1.
Miami
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Miami is a seaport city at the southeastern corner of the U. S. state of Florida and its Atlantic coast. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, Miamis metro area is the eighth-most populous, Miami is a major center, and a leader in finance, commerce, culture, media, entertainment, the arts, and international trade. In 2012, Miami was classified as an Alpha−World City in the World Cities Study Groups inventory, in 2010, Miami ranked seventh in the United States in terms of finance, commerce, culture, entertainment, fashion, education, and other sectors. It ranked 33rd among global cities, in 2008, Forbes magazine ranked Miami Americas Cleanest City, for its year-round good air quality, vast green spaces, clean drinking water, clean streets, and citywide recycling programs. According to a 2009 UBS study of 73 world cities, Miami was ranked as the richest city in the United States, Miami is nicknamed the Capital of Latin America and is the largest city with a Cuban-American plurality. Miami has the third tallest skyline in the U. S. with over 300 high-rises, Downtown Miami is home to the largest concentration of international banks in the United States, and many large national and international companies. The Civic Center is a center for hospitals, research institutes, medical centers. For more than two decades, the Port of Miami, known as the Cruise Capital of the World, has been the number one cruise port in the world. It accommodates some of the worlds largest cruise ships and operations, Metropolitan Miami is the major tourism hub in the American South, number two in the U. S. after New York City and number 13 in the world, including the popular destination of Miami Beach. The Miami area was inhabited for thousands of years by indigenous Native American tribes, the Tequestas occupied the area for a thousand years before encountering Europeans. An Indian village of hundreds of people dating to 500–600 B. C. was located at the mouth of the Miami River, in 1566 the explorer, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, claimed it for Spain. A Spanish mission was constructed one year later in 1567, Spain and Great Britain successively controlled Florida, and Spain ceded it to the United States in 1821. In 1836, the US built Fort Dallas as part of its development of the Florida Territory and attempt to suppress, the Miami area subsequently became a site of fighting during the Second Seminole War. Miami is noted as the major city in the United States conceived by a woman, Julia Tuttle, a local citrus grower. The Miami area was known as Biscayne Bay Country in the early years of its growth. In the late 19th century, reports described the area as a promising wilderness, the area was also characterized as one of the finest building sites in Florida. The Great Freeze of 1894–95 hastened Miamis growth, as the crops of the Miami area were the ones in Florida that survived. Julia Tuttle subsequently convinced Henry Flagler, a tycoon, to expand his Florida East Coast Railway to the region
2.
Florida
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Florida /ˈflɒrᵻdə/ is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, Florida is the 22nd-most extensive, the 3rd-most populous, and the 8th-most densely populated of the U. S. states. Jacksonville is the most populous municipality in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States, the Miami metropolitan area is Floridas most populous urban area. The city of Tallahassee is the state capital, much of the state is at or near sea level and is characterized by sedimentary soil. The climate varies from subtropical in the north to tropical in the south, the American alligator, American crocodile, Florida panther, and manatee can be found in the Everglades National Park. It was a location of the Seminole Wars against the Native Americans. Today, Florida is distinctive for its large Cuban expatriate community and high population growth, the states economy relies mainly on tourism, agriculture, and transportation, which developed in the late 19th century. Florida is also renowned for amusement parks, orange crops, the Kennedy Space Center, Florida has attracted many writers such as Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams, and continues to attract celebrities and athletes. It is internationally known for golf, tennis, auto racing, by the 16th century, the earliest time for which there is a historical record, major Native American groups included the Apalachee, the Timucua, the Ais, the Tocobaga, the Calusa and the Tequesta. Florida was the first part of the continental United States to be visited and settled by Europeans, the earliest known European explorers came with the Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León. Ponce de León spotted and landed on the peninsula on April 2,1513 and he named the region La Florida. The story that he was searching for the Fountain of Youth is a myth, in May 1539, Conquistador Hernando de Soto skirted the coast of Florida, searching for a deep harbor to land. He described seeing a wall of red mangroves spread mile after mile, some reaching as high as 70 feet. Very soon, many smokes appeared along the whole coast, billowing against the sky, the Spanish introduced Christianity, cattle, horses, sheep, the Spanish language, and more to Florida. Both the Spanish and French established settlements in Florida, with varying degrees of success, in 1559, Don Tristán de Luna y Arellano established a settlement at present-day Pensacola, making it the first attempted settlement in Florida, but it was abandoned by 1561. Spain maintained tenuous control over the region by converting the tribes to Christianity. The area of Spanish Florida diminished with the establishment of English settlements to the north, the English attacked St. Augustine, burning the city and its cathedral to the ground several times. Florida attracted numerous Africans and African-Americans from adjacent British colonies who sought freedom from slavery, in 1738, Governor Manuel de Montiano established Fort Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose near St
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.
