1.
Newton, Massachusetts
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Newton is a suburban city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. Rather than having a city center, Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages. According to the 2010 U. S. Census, the population of Newton was 85,146, Newtons proximity to Boston along with its historic homes, good public schools, and safe and quiet neighborhoods make it a desirable community for those who commute to Boston. Newton is served by three modes of transit run by the MBTA, light rail, commuter rail. Newton has been ranked as one of the best cities to live in in the country. In August 2012, Money magazine named Newton fourth best small city among places to live in America and has named the safest city in the country according to Aneki. Newton was settled in 1630 as part of the newe towne, there are several historical sites of interest in the Newton area. These include Crystal Lake, the East Parish and West Parish Burying Grounds, and the Jackson Homestead, historian and local resident Diana Muir has written about the history surrounding Bulloughs Pond, a scene from the 2008 production of The Women was also filmed there. Portions of the 2016 drama film Patriots Day, about the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and starring Boston native Mark Wahlberg, were filmed at Lasell College in the city, Newton was settled in 1630 as part of the newe towne, which was renamed Cambridge in 1638. Newton was incorporated as a town, known as Cambridge Village, in 1688, then renamed Newtown in 1691. It became a city in 1873, Newton is known as The Garden City. Newton, according to Muir, became one of Americas earliest commuter suburbs, the Boston and Worcester, one of Americas earliest railroads, reached West Newton in 1834. Wealthy Bostonian businessmen took advantage of the new commuting opportunity offered by the railroad, building homes on erstwhile farmland of West Newton hill. Muir points out that these early commuters needed sufficient wealth to employ a groom and keep horses, one wave began with the streetcar lines that made many parts of Newton accessible for commuters in the late nineteenth century. The next wave came in the 1920s when automobiles became affordable to a upper middle class. Even then, however, Oak Hill continued to be farmed, mostly market gardening, Newton is not a typical commuter suburb since many people who live in Newton do not work in downtown Boston. Most Newtonites work in Newton and other surrounding cities and towns, the city has two symphony orchestras, the New Philharmonia Orchestra of Massachusetts and the Newton Symphony Orchestra. Each April on Patriots Day, the Boston Marathon is run through the city and it then turns right onto Route 30 for the long haul into Boston
2.
New York City
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The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange
3.
Los Angeles
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Los Angeles, officially the City of Los Angeles and often known by its initials L. A. is the cultural, financial, and commercial center of Southern California. With a census-estimated 2015 population of 3,971,883, it is the second-most populous city in the United States, Los Angeles is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the United States. The citys inhabitants are referred to as Angelenos, historically home to the Chumash and Tongva, Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542 along with the rest of what would become Alta California. The city was founded on September 4,1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence, in 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thereby becoming part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4,1850, the discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city. The completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, delivering water from Eastern California, nicknamed the City of Angels, Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic diversity, and sprawling metropolis. Los Angeles also has an economy in culture, media, fashion, science, sports, technology, education, medicine. A global city, it has been ranked 6th in the Global Cities Index, the city is home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields, and is one of the most substantial economic engines within the United States. The Los Angeles combined statistical area has a gross metropolitan product of $831 billion, making it the third-largest in the world, after the Greater Tokyo and New York metropolitan areas. The city has hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1932 and 1984 and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics and thus become the second city after London to have hosted the Games three times. The Los Angeles area also hosted the 1994 FIFA mens World Cup final match as well as the 1999 FIFA womens World Cup final match, the mens event was watched on television by over 700 million people worldwide. The Los Angeles coastal area was first settled by the Tongva, a Gabrielino settlement in the area was called iyáangẚ, meaning poison oak place. Gaspar de Portolà and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí, reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2,1769, in 1771, Franciscan friar Junípero Serra directed the building of the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, the first mission in the area. The Queen of the Angels is an honorific of the Virgin Mary, two-thirds of the settlers were mestizo or mulatto with a mixture of African, indigenous and European ancestry. The settlement remained a small town for decades, but by 1820. Today, the pueblo is commemorated in the district of Los Angeles Pueblo Plaza and Olvera Street. New Spain achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, during Mexican rule, Governor Pío Pico made Los Angeles Alta Californias regional capital
4.
Boston College
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Boston College is a private Jesuit Catholic research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States,6 miles west of downtown Boston. It has 9,100 full-time undergraduates and almost 5,000 graduate students, the universitys name reflects its early history as a liberal arts college and preparatory school in Bostons South End. It is a member of the 568 Group and the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities and its main campus is a historic district and features some of the earliest examples of collegiate gothic architecture in North America. Boston Colleges undergraduate program is currently ranked 31st in the National Universities ranking by U. S. News & World Report, Boston College is categorized as an R1, Highest Research Activity institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Students at the university earned 21 Fulbright Awards in 2012, ranking the school eighth among American research institutions, Boston College sports teams are called the Eagles, and their colors are maroon and gold, the school mascot is Baldwin the Eagle. The Eagles compete in NCAA Division I as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference in all sports offered by the ACC, the mens and womens ice hockey teams compete in Hockey East. Boston Colleges mens ice hockey team is one of the most decorated programs in the nation, in 1825, Benedict Joseph Fenwick, S. J. A Jesuit from Maryland, became the second Bishop of Boston and he was the first to articulate a vision for a College in the City of Boston that would raise a new generation of leaders to serve both the civic and spiritual needs of his fledgling diocese. In 1827, Bishop Fenwick opened a school in the basement of his cathedral and his efforts to attract other Jesuits to the faculty were hampered both by Bostons distance from the center of Jesuit activity in Maryland and by suspicion on the part of the citys Protestant elite. Meanwhile, the vision for a college in Boston was sustained by John McElroy, with little fanfare, the colleges two buildings—a schoolhouse and a church—welcomed their first class of scholastics in 1859. Two years later, with as little fanfare, BC closed again and its short-lived second incarnation was plagued by the outbreak of Civil War and disagreement within the Society over the colleges governance and finances. BCs inability to obtain a charter from the anti-Catholic Massachusetts legislature only compounded its troubles, on March 31,1863, more than three decades after its initial inception, Boston Colleges charter was formally approved by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. BC became the second Jesuit institution of learning in Massachusetts. A Swiss Jesuit from French-speaking Fribourg, was selected as BCs first president, for most of the 19th century, BC offered a singular 7-year program corresponding to both high school and college. Its entering class in the fall of 1864 included 22 students, the curriculum was based on the Jesuit Ratio Studiorum, emphasizing Latin, Greek, philosophy, and theology. Boston Colleges enrollment reached nearly 500 by the turn of the 20th century, in 1907, newly installed President Thomas I. Gasson, S. J. determined that BCs cramped, urban quarters in Bostons South End were inadequate, inspired by John Winthrops early vision of Boston as a city upon a hill, he re-imagined Boston College as world-renowned university and a beacon of Jesuit scholarship. Less than a year after taking office, he purchased Amos Adams Lawrences farm on Chestnut Hill and he organized an international competition for the design of a campus master plan and set about raising funds for the construction of the new university
5.
Will Arnett
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William Emerson Will Arnett is a Canadian-American actor, voice actor and comedian. He is known for his role as George Oscar Gob Bluth II in the Fox series Arrested Development and Devon Banks in the NBC series 30 Rock, for which he was nominated for five Emmy Awards. Aliens, The Brothers Solomon, When in Rome, Jonah Hex, The Lego Movie, The Nut Job, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and he currently stars in Netflixs Flaked. Arnett was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Edith Alexandra Alix and Emerson James Jim Arnett and his parents were originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba, and he has roots on both sides of his family in Manitoba going back many generations. Arnett has two sisters and a younger brother. His father, a graduate of Harvard University and corporate lawyer, served as the president, Arnett briefly attended Lakefield College School in Lakefield, Ontario, but was asked not to return after a semester for being a troublemaker. The Subway Academy II allowed him to take classes at the Tarragon Theatre. He eventually graduated from Leaside High School and attended Concordia University, Montreal for one semester, as a teenager, he was encouraged by his mother to pursue an acting career. He auditioned for commercials in Toronto and enjoyed acting, in 1990, he moved to New York City to study acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. He appeared in plays in New York and his first acting role was in Felicity Huffmans independent film Erie, in February 1996, Arnett made his first television pilot with Kevin Pollak and his wife, Lucy Webb, for CBS, that was not picked up. In 1999, Arnett starred in another pilot for The Mike OMalley Show on NBC as the protagonists friend Jimmy, the show was picked up, but was canceled after only two episodes. Arnett has referred to 2000, the year after that show was cancelled, as the darkest year of life and he admits that he didnt get a lot of work and drank those years away. In summer 2000, a friend helped pull Arnett out of his battle with alcoholism, in 2001, Arnett was cast in the CBS television pilot, Loomis as the slacker brother of a local news reporter, that was not picked up. Arnett became so frustrated, after his fourth failed pilot, that he swore off pilots altogether and he also played Max the Magician in Sesame Street, in a nod to Gob Bluths penchant for using Europes The Final Countdown during his magic shows. According to a 2006 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Arnetts two favorite episodes of the show were Pier Pressure and Afternoon Delight and his exposure on Arrested Development led to a number of larger roles in feature films. Though having worked in drama, his role for Arrested Development is still comedy and he never considered himself a comic and considers himself an actor first. It earned more than US$4 million at the box office and more than US$13 million in rentals, in Blades of Glory, Arnett and his wife, Amy Poehler played brother/sister ice-skating pair with an incestuous relationship. The film was No.1 at the U. S. box office during its first two weeks, and grossed approximately US$118 million domestically during its theatrical run, and US$36 million on home video
6.
