey are played in the winter, athletics, cricket and lawn tennis occupy the summer months, Badminton, fencing, rowing, squash and swimming take place throughout the year. Teams representing the School take part not only in matches and activities within the Province, the school hockey teams have achieved many successes. The 1st XI consistently feature in the finals of all three competitions they enter, in 2016 four Instonians played Olympic hockey, three for Ireland and one for Great Britain. In recent times other school sports have also more frequently making headlines. Inst is one of four schools in Northern Ireland to participate in competitive rowing. In 2005 the first ever Inst crew travelled to the Henley Royal Regatta in England and it regularly participates in various regattas throughout Ireland and abroad. In swimming the school teams regularly go to competitions within Ireland, in 2005,3 of the team qualified for the Irish International Schools Squad
Royal Belfast Academical Institution
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Royal Belfast Academical Institution
30.
Bangor Castle
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Bangor Castle is a country house situated in Castle Park in Bangor, Northern Ireland. It is now the offices of the local council and this imposing building is an elegant mansion in the Elizabethan-Jacobean revival style, with 35 bedrooms and incorporating a huge salon for musical recitals. It is attached to a previous building which had been occupied by Franciscan monks until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1542. The house was designed by Scottish architect William Burn and completed in 1852 for The Hon Robert Edward Ward, brother of the 3rd Viscount Bangor, the associated estate covered some 6000 acres and included half of the town of Bangor. Roberts only daughter and heiress, Matilda Catherine Maude, had married the soldier The 5th Baron Clanmorris, after his death in 1916, Lady Clanmorris retained possession of the house until her own death in 1941. When the then municipal authority, Bangor Borough Council, bought the Castle and grounds, the first Council meeting was held there almost exactly 100 years after the building-now known as the Town Hall was first completed. The successor to Bangor Borough Council, North Down Borough Council now sits at the Castle, the gardens, designed by the Ward family in the 1840s, have won many awards for their outstanding blooms and are open to the public. The building also hosts a museum to the Ward and Bingham families, which includes the Victoria Cross awarded to Commander The Hon. Edward Bingham, son of the 5th Lord Clanmorris
Bangor Castle
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Bangor Castle
Bangor Castle
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Connacht
31.
Record producer
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A record producer or music producer oversees and manages the sound recording and production of a band or performers music, which may range from recording one song to recording a lengthy concept album. A producer has many roles during the recording process, the roles of a producer vary. The producer may perform these roles himself, or help select the engineer, the producer may also pay session musicians and engineers and ensure that the entire project is completed within the record companies budget. A record producer or music producer has a broad role in overseeing and managing the recording. Producers also often take on an entrepreneurial role, with responsibility for the budget, schedules, contracts. In the 2010s, the industry has two kinds of producers with different roles, executive producer and music producer. Executive producers oversee project finances while music producers oversee the process of recording songs or albums. In most cases the producer is also a competent arranger, composer. The producer will also liaise with the engineer who concentrates on the technical aspects of recording. Noted producer Phil Ek described his role as the person who creatively guides or directs the process of making a record, indeed, in Bollywood music, the designation actually is music director. The music producers job is to create, shape, and mold a piece of music, at the beginning of record industry, producer role was technically limited to record, in one shot, artists performing live. The role of producers changed progressively over the 1950s and 1960s due to technological developments, the development of multitrack recording caused a major change in the recording process. Before multitracking, all the elements of a song had to be performed simultaneously, all of these singers and musicians had to be assembled in a large studio and the performance had to be recorded. As well, for a song that used 20 instruments, it was no longer necessary to get all the players in the studio at the same time. Examples include the rock sound effects of the 1960s, e. g. playing back the sound of recorded instruments backwards or clanging the tape to produce unique sound effects. These new instruments were electric or electronic, and thus they used instrument amplifiers, new technologies like multitracking changed the goal of recording, A producer could blend together multiple takes and edit together different sections to create the desired sound. For example, in jazz fusion Bandleader-composer Miles Davis album Bitches Brew, producers like Phil Spector and George Martin were soon creating recordings that were, in practical terms, almost impossible to realise in live performance. Producers became creative figures in the studio, other examples of such engineers includes Joe Meek, Teo Macero, Brian Wilson, and Biddu
Record producer
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Alan Parsons in an ESO 50th anniversary video.
Record producer
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A Danish recording session
Record producer
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Mixing Console
32.
We Own the Night (film)
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We Own the Night is a 2007 American crime drama film written and directed by James Gray and starring Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes and Robert Duvall. It is the film directed by Gray, and the second to feature Phoenix and Wahlberg together. The title comes from the motto of the NYPDs Street Crimes Unit, the film premiered May 25, at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. It was released October 12,2007 in the United States and it was released in the United Kingdom on December 14,2007 and in Australia on February 28,2008. Bobby has distanced himself from his father, NYPD Deputy Chief Burt Grusinsky, when Joseph leads a police raid on El Caribe in the hopes of arresting Vadim, Bobby refuses to cooperate. The incident strains Bobbys relationship with his father and brother even more, to the point that Bobby, the police are unsuccessful in making a case against Vadim, who decides to retaliate. The next evening, Joseph is shot by a masked assailant, Joseph survives the ambush, but is hospitalized for four months. Vadim, unaware of Bobbys family ties, confides that the Chief will be the next victim, Bobby resolves to help the police. Bobby and Amada are placed in police custody, and their relationship begins to deteriorate. Months later, Vadim escapes custody while being transported to a hospital, the police prepare to move Bobby and Amada to a new location. During a blinding thunderstorm, the convoy is intercepted by Vadims men. Bobby passes out in the rain when he sees his fathers body, the police take Bobby and Amada back to a hotel near Kennedy Airport. Bobby wakes up a few hours later and finds Joseph in the hotel room, after Joseph tells him that their father died, the grief-stricken Bobby asks how they found them. At the subsequent funeral, a colleague of Josephs, Captain Jack Shapiro, Bobby is told that a Russian shipment of cocaine is arriving sometime in the coming week. To avenge his father, Bobby decides to join the police force without the consent of Amada. After he is sworn into the NYPD, Bobby learns the true involvement of Jumbo, his friend and he and Joseph organize a final sting operation, set for April 4,1989. During the raid, Joseph is emotionally incapacitated by the memory of his shooting, Vadim flees into the reed beds, and the police toss in flares to smoke him out. As the beds are engulfed in flame and smoke, Bobby runs in to find Vadim himself, Bobby shoots Vadim in the chest, mortally wounding him
We Own the Night (film)
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Theatrical release poster
33.
StudioCanal
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Studiocanal is a French film production and distribution company that owns the third-largest film library in the world. The company is a unit of the Canal+ Group, owned by Vivendi, the company was founded in 1987 by Pierre Lescure as a spin-off of the Canal+ pay-TV network. The original function was to focus on French and European productions, StudioCanals most notable productions from its early years include Terminator 2, Judgment Day, JFK, Basic Instinct, Cliffhanger, Under Siege, Free Willy, and the original Stargate movie. In those days, it was known as Le Studio Canal+ and it has strong links to Universal Studios. Other films the company financed include U-571, Bully, and Bridget Joness Diary, StudioCanal also funded the last third of David Lynchs film Mulholland Drive. StudioCanal also financed French-language films, such as Brotherhood of the Wolf, StudioCanal acquired film libraries from studios that either went defunct or had merged with it over the years. As a result, the library is the third-largest in the world, behind Warner Bros. 2 years later, their expansion into an international market took place with StudioCanals acquisition of German distributor Kinowelt who had distributed their films up to that point. Both companies have since then been renamed StudioCanal, StudioCanals acquisition of Australian-New Zealand distributor Hoyts Distribution took place in 2012-and was StudioCanals third expansion into an international market. In June 2016, StudioCanal acquired the rights to the Paddington Bear brand, along with the Copyrights Group. StudioCanal then announced that it would be producing three more Paddington films, sony Pictures Home Entertainment handles distribution of StudioCanal/Hoyts Distribution films in Australia and New Zealand on DVD and Blu-ray. StudioCanal also handles home video distribution of 550 titles from the Miramax library internationally since February 2011
StudioCanal
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Canal+
34.