California
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California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565
5.
Florida State University
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Florida State University is an American public space-grant and sea-grant research university. Its primary campus is located on a 1,391. 54-acre campus in Tallahassee, Florida and it is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the state of Florida, the university is classified as a Research University with Very High Research by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The university comprises 16 separate colleges and more than 110 centers, facilities, labs and institutes that offer more than 360 programs of study, the university has an annual budget of over $1.7 billion and an annual economic impact of over $10 billion. Florida State is home to Floridas only National Laboratory – the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and is the birthplace of the commercially viable anti-cancer drug Taxol. Florida State University also operates The John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art, the university is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Florida State University leads Florida in four of eight areas of external funding for the STEM disciplines, FSU officially launched the Raise the Torch, The Campaign for Florida State on October 17,2014. The campaign has a goal of more than $1 billion which will improve academics, research. As of September 30,2016, Florida State Universitys Raise the Torch campaign has raised $938,972,249, for 2017, U. S. News & World Report ranked Florida State as the 38th best public university in the United States. FSUs intercollegiate sports teams, commonly known by their Florida State Seminoles nickname, compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I, in their 113-year history, Florida States varsity sports teams have won 20 national athletic championships and Seminole athletes have won 78 individual NCAA national championships. In 1819 the Florida Territory was ceded to the United States by Spain as an element of the Adams–Onís Treaty, the Territory was conventionally split by the Appalachicola or later the Suwannee rivers into East and West areas. Florida State University is traceable to a set by the 1823 U. S. Congress to create a system of higher education. The 1838 Florida Constitution codified the system by providing for land allocated for the schools. In 1845 Florida became the 27th State of the United States, in 1851 the Florida Legislature voted to establish two seminaries of higher education on opposite sides of the Suwannee River. Francis W. Eppes and other city leaders established an academy called the Florida Institute in Tallahassee as a legislative inducement to locate the West Florida Seminary in Tallahassee. The East Florida Seminary opened in Ocala in 1853, closed in 1861, the East Florida Seminary is the institution to which the modern University of Florida traces its foundation. Two years later the institution absorbed the Tallahassee Female Academy founded in 1843 as the Misses Bates School, the West Florida Seminary stood near the front of the Westcott Building on the existing FSU campus, making this site the oldest continually used location of higher learning in Florida. In 1860–61 the legislature started formal training at the school with a law amending the original 1851 statute
6.
Tarell Alvin McCraney
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Tarell Alvin McCraney is an American playwright and actor. He is the chair of playwriting at the Yale School of Drama. He is also a member of Teo Castellanos/ D Projects Theater Company in Miami, in April 2010, McCraney became the 43rd member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Ensemble. He co-wrote the 2016 film Moonlight, based on his own play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue, McCraney was born in Liberty City, Florida. He attended the New World School of the Arts in Miami, Florida, receiving the exemplary artist award, while attending NWSA, he also applied to and was awarded by the National YoungArts Foundation. He matriculated into The Theatre School at DePaul University and received his BFA in acting, in May 2007 he graduated from Yale School of Dramas playwriting program, receiving the Cole Porter Playwriting Award upon graduation. He also is an Honorary Warwick University Graduate, mcCraneys Brother/Sister trilogy is set in the Louisiana projects and explores Yoruba mythology. Head of Passes Choir Boy American Trade, an adaptation of Hamlet for young people Wig Out, the Brothers Size In The Red And Brown Water Marcus, or the Secret of Sweet Without/Sin Run, Mourner, Run, both of which premiered at Yale Cabaret. He directed Hamlet for the RSCs Young Shakespeare programme for GableStage in Miami, the Breach also played at Seattle Rep in the winter of 2007. In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue, a school project that is the inspiration for the 2016 film Moonlight. Commissions for the Donmar Warehouse and Berkeley Rep
7.