Improvisational theatre
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Improvisational theatre exists in performance as a range of styles of improvisational comedy as well as some non-comedic theatrical performances. It is sometimes used in film and television, both to develop characters and scripts and occasionally as part of the final product. Improvisational techniques are used extensively in drama programs to train actors for stage, film. However, the skills and processes of improvisation are used outside of the context of performing arts. It is sometimes used in psychotherapy as a tool to gain insight into a persons thoughts, feelings, the earliest well documented use of improvisational theatre in Eastern history is found in the Atellan Farce of Africa 391 BC. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, commedia dellarte performers improvised based on an outline in the streets of Italy. Some people credit American Dudley Riggs as the first vaudevillian to use audience suggestions to create improvised sketches on stage, Spolin influenced the first generation of modern American improvisers at The Compass Players in Chicago, which led to The Second City. Her son, Paul Sills, along with David Shepherd, started The Compass Players, following the demise of the Compass Players, Paul Sills began The Second City. They were the first organized troupes in Chicago, and the modern Chicago improvisational comedy movement grew from their success. Many of the current rules of comedic improv were first formalized in Chicago in the late 1950s and early 1960s, initially among The Compass Players troupe, which was directed by Paul Sills. From most accounts, David Shepherd provided the vision of the Compass Players. Mike Nichols, Ted Flicker, and Del Close were her most frequent collaborators in this regard, during this time, Forsberg trained many of the performers who went on to star on The Second City stage. Simultaneously, Keith Johnstones group The Theatre Machine, which originated in London, was touring Europe and this work gave birth to Theatresports, at first secretly in Johnstones workshops, and eventually in public when he moved to Canada. Toronto has been home to a rich improv tradition, in 1984, Dick Chudnow founded ComedySportz in Milwaukee, WI. Expansion began with the addition of ComedySportz-Madison, in 1985, the first Comedy League of America National Tournament was held in 1988, with 10 teams participating. The league is now known as World Comedy League and boasts a roster of 24 international cities, in San Francisco, The Committee theater was active in North Beach during the 1960s. It was founded by alumni of Chicagos Second City, Alan Myerson, when The Committee disbanded in 1972, three major companies were formed, The Pitchell Players, The Wing, and Improvisation Inc. The only company that continued to perform Closes Harold was the latter one and its two former members, Michael Bossier and John Elk, formed Spaghetti Jam in San Franciscos Old Spaghetti Factory in 1976, where shortform improv and Harolds were performed through 1983
7.
Insult comedy
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Insult comedy is a comedy genre in which the act consists mainly of offensive insults directed at the performers audience or other performers. Typical targets for insult include individuals in the audience, the town hosting the performance. An insult comedian often maintains a competitive and interactive relationship with his or her audience, the style has been described as festive abuse. The style can be distinguished from an act based on satire, insult comedy is often used to deflect or silence hecklers even when the rest of the show is not focused around it
8.
Surreal humour
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Surreal humour is a form of humour predicated on deliberate violations of causal reasoning, producing events and behaviours that are obviously illogical. Constructions of surreal humour tend to involve bizarre juxtapositions, non-sequiturs, the humour arises from a subversion of audiences expectations, so that amusement is founded on unpredictability, separate from a logical analysis of the situation. The humour derived gets its appeal from the fact that the situation described is so ridiculous or unlikely, the genre has roots in Surrealism in the arts. People speak of surreal humour when illogic and absurdity are used for humorous effect, many of Edward Lears children stories and poems contain nonsense and are basically surreal in approach. Besides that, it was bordered by evanescent isthmuses with a great Gulf-stream running about all over it, so that it was perfectly beautiful, and contained only a single tree,503 feet high. In the early 20th century, several movements, including the dadaists, surrealists. The goals of these movements were in some serious, and they were committed to undermining the solemnity. As a result, much of their art was intentionally amusing, a famous example is Marcel Duchamps Fountain, an inverted urinal signed R. Mutt. This became one of the most famous and influential pieces of art in history and it is also a joke, relying on the inversion of the items function as expressed by its title as well as its incongruous presence in an art exhibition. The word surreal first began to be used to describe a type of aesthetic of the early 1920s, surreal humour is also found frequently in avant-garde theatre such as Waiting for Godot and Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead. In the United States, S. J. Perelman has been identified as the first surrealist humour writer, artists like Yoko Ono, Andy Warhol, Donald Barthelme, Italo Calvino, John Hodgman, and many others have relied on this technique in their work. Surrealist humour has played an important role in culture, especially since The Goon Show, Ernie Kovacs. Spike Milligan has been an influence with his absurdist pieces. One of his earliest works in radio, The Goon Show, has inspired many other absurdist comedians and was popular at the time. Spike Milligan went on to create a TV show in 1969, in turn, the Pythons influenced many with their groundbreaking series Monty Pythons Flying Circus. In the 1980s, when the alternative comedy era had begun, absurdist comedians were working the circuit, with the success of The Comic Strip Presents. Featuring as one of the first aired pieces for Channel 4 and this was a very absurdist sitcom based on four university students. Both Monty Python and The Young Ones featured a structure and many absurdities
9.
Culture of the United States
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The culture of the United States of America is primarily a mix of various European, Native American, African, Asian, and Polynesian cultures. It also has its own social and cultural characteristics, such as dialect, music, arts, social habits, cuisine, the United States of America is an ethnically and racially diverse country as a result of large-scale migration from many countries throughout its history. Its chief early European influences came from English settlers of colonial America during British rule, due to colonial ties with Britain that spread the English language, British culture, legal system and other cultural inheritances, had a formative influence. Other important influences came from parts of Europe, especially Germany. Original elements also play a role, such as Jeffersonian democracy. American culture includes both conservative and liberal elements, scientific and religious competitiveness, political structures, risk taking and free expression, materialist, despite certain consistent ideological principles, American culture has a variety of expressions due to its geographical scale and demographic diversity. The flexibility of U. S. culture and its symbolic nature lead some researchers to categorize American culture as a mythic identity. Many American cultural elements, especially from popular culture, have spread across the globe through modern mass media, the United States has traditionally been thought of as a melting pot. However, beginning in the 1960s and continuing on in the present day, the trends towards cultural diversity, pluralism. Due to the extent of American culture, there are many integrated, the percentage of non-religious people is the highest in the northeastern state of Vermont at 34%, compared to the Bible Belt state of Alabama, where it is 6%. Strong cultural differences have a history in the U. S. with the southern slave society in the antebellum period serving as a prime example. David Hackett Fischer theorizes that the United States is made up today of four regional cultures. According to Fischer, the foundation of American culture was formed from four mass migrations from four different regions of the British Isles by four distinct socio-religious groups. New Englands earliest settlement period occurred between 1629 and 1640 when Puritans, mostly from East Anglia in England, settled there, the next mass migration was of southern English cavaliers and their working class English domestic servants to the Chesapeake Bay region between 1640 and 1675. This facilitated the development of the Southern American culture, then, thousands of English and Welsh Quakers, led by William Penn, settled in the Delaware Valley followed by large numbers of German Lutherans. S. From the mid-Atlantic states to the Pacific Coast, finally, Scotch-Irish, English and Scottish settlers from the borderlands of Britain and Ireland migrated to Appalachia between 1717 and 1775. They formed the culture of the Upland South, which has since spread west to such areas as West Texas. Fischer suggests that the U. S. today is not a country with one General American culture and he asserts that the country is composed of just regional cultures, and that understanding that helps one to understand many things about modern American life
10.
News
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News is information about current events. Common topics for news reports include war, government, politics, education, health, the environment, economy, business, government proclamations, concerning royal ceremonies, laws, taxes, public health, criminals, have been dubbed news since ancient times. Humans exhibit a nearly universal desire to learn and share news, technological and social developments, often driven by government communication and espionage networks, have increased the speed with which news can spread, as well as influenced its content. The genre of news as we know it today is closely associated with the newspaper, the English word news developed in the 14th century as a special use of the plural form of new. In Middle English, the equivalent word was newes, like the French nouvelles, jessica Garretson Finch is credited with coining the phrase current events while teaching at Barnard College in the 1890s. As its name implies, “news” typically connotes the presentation of new information, the newness of news gives it an uncertain quality which distinguishes it from the more careful investigations of history or other scholarly disciplines. News conspicuously describes the world in the present or immediate past, to make the news, an ongoing process must have some “peg”, an event in time which anchors it to the present moment. Relatedly, news often addresses aspects of reality which seem unusual, deviant, hence the famous dictum that “Dog Bites Man” is not news, but “Man Bites Dog” is. Another corollary of the newness of news is that, as new technology enable new media to disseminate news more quickly, according to some theoretical and understandings, news is whatever the news industry sells. Journalism, broadly understood along the lines, is the act or occupation of collecting and providing news. From a commercial perspective, news is simply one input, along with paper necessary to prepare a product for distribution. A news agency supplies this resource “wholesale” and publishers enhance it for retail, most purveyors of news value impartiality, neutrality, and objectivity, despite the inherent difficulty of reporting without political bias. Perception of these values has changed greatly over time as sensationalized tabloid journalism has risen in popularity, News is also sometimes said to portray the truth, but this relationship is elusive and qualified. Paradoxically, another property commonly attributed to news is sensationalism, the focus on. Thus news is not unrelated to gossip, the human practice of sharing information about other humans of mutual interest. A common sensational topic is violence, hence another news dictum, “if it bleeds, newsworthiness is defined as a subject having sufficient relevance to the public or a special audience to warrant press attention or coverage. In some countries and at points in history, what news media. Many news values seem to be common across cultures, people seem to be interested in news to the extent which it has a big impact, describes conflicts, happens nearby, involves well-known people, and deviates from the norms of everyday happenings
11.