Mainland China
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Mainland China, also known as the Chinese mainland, is the geopolitical area under the direct jurisdiction of the Peoples Republic of China. It generally includes Hainan island and excludes the special regions of Hong Kong and Macau. The term mainland China was coined by the Kuomintang after receiving control of Taiwan from Japan after World War II. By 1949, the KMT-led Republic of China government was defeated in the Chinese Civil War, there are two terms in Chinese for mainland, Dàlù, which means continent, and Nèidì, literally inland or inner land. In the PRC, the usage of the two terms are interchangeable and there is no prescribed method of reference in any jurisdiction. To emphasize equal footing in Cross-Strait relations, the term is used in official contexts with reference to Taiwan, but in its relations with Hong Kong and Macau, the PRC government refers to itself as the Central Peoples Government. Mainland area is the term to free area of the Republic of China used in the ROC Constitution. It treats the mainland as part of ROCs territory despite the lack of effective control, by 1949, the Communist Party of Chinas Peoples Liberation Army had largely defeated the Kuomintang s National Revolutionary Army in the Chinese Civil War on the mainland. This has resulted in a situation in which two co-existing governments compete for legitimacy and recognition as the government of China. The phrase mainland China emerged as a neutral term to refer to the area under control of the Communist Party of China. Until the late 1970s, both the PRC and ROC envisioned a military takeover of the other, during this time the ROC referred to the PRC government as Communist Bandits while the PRC referred to the ROC as Chiang Bandits. Later, as a military solution became less feasible, the ROC referred to the PRC as Communist China, due to their status as colonies of foreign states during the establishment of the Peoples Republic of China in 1949, the phrase mainland China excludes Hong Kong and Macau. Since the return of Hong Kong and Macau to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 and 1999, respectively, the territories also have their distinct identities. Therefore, mainland China generally continues to exclude these territories, because of the One country, the term is also used in economic indicators, such as the IMD Competitiveness Report. International news media often use China to refer only to mainland China or the Peoples Republic of China, in the PRC, the term 内地 is often contrasted with the term 境外 for things outside of the mainland region. Examples include Administration of Foreign-funded Banks or the Measures on Administration of Representative Offices of Foreign Insurance Institutions, Hainan is an offshore island, therefore geographically not part of the continental mainland. Nonetheless, Hainanese people still refer to the mainland as the mainland. In some coastal provinces such as Guangdong, Fujian and Jiangsu, in contrast, the pro-Taiwan independence Democratic Progressive Party prefer to use the term China instead, referring to the PRC, to imply that Taiwan is separate from China
Mainland China
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The highlighted orange area in the map is what is commonly known as "mainland China".
35.
Rotten Tomatoes
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Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by Senh Duong and since January 2010 has been owned by Flixster, in February 2016, Rotten Tomatoes and its parent site Flixster were sold to Comcasts Fandango. Warner Bros. retained a minority stake in the merged entities, since 2007, the websites editor-in-chief has been Matt Atchity. The name, Rotten Tomatoes, derives from the practice of audiences throwing rotten tomatoes when disapproving of a stage performance. From early 2008 to September 2010, Current Television aired the weekly The Rotten Tomatoes Show, featuring hosts, a shorter segment was incorporated into the weekly show, InfoMania, which ended in 2011. In September 2013, the website introduced TV Zone, a section for reviewing scripted TV shows, Rotten Tomatoes was launched on August 12,1998, as a spare-time project by Senh Duong. His goal in creating Rotten Tomatoes was to create a site where people can get access to reviews from a variety of critics in the U. S. As a fan of Jackie Chans, Duong was inspired to create the website after collecting all the reviews of Chans movies as they were being published in the United States, the first movie whose reviews were featured on Rotten Tomatoes was Your Friends & Neighbors. The website was an success, receiving mentions by Netscape, Yahoo. and USA Today within the first week of its launch. They officially launched it on April 1,2000, in June 2004, IGN Entertainment acquired rottentomatoes. com for an undisclosed sum. In September 2005, IGN was bought by News Corps Fox Interactive Media, in January 2010, IGN sold the website to Flixster. The combined reach of both companies is 30 million unique visitors a month across all different platforms, according to the companies, in May 2011, Flixster was acquired by Warner Bros. In early 2009, Current Television launched the version of the web review site. It was hosted by Brett Erlich and Ellen Fox and written by Mark Ganek, the show aired every Thursday at 10,30 EST on the Current TV network. The last episode aired on September 16,2010 and it returned as a much shorter segment of InfoMania, a satirical news show that ended in 2011. By late 2009, the website was designed to enable Rotten Tomatoes users to create, one group, The Golden Oyster Awards, accepted votes of members for different awards, as if in parallel to the better-known Oscars or Golden Globes. When Flixster bought the company, they disbanded the groups, announcing, in the meantime, please use the Forums to continue your conversations about your favorite movie topics. As of February 2011, new community features have been added, for example, users can no longer sort films by fresh ratings from rotten ratings, and vice versa
Rotten Tomatoes
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60–100%
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
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≤0-59%
36.
Metacritic
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Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of media products, music albums, games, movies, TV shows, DVDs, and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged, Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc Doyle, and Julie Doyle Roberts. The site provides an excerpt from each review and hyperlinks to its source, a color of Green, Yellow or Red summarizes the critics recommendations and therefore the general appeal of the product to reviewers and, to a lesser extent, the public. It is regarded as the game industrys foremost review aggregator. Metacritics scoring converts each review into a percentage, either mathematically from the mark given, before being averaged, the scores are weighted according to the critics fame, stature, and volume of reviews. Metacritic was launched in July 1999 by Marc Doyle, his sister Julie Doyle Roberts, rotten Tomatoes was already compiling movie reviews, but Doyle, Roberts, and Dietz saw an opportunity to cover a broader range of media. They sold Metacritic to CNET in 2005, CNET and Metacritic are now owned by the CBS Corporation. Nick Wingfield of The Wall Street Journal wrote in September 2004, Mr. Doyle,36, is now a product manager at CNET. Speaking of video games, Doyle said, A site like ours helps people cut through. unobjective promotional language and he added that the review process was not taken as seriously when unconnected magazines and websites provided reviews in isolation. In August 2010, the appearance was revamped, reaction from users was overwhelmingly negative. Certain publications are given more significance because of their stature, games Editor Marc Doyle was interviewed by Keith Stuart of The Guardian to get a look behind the metascoring process. Stuart wrote, the phenomenon, namely Metacritic and GameRankings, have become an enormously important element of online games journalism over the past few years. The ranging of metascores is, Metacritic is regarded as the foremost online review site for the video game industry. Nick Wingfield of The Wall Street Journal has written that Metacritic influence the sales of games and he explains its influence as coming from the higher cost of buying video games than music or movie tickets. Many executives say that low scores can hurt the sales potential. He claimed that a number of businesses and financial analysts use Metacritic as an early indicator of a games potential sales and, by extension. In 2004, Jason Hall of Warner Bros. began including quality metrics in contracts with partners licensing its movies for games, if a product does not at least achieve a specific score, some deals require the publisher to pay higher royalties. In 2008, Microsoft began using Metacritic averages to de-list underperforming Xbox Live Arcade games and these are the top 10 individual games with the highest scores on the site as of 2 April 2017
Metacritic
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Metacritic
37.