Liberty City (Miami)
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Liberty City is a neighborhood in Miami, Florida, United States. The area is bound by NW 79th Street to the north, NW 27th Avenue to the west, Northwest 36th Street to the South. The Miami neighborhood is home to one of the largest concentrations of African Americans in South Florida, although often referred to as Model City both historically and by the City of Miami government, the neighborhood is more commonly referred to as Liberty City by local residents. It is serviced by the Miami Metrorail at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza, into the 1940s and 1950s, the growing Liberty City and adjacent Brownsville thrived as a middle income black American community, hosting several churches, hospitals, and community centers. The area served as home to prominent figures such as Kelsey Pharr, M. Athalie Range, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Althea Gibson, and even whites such as Mickey Mantle. Construction of Interstate 95 in Florida in Overtown and declining use of covenants in the wake of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 dramatically altered the neighborhood into the 1960s. Crime grew prevalent in the increasingly poverty-stricken area in the immediate post-Civil Rights Movement era of the 1960s and 1970s, national exposure continued with the popularity of nationally broadcast programs such as the NBC crime drama Miami Vice, which brought the deteriorating conditions of the area to greater prominence. Other music and sports talents rose to prominence from the area such as rappers Trina and Trick Daddy and NFL players Chad Ocho Cinco Johnson. In 2000, Liberty City had a population of 23,009 and 43,054 residents, with 7,772 households, the median household income was $18,809.87. The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 94. 69% Black,3. 04% Hispanic or Latino of any nationality,1. 68% Other races, the zip codes for the Liberty City include 33127,33142,33147, and 33150. The area covers 5.968 square miles, in 2000, there were 19,286 males and 23,768 females. The median age for males was 25.9 years, while the age for females was 30.3 years. The average household size had 3.1 people, while the family size had 3.7 members. The percentage of families was 20. 3%, while the percentage of married-couple families with children was 9. 1%. The percentage of never-married males 15 years old and over was 21. 9%, while the percentage of never-married females 15 years old, in 2000,2. 7% of the population spoke little to no English
8.
Miami Northwestern Senior High School
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Miami Northwestern Senior High School is a public 4-year high school located in Miami, Florida, United States, serving students in grades 9-12 from the Liberty City neighborhood of Miami. The school colors are old gold and royal blue, the average annual enrollment is approximately 1,800 students. Miami Northwestern was founded in 1955 to serve the population of northern Miami. Shortly after the inception, the Bull was chosen as the official school mascot from the former Dorsey High School. Miami Northwestern originally served as an high school. Beginning in 1966, Dade County high schools stopped being segregated, Miami Northwestern is a member of the Florida High School Athletic Association and offers a variety of sports programs. Athletic teams compete in the 6A division and are known as the Bulls, the schools football program has experienced significant success throughout its history, including winning a High School Football National Championship in 2007. Extracurricular activities are offered, including the arts, school publications. Notable alumni of the school include Barrington Irving, the first black pilot to fly solo around the world, and Lavonte David, a starting linebacker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In 2011, the received a B grade on the FCAT report card. Miami Northwestern Senior High School formally opened in September 1955 and was located off 12th Avenue, the mascot Bull comes from the former Dorsey High School. Once the new school opened, former Dorsey graduates called it the New Bull, several Dorsey graduates are still living today. Miami Northwestern was one of the schools in Dade County built to more students. When Miami Northwestern opened, it served only the residents of Dade County. George Washington Carver, Mays and North Dade middle schools were all high schools for the residents of Dade County. The class of 1966 all over Dade County stopped having segregated schools, and most of the students from Booker T. Washington came to Northwestern in 1967–1968. The original school boundaries were 71st Street on the north, 69th Street on the south, 12th Avenue on the west, part of the new construction of Northwestern is located where some units of a public housing area used to be years ago. In 1960, the real student crunch hit Dade County, Dade Junior College was one of the higher learning two-year institution experiencing an overload of college-bound high school graduates
9.