Embarrassment
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Embarrassment is an emotional state of intense discomfort with oneself, experienced when having a socially unacceptable act or condition witnessed by or revealed to others. Usually some amount of loss of honor or dignity is involved, but how much and it is similar to shame, except that shame may be experienced for an act known only to oneself. Also, embarrassment usually carries the connotation of being caused by an act that is socially unacceptable. Embarrassment can be personal, caused by unwanted attention to private matters or personal flaws or mishaps, in many cultures, being seen nude or inappropriately dressed is a particularly stressful form of embarrassment. Personal embarrassment is usually accompanied by some combination of blushing, sweating, nervousness, stammering, sometimes the embarrassed person tries to mask embarrassment with smiles or nervous laughter, especially in etiquette situations. Such a response is common in certain cultures, which may lead to misunderstanding. There may also be feelings of anger depending on the seriousness of the situation. There is a range of responses, with the most minor being a perception of the act as inconsequential or even humorous. The capacity to experience embarrassment can also be seen as functional for the group or culture, similarly, embarrassment exhibited by boys more likely to engage in aggressive/delinquent behaviour was less than one-third of that exhibited by non-aggressive boys. Thus proneness to embarrassment can act as a brake on behaviour that would be dysfunctional for a group or culture, Embarrassment can also be professional or official, especially after statements expressing confidence in a stated course of action, or willful disregard for evidence. Embarrassment increases greatly in instances involving official duties or workplace facilities, large amounts of money or materials, even small errors or miscalculations can lead to significantly greater official embarrassment if it is discovered that there was willful disregard for evidence or directives involved. Not all official failures result in embarrassment, even if the circumstances lead to some slight personal embarrassment for the people involved. Similarly, a scientist might be disappointed and embarrassed if one of his hypotheses was proven wrong. By contrast, exposure of falsified data supporting a claim would likely lead to professional embarrassment in the scientific community. Professional or official embarrassment is often accompanied by expressions of anger, denial of involvement. One typology of embarrassment is by Sharkey and Stafford, based on these types, Cupach and Metts classify two basic embarrassment situations, the actor responsible and the observer responsible. The word derives from the French word embarrasser, to block,5 However, it certainly is not directly derived from it, as the substitution of r for rr in Ibero-Romantic languages was not a known occurrence. The Spanish word may come from the Italian imbarazzare, from imbarazzo, joan Corominas and José Pacual, embarazar, Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, Vol. II, p. 555-556
12.
Chicago
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Chicago, officially the City of Chicago, is the third-most populous city in the United States. With over 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the state of Illinois, and it is the county seat of Cook County. In 2012, Chicago was listed as a global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Chicago has the third-largest gross metropolitan product in the United States—about $640 billion according to 2015 estimates, the city has one of the worlds largest and most diversified economies with no single industry employing more than 14% of the workforce. In 2016, Chicago hosted over 54 million domestic and international visitors, landmarks in the city include Millennium Park, Navy Pier, the Magnificent Mile, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum Campus, the Willis Tower, Museum of Science and Industry, and Lincoln Park Zoo. Chicagos culture includes the arts, novels, film, theater, especially improvisational comedy. Chicago also has sports teams in each of the major professional leagues. The city has many nicknames, the best-known being the Windy City, the name Chicago is derived from a French rendering of the Native American word shikaakwa, known to botanists as Allium tricoccum, from the Miami-Illinois language. The first known reference to the site of the current city of Chicago as Checagou was by Robert de LaSalle around 1679 in a memoir, henri Joutel, in his journal of 1688, noted that the wild garlic, called chicagoua, grew abundantly in the area. In the mid-18th century, the area was inhabited by a Native American tribe known as the Potawatomi, the first known non-indigenous permanent settler in Chicago was Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. Du Sable was of African and French descent and arrived in the 1780s and he is commonly known as the Founder of Chicago. In 1803, the United States Army built Fort Dearborn, which was destroyed in 1812 in the Battle of Fort Dearborn, the Ottawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi tribes had ceded additional land to the United States in the 1816 Treaty of St. Louis. The Potawatomi were forcibly removed from their land after the Treaty of Chicago in 1833, on August 12,1833, the Town of Chicago was organized with a population of about 200. Within seven years it grew to more than 4,000 people, on June 15,1835, the first public land sales began with Edmund Dick Taylor as U. S. The City of Chicago was incorporated on Saturday, March 4,1837, as the site of the Chicago Portage, the city became an important transportation hub between the eastern and western United States. Chicagos first railway, Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, and the Illinois, the canal allowed steamboats and sailing ships on the Great Lakes to connect to the Mississippi River. A flourishing economy brought residents from rural communities and immigrants from abroad, manufacturing and retail and finance sectors became dominant, influencing the American economy. The Chicago Board of Trade listed the first ever standardized exchange traded forward contracts and these issues also helped propel another Illinoisan, Abraham Lincoln, to the national stage
13.
The Second City
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The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise, best known as the first ever on-going improvisational theater troupe based in Chicago. It also has programs that run out of Toronto and Los Angeles, the Second City Theatre opened on December 16,1959 and has since become one of the most influential and prolific comedy theatres in the world. The Second City has produced programs in both the United States and Canada including SCTV, Second City Presents, and Next Comedy Legend. The Second City chose its name from the title of an article about Chicago by A. J. Liebling that appeared in The New Yorker in 1952. In 1959, the first Second City revue show premiered at 1842 North Wells Street, the cabaret theater, comedy style of the Second City tended towards satire and commentary of current social norms and political figures and events. In 1961, the theater sent a cast to Broadway with the revue, From the Second City, directed by Sills. Eventually, the theater expanded to include three touring companies and a resident company, and now fosters a company devoted to outreach. The style of comedy has changed with time, but the format has remained constant, a number of well-known performers began careers as part of the historic troupe and later moved to television and film. In 1973, Second City opened a theater in Toronto, theater became the second resident stage in Old Town, Chicago location, handling overflow crowds and increasing the number of resident company members. Co-founder Bernard Sahlins owned the company until 1985, before selling it to Andrew Alexander. Along with its theaters, training centers, and television shows, Second City also produces improv, Second City Television, or SCTV, was a Canadian television sketch comedy show offshoot from the Toronto troupe of the Second City and ran from 1976 to 1984. The basic premise of SCTV was modeled on a station in the fictional city of Melonville. Edith Prickley, Catherine OHaras washed-up, alcoholic, narcissist former leading-lady Lola Heatherton, martin Short originated his dorky Ed Grimley character here, which he later brought to Saturday Night Live. Andrew Alexander took the reins of Second City Toronto in 1974 and formed a partnership with Len Stuart in 1976 and its first television production was SCTV. Alexander co-developed and executive produced over 185 half-hour shows for the comedy series. In 1985, Alexander and Stuart became owners of Chicagos Second City and he has produced or executive produced over 200 Second City revues in Canada and the United States. Most recently, Alexander has expanded The Second City TV & Film Division with offices in Los Angeles and he serves on the Columbia College Board of Trustees, is Chair of the Gildas Club Honorary Board, and is also an Honorary Member of the Chicago Gildas Club Board. As of 2014, the Second City has been awarded thirty-seven Equity Joseph Jefferson Awards, which have recognized them for Best Revue five times, the first being Paradigm Lost
14.
Upright Citizens Brigade
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The Upright Citizens Brigade is an improvisational and sketch comedy group that emerged from Chicagos ImprovOlympic in 1990. The original incarnation of the group consisted of Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, Matt Walsh, Adam McKay, Rick Roman, Horatio Sanz and Drew Franklin, other early members included Neil Flynn, Armando Diaz, Ali Farahnakian and Rich Fulcher. In 2013, Besser, Roberts and Walsh wrote The Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Improvisation Manual, the Upright Citizens Brigade began performing improv and sketch comedy at Kill the Poet in Chicago. Their first show was called Virtual Reality, the group followed with shows titled UCBTV, Conference on the Future of Happiness, Thunderball, Bucket of Truth, Big Dirty Hands, The Real Real World, and Punch Your Friend in the Face. In 1993, the Upright Citizens Brigade were regular guests on stage at the New Variety produced and hosted by Richard ODonnell at the Chicago Improv comedy club,504 N. Wells. In 1996, the Upright Citizens Brigade relocated to New York and began performing shows, on April 1,2003, they moved to a new space at 307 W. 26th Street. In July 2005, the UCB opened at the Tamarind Theatre in Los Angeles at 5919 Franklin Avenue, UCB also operates a second theater and bar space in the East Village, UCB East, which runs smaller-scale shows for $10 or less. The Upright Citizens Brigade have also been a performance in the Comedy Tent at the annual Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee. The original group, Matt Besser, Matt Walsh, Ian Roberts, in addition to this they had a TV movie called Escape From Its a Wonderful Life and appeared weekly on Late Night with Conan OBrien in the 90s. In the way of film, in 2002 they created and starred in the film Martin & Orloff, neither film was particularly successful or well received, and the group has overall avoided the media. There is also a web series titled UCB Comedy Originals, created in 2008. In 2016, Universal Cable Productions announced signing Upright Citizens Brigade to a production deal. The Second City The Groundlings ImprovOlympic Under the Gun Theater Raftery, high-Status Characters, How The Upright Citizens Brigade Stormed A City, Started A Scene, And Changed Comedy Forever. Official website Audio Interview with Matt Besser on The Sound of Young America, MP3 Link Video interview with Michael Delaney
15.