The Hollywood Reporter
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Headquartered in Los Angeles, THR is part of the Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group, a group of properties that includes Billboard and SpinMedia. It is owned by Eldridge Industries, a company owned by an executive of its previous owner. Under Janice Min, a faltering THR was relaunched in 2010 as a weekly print magazine with a revamped, continuously updated website, as well as mobile. THR was founded in 1930 by William R, billy Wilkerson as Hollywoods first daily entertainment trade newspaper. The first edition appeared on September 3,1930, and featured Wilkersons front-page Tradeviews column, the newspaper appeared Monday to Saturday for the first 10 years, except for a brief period, then Monday to Friday from 1940. Wilkerson ran the THR until his death in September 1962, although his final column appeared 18 months prior, from the late 1930s, Wilkerson used THR to push the view that the industry was a communist stronghold. In particular, he opposed the screenplay writers trade union, the Screen Writers Guild, in 1946 the Guild considered creating an American Authors Authority to hold copyright for writers, instead of ownership passing to the studios. Wilkerson devoted his Tradeviews column to the issue on July 29,1946 and he went to confession before publishing it, knowing the damage it would cause, but was apparently encouraged by the priest to go ahead with it. The column contained the first industry names, including Dalton Trumbo and Howard Koch, on became the Hollywood blacklist. Eight of the 11 people Wilkerson named were among the Hollywood Ten who were blacklisted after hearings in 1947 by the House Un-American Activities Committee. In 1997 THR reporter David Robb wrote a story about the newspapers involvement, for the blacklists 65th anniversary in 2012, the THR published a lengthy investigative piece about Wilkersons role, by reporters Gary Baum and Daniel Miller. The same edition carried an apology from Wilkersons son, W. R. Wilkerson III and he wrote that his father had been motivated by revenge for his thwarted ambition to own a studio. Wilkersons wife, Tichi Wilkerson Kassel, took over as publisher and she sold the paper on April 11,1988, to Affiliated Publications, parent company of Billboard Publications, for $26.7 million. Robert J. Dowling became THR president in 1988 and editor-in-chief, Dowling brought in Alex Ben Block as editor in 1990, and editorial quality of both news and specials steadily improved. Block and Teri Ritzer dampened much of the coverage and cronyism that had infected the paper under Wilkerson. After Block left, former editor at Variety, Anita Busch, was brought in as editor between 1999 and 2001. Busch was credited with making the paper competitive with Variety, tony Uphoff assumed the publisher position in November 2005. Uphoff was replaced in October 2006 by John Kilcullen, the publisher of Billboard, Kilcullen was a defendant in Billboards infamous dildo lawsuit, in which he was accused of race discrimination and sexual harassment
The Hollywood Reporter
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Dwayne Johnson on the June 2014 cover
38.
TheWrap
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TheWrap is an entertainment and media news website founded by Sharon Waxman in 2009. According to CBS Market Watch, Waxman raised $500,000 for The Wrap News, as a portal site covering entertainment and media. A second round of financing was closed in 2010, by 2013, TheWrap. com had grown into a site with 30 employees. It also convenes an annual conference attended by leaders in entertainment, media, TheWrap competes with other Hollywood news sites, with its most direct competition as of 2014 being Deadline. com
TheWrap
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TheWrap
39.
Variety (magazine)
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Variety is a weekly American entertainment trade magazine and website owned by Penske Media Corporation. The last daily printed edition was put out on March 19,2013, Variety originally reported on theater and vaudeville. Variety has been published since December 16,1905, when it was launched by Sime Silverman as a weekly periodical covering vaudeville with its headquarters in New York City, on January 19,1907, Variety published what is considered the first film review in history. In 1933, Sime Silverman launched Daily Variety, based in Hollywood, Sime Silverman had passed on the editorship of the Weekly Variety to Abel Green as his replacement in 1931, he remained as publisher until his death in 1933 soon after launching the Daily. His son Sidne Silverman, known as Skigie, succeeded him as publisher of both publications, both Sidne and his wife, stage actress Marie Saxon, died of tuberculosis. Their only son Syd Silverman, born 1932, was the heir to what was then Variety Inc. Young Syds legal guardian Harold Erichs oversaw Variety Inc. until 1956, after that date Syd Silverman was publisher of both the Weekly Variety in New York and the Daily Variety in Hollywood, until the sale of both papers in 1987 to the Cahners Corp. In L. A. the Daily was edited by Tom Pryor from 1959 until 1988, for twenty years its editor-in-chief was Peter Bart, originally only of the weekly New York edition, with Michael Silverman running the Daily in Hollywood. Bart had worked previously at Paramount Pictures and The New York Times, in April 2009, Bart moved to the position of vice president and editorial director, characterized online as Boffo No More, Bart Up and Out at Variety. From mid 2009 to 2013, Timothy M. Gray oversaw the publication as Editor-in-Chief, after over 30 years of various reporter, in October 2014, Eller and Wallenstein were upped to Co-Editors in Chief, with Littleton continuing to oversee the trades television coverage. This dissemination comes in the form of columns, news stories, images, video, Cahners Publishing purchased Variety from the Silverman family in 1987. On December 7,1988, Barts predecessor, Roger Watkins, proposed, upon its launch, the new-look Variety measured one inch shorter with a washed-out color on the front. In October 2012, Reed Business Information, the periodicals owner, PMC is the owner of Deadline. com, which since the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike has been considered Varietys largest competitor in online showbiz news. In October,2012, Jay Penske announced that the paywall would come down, the print publication would stay. A significant portion of the advertising revenue comes during the film-award season leading up to the Academy Awards. During this Awards Season, large numbers of colorful, full-page For Your Consideration advertisements inflate the size of Variety to double or triple its usual page count, paid circulation for the weekly Variety magazine in 2013 was 40,000. Each copy of each Variety issue is read by an average of three people, with a total readership of 120,000. Variety. com has 17 million unique monthly visitors, Variety is a weekly entertainment publication with a broad coverage of movies, television, theater, music and technology, written for entertainment executives
Variety (magazine)
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The Variety Building in December 2008.
40.
Time Out (magazine)
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Time Out is a magazine published by Time Out Digital Ltd. In 2012, the became a free publication with a weekly readership of over 307,000. In addition to print, the Time Out London website has seven million unique users, Time Outs global market presence includes partnerships with Nokia and mobile apps for iOS and Android operating systems. It was the recipient of the International Consumer Magazine of the Year award in both 2010 and 2011 and the renamed International Consumer Media Brand of the Year in 2013 and 2014. Time Out started as a magazine created in 1968 by Tony Elliott, the first product was titled Where Its At, before being inspired by Dave Brubecks album Time Out. The magazine was initially a counter-culture publication which took a non-conformist stance on such as gay rights, racial equality. As one example of its editorial stance, in 1976 Londons Time Out published the names of 60 purported CIA agents stationed in England. Early issues had a print run of around 5,000, Elliott launched Time Out New York, his North American magazine debut, in 1995. The magazine procured young and upcoming talent to provide cultural reviews for young New Yorkers at the time, the success of TONY led to the introduction of Time Out New York Kids, a quarterly magazine aimed at families. The expansion continued with Elliott licensing the Time Out brand worldwide spreading the magazine to 39 cities including Istanbul, Dubai, Beijing, Hong Kong, additional Time Out products included travel magazines, city guides, and books. In 2010, Time Out became the publisher of travel guides. The group, founded by Peter Dubens, was owned by Tony Elliott and Oakley Capital until 2016, Time Out has subsequently launched websites for an additional 33 cities including Delhi, Washington D. C. Boston, Manchester and Bristol. when it was listed on Londons AIM stock exchange, in June 2016, Time Out Group underwent an IPO and is listed on Londons AIM stock exchange. The London edition of Time Out became a magazine in September 2012. This strategy increased revenue by 80 percent with continued upsurge, Time Out has also invited a number of guest columnists to write for the magazine. The columnist as of 2014 was Giles Coren, in April 2015, Time Out switched its New York magazine to the free distribution model to increase the reader base and grow brand awareness. This transition doubled circulation by increasing its Web audience, estimated around 3.5 million unique visitors a month, Time Out increased its weekly magazine circulation to over 305,000 copies complementing millions of digital users of Time Out New York. Free magazines are distributed at bars, restaurants, gyms, subway stations, and theaters, in addition, a subscription service is offered to those that prefer the magazine to be physically delivered and paid subscribers have access to a digital edition of the magazine
Time Out (magazine)
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Time Out Magazine
Time Out (magazine)
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Time Out Hong Kong Magazine Launch Cover
Time Out (magazine)
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Time Out London Magazine1
41.