Tallahassee, Florida
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Tallahassee /ˌtæləˈhæsi/ is the capital of the U. S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2015, the population was 189,907, making the city the 126th-largest city in the United States, the population of the Tallahassee metropolitan area was 377,924 as of 2015. Tallahassee is the largest city in the Northwest Florida region as well as the center for trade and agriculture in the Florida Big Bend. Tallahassee is home to Florida State University, ranked the nations thirty-eighth best public university by U. S. News & World Report and it is also home to the Florida A&M University, one of the countrys largest historically black universities by total enrollment. Tallahassee is home to the Florida State Capitol, Supreme Court of Florida, Florida Governors Mansion, the city is also known for its large number of law firms, lobbying organizations, trade associations and professional associations, including the Florida Bar and the Florida Chamber of Commerce. It is also a regional center for scientific research. In 2015, Tallahassee was awarded the All-American City Award by the National Civic League for the second time, Tallahassee is currently ranked as the 18th best college town in the nation by Best College Reviews. During the 17th century several Spanish missions were established in the territory of the Apalachee to procure food, the largest, Mission San Luis de Apalachee, has been partially reconstructed by the state of Florida. They found large areas of cleared land previously occupied by the Apalachee tribe, earlier, the Mississippian Indians built mounds near Lake Jackson around AD1200, which survive today in the Lake Jackson Archaeological State Park. The expedition of Pánfilo de Narváez encountered the Apalachees, although it did not reach the site of Tallahassee, hernando de Soto and his expedition occupied the Apalachee town of Anhaica in what is now Tallahassee in the winter of 1538–1539. Based on archaeological excavations this site is now known to be located about 0.5 miles east of the present Florida State Capitol, the DeSoto encampment is believed to be the first place Christmas was celebrated in the continental United States. During the First Seminole War, General Andrew Jackson fought two separate skirmishes in and around Tallahassee, the first battle took place on November 12,1817. Chief Neamathla, of the village of Fowltown, just west of present day Tallahassee had refused Jacksons orders to relocate, Jackson responded by entering the village, burning it to the ground, and driving off its occupants. The Indians later retaliated, by killing 50 soldiers and civilians, Jackson reentered Florida in March 1818. According to Jacksons adjutant, Colonel Robert Butler, they advanced on the Indian village called Tallahasse two of the enemy were made prisoner, Tallahassee became the capital of Florida during the second legislative session. It was chosen as it was equidistant from St. Augustine and Pensacola. The first session of Floridas Legislative Council—as a territory of the United States—met on July 22,1822 at Pensacola, the second session was in St. Augustine and required western delegates to travel perilously around the peninsula on a twenty-eight-day trek
10.