Comedy Central
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Comedy Central is an American basic cable and satellite television channel owned by Viacom Global Entertainment Group, a unit of the Viacom Media Networks division of Viacom. The channel carries comedy programming, in the form of original and syndicated series and stand-up comedy specials, as well as feature films. The international channels are operated by Viacom International Media Networks, as of February 2015, approximately 93,992,000 American households receive Comedy Central. On November 15,1989, Time Warner, owners of HBO, on April 1,1990, Viacom launched a rival channel called Ha. that featured reruns of situation comedies and some original sketch comedy. The Comedy Channels programs were broadcast from the HBO Downtown Studios at 120 East 23rd Street in Manhattan, the format prior to the merger with Ha. In the early days, certain hours of the day when clips were shown without host segments were dubbed Short Attention Span Theater, in 1990, hosts under this title, Jon Stewart and Patty Rosborough, were introduced. Comedian Marc Maron also hosted the series, Viacom bought out Time Warners half in April 2003 for $1.23 billion. LLC, the subsidiary that owned Ha. and Viacoms original half of the network, with the exception of the cult favorite Mystery Science Theater 3000, the channel had a relatively small viewership. A notable early success was Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, which after showing promise on Comedy Central was quickly snapped up by ABC. Additionally, The Daily Show had got its start with original host Craig Kilborn, dr. Katz, Professional Therapist was also a notable original program from this era, as well as the game show Win Ben Steins Money. Successful non-original programming included Canadian comedy group The Kids in the Hall and British shows such as the U. K. edition of Whose Line Is It Anyway. some later seasons of AbFab, as it was informally known, were partially financed by Comedy Central. Comedy Central also had the rights to broadcast reruns of Seattles Almost Live. The channel made a breakthrough when South Park premiered in 1997, being the first major basic cable show to carry the TV-MA rating for mature audiences, the show was too controversial to be picked up by a mainstream network. As word of mouth spread, the number of people who requested that Comedy Central be added to their cable providers increased, on November 13,2000, Comedy Central introduced a modernized version of its globe logo, by straightening the buildings and removing the transmitter. The management of the said that the transmitter of the 1991 logo was said to communicate the 1950s broadcast era. In 2002, Comedy Central Records was formed as a means of releasing albums by comedians that have appeared on the network, since 2003, Comedy Central has created a tradition of roasting comedians in the style of the New York Friars Club roasts. During these roasts, friends of the roastee, along other comedians, take turns making fun of the roastee, the other roasters. The success of South Park, despite its mature content, encouraged the network to continue to push the limits on adult language, every Saturday and Sunday morning at 1 a. m
16.
Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre
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It has locations in the New York neighborhoods of Chelsea and the East Village as well as the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Hollywood and Sunset Boulevard. In 2013, they co-authored a manual The Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Improvisation Manual, the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre Training Center teaches longform improv, sketch, writing, parts of directing and various other comedy skills. The training centers philosophy of improv is based largely on the teachings of Del Close, the primary improvisational form is The Harold, and the theater in all its incarnations has had a group of Harold Teams, house teams that perform regularly. Prior to opening their own theatre, the Upright Citizens Brigade performed their signature improv show, ASSSSCAT, first at KGB Bar, Solo Arts was the first semi-permanent home to the Upright Citizens Brigades Harold Teams and is considered by some to be the groups first theatre. The troupes first permanent space was at 161 West 22nd Street, a 75-seat auditorium that used to be the Harmony Burlesque Theater, the original theatre was closed on November 18,2002, after a building inspector ordered the theater to be shut down due to fire code violations. In the months that followed, the theater found a home at the Access Theater on lower Broadway. On April 1,2003, the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre opened its second official, in September 2011, UCB opened a second theater on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, at 153 E 3rd St. This theater features 124 seats, two lobbies, and a bar known as the Hot Chicks Room in reference to an episode of the Upright Citizens Brigade TV show. Often referred to as Beast, the theater was opened in hopes of showcasing more stand-up comedy. However, today it primarily features improv and sketch shows, in 2005, with Daisy Rosario as general manager, the Los Angeles branch of the theater opened at 5919 Franklin Avenue in Hollywood, offering up improv, sketch and stand-up comedy shows nightly. A Los Angeles alternative comedy show moved from its home at the M Bar to join the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. In October 2014, UCB announced the opening of UCB Theatre Sunset located at 5419 Sunset Boulevard for November 1
17.
Leslie Knope
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Leslie Barbara Knope is a fictional character and the protagonist of the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. She is portrayed by Amy Poehler and it is implied that she later becomes the President of the United States. Knope was born on January 18,1975 in Eagleton, Indiana and has lived in Pawnee, according to the shows timeline, her father died in 1983. She was inspired to pursue a life of service by the community programs she enjoyed as a child. She graduated in the top five percent of her school class and summa cum laude from Indiana Universitys School of Public. She hopes to improve her town and to advance her career and she has also stated her ultimate goal of becoming the first female President of the United States. Knope proudly displays in her images of Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Madeleine Albright, Condoleezza Rice, Dianne Feinstein, Janet Reno, Nancy Pelosi. Leslie also has a love for sweets, especially waffles and whipped cream, Leslie Knope is the only character to appear in every episode. On November 10,2016 a member of the Parks and Recreations writing staff wrote a letter for Vox from the fictional character Leslie Knope on the election results. Leslie Knope is extremely cheerful, ambitious, hard-working and optimistic, although somewhat naive at times, she is intelligent, well-read, and has good intentions, but is not always successful in executing her goals. She repeatedly tries to put a spin on failure, even to the point that she will occasionally distort the truth in her own view. For example, she does not get discouraged by angry residents who complain or yell during her public forums, many of her co-workers do not share her enthusiasm, but Leslie commands their respect nonetheless. Her ambition occasionally annoys her colleagues and leads to ribbing against her, Leslie views herself as a budding political star in the style of Hillary Rodham Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, and Condoleezza Rice. Initially she is shown to carry romantic feelings for her co-worker Mark and she is also desperate to impress her mother, Marlene, who is a well-known politician in the Pawnee government. At a public forum, she meets Ann Perkins, who informs her about a gaping hole near her house that her boyfriend, Andy Dwyer, Leslie takes on the project and quickly becomes friends with Ann. Leslie seems to move on from her romantic interest in Mark and she also begins taking charge and gains a lot of confidence. Also, more of her relationships with her coworkers are shown, towards the end of the season, Dave, who was enlisted in the U. S. Army Reserve, was called into active duty in San Diego, where he did custodial work. Dave asked Leslie to move him to San Diego, and although she was considering it, she ultimately declined because she loved her work and Pawnee too much to leave
18.
People's Television Network
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Peoples Television Network, Inc. is the flagship government television network owned by the Philippine Government under the helm of the Presidential Communications Office. Its head office, studios and transmitter are located at Broadcast Complex, Visayas Avenue, Barangay Vasra, Diliman, the countrys government television network began operations in April 1974 as Government Television through the National Media Production Center. The government channel was first headed by Lito Gorospe and later by the then-Press Secretary during the Marcos administration, by then, it began expanding with the opening of provincial stations nationwide, including 2 stations in Cebu and Bacolod who once owned by pre-martial law ABS-CBN. It later became the network for the broadcasts of the 1988 Summer Olympics along with RPN. On March 26,1992, President Cory Aquino signed Republic Act 7306 turning PTV Network into a government corporation known formally as Peoples Television Network, Inc. Shortly after he took over the mantle of government in June 1992, the Network was given a one-time equity funding for capital outlay. Since 1992, PTV has been operating on revenues it generates on its own, Republic Act 7306 stipulates that the government shall not appropriate funds for the operations of the Network. PTNI is on full satellite transmission nationwide since 1992 using PALAPA C2 and its flagship station PTV-4, which is based in Quezon City, boasts of a 40-kilowatt brand-new transmitter sitting on a 500 ft tower. With its 32 provincial stations across the country, the network has extended its reach and it has, to its name, several pioneering and award-winning educational, cultural and public service programs for their relevance and production excellence. In 1996, PTV won the award for Best TV Station ID in the PMPC Star Awards for Television, PTNI has pioneered educational and cultural programming. Some of its programs were Tele-aralan ng Kakayahan, Ating Alamin, Small World Kidsongs, For Arts Sake, Coast to Coast. PTNI has also been the broadcaster of major international sports competitions. It has covered the Olympic Games, starting with the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, except Barcelona Olympics in 1992, the Beijing Olympics in 2008, London Olympics in 2012, during these coverage, PTNI has received commendations from various sports organizations. In 1996, it received a citation from then President Fidel V. Ramos for the successful coverage of the Atlanta Olympic Games. On July 16,2001, under the new management appointed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, PTNI adopted the new image, One Vision. for a new image in line with its new programming thrusts, they continued the new name until the Aquino administration in 2010. NBN expanded its broadcast reach with the launching of NBN World on February 19,2003 in cooperation with the Television and this global expansion signals new directions for NBN as it becomes accessible to the rest of the world, particularly the millions of Filipinos overseas. NBN can be seen in Australia, North America and the Asia-Pacific, NBN is previously transmitting via satellite nationwide using Agila 2 then moved to ABS1 last September 2011. Also, a new Harris Transmitter has been installed, nBNs transmitter power shall be increased from 40 kW to 60 kW
19.
Parks and Recreation
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Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, the series aired on NBC from April 9,2009 to February 24,2015, for 125 episodes, over seven seasons. It was written by the writers and uses the same filming style as The Office. The writers researched local California politics for the show, and consulted with urban planners, Poehlers character, Leslie Knope, underwent major changes after the first season, in response to audience feedback that she seemed unintelligent and ditzy. The writing staff incorporated current events into the episodes, such as a government shutdown in Pawnee inspired by the global financial crisis of 2007–2008. Several guest stars, such as Jason Mantzoukas, Kathryn Hahn, Sam Elliott, Bill Murray, Paul Rudd, and Jon Hamm, have been featured in the show, and their characters often appear in multiple episodes. Parks and Recreation was part of NBCs Comedy Night Done Right programming during its Thursday night prime-time block, the series received mixed reviews during its first season, but, after a re-approach to its tone and format, the second and subsequent seasons were widely acclaimed. In TIMEs 2012 year-end lists issue, Parks and Recreation was named the number one television series of that year, in 2013, after receiving four consecutive nominations in the category, Parks and Recreation won the Television Critics Association Award for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy. Parks and Recreation focuses on Leslie Knope, the deputy director of the Parks, local nurse Ann Perkins demands that a construction pit in the abandoned lot beside her house be filled in after her boyfriend, Andy Dwyer, fell in and broke his legs. Leslie promises to turn the pit into a park, despite resistance from the parks director Ron Swanson, later, Ann becomes furious to learn Andy had his cast removal postponed for two weeks so Ann would pamper him longer. Meanwhile, a drunken and lonely Mark takes Leslie to the pit and kisses her, an embarrassed Mark accidentally falls into the pit and injures himself. Ann breaks up with Andy and begins dating Mark, with Leslies approval and it is revealed that Toms marriage to pediatric surgeon Wendy is actually a green card marriage, which, to his disappointment, eventually ends in divorce. The pit is filled in, after which Ron is visited by his horrible ex-wife Tammy Two. April becomes attracted to Andy, but he remains fixated on Ann, just as Mark plans to propose to Ann, she reveals she no longer has feelings for him. They break up, and Mark leaves his city hall career for a private sector job, meanwhile, a crippling budget deficit leads state auditors Chris Traeger and Ben Wyatt to shut down the Pawnee government temporarily, much to Leslies horror and Rons delight. Meanwhile, Andy develops feelings for April, but she fears he is hung up on Ann. Ann later kisses Andy due to conflicting emotions from her break-up with Mark, the season ends with Toms shocked discovery that Ron is now dating his ex-wife, Wendy. Leslie decides to bring back the defunct Pawnee harvest festival, the success or failure of which determine the financial future of the department. While working on the festival, Leslie and Ben begin to develop feelings for each other, after weeks of planning, the festival becomes a tremendous success through Leslies efforts
20.