Kermode and Mayo's Film Review
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Kermode and Mayos Film Review is a radio programme with Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo, broadcast regularly on BBC Radio 5 Live on Friday afternoons between 2 pm and 4 pm. The show is described as the BBCs flagship movie podcast, and features film reviews from Kermode, interviews with actors and other guests, the programmes Twitter handle, Wittertainment, is a nickname for the programme itself. The show is broadcast live on radio, accompanied by a live streaming webcam feed, each programme is available on BBC iPlayer, individual reviews are available in an A to Z directory on the Five Live website, or as videos on YouTube. As of August 2014 the show is BBC Radios second-most downloaded podcast, upon reuniting on Radio 5 Live, their relationship continued just as it had on Radio 1, with Kermode recalling his first words may have been And another thing. In 2009 the show received a Sony Radio Academy Award, when Mayo started presenting BBC Radio 2s weekday drivetime programme, the movie reviews were kept on 5 Live, and expanded to two hours to become a show in its own right from 2 pm every Friday. The change became effective 7 October 2011, as of that date Simon Poole is the producer, Robin Bulloch is its editor. Somethin Else announced its intention to build the profile of the Kermode and Mayo brand online with more podcast downloads and a new digital strategy. As of March 2014, the programme has an audience of 585,000 listeners. For the month of August 2014 the podcast was downloaded 1.6 million times, as of October 2014 the show was fourth on the BBC list of most-downloaded shows of the past decade, with 50.6 million. The rest of the first hour features live or pre-recorded interviews with guests, the second hour is devoted to full reviews of recently released films. At the end of show, Kermode identifies his Film of the Week. In February 2012, a new DVD of the week started, with Kermode identifying noteworthy DVD releases during the programme. Throughout each show Kermode and Mayo engage in on-air sparring that has been compared to a married couple. Kermodes negative reviews are referred to by the presenters and fans as Kermodean rants, various actors have made multiple appearances on the show, particularly Jason Isaacs, Michael Sheen and David Morrissey, and are referred to as Friends of the Show. During each programme, a number of friends may be greeted in a list. When searching for Jason Isaacs on Google UK the phrase Hello to Jason Isaacs appears before the search results, the phrase has also made an appearance on The Jay Leno Show, having been inserted into various on-screen graphics. Alternative presenters take over the show while Kermode and Mayo are away, for a number of years, the most regular replacements for Kermode were Boyd Hilton and Nigel Floyd, commonly referred to as Boyd & Floyd. Other stand-in reviewers have included former Radio 1 critic James King, Robbie Collin, film critic for The Daily Telegraph, and Andrew Collins, film editor for the Radio Times
Kermode and Mayo's Film Review
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Mayo (left) and Kermode (right) broadcasting live from Edinburgh in June 2009, with guest Bill Forsyth.
42.
AMC Theaters
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Founded in 1920, AMC has the largest share of the American theater market ahead of Regal Entertainment Group and Cinemark Theatres. The chain has 346 locations in North America, and 86 more locations in mainland China, the companys headquarters are located in Leawood, Kansas. AMC Theatres was founded in 1920 by the Dubinsky Brothers, who had been traveling the Midwest performing melodramas and they purchased the Regent Theatre on 12th Street between Walnut and Grand in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. The Dubinskys eventually changed their name to Durwood, and the company formed was called Durwood Theatres. In 1961, Edwards son Stanley took control of Durwood Theatres, then a small 10-theatre chain, Stanley had attended Harvard University and served as a navigator in the U. S. Air Force during World War II. He renamed Durwood Theatres as American Royal Cinema on October 1,1968, as he later explained to Variety magazine, We needed to define what our company was doing in the business. It was structured under the belief that every customer was a guest, under its new name, AMC opened the two-screen Parkway Twin theatre in a shopping center on Kansas Citys Ward Parkway in 1963. This marked the companys first foray into using the multiplex model, the industry quickly embraced the multiplex concept, where additional screens meant very little difference in staff and operating costs, but resulted in a significant increase in profits. The concept also provided more film choices at one location, drawing bigger crowds and it also gave owners the flexibility to show big hits on more screens, and less reliance on any individual film that could turn out as a bust. By the 1980s, the company was experiencing strong growth, AMC had built and was operating a number of ten-screen multiplex cinemas in the United Kingdom, including sites at locations such as Dudley and Tamworth. These were subsequently bought and taken over by UCI, in the later part of the decade, AMC MeyerPark in Houston, Texas opened with 14 screens, and became the largest theatre in the United States under one roof at the time. AMCs megaplexes were a success overseas as well, on December 20,1996, AMC opened the AMC Arrábida 20 in Portugal. At the time, AMC was publicly traded on AMEX under the code AEN, the company filed for a $450 million IPO in its third such filing since 2006 on 14 July 2010. Stanley Durwood died in 1999, and was succeeded by Peter Brown, gerardo I. Lopez succeeded Brown as CEO and president on March 2,2009. Previously, Lopez was the Executive Vice President of President Consumer Products Group, Seattles Best Coffee and Foodservice at Starbucks. Under new leadership, one of the first major announcements came in March of the same year, the company used to have its headquarters in downtown Kansas City. The state of Kansas had offered $47 million in incentives to get the 400 jobs to move, the company continues to officially be headquartered in Kansas City, although it has moved its headquarters to the Ten Main Center, where it now leases space. The disability rights group had accused the company of only providing closed captioning or audio description systems at some of its locations in the state, AMC was acquired by Dalian Wanda Group, a Chinese conglomerate headquartered in Dalian, in May 2012
AMC Theaters
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AMC Theatres' ex-Corporate headquarters in Kansas City (the company moved to Leawood, Kansas in 2013)
AMC Theaters
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AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc.
AMC Theaters
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AMC Empire 25, Times Square, New York City
AMC Theaters
43.
Scientific American
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Scientific American is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein, have contributed articles in the past 170 years and it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the United States. Scientific American was founded by inventor and publisher Rufus M. Porter in 1845 as a weekly newspaper. Throughout its early years, much emphasis was placed on reports of what was going on at the U. S, current issues include a this date in history section, featuring excerpts from articles originally published 50,100, and 150 years earlier. Topics include humorous incidents, wrong-headed theories, and noteworthy advances in the history of science, Porter sold the publication to Alfred Ely Beach and Orson Desaix Munn a mere ten months after founding it. Until 1948, it remained owned by Munn & Company, under Munns grandson, Orson Desaix Munn III, it had evolved into something of a workbench publication, similar to the twentieth-century incarnation of Popular Science. In the years after World War II, the fell into decline. Thus the partners—publisher Gerard Piel, editor Dennis Flanagan, and general manager Donald H. Miller, Miller retired in 1979, Flanagan and Piel in 1984, when Gerard Piels son Jonathan became president and editor, circulation had grown fifteen-fold since 1948. In 1986, it was sold to the Holtzbrinck group of Germany, in the fall of 2008, Scientific American was put under the control of Nature Publishing Group, a division of Holtzbrinck. Donald Miller died in December 1998, Gerard Piel in September 2004, Mariette DiChristina is the current editor-in-chief, after John Rennie stepped down in June 2009. Scientific American published its first foreign edition in 1890, the Spanish-language La America Cientifica, a Russian edition V Mire Nauki was launched in the Soviet Union in 1983, and continues in the present-day Russian Federation. Kexue, a simplified Chinese edition launched in 1979, was the first Western magazine published in the Peoples Republic of China, founded in Chongqing, the simplified Chinese magazine was transferred to Beijing in 2001. Later in 2005, an edition, Global Science, was published instead of Kexue. A traditional Chinese edition, known as 科學人, was introduced to Taiwan in 2002, the Hungarian edition Tudomány existed between 1984 and 1992. In 1986, an Arabic edition, Oloom magazine, was published, in 2002, a Portuguese edition was launched in Brazil. From 1902 to 1911, Scientific American supervised the publication of the Encyclopedia Americana and it originally styled itself The Advocate of Industry and Enterprise and Journal of Mechanical and other Improvements. On the front page of the first issue was the engraving of Improved Rail-Road Cars, the masthead had a commentary as follows, Scientific American published every Thursday morning at No.11 Spruce Street, New York, No.16 State Street, Boston, and No. 2l Arcade Philadelphia, by Rufus Porter, five copies will be sent to one address six months for four dollars in advance
Scientific American
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Cover of the March 2005 issue
Scientific American
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PDF of first issue: Scientific American Vol. 1, No. 01 published August 28, 1845
Scientific American
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Special Navy Supplement, 1898
44.