Wyatt Cenac
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Wyatt Cenac is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. He is a correspondent and writer on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He is of Grenadian descent and according to the results of a DNA test, revealed in a 2014 YouTube video uploaded by Okayplayer, Cenacs maternal ancestry can be traced to the Yoruba people of Nigeria. His paternal ancestry can be traced back to his great-great-great-grandfather, Cherebin Cenac, Cherebin was an officer on a French battleship during the Napoleonic wars. After the war ended, Cherebin settled in Soufrière, Saint Lucia, the youngest, Francis, was Wyatt Cenacs great-great-grandfather. Francis Cenac emigrated to Grenada, where he married Mary Emilia McVean, the youngest, William Emanual Cenac, was Wyatt Cenacs great-grandfather. William married Isabella Fletcher on July 15,1909 and had seven children, the first child, Francis Alphonso Cenac, was Wyatt Cenacs paternal grandfather. Wyatt Cenac is a nephew of the Hon, mr. Cenac was born in New York on April 19,1976. Cenacs father, also named Wyatt Cenac, Sr. was a New York City cab driver who was born in Saint Mark Parish and he was shot and killed in his cab when Cenac was 4, when Cenac moved with his mother and stepfather to Dallas, Texas. Growing up, he visited his maternal grandmother and spent summers with her in Crown Heights. However, Cenac has had no contact and has no communication or involvement with his paternal family side and he attended high school in Texas at Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas. While in elementary school, he became friends with comic book writer Brian K. Vaughan and he graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before moving to Los Angeles to further his career. As of October 2014, Cenac lives in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, in June 2008, Cenac was hired as a correspondent and writer on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He continued to integrate satirical Black-oriented material in his Daily Show segments, despite this, Wyatt appeared on Stewarts final episode of Daily Show, both agreed that theyre good, a reference to the podcast. In October 2009, he worked with rapper Slim Thug on the music video Still a Boss, Cenac costarred in Medicine for Melancholy, an independent drama by Barry Jenkins released in 2008 that includes issues of African American identity and gentrification in San Francisco. Cenac plays the voice of Lenny and Michael Johnson in the Nickelodeon animated series Fanboy & Chum Chum, Cenac guest-starred on the MC Frontalot album Solved. Cenacs first hour-long comedy special, Comedy Person, premiered May 14,2011, in October 2014, Netflix released Cenacs second comedy special, Wyatt Cenac, Brooklyn. In 2014, he guest-starred in an episode of the Netflix series BoJack Horseman, the following year, he appeared in a filmed segment with fellow comedians Rachel Feinstein and Alex Karpovsky on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
11.
Focus Features
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Focus Features is an American film production and distribution company, owned by Comcast through the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group division of its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal. Focus Features distributes independent and foreign films in the United States, Focus Features was formed from the 2002 divisional merger of USA Films, Universal Focus and Good Machine. USA Films was created by Barry Diller in 1999 when he purchased October Films and Gramercy Pictures from Seagram, Focus most successful release in North America to date is Brokeback Mountain, which earned $83 million at the North American box office. However, this is not counting the total of Traffic. Focus most successful release is Burn After Reading, which earned $163.7 million in worldwide gross revenue. The animated film Coraline was also highly profitable for the company and its DVD and movie rights revenues are boosted by cult classics including Wet Hot American Summer. In May 2015, Gramercy Pictures was revived by Focus as a label, that was on action, sci-fi. In February 2016, Focus merged with Universal Pictures International Productions as part of a new strategy to align the acquisition and production of specialty films in the global market. In August 2011, Focus Features launched Focus World, a label focusing on the video on demand market with plans to distribute 15 films per year. List of Focus Features films Rogue FilmDistrict Sony Pictures Entertainment Stage 6 Films Official website Focus Features at the Internet Movie Database
12.
James Baldwin
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James Arthur Baldwin was an American novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic. His essays, as collected in Notes of a Native Son, explore palpable yet unspoken intricacies of racial, sexual, some Baldwin essays are book-length, for instance The Fire Next Time, No Name in the Street, and The Devil Finds Work. An unfinished manuscript, Remember This House, was expanded upon and adapted for cinema as the Academy Award nominated documentary film, such dynamics are prominent in Baldwins second novel, Giovannis Room, written in 1956, well before the gay liberation movement. Baldwin was born after his mother, Emma Berdis Jones, left his father because of his drug abuse and moved to Harlem. There, she married a preacher, David Baldwin, Baldwin spent much time caring for his several younger brothers and sisters. At the age of 10, he was teased and abused by two New York police officers, an instance of racist harassment by the NYPD that he would experience again as a teenager and document in his essays. His adoptive father, whom Baldwin in essays called simply his father and his stepfather died of tuberculosis in summer of 1943 just before Baldwin turned 