Saturday Night Live
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Saturday Night Live is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11,1975, under the original title NBCs Saturday Night, the shows comedy sketches, which parody contemporary culture and politics, are performed by a large and varying cast of repertory and newer cast members. Each episode is hosted by a celebrity guest and features performances by a musical guest, an episode normally begins with a cold open sketch that ends with someone breaking character and proclaiming, Live from New York, its Saturday Night. In 1980, Michaels left the series to other opportunities. He was replaced by Jean Doumanian, who was replaced by Ebersol after a season of bad reviews, Ebersol ran the show until 1985, when Michaels returned, Michaels has remained since then. Many of SNLs cast found national stardom while appearing on the show, others associated with the show, such as writers, have gone on to successful careers creating, writing, or starring in TV and film. The show format has developed and recreated in several countries. Successful sketches have seen life outside of the show as feature films, throughout four decades on air, Saturday Night Live has received a number of awards, including 50 Primetime Emmy Awards, two Peabody Awards, and three Writers Guild of America Awards. In 2000, it was inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame and it was ranked tenth in TV Guides 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time list, and in 2007 it was listed as one of Time magazines 100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME. As of 2012, it has received 156 Emmy nominations, the most received by any TV show, the live aspect of the show has resulted in several controversies and acts of censorship, with mistakes and intentional acts of sabotage by performers as well as guests. From 1965 until September 1975, NBC ran The Best of Carson reruns of The Tonight Show, in 1974, Johnny Carson announced that he wanted the weekend shows pulled and saved so that they could be aired during weeknights, allowing him to take time off. In 1974, NBC president Herbert Schlosser approached his vice president of late night programming, Dick Ebersol, at the suggestion of Paramount Pictures executive Barry Diller, Schlosser and Ebersol then approached Lorne Michaels. Over the next three weeks, Ebersol and Michaels developed the idea for a variety show featuring high-concept comedy sketches, political satire. By 1975 Michaels had assembled a talented cast, including Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman, Michael ODonoghue, Gilda Radner, and George Coe. The show was originally called NBCs Saturday Night, because Saturday Night Live was in use by Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell on the rival network ABC, NBC purchased the rights to the name in 1976 and officially adopted the new title on March 26,1977. In 1975 and 1976, they were the most desirable demographic for television advertisers, NBC executives agreed with Michaels and decided to keep the show on the air despite many angry letters and phone calls that the network received from viewers who were offended by certain sketches. Chevy Chase left the show in November of the season and was replaced a few months later by the then-unknown comic actor Bill Murray. Aykroyd and Belushi left the show in 1979 after the end of season four, in May 1980, Michaels—emotionally and physically exhausted—requested to put the show on hiatus for a year to give him time and energy to pursue other projects
21.
Tina Fey
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Elizabeth Stamatina Tina Fey is an American actress, comedian, writer, and producer. She is also known for writing and co-starring in the film Mean Girls, as well as appearing in such films as Baby Mama, Date Night, Muppets Most Wanted. Fey broke into comedy as a player in the Chicago-based improvisational comedy group The Second City. She then joined SNL as a writer, later becoming head writer, in 2004, she co-starred in and wrote the screenplay for Mean Girls, which was adapted from the 2002 self-help book Queen Bees and Wannabes. After leaving SNL in 2006, she created the television series 30 Rock for Broadway Video, in the series, Fey portrays the head writer of a fictional sketch comedy series. In 2008, she starred in the comedy film Baby Mama, Fey next appeared in the 2010 comedy film Date Night and the animated film Megamind. In 2015, she created and produced the television series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, originally for NBC and her other films include Sisters and Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. Fey has received nine Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, five Screen Actors Guild Awards, and four Writers Guild of America Awards and her autobiography Bossypants topped The New York Times Best Seller list for five weeks. In 2008, the Associated Press gave Fey the AP Entertainer of the Year award for her portrayal of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in a guest appearance on SNL. In 2010, Fey was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, on January 13,2013, Fey hosted the 70th Golden Globe Awards with her long-time friend and fellow comedian, Amy Poehler, to critical acclaim. The duo hosted again the two years, generating the highest ratings for the annual ceremony in a decade and receiving similar acclaim. Fey was born in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, an inner ring suburb of Philadelphia and her mother, Zenobia Jeanne, is a brokerage employee. Her father, Donald Henry Fey, was a university grant proposal-writer and she has a brother, Peter, who is eight years older. Feys mother, who was born in Piraeus, is the daughter of Greek immigrants, Vasiliki Kourelakou, Feys maternal grandmother, left Petrina on her own, arriving in the United States in February 1921. According to a genealogical DNA test arranged by the television series Finding Your Roots, Feys ancestry is 94% European, 3% Middle Eastern, Fey was exposed to comedy early, I remember my parents sneaking me in to see Young Frankenstein. We would also watch Saturday Night Live, or Monty Python and my dad would let us stay up late to watch The Honeymooners. We were not allowed to watch The Flintstones though, my dad hated it because it ripped off The Honeymooners, I actually have a very low level of Flintstones knowledge for someone my age. At age 11, Fey read Joe Franklins Seventy Years of Great Film Comedians for a project about comedy
22.
Inside Out (2015 film)
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Inside Out is a 2015 American 3D computer-animated satirical comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Docter first began developing Inside Out in 2009, after noticing changes in his daughters personality as she grew older. After premiering at the 68th Cannes Film Festival in May 2015, Inside Out was released in North America on June 19,2015, accompanied by the short film Lava. Critics praised the concept, screenplay, subject matter, Michael Giacchinos musical score and the vocal performances, particularly of Poehler, Smith. The film grossed $90.4 million in its first weekend and it accumulated over $857 million in worldwide box office revenue. The film received awards, including a BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award, Critics Choice Award, Annie Award, Satellite Award. In 2016, the film was named as the 41st best film of the 21st century, as she grows up, her experiences become memories, stored in colored orbs, which are sent into long-term memory each night. Her five most important core memories are housed in a hub that each power an aspect of her personality which take the form of floating islands, at the age of eleven, Riley and her parents move to San Francisco for her fathers new business. When Sadness begins touching Rileys happy memories, turning them sad, on Rileys first day at her new school, Sadness accidentally causes Riley to cry in front of her class, creating a sad core memory. Joy, panicking, tries to dispose of it, but accidentally knocks the other core memories loose during a struggle with Sadness, Joy, Sadness, and the core memories are sucked out of Headquarters, and taken to the maze-like storage area of long-term memory. The other emotions try to maintain Rileys happiness in Joys absence with disastrous results, distancing her from her parents, friends and hobbies. As a result, her personality islands gradually begin to crumble and fall, one by one, into the Memory Dump, an abyss where memories are forgotten. In desperation, Anger inserts an idea into the console prompting Riley to run away, Joy and Sadness encounter Bing Bong, Rileys childhood imaginary friend, who suggests riding the train of thought back to Headquarters. The three eventually catch the train, but it is halted when Riley falls asleep and they succeed in manipulating Rileys dreams to wake her and restart the train, but it is derailed when the Honesty Island collapses. But as she takes off, the ground below the tube collapses, breaking the tube and plunging Joy, at the bottom, Joy then begins to lose hope, but discovers a sad memory of a hockey game that became happy when Rileys parents and friends comforted her. Joy realizes that Sadness serves an important purpose, to create empathy in others when Riley is emotionally overwhelmed, Joy reunites with a despondent Sadness and manages to get them to Headquarters, only to discover that Angers idea has disabled the console, rendering Riley apathetic. To the surprise of the others, Joy hands control of the console to Sadness, as Sadness reinstalls the core memories, turning them sad, Riley arrives home to her parents and breaks down in tears, confessing that she misses Minnesota. A year later, Riley has adapted to her new home, made new friends, returned to her old hobbies, inside Headquarters, her emotions all work together on a new expanded console with room for them all, enabling Riley to lead a more emotionally complex life
23.