IMDb
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In 1998 it became a subsidiary of Amazon Inc, who were then able to use it as an advertising resource for selling DVDs and videotapes. As of January 2017, IMDb has approximately 4.1 million titles and 7.7 million personalities in its database, the site enables registered users to submit new material and edits to existing entries. Although all data is checked before going live, the system has open to abuse. The site also featured message boards which stimulate regular debates and dialogue among authenticated users, IMDb shutdown the message boards permanently on February 20,2017. Anyone with a connection can read the movie and talent pages of IMDb. A registration process is however, to contribute info to the site. A registered user chooses a name for themselves, and is given a profile page. These badges range from total contributions made, to independent categories such as photos, trivia, bios, if a registered user or visitor happens to be in the entertainment industry, and has an IMDb page, that user/visitor can add photos to that page by enrolling in IMDbPRO. Actors, crew, and industry executives can post their own resume and this fee enrolls them in a membership called IMDbPro. PRO can be accessed by anyone willing to pay the fee, which is $19.99 USD per month, or if paid annually, $149.99, which comes to approximately $12.50 per month USD. Membership enables a user to access the rank order of each industry personality, as well as agent contact information for any actor, producer, director etc. that has an IMDb page. Enrolling in PRO for industry personnel, enables those members the ability to upload a head shot to open their page, as well as the ability to upload hundreds of photos to accompany their page. Anyone can register as a user, and contribute to the site as well as enjoy its content, however those users enrolled in PRO have greater access and privileges. IMDb originated with a Usenet posting by British film fan and computer programmer Col Needham entitled Those Eyes, others with similar interests soon responded with additions or different lists of their own. Needham subsequently started an Actors List, while Dave Knight began a Directors List, and Andy Krieg took over THE LIST from Hank Driskill, which would later be renamed the Actress List. Both lists had been restricted to people who were alive and working, the goal of the participants now was to make the lists as inclusive as possible. By late 1990, the lists included almost 10,000 movies and television series correlated with actors and actresses appearing therein. On October 17,1990, Needham developed and posted a collection of Unix shell scripts which could be used to search the four lists, at the time, it was known as the rec. arts. movies movie database
IMDb
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Internet Movie Database (IMDb)
45.
Little Odessa (film)
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Little Odessa is a 1995 American crime drama film written and directed by James Gray, in his directorial debut, and starring Tim Roth, Edward Furlong, Moira Kelly and Vanessa Redgrave. The film earned a Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival and it also earned admiration from French master Claude Chabrol. The film follows the relationship between a father, Arkady Shapira, his terminally ill wife Irina, and his two sons, Joshua and Reuben. Joshua, the elder, is a hit-man for the Jewish-Russian mafia in Brooklyn, after things go sour Joshua executes a man at a phone booth, which angers the mafia. Alla asks Reuben if he has seen Joshua anywhere and the three go together to see a movie, eventually Reuben takes Joshua home to see his parents again, but Arkady kicks him out. Joshua then meets up with friends who have captured a man who assaulted the mafia, Joshua, the next day, when Reuben is riding his bike, two men push him to the ground and tell him that Joshua is a dead man. With the mafia looking for him, Joshua stays at Allas, two mafiosi who are looking for Joshua search Allas neighborhood. Reuben finds out one of Joshuas accomplices where Alla lives and rides there on his bike to warn his brother. One of the mafia finds Alla outside hanging out washing and shoots her before escaping, Reuben finds Allas body and shoots the second would-be assassin. Joshua arrives on the spot and sees somebody behind the sheet that Alla had hung out to dry, without warning one of Joshuas gang members shoots this person through the sheet, believing he is one of the men looking for him. When he looks behind the sheet, he sees that he killed Joshuas brother Reuben and he runs off before Joshua can show up. Afterwards Joshua takes his brothers body, wrapped in the sheet, natasha Little Odessa at the Internet Movie Database Little Odessa at Box Office Mojo Little Odessa at Rotten Tomatoes
Little Odessa (film)
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Theatrical Release Poster
46.
The Departed
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The Departed is a 2006 American crime drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by William Monahan. It is a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs, the film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, and Mark Wahlberg, with Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone, Vera Farmiga, Anthony Anderson and Alec Baldwin in supporting roles. The film takes place in Boston, simultaneously, the police assign undercover state trooper William Billy Costigan to infiltrate Costellos crew. When both sides realize the situation, Sullivan and Costigan both attempt to discover the identity before their covers are blown. The film was a critical and commercial success and won awards, including four Oscars at the 79th Academy Awards, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay. Wahlberg was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor, as a child, Colin Sullivan had been introduced to organized crime by Irish-American mobster Frank Costello in the Irish neighborhood of South Boston. Over the years, Costello grooms him to become a mole inside the Massachusetts State Police, until Sullivan is accepted into the Special Investigations Unit and he drops out of the academy and does time in prison on a fake assault charge to increase his credibility. Each man infiltrates his respective organization, and Sullivan begins a romance with police psychiatrist Madolyn Madden, Costigan is seeing her under the terms of his probation, and they begin a relationship, too. After Costello escapes a sting operation, each mole becomes aware of the others existence, Sullivan is told to find the rat and asks Costello for information to identify the informer. Costigan follows Costello into a theater, where Costello gives Sullivan an envelope containing personal information on his crew members. When it is over, neither man knows the others identity, Sullivan has Queenan tailed to a meeting with Costigan on the roof of a building. Queenan orders Costigan to flee while he confronts Costellos men alone, the men then throw Queenan off the building to his death. When they exit, Costigan pretends he has come to join them, television news reveals that crew member Delahunt has been an undercover cop, working for the Boston Police Department. Dignam resigns rather than work with Sullivan, who he suspects is the mole after he is asked why he had Queenan followed, using Queenans phone, Sullivan reaches Costigan, who refuses to abort his mission. Sullivan learns from Queenans diary of Costellos role as an informant for the FBI, with Costigans help, Costello is traced to a cocaine drop-off, where a gunfight erupts between Costellos crew and the police, which results in most of the crew being killed. Costello, confronted by Sullivan, admits he is an FBI informant, Costello tries to shoot Sullivan, but Sullivan shoots him multiple times. With Costello dead, Sullivan is applauded the next day by everyone on the force, fearing retaliation, Sullivan erases Costigans records from the police computer system. Sullivan is unaware that Madolyn had an affair with Costigan when she tells Sullivan that she is pregnant, later, Sullivan finds her listening to a CD from Costigan containing incriminating recorded conversations between Costello and Sullivan
The Departed
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Theatrical release poster
47.