Horton Hears a Who! (film)
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Horton Hears a Who. is a 2008 American computer-animated fantasy adventure comedy film based on the book of the same name by Dr. Seuss. Produced by Blue Sky Studios, the film was directed by Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino and it features the voices of Jim Carrey and Steve Carell. Released theatrically on March 14,2008, by 20th Century Fox, a dust speck is dislodged from its obscure place and sent adrift through the Jungle of Nool. At the same time, Horton the elephant, the eccentric nature teacher. The dust speck floats past him in the air, and he hears a tiny yelp coming from it, believing that an entire society of microscopic creatures are living on that speck, he places it atop of a clover. Horton finds out the speck harbors the city of Whoville and its inhabitants and he has a wife, Sally,96 daughters, and one teenage son named JoJo. Despite being the oldest and next in line for the position, JoJo doesnt want to be the next mayor. After he makes contact with Horton, the Mayor finds out from Dr. Mary Lou LaRue that Whoville will be destroyed if Horton does not find a safer, more stable home. Horton resolves (with the help of his best friend Morton the mouse to place the speck atop Mt. Nool, also taking force toward Horton are the Wickersham Brothers, a group of monkeys who love making misery. Eventually, the Kangaroo enlists a vulture named Vlad Vladikoff to get rid of the speck by force, Vlad manages to steal the clover away from Horton and drops it into a massive field of identical pink clovers, causing an apocalyptic tremor in Whoville. After unsuccessfully picking nearly 3,000,000 clovers, Horton eventually recovers the clover, upon cornering him, the Kangaroo offers Horton an escape from punishment by renouncing Whovilles existence. When Horton refuses, in spite of his speech, the Kangaroo orders the animals to rope and cage him, and to have the speck. The Mayor enlists all of his people to make noise by shouting We are here, as Horton lies beaten and captured, the Kangaroo easily takes the clover, and releases it. Meanwhile, JoJo grabs the horn used to project Hortons voice, runs up the highest tower, breaking through the sound barrier just seconds before the speck hits the oil. The Kangaroos son, Rudy grabs the clover and returns it to Horton, the animals finally hear the Whos and realize the truth and isolate the Kangaroo for tricking them. While being praised for his integrity by his neighbors, Horton even forgives the devastated Kangaroo, here, the people of Whoville and the animals of Nool gather in song and recite the chorus from Cant Fight This Feeling. The film ends with the narrator revealing that the Jungle of Nool, or rather Earth, is just one speck, like Whoville, among numerous others, floating in outer space. Jim Carrey as Horton the Elephant, an outgoing, big-hearted, loving, sweet, Horton has no tusks, lives by himself and possesses acute hearing abilities
24.
Horton Hears a Who!
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Horton Hears a Who. is a childrens book written and illustrated by Theodor Seuss Geisel under the pen name Dr. Seuss and was published in 1954 by Random House. It is the second Dr. Seuss book to feature Horton the Elephant, the Whos would later make a reappearance in How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The book tells the story of Horton the Elephant, who, while splashing in a pool, Horton surmises that a small person lives on the speck and places it on a clover, vowing to protect it. He later discovers that the speck is actually a planet, home to a community called Whoville. The Mayor of Whoville asks Horton to protect them from harm, in his mission to protect the speck, Horton is ridiculed and harassed by the other animals in the jungle for believing in something that they are unable to see or hear. He is first criticized by the sour kangaroo and her little kangaroo in her pouch, the splash they make as they jump into the pool almost catches the speck, so Horton decides to find somewhere safer for it. However, news of his odd new behavior spreads quickly, and they steal the clover from him and give it to Vlad Vladikoff, a vulture. Vlad flies the clover a long distance, Horton in pursuit, after a long search, Horton finally finds the clover with the speck on it. However, the Mayor informs him that Whoville is in bad shape from the fall, and Horton discovers that the sour kangaroo and they tie Horton up and threaten to boil the speck in a pot of Beezle-Nut oil. To save Whoville, Horton implores the people to make as much noise as they can. So almost everyone in Whoville shouts, sings, and plays instruments, so the Mayor searches Whoville until he finds a very small shirker named JoJo, who is playing with a yo-yo instead of making noise. The Mayor carries him to the top of Eiffelberg Tower, where Jojo lets out a loud Yopp. which finally makes the kangaroo, now convinced of the Whos existence, the other jungle animals vow to help Horton protect the tiny community. Geisel began work on Horton Hears a Who. in the fall of 1953, the books main theme, a persons a person no matter how small, was Geisels reaction to his visit to Japan, where the importance of the individual was an exciting new concept. He dedicated the book to a Japanese friend, Horton Hears a Who. is written in anapestic tetrameter, like many other Dr. Seuss books. Unlike some of his books, however, Horton contains a moral message. The story, along with Horton Hatches the Egg, also provides the plot for the 2000 Broadway musical Seussical. In this direction, the Sour Kangaroos name is Jane, while her son is named Junior, Jane was voiced by June Foray. Horton Hears a Who. was adapted into a computer-animated feature-length film of the name in 2008, using computer animation from Blue Sky Studios
25.
Nickelodeon
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Nickelodeon is an American basic cable and satellite television network launched on December 1,1977, and is owned by Viacom through Viacom Media Networks and based in New York City. It is primarily aimed at children and adolescents aged 7–18 while its weekday morning edutainment programs are targeted at children ages 2–6. As of July 2015, Nickelodeon is available to approximately 93.7 million pay television households in the US, the name of the channel comes from the first five cent movie theaters called nickelodeons. Nickelodeons history dates back to December 1,1977, when Warner Cable Communications launched the first two-way interactive cable system, QUBE, in Columbus, Ohio. Its C-3 cable channel carried Pinwheel daily from 7,00 a. m. to 9,00 p. m. Eastern Time, Nickelodeon launched on April 1,1979, initially distributed to Warner Cable systems via satellite on the RCA Satcom-1 transponder. Originally commercial-free, advertising was introduced in January 1984, the channel also airs reruns of select original series that are no longer in production, as well as occasional original made-for-TV movies. The channel also aired special editions of Nick News with Linda Ellerbee. The channel occasionally airs feature films produced by the networks Nickelodeon Movies film production division, although the film division bears the Nickelodeon brand name, the cable channel does not have access to most of the movies produced by its film unit. Nick Jr. – Nickelodeon currently programs shows targeted at preschool-age children on Monday through Fridays from 8,30 am-3,00 pm Eastern, the block primarily targets audiences of preschool age as Nickelodeons usual audience of school-age children are in school during the blocks designated time period. Programs currently seen in this block include Blaze and the Monster Machines, Team Umizoomi, Bubble Guppies, PAW Patrol, Max & Ruby, Saturday morning block - a morning block of primarily animated series from 9 am-12,30 pm Eastern and Pacific Time. It launched on September 22,2012, as Gotta See Saturday Mornings, recent episodes of certain original series may air when no new episodes are scheduled to air that week. The schedule features series such as SpongeBob SquarePants, Bunsen Is a Beast, ALVINNN. nicks New Saturday Night – a primetime live-action block airing from 8-10pm Eastern and Pacific Time. It launched on September 22,2012, as Gotta See Saturday Nights, recent episodes of certain original series may air when no new episodes are scheduled to air that week. The schedule features The Thundermans and Henry Danger, premieres of the networks original made-for-cable movies also occasionally air during the primetime block, usually in the form of premiere showings. SNICK – SNICK was the networks first dedicated Saturday primetime block that aired from 8,00 to 10,00 p. m. Eastern, geared toward pre-teens and teenagers, it debuted on August 15,1992. The block featured mainly live-action series, although it featured animated series. SNICK was discontinued on August 28,2004, and was replaced the following week by a Saturday night edition of the TEENick block and it was hosted by Stick Stickly, a Mr. Bill-like popsicle stick character. The block was replaced for the summer of 1999 by Henry, the Stick Stickly character was later revived for The 90s Are All That on TeenNick, which debuted in 2011
26.
The Mighty B!
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The Mighty B is an American animated television series created by Amy Poehler, Cynthia True and Erik Wiese for Nickelodeon. The series centers on Bessie Higgenbottom, an ambitious Honeybee girl scout who believes she will become The Mighty B if she collects every Honeybee badge, Bessie lives in San Francisco with her single mother Hilary, brother Ben and dog Happy. Poehler provides the voice of Bessie, who is based on a character Poehler played on the improvisational comedy troupes Second City. The Mighty B premiered on April 26,2008, which was the morning after Poehlers film Baby Mama had premiered and she said that she would go to bed and stay in my pajamas until 10,30 a. m. and watch Mighty B. Since its debut, the show has attracted an average 3.1 million viewers, in the second quarter of 2008, the show ranked among the top five animated programs on television. In September 2008, the show was renewed for a season with 20 episodes that premiered on September 21,2009. The second season was the last, since The Mighty B. was not featured in Nickelodeons list of renewed shows for the 2010–2011 TV season. The show aired the last episode on Nick on January 16,2010, the show reran on the network until October 25,2013. The series returned to Nicktoons on December 19,2015, the Mighty B has been nominated for six Annie Awards and four Daytime Emmy Awards, so far winning one Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation. It has garnered one Artios Award nomination and one Golden Reel Award nomination, several years before The Mighty B premiered, co-creator Amy Poehler and a number of people at Nickelodeon were speaking and thinking about making a female-driven animated television series. Poehler stated that the series would be pitched as, where this girl is at great age where youre not boy-crazy. She found that fascinating and wanted to bottle it and take it like a pill. The Mighty B was picked up for a pilot in early 2006 under the name of Super Scout and it was co-created by Poehler, Cynthia True and Erik Wiese. Brown Johnson, president of animation at Nickelodeon, was thrilled to have a comedy team of the caliber of Amy, Erik. In the words of Bessie, its been awesome and she described Bessie as a feisty, plucky, bossy, Honey Bee scout and called her our hero who goes on all these adventures in hopes of collecting all these badges. Poehler referred to the show as double the action, triple the adventures, during an interview with TV Guide, when asked if Poehler was trying to appeal adults with the show, she wrote, Yeah. What I love about SpongeBob SquarePants is that its very watchable for an adult, but kids like it because they dont feel like theyre being pandered to. That was what we were looking to do with The Mighty B We wanted to do a show that had a female character who didnt have too many rainbows
27.