Running with Scissors (film)
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The film is a semi-autobiographical account of Augusten Burroughs childhood. His mother, Deirdre, who wishes to become a poet, suffers from severe mood swings. Augustens alcoholic father, Norman, proves to be of no help, by the time he is a teenager, Augusten no longer feels safe in his own house because of his parents. Deirdre claims that Norman is the reason for her unhappiness, Augusten finds it hard to adjust to living with the doctor’s family, and is subject to irregular weekend visits by his increasingly unsound mother. After confessing to Natalie that he is gay, Augusten befriends Neil Bookman, the two begin an erratic sexual relationship quickly after meeting, but Augusten finds it difficult to cope with their age difference. Finch manipulates Deirdre into signing over her money to him, Deirdre finds temporary stability with her living companion Dorothy Ambrose, but Augusten feels like his mother no longer wants him, and deals with the negative effects of Neils schizophrenia. At the end of the movie, Augusten leaves for New York to become a writer and he says goodbye to his mother and goes to the bus station. Agnes, with whom he has developed a relationship, arrives and gives him some money she has saved up. Annette Bening as Deirdre Burroughs Brian Cox as Dr, on Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 31% approval rating, based on 130 reviews, with an average score of 5/10. The sites consensus states, Despite a few performances, the film lacks the sincerity. The soundtrack for the film was released on September 26,2006, the song playing in the Stew scene is d-moll by the duo Tosca off of their album Delhi 9, this theme is repeated through the film
Running with Scissors (film)
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Theatrical release poster
48.
Eat Pray Love
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Eat Pray Love is a 2010 American romantic comedy-drama film starring Julia Roberts as Elizabeth Gilbert, based on Gilberts best-selling memoir Eat, Pray, Love. Ryan Murphy co-wrote and directed the film, which opened in the United States on August 13,2010. Newly divorced and at a crossroads, Gilbert steps out of her comfort zone, risking everything to change her life, embarking on a journey around the world that becomes a quest for self-discovery. In her travels, she discovers the true pleasure of nourishment by eating in Italy, the power of prayer in India, and, finally and unexpectedly, filming locations include New York City, Rome and Naples, Delhi and Pataudi, Ubud and Padang-Padang Beach at Bali. Hindu leaders voiced concern over the production of the film and advocated the use of consultants to ensure that the film conveyed an accurate reflection of life in an ashram. The two Balinese lead characters are played by Indonesian actors Hadi Subiyanto and Christine Hakim, respectively and it had the highest debut at the box office with Roberts in a lead role since Americas Sweethearts in 2001. In its initial run, it increased its revenue to a total of $47.2 million. Competing film The Expendables features Eric Roberts, Julia Roberts brother, hollywood. com commented that sibling rivalry is rarely as publicly manifested as this. The film, produced on a $60 million budget, grossed $80,574,382 in the United States, Eat Pray Love received mixed to negative reviews from critics. Based on 193 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 36%. Another review aggregate, Metacritic, calculated a score of 50 based on 39 reviews. Wesley Morris of The Boston Globe gave the film 3 out of 4 stars while writing Is it a romantic comedy and this is silly, since, in truth, it’s neither. It’s simply a Julia Roberts movie, often a lovely one, humor website Something Awful ran a scathing review. Martin R. Vargo Schneider highlighted several aspects of the film that he considered completely unrealistic, political columnist Maureen Dowd termed the film navel-gazing drivel in October,2010. The BBCs Mark Kermode listed the film as 4th on his list of Worst Films of the Year, saying, Eat Pray Love. A film with the message that learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all, in The Huffington Post, critic Jenna Busch wrote, Eat Pray Love is ultimately charming and inspirational. Though it doesnt have quite the impact of the book, it will leave you pondering your life choices. It will certainly have you forgiving the few flaws in the film, the performances are just too fantastic, the vistas too lovely to pay too much attention to anything else
Eat Pray Love
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Theatrical release poster
49.
The Tree of Life (film)
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The Tree of Life is a 2011 American experimental epic drama film written and directed by Terrence Malick and starring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, and Jessica Chastain. After several years in development and missing 2009 and 2010 release dates, The Tree of Life premiered in competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, where it was awarded the Palme dOr. It ranked no.1 on review aggregator Metacritics Top Ten List of 2011, the Tree of Life made more critics year-end lists for 2011 than any other film. It has appeared in the 2012 Sight & Sound critics poll of the worlds top 250 films as well as BBCs poll of the greatest American films, the film begins with a quotation from the Book of Job, Where were you when I laid the foundations of the Earth. When the morning stars together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. A mysterious, wavering light, resembling a flame, flickers in the darkness, Mrs. OBrien recalls a lesson taught to her that people must choose to follow either the path of grace or the path of nature. In the 1960s or thereabouts, she receives a telegram informing her of the death of her son, Mr. OBrien is notified by telephone while at an airport. The family is thrown into turmoil, in the present day, the OBriens eldest son, Jack, is adrift in his modern life as an architect. One day he apologizes to his father on the phone for something he said about R. L. s death, from the darkness the universe is born, the Milky Way and then the solar system form while voice-overs ask existential questions. On the newly formed Earth, volcanoes erupt and microbes begin to form, sea life is born, then plants on land, then dinosaurs. In a symbolic first act of compassion, a dinosaur chooses not to eat a weakened creature that is lying on the side of a river bed, an asteroid tumbles through space and strikes the Earth, causing the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. In a sprawling neighborhood in the American South live the OBriens. The young couple is enthralled by their new baby Jack and, later, when Jack reaches adolescence, he is faced with the conflict of accepting the way of grace or nature, as embodied by each of his parents. Mrs. OBrien is gentle, nurturing, and authoritative, presenting the world to her children as a place of wonder. Mr. OBrien is strict and authoritarian, and easily loses his temper as he struggles to reconcile his love for his sons with wanting to prepare them for a world he sees as corrupt and exploitative. He laments his decision to work in a power plant instead of pursuing his passion for music and he tries to get ahead by filing patents for various inventions. Jacks perceptions of the world begin to change one of his boyhood companions drowns at the pool. One summer, Mr. OBrien takes a business trip
The Tree of Life (film)
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Theatrical release poster by Mark Carroll
The Tree of Life (film)
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Brad Pitt promoting the film at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.
50.
Moneyball (film)
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Moneyball is a 2011 American sports drama film directed by Bennett Miller from a screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. Columbia Pictures bought the rights to Lewiss book in 2004, Moneyball was featured at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival and was released on September 23,2011 to box office success and critical acclaim. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Actor for Pitt, Best Supporting Actor for Hill, Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane is upset by his teams loss to the New York Yankees in the 2001 postseason. During a visit to the Cleveland Indians, Beane meets Peter Brand, Beane tests Brands theory by asking whether he would have drafted him, Beane having been a Major League player before becoming general manager. Though scouts considered Beane a phenomenal prospect, his career in the Major Leagues was disappointing, after some prodding, Brand admits that he would not have drafted him until the ninth round and surmised that Beane would probably have accepted a scholarship to Stanford instead. Impressed, Beane hires the inexperienced Brand to be the Athletics assistant general manager, Oakland team scouts are first dismissive and then hostile towards Brands non-traditional sabermetric approach to scouting players. Most notably, Grady Fuson aggressively confronts Beane, causing him to be fired, Grady then takes to the radio airwaves and doubts the teams future. Rather than relying on the experience and intuition, Brand selects players based almost exclusively on their on-base percentage. Beane signs the ones Brand suggests, such as unorthodox submarine pitcher Chad Bradford, past-his-prime outfielder David Justice, Beane also faces opposition from Art Howe, the Athletics manager, who does not agree with the new philosophy. With tensions already high between the two due to a dispute, Howe disregards Beanes and Brands strategy and plays a lineup he prefers. Early in the season, the Athletics fare poorly, leading critics to dismiss the new method as a failure, Beane convinces the owner to stay the course. He trades away the traditional first baseman, Carlos Peña, to force Howe to use Hatteberg at that position. The As win 19 consecutive games, tying for the longest winning streak in American League history, like many baseball players, Beane is superstitious and avoids games in progress, but upon hearing how well the game is going on the radio, he decides to go. Beane arrives in the inning, only to watch the team falter. Finally, the As do win, on a home run by Hatteberg. After celebrating that, however, the As again lose in the postseason, Beane is disappointed, believing nothing short of a championship should be considered a success. He is contacted by the owner of the Boston Red Sox, Beane declines an opportunity to be GM of the Red Sox, despite the $12.5 million salary, which would have made him the highest-paid general manager in sports history. He returns to Oakland, while an epilogue reveals that two later, the Red Sox won the 2004 World Series, using the model pioneered by the Athletics
Moneyball (film)
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Theatrical release poster
51.
Killing Them Softly
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Killing Them Softly is a 2012 American neo-noir crime film directed by Andrew Dominik and starring Brad Pitt, based on the 1974 novel Cogans Trade by George V. Higgins. On May 22,2012, the film premiered in competition for the Palme dOr at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, receiving positive early reviews. The film is about three small-time crooks who rob a Mob-protected illegal gambling operation, which prompts the Mob to send in two hitmen, Jackie and Mickey to deal with the perpetrators. In the fall of 2008, during both the American financial crisis and the election campaign, an older man named Johnny Squirrel Amato plans to rob an illegal poker game. He enlists two younger men to do the robbery, Frankie, a business associate, and Russell. Markie Trattman, the proprietor of the ring, is revealed to have previously orchestrated an inside job by paying two men to rob his own illegal poker room. He holds up under questioning by the hitman Dillon, though later he openly admits his involvement to various criminals who laugh it off. Squirrel anticipates that the Mafia will automatically blame Markie for the heist, Frankie and Russell, though obviously amateurs, do the holdup and leave with the money. However, Driver, an emissary for the Mob, discusses the recent robbery with an acquaintance of Dillon, although Jackie understands Markie was uninvolved in the recent heist, he believes Markie should be murdered in order to restore the mobsters confidence in the local illegal gambling scene. Upon completing the crime, Russell travels to Florida to sell the dogs, while in Florida, he inadvertently informs a man named Kenny Gill of his involvement in the heist while trying to recruit him as a drug dealer. Kenny informs Jackie, who deduces that Russell, Frankie, Jackie carries out the hit on Markie himself, killing him in his car, but brings in another older hitman, Mickey Fallon, who is on parole in New York, to kill Squirrel. Mickey postpones going through with his hit, instead indulging in drunkenness. During conversation with Jackie, Mickey also reveals that he has violated his parole and it becomes clear to Jackie that the respected hitman has lost his nerve and ability to do his job. Jackie eventually decides to out the hit on Squirrel himself. He convinces Driver to arrange Mickeys arrest before the job has been completed, Russell is arrested on a drug possession charge and deported, meanwhile, Jackie confronts Frankie and convinces him to trade Squirrels whereabouts for his life. Jackie has Frankie drive him to Squirrel, upon reaching Squirrels apartment complex, after confirming Squirrel is dead, Jackie has Frankie drive him to get his car several hours away. Frankie becomes very nervous and begins speeding, unable to get Frankie to slow down, Jackie takes over driving. Once they arrive at the garage, Jackie shoots Frankie in the head without warning
Killing Them Softly
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Theatrical release poster
52.
Kick-Ass 2 (film)
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Kick-Ass 2 is a 2013 superhero comedy film based on the comic book of the same name and Hit-Girl, both by Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr. and is the sequel to the 2010 film Kick-Ass. The film was written and directed by Jeff Wadlow and co-produced by Matthew Vaughn, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Chloë Grace Moretz reprise their roles from the first film as Dave Lizewski, Chris DAmico, and Mindy Macready, respectively. Other returning actors include Clark Duke, Yancy Butler, Garrett M. Brown, Lyndsy Fonseca, the film was released on August 14,2013 in the United Kingdom and Ireland and on August 16 in the United States. Matthew Vaughns production company Marv Films produced the film alongside Plan B Entertainment, Dentsu, the film earned $60.7 million on a $28 million budget. Dave Lizewski, bored after having retired from fighting crime as Kick-Ass, following the death of his father, Chris DAmico accidentally kills his own mother by short-circuiting her tanning bed, she had been in denial about her husbands death. Now in control of his fathers empire, Chris finds an S&M outfit, deciding to become supervillain The Motherfucker. Mindys guardian, Marcus, discovers she is fighting crime. Daves girlfriend, Katie Deauxma, has noticed Dave behaving strangely and breaks up with him, Dave resumes his life as Kick-Ass, joining the superhero team Justice Forever, led by Colonel Stars and Stripes. It includes Battle Guy, Dr. Gravity, Insect Man, Night-Bitch, Kick-Ass begins a sexual relationship with Night Bitch. He and Marty try to get their friend Todd involved with heroics, but instead alienate him by calling his chosen identity, Ass Kicker, Mindy, attempting to lead a normal life, tries out for the dance team at school, impressing the audience with her audition. Dave tries to convince Mindy to join Justice Forever, but she refuses, the date ends up as a cruel prank planned by bullies in her school, leaving Mindy abandoned in the forest to walk home alone. Dave consoles the tearful Mindy and encourages her to beat the bullies at their own game, the next day, Mindy does so with verbal put-downs and a specially designed shock baton that makes the bullies vomit and soil themselves in the cafeteria, resulting in her suspension from school. Daves father discovers Dave is Kick-Ass after finding his superhero costume, meanwhile, The Motherfucker assembles a gang of supervillains called the Toxic Mega Cunts and establishes an underground lair, including a tank with a live shark. He then tracks down Night-Bitch and attempts to rape her to anger Kick-Ass, though he is unable to reach an erection in time as the authorities arrive, and instead has her beaten. When police arrive, Mother Russia kills all of the officers, when the police track Dave through his IP address, Daves father claims he, not Dave, is Kick-Ass, getting himself arrested in Daves place. The Motherfucker has Mr. Lizewski beaten to death in jail by his contacts there and sends a photograph to Dave, a grief-stricken Dave vows to abandon his Kick-Ass identity, as he had promised his father. At his fathers funeral, The Motherfuckers gang ambushes and kidnaps Dave, Mindy pursues their van and rescues Dave, and then convinces him to confront The Motherfucker. Dave, now wearing Big Daddys body armour over his Kick-Ass costume, and his friends attack the villains lair
Kick-Ass 2 (film)
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Theatrical release poster
53.
12 Years a Slave (film)
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Northup worked on plantations in the state of Louisiana for 12 years before his release. The first scholarly edition of Northups memoir, co-edited in 1968 by Sue Eakin and Joseph Logsdon, carefully retraced and validated the account, other characters in the film were also real people, including Edwin and Mary Epps, and Patsey. The film was directed by Steve McQueen, the screenplay was written by John Ridley. Chiwetel Ejiofor stars as Solomon Northup, Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, Lupita Nyongo, Sarah Paulson, Brad Pitt, and Alfre Woodard are all featured in supporting roles. Principal photography took place in New Orleans, Louisiana, from June 27 to August 13,2012, the locations used were four historic antebellum plantations, Felicity, Bocage, Destrehan, and Magnolia. Of the four, Magnolia is nearest to the plantation where Northup was held. 12 Years a Slave received widespread acclaim, and was named the best film of 2013 by several media outlets. It proved to be a box office success, earning over $187 million on a budget of $22 million. The film won three Academy Awards, Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress for Nyongo, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Ridley, the Best Picture win made McQueen the first black producer ever to have received the award and the first black director to have directed a Best Picture winner. The film was awarded the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama, and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts recognized it with the Best Film and the Best Actor award for Ejiofor. In 1841, Solomon Northup is a free African-American man working as a violinist, living with his wife, two white men, Brown and Hamilton, offer him short-term employment as a musician if he will travel with them to Washington, D. C. However, once they arrive, the duo drug Northup and conspire to deliver him to a slave pen run by a man named Burch, Northup is later shipped to New Orleans along with others who have been detained against their will. A slave trader named Freeman gives Northup the identity of Platt, a slave from Georgia. Due to tension between Northup and another worker, Ford sells him to another slave owner named Edwin Epps. In the process, Northup attempts to explain that he is actually a free man, at the plantation, Northup meets Patsey, a favored slave, whom Epps regularly rapes and abuses. Some time later, an outbreak of cotton worm befalls Eppss plantation, unable to work his fields, Epps leases his slaves to a neighboring plantation for the season. While there, Northup gains the favor of the owner, Judge Turner, who allows him to play the fiddle at a neighbors wedding anniversary celebration. When Northup returns to Epps, he attempts to use the money to pay a white hand and former overseer, Armsby
12 Years a Slave (film)
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Theatrical release poster
12 Years a Slave (film)
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Alfre Woodard at the premiere of 12 Years a Slave
12 Years a Slave (film)
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John Ridley at the 2013 San Diego Film Festival
12 Years a Slave (film)
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Director Steve McQueen at the premiere of 12 Years a Slave at the 2013 Toronto Film Festival
54.