Arrietty
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Ghibli announced the film in late 2009 with Yonebayashi making his directorial debut. Miyazaki supervised the production as a developing planner, the voice actors were approached in April 2010, and Cécile Corbel wrote the films score as well as its theme song. Released in Japan on July 17,2010, Arrietty received very positive reviews, praising the animation and it became the highest grossing Japanese film at the Japanese box office for the year 2010, and grossed over $145 million worldwide. The film also won the Animation of the Year award at the 34th Japan Academy Prize award ceremony. A boy named Shō tells the audience he still remembers the week in summer he spent at his mothers childhood home with his great aunt, Sadako. When Shō arrives at the house on the first day, he sees a cat, Niya, trying to something in the bushes. Shō gets a glimpse of Arrietty, a young Borrower girl, at night, Arriettys father, Pod, takes her on her first borrowing mission, to get sugar and tissue paper. After obtaining a sugar cube from the kitchen, they travel inside a wall to a bedroom which they enter through an intriguing dollhouse with working electric lights. However, it is Shōs bedroom, he lies awake and sees Arrietty when she tries to take a tissue from his night table, startled, she drops the sugar cube. Shō tries to comfort her, but Pod and Arrietty quietly leave, the next day, Shō puts the sugar cube and a little note beside the air vent where he first saw Arrietty. Pod warns Arrietty not to take it because their existence must be kept secret from humans, nevertheless, she sneaks out to visit Shō in his bedroom. She drops the sugar cube on the floor, letting him know that she is there, without showing herself, she tells Shō to leave her family alone and that they do not need his help. On her return, Arrietty is intercepted by her father, realizing they have been detected, Pod and his wife Homily decide that they must move out. Shō learns from Sadako that some of his ancestors had noticed the presence of Borrowers in the house and had the dollhouse custom-built for them, the Borrowers had not been seen since, however. Pod returns injured from a mission and is helped home by Spiller. He informs them there are other places the Borrowers could move to. While Pod is recovering, Shō removes the floorboard concealing the Borrower household and replaces their kitchen with the kitchen from the dollhouse, however, the Borrowers are frightened by this and instead speed up their moving process. After Pod recovers, he goes to explore possible new living quarters, Arrietty goes to bid farewell to Shō, but in the course of the conversation he suggests to her that the Borrowers are becoming extinct
28.
Welcome to Sweden (2014 TV series)
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Welcome to Sweden is a Swedish sitcom by comedian Greg Poehler, about an American accountant who quits his job to move with his girlfriend to her native country of Sweden. It premiered on TV4 on March 21,2014, the series is based on Poehlers own experiences as a former intellectual property lawyer from the United States who moved with his girlfriend to her native country of Sweden in 2006. An international production featuring both Swedish and American talent, themes, and dialogue, it is the first English-language production by TV4, the series also aired in the United States on NBC. On July 28,2015, four episodes into two, NBC cancelled the series due to what Poehler described as craptastically low ratings, with NBC further stating that production was officially done. The remaining six episodes of two were made available via online streaming at NBCs website. A successful money manager for celebrities, Bruce had happily lived in New York with his girlfriend Emma from Sweden. Emma has moved back to Stockholm for a prestigious banking job, the season follows the couple as Bruce, with no job and no friends, tries to deal with living in a new country with a different language and culture. Season one of Welcome to Sweden is a co-production of Syskon, Entertainment One Television, TV4 and it was written by Greg Poehler, Josephine Bornebusch, and Niclas Carlsson, and directed by Carl Åstrand. It was executive produced by Amy Poehler, Greg Poehler, Frederik Arefalk, Carrie Stein, Pontus Edgren and it was produced by Benjamin Thuresson, with US footage produced by Michelle Armour. Eleonor Sager and Josephine Bornebusch were associate producers, TV4 signed on as a producer on May 8,2013, and the first season began filming on May 13. It was picked up for distribution in the United States by NBC on October 8, the first season of Welcome to Sweden broadcast in Sweden on TV4 between March 28 and May 14,2014, airing Fridays before moving earlier in the week to Wednesdays beginning May 7. On July 10,2014, the series airing in the United States on NBC on Thursdays at 9,00 pm. For the US broadcasts, some of the scenes had to be edited, including dubbing over obscene dialogue, on August 4, after four episodes, NBC renewed the series for the second season. The second season begins in the winter, six months after Bruce first moved to Sweden, the season follows their engagement as they deal with relatives, customs, and career transitions along the way. Filming for season two started in January 2015, the season aired Wednesdays in Sweden on TV4 from April 1 to June 3,2015. It aired in the United States on NBC on Sundays at 8, season two is a co-production of Syskon, Entertainment One Television, TV4, and Jarowskij. It was executive produced by Amy Poehler, Greg Poehler, Josephine Bornebusch, Iréne Lindblad, Frederik Arefalk, Carrie Stein, Jessica Ericstam, led by Ulf Kvensler, the writing staff also includes Greg Poehler, Peter Arrhenius, and new additions David Sundin and Bente Danielsson. Josephine Bornebusch bowed out of writing duties for season two due to her pregnancy, the season was produced by Johanna Bergenstråhle
29.
Broad City
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Broad City is an American comedy television series, created by and starring Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson. It was developed from their web series of the same name, the creation of the web series began after Glazer received poor feedback on a project she and a partner had been working on. After expressing her frustration to Jacobson, the two decided to work on a project together, eventually creating the web series Broad City, the series is based on Glazer and Jacobsons real life friendship, and their attempt to make it in New York. Amy Poehler is one of Broad Citys executive producers, and appeared in the webseries finale, the series premiered on Comedy Central on January 22,2014. The second season premiered on January 14,2015 while the season premiered on February 17,2016. The series has also renewed for a fourth and fifth season. On December 7,2016, Abbi and Ilana announced August 2017 as the date for the fourth season which is being shot in winter as opposed to their typical summer shooting schedule. Broad City follows Ilana and Abbi, two Jewish American women in their twenties, who experience adventures of carelessness and frivolity in New York City. Ilana seeks to avoid working as much as possible while pursuing her relentless hedonism, Ilana Glazer as Ilana Wexler, a twenty-three-year-old woman from Long Island. She is a slacker and marijuana enthusiast who is oblivious to how others react to her self-absorbed antics. For the majority of the series, Ilana worked at a sales company called Deals Deals Deals. She was disdained by her coworkers because of her lazy attitude and she was finally fired after posting the beastiality video Mr. Hands to the company Twitter account. She shares an apartment with a gay immigrant named Jaimé, and has a sexual relationship with Lincoln. Although Ilana regards this relationship as purely physical, much to Lincolns dismay, Abbi Jacobson as Abbi Abrams, a twenty-six-year-old woman from the Philadelphia Main Line. Like her best friend Ilana, she enjoys smoking marijuana, albeit less often, for the majority of the series, Abbi worked as a cleaner at a fitness center called Soulstice. She is eventually promoted to trainer and begins teaching fitness classes for the elderly and she is also a struggling illustrator who dreams of quitting Soulstice to pursue art full-time. Abbi endeavors to find a balance between being a responsible, self-sufficient adult while being fun-loving and free-spirited like Ilana and she has a roommate who is never seen, although her roommates freeloading boyfriend Matt, called by his last name Bevers, is always around. Abbi has a crush on her neighbor Jeremy, but manages to embarrass herself every time shes around him
30.
Hulu
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Hulu is an American subscription video on demand service owned by Hulu LLC, a joint venture with The Walt Disney Company, 21st Century Fox, Comcast, and as of August 10,2016, Time Warner. It is primarily oriented towards television series, carrying current and past episodes of series from its owners respective television networks, the subscription service is, in turn, divided into advertising-supported and mostly ad-free tiers. In 2016, Hulu spun out its content into a joint venture with Yahoo. called Yahoo. View and announced plans for a television streaming service some time in 2017. The name Hulu comes from two Mandarin Chinese words, húlú, calabash, bottle gourd, and hùlù, interactive recording, the company blog explains, In Mandarin, Hulu has two interesting meanings, each highly relevant to our mission. The primary meaning interested us because it is used in an ancient Chinese proverb that describes the Hulu as the holder of precious things and it literally translates to gourd, and in ancient times, the Hulu was hollowed out and used to hold precious things. The secondary meaning is interactive recording and we saw both definitions as appropriate bookends and highly relevant to the mission of Hulu. Key executives instrumental in the founding of Hulu include Bruce Campbell, Peter Chernin, JB Perrette, Michael Lang, Beth Comstock, the venture was announced in March 2006 with AOL, Comcast, Facebook, MSN, Myspace, and Yahoo. planned as initial distribution partners. Kilar was named the CEO in June 2006, the name Hulu was chosen in late August 2007, when the website went live, with an announcement only and no content. It invited users to leave their addresses for the upcoming beta test. In October, Hulu began the private beta testing by invitation, Hulu launched for public access in the United States on March 12,2008. The first product to launch was the HULU Syndication network, which was designed and developed by the NBC Universal team from New York, on October 29,2007, followed by the Hulu. com destinations site. Hulu began a campaign during NBCs broadcast of Super Bowl XLIII with an initial ad starring Alec Baldwin titled Alec in Huluwood. The ad intended to reveal the shocking secret behind Hulu. Advertisements have since aired featuring Eliza Dushku, Seth MacFarlane, Denis Leary, with its investment came a seat on the board of directors, where Providence was said to act as an independent voice on the board. In October 2012, Providence sold its 10 percent stake to Hulus media owners, ComScore says monthly video streams reached 903 million in January 2010, over three times the figure for a year earlier, and second only to YouTube. On August 16,2010, a report revealed that Hulu was planning an Initial Public Offering which could value the company at more than $2 billion. On June 21,2011, The Wall Street Journal reported that an unsolicited offer caused Hulu to begin weighing whether to sell itself
31.
Difficult People
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Difficult People is an American comedy series created by Julie Klausner. Klausner stars alongside Billy Eichner as two struggling and jaded comedians living in New York City, the duo seemingly hate everyone, the series premiered on Hulu on August 5,2015, and the second season premiered on July 12,2016. On October 17,2016, Hulu renewed the series for a 10-episode third season, Julie Klausner as Julie Kessler, an aspiring comedian. Billy Eichner as Billy Epstein, Julies best friend and fellow aspiring comedian, James Urbaniak as Arthur Tack, Julies boyfriend. Andrea Martin as Marilyn Kessler, Julies mother, Cole Escola as Matthew, Billys co-worker, whom he despises. Amy Poehler would executive produce under Universal Cable Productions, with Dave Becky also executive producing under his 3 Arts banner, and Michele Armor of Marobru also executive producing. That same month it was announced that Rachel Dratch, Andrea Martin, James Urbaniak, in November 2014, Hulu had acquired the series, with a straight-to-series order. In March 2015, Gabourey Sidibe and Cole Escola were cast in recurring roles, in March 2017, John Cho joined the cast of the series. Difficult People has received positive reviews from critics. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, gave the first season an 85% approval rating, the sites consensus reads, Difficult People makes the unlikable likable with mean-spirited, unhappy characters who still cant help but amuse. On Metacritic, the first season holds a rating of 76 out of 100, based on 12 critics reviews, official website Difficult People at the Internet Movie Database
32.