By the Sea (2015 film)
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By the Sea is a 2015 American romantic drama film written and directed by Angelina Jolie, and produced by and starring Jolie Pitt and her husband Brad Pitt. The film was released on November 13,2015, by Universal Pictures, in the 1970s, in France, an American couple, former dancer Vanessa and her husband Roland, a successful writer, have been married 14 years. They drive to a coastal hotel, Roland wants to write a story while staying there. The two are barely on speaking terms, Vanessa is withdrawn and grieving for an unknown reason, Roland appears to drink too much and seems unhappy that Vanessa is no longer interested in him sexually. Roland becomes friendly with the cafe owner, an older man still grieving his much-loved late wife. Vanessa watches a local fisherman who goes out every day on the tide and returns on the incoming one, catching few fish. Vanessa and Roland strike up a friendship with a young couple staying in the room next to them. Soon after, they discover that the wall between their two rooms has a disused radiator pipe hole, enabling them to watch the couple in their bedroom talking and having sex, gradually their experiences at the hotel enable Vanessa and Roland to start patching up their relationship. However, Vanessa attempts a liaison with the husband in the next room, interrupted violently by Roland. He bruises the husband, who must later explain to his wife and this also triggers a confrontation between Vanessa and Roland, during which he tells her that if she wishes to hurt him, she should just go ahead and hurt him physically. Roland asserts that her seduction of the husband was motivated by his wifes envy of the young couple - particularly of their ability to bear children, Roland physically restrains Vanessa against a wall and makes her speak of herself being barren which they havent been able to talk about. After a short struggle, Vanessa breaks down and weeps for her loss, later, Roland explains to the young wife that two miscarriages caused Vanessas lasting grief, withdrawal and behavior toward her husband. Having finally come to terms with their life together, Vanessa seems able to go on and it seems also that the young couple next door may be able to work their way through the episode as well, and come out stronger on the other side. As Vanessa and Roland leave the hotel and drive away, they appear to be reconciled and this was the first cinematic collaboration between the two since Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat of Malta confirmed the project, stating that it would be filmed at Mġarr ix-Xini. Jolie has stated that the film at its core, is about grief further noting that the loss of her mother in 2007 caused a deal of sadness for her. To that end, the movie resembles movies of the 1960s and 70s, christian Berger is the cinematographer, he used mostly natural light throughout filming, while Jon Hutman is the production designer. Principal photography and production began on August 19,2014, in Gozo, Malta, in May 2015, the film was slated for a November 13,2015 release
By the Sea (2015 film)
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Teaser poster
55.
The Big Short (film)
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The film stars Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt, Melissa Leo, Hamish Linklater, John Magaro, Rafe Spall, Jeremy Strong, Finn Wittrock and Marisa Tomei. The film is noted for the techniques it employs to explain complex financial instruments. Several other actors directly address the audience, most frequently Gosling, the film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor for Bale, Best Film Editing and Best Adapted Screenplay, winning the last. The film consists of three stories which run concurrently with no plot overlap – they are only connected by the commonality of the predicted housing market collapse. Michael Burry storyline In 2005, eccentric hedge fund manager Michael Burry discovers that the United States housing market is extremely unstable, anticipating that the market will collapse during Q22007, as interest rates would rise from adjustable-rate mortgages, he envisions an opportunity to profit. His plan is to create a default swap market, allowing him to bet against market-based mortgage-backed securities. He proposes his idea to several major investment and commercial banks who readily accept, Burrys huge long-term bet, exceeding $1 billion, entails paying substantial monthly premiums to the banks. This proviso incurs his clients ire, believing he is wasting capital, and many demand that he reverse and sell, under pressure, Burry restricts withdrawals from his fund, angering his investors. A misplaced phone call alerts Front Point hedge fund manager Mark Baum to his plans, Vennett explains that the market collapse is being further perpetuated by the packaging of subprime loans into collateralized debt obligations large enough to be considered AAA ratings. Baum sends staff to investigate the Miami housing market and they discover that mortgage brokers are making money by selling risky mortgages to the Wall Street banks, in early 2007, these loans begin to default, but the prices of the CDOs somehow rise. Meanwhile, ratings agencies refuse to downgrade the ratings of these failing bonds, when Baum questions an acquaintance at Standard & Poors, he discovers conflict of interest and dishonesty amongst the credit rating agencies. When Baums employees question Vennetts motives, he maintains position and invites Baum, Baum interviews CDO manager Wing Chau, who creates CDOs on behalf of an investment bank, claiming to represent the interests of investors. Chau describes how synthetic CDOs make a chain of large bets on the faulty loans. Baum horrifyingly realizes that the fraud will completely collapse the global economy and decides to purchase as many swaps as possible, profiting from the situation at the banks expense. Waiting until the last minute to sell their position, Baums fund makes a profit of $1 billion, since they are below the capital threshold for an ISDA Master Agreement required to enter into trades like Burrys and Baums, they enlist the aid of retired securities trader Ben Rickert. When the bond values and CDOs rise despite defaults, Geller suspects the banks of committing fraud, the three also visit the American Securitization Forum, where they learn that the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission has no regulations to monitor mortgage-backed security activity. They manage to make an even more profitable payout deal than other hedge funds by shorting the higher-rated mortgage securities. These securities were considered stable and the banks were willing to sell swaps on them extremely cheaply
The Big Short (film)
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Teaser poster
56.
Brad Pitt filmography
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Brad Pitt is an American actor and film producer, whose acting career began in 1987 with uncredited roles in the films No Way Out and Less Than Zero. He subsequently appeared in episodes for shows during the late 1980s. He gained recognition in Thelma & Louise and A River Runs Through It, Pitt featured in the David Fincher-directed, commercially successful thriller Seven, in which he played a detective on the trail of a psychopathic serial killer. The role of a patient in the science fiction film 12 Monkeys earned him the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. He followed it with the role of Heinrich Harrer in the biopic Seven Years in Tibet, Pitt reteamed with Fincher to star in the apocalyptic film Fight Club in a role that required him learn boxing, taekwondo, and grappling. A critical and commercial success, the film has developed a cult status. Pitt portrayed Rusty Ryan in the successful heist film series Oceans Trilogy. In 2002, he earned a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for his guest appearance in the sitcom Friends, also that year, Pitt started a production company, Plan B Entertainment, whose first release was the epic war film Troy, starring Pitt. He played an assassin opposite Angelina Jolie in the successful action comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Pitt produced the 2006 crime drama The Departed, and acted alongside Cate Blanchett in the multi-narrative drama Babel, pitts portrayal of the eponymous man who ages in reverse in the drama The Curious Case of Benjamin Button earned him an Academy Award for Best Actor nomination. He starred in the war film Inglourious Basterds, and produced the superhero film Kick-Ass. He also garnered a Best Actor nomination for the latter and his biggest commercial success came with the apocalyptic film World War Z, which has grossed a total of $540 million worldwide. Pitt produced the period drama 12 Years a Slave, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Picture, in 2014, he starred in the war film Fury which received positive reviews from critics and proved to be successful at the box office. List of awards and nominations received by Brad Pitt Brad Pitt filmography at the Internet Movie Database
Brad Pitt filmography
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Brad Pitt at the premiere of Fury in Washington D.C
Brad Pitt filmography
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Pitt in 2001 at the Incirlik Air Base
Brad Pitt filmography
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Pitt during the 2007 Palm Springs International Film Festival
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