Hollywood Walk of Fame
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The Walk of Fame is administered by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and maintained by the self-financing Hollywood Historic Trust. It is a popular tourist destination, with a reported 10 million visitors in 2003, as of 2017, the Walk of Fame comprises over 2,600 stars, spaced at 6-foot intervals. The monuments are coral-pink terrazzo five-point stars rimmed with brass inlaid into a charcoal-colored terrazzo background, in the upper portion of each star field the name of the honoree is inlaid in brass block letters. Below the inscription, in the half of the star field. Approximately 20 new stars are added to the Walk each year, special category stars recognize various contributions by corporate entities, service organizations, and special honorees, and display emblems unique to those honorees. The moons are silver and grey terrazzo circles rimmed in brass on a square pink terrazzo background, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce credits E. M. Stuart, its volunteer president in 1953, with the original idea for creating a Walk of Fame. Stuart reportedly proposed the Walk as a means to maintain the glory of a community whose name means glamor, Harry Sugarman, another Chamber member and president of the Hollywood Improvement Association, receives credit in an independent account. A committee was formed to flesh out the idea, and a firm was retained to develop specific proposals. By 1955 the basic concept and general design had been agreed upon, multiple accounts exist for the origin of the star concept. By another account, the stars were inspired, by Sugarmans drinks menu, which featured celebrity photos framed in gold stars. In February 1956 a prototype was unveiled featuring a caricature of an example honoree inside a star on a brown background. The committees met at the Brown Derby restaurant, and included such prominent names as Cecil B, deMille, Samuel Goldwyn, Jesse L. Lasky, Walt Disney, Hal Roach, Mack Sennett, and Walter Lantz. A requirement stipulated by the audio recording committee specified minimum sales of one million records or 250,000 albums for all music category nominees. The committee soon realized that many important recording artists would be excluded from the Walk by that requirement, as a result, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences was formed for the purpose of creating a separate award system for the music business. The first Grammy Awards were presented in Beverly Hills in 1959, construction of the Walk began in 1958 but two lawsuits delayed completion. The first was filed by local property owners challenging the legality of the $1.25 million tax assessment levied upon them to pay for the Walk, along with new street lighting, in October 1959 the assessment was ruled legal. The second lawsuit, filed by Charles Chaplin, Jr. sought damages for the exclusion of his father, chaplins suit was dismissed in 1960, paving the way for completion of the project. Woodwards name was one of eight drawn at random from the original 1,558, the other seven names were Olive Borden, Ronald Colman, Louise Fazenda, Preston Foster, Burt Lancaster, Edward Sedgwick, and Ernest Torrence
33.
Burlington, Massachusetts
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Burlington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 24,498 at the 2010 census and it is believed that Burlington takes its name from the English town of Bridlington, Yorkshire but this has never been confirmed. It was first settled in 1641 and was incorporated on February 28,1799, several of the early homesteads are still standing, such as the Francis Wyman House. The town is sited on the watersheds of the Ipswich, Mystic, in colonial times up through the late 19th century, there was industry in the mills along Vine Brook, which runs from Lexington to Bedford and then empties into the Shawsheen River. Early railroad expansion passed the town by, limiting its development, and Burlington continued to cure hams for the Boston market and produce milk, fruit. This picture changed drastically, however, as soon as Route 128 was built, the highway kicked off an enormous expansion, and between 1955 and 1965 Burlington was the fastest growing town in the state. In one five-year period, its population tripled as residential and commercial retail development exploded creating the present character. Burlington has graduated many prominent athletes, including four Olympians, and others who have gone to have careers in the NHL, NFL. Burlington is 12 miles south of Lowell,12 miles northwest of Boston,36 miles southeast of Fitchburg, and Its highest point is Greenleaf Mountain, the lowest point is the Great Meadow 150 feet above sea level. The elevation at Town Hall is 220 feet above sea level, the largest body of water is the 500-million-US-gallon Mill Pond Reservoir in the eastern part of the town. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has an area of 11.9 square miles, of which 11.8 square miles is land and 0.1 square miles. As of the census of 2010, there were 24,498 people,9,668 households, the population density was 1,936.4 people per square mile. There were 8,445 housing units at a density of 2,087.7 per square mile. The racial makeup of the town was 79. 2% White,3. 3% Black or African American,0. 1% Native American,13. 4% Asian,0. 02% Pacific Islander,0. 32% from other races, and 0. 86% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2. 4% of the population,19. 1% of all households were made up of individuals and 7. 7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.76 and the family size was 3.18. In the town, the population was out with 23. 6% under the age of 18,6. 3% from 18 to 24,31. 1% from 25 to 44,25. 2% from 45 to 64. The median age was 38 years, for every 100 females there were 97.0 males
34.
Burlington High School (Massachusetts)
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Burlington High School is located at 123 Cambridge Street in Burlington, Massachusetts. Burlington High School is a comprehensive high school that is credited by the New England Association of Schools. Burlington High School is ranked #39 in the recently released 2015 Boston Magazine rankings This is up from their ranking of #67 in 2014, according to Boston Magazine, these rankings are based heavily on MCAS scores and schools are not contacted annually for updated data. Burlington High Schools Performing Arts are a culmination of efforts from the Burlington Public Schools Music Department, various clubs. John E. Fogelberg Performing Arts Center is the performance space at Burlington High School. The auditorium is designed as a theatre and is fully air conditioned. The stage is a wood floor, Music In May,2014 The Burlington High School Select Singers sang at the famous NYC Carnegie Hall as part of a festival with three other choruses from around the United States. Additionally, the Burlington High School Chorus won Gold at the 2010 Great East Music Festival, the Music Department also fields the Red Devil Marching Band and a Concert Band, as well as an extra-curricular Jazz Band. The singing groups and Concert and Jazz Bands have numerous concerts throughout the year in the Fogelberg Performing Arts Center. The Red Devil Marching Band has performed in Disney World through the Disney Performing Arts Program many times, the marching band also performs at all home and away Varsity football games in the Fall during halftime. Drama During the school year, two theater productions are performed. In December, a small-cast play is performed in the Fogelberg Performing Arts Center, cast members are not required to be members of Drama Club. The tradition of a Fall play began in the 2006-2007 school year, the first Fall play was Fools, followed by The Importance of Being Earnest, Rumors, The Crucible, Its A Wonderful Life, Noises Off, and most recently Arsenic and Old Lace. The Stage Crew Club organizes a prep crew and running crew for the production as well as providing a student Stage Manager, a full-scale musical is performed in March and April for two weekends. There is a large cast and crew, and professional set, lighting, the Stage Crew Club and parent volunteers construct the sets using the Fogelberg Performing Arts Centers shop space, and the club fields a crew of trained students to provide all technical support. Burlington is a member of the Middlesex League, the boys soccer team won the 2015 middlesex league title as well, setting a new school record for best regular season record
35.
Del Close
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Close was an American actor, writer, and teacher who coached many of the best-known comedians and comic actors of the late twentieth century. In addition to an acting career in television and film. Close was born on March 9,1934 in Manhattan, Kansas and he ran away from home at the age of 17 to work in a traveling side show, but returned to attend Kansas State University. At age 19 he performed in stock with the Belfry Players at Lake Geneva. At age 23 he became a member of the Compass Players in St. Louis, when most of the cast—including Mike Nichols and Elaine May—moved to New York City, Close followed. In 1960 Close moved to Chicago, his base for much of the rest of his life, to perform and direct at Second City. He spent the latter half of the 1960s in San Francisco where he was the director of The Committee, toured with the Merry Pranksters. In 1972 he returned to Chicago, and to Second City and he also directed and performed for Second Citys troupe in Toronto, in 1977. Over the next decade he coached many popular comedians, in the early 1980s he served as house metaphysician at Saturday Night Live, for many years, a significant percentage of the shows cast were Close protégés. He spent the mid-to-late 1980s and 1990s teaching improv, collaborating with Charna Halpern at Yes And Productions, during this period, Close also appeared in several movies, he portrayed a corrupt alderman John OShay in The Untouchables, and an English teacher in Ferris Buellers Day Off. He also co-authored the graphic horror anthology Wasteland for DC Comics with John Ostrander, Close died of emphysema on March 4,1999, at the Illinois Masonic Hospital in Chicago, five days before his 65th birthday. He bequeathed his skull to Chicagos Goodman Theatre to be used in its productions of Hamlet, Charna Halpern, Closes long-time professional partner and the executor of his will, donated a skull—purportedly Closes—to the Goodman in a high-profile televised ceremony on July 1,1999. A front-page article in the Chicago Tribune in July 2006 questioned the authenticity of the skull, citing the presence of dentition and autopsy marks, among other problems. Halpern stood by her story at the time, but admitted in a New Yorker interview three months later that she had purchased the skull from a medical supply company. In 2002, Cesar Jaime and Jeff Pacocha produced and directed a film composed of interviews with students, friends. The film documented not only Dels life and history, but the impact he had on the people in his life and the art form he helped to create. It is not sold on DVD and was made as a thank you and a tribute to Del, as a way to allow those that never got to meet or study with him, a chance to understand what he was like. The Delmonic Interviews includes interviews with, Charna Halpern, Matt Besser, Rachel Dratch, Neil Flynn, Susan Messing, Amy Poehler, and Miles Stroth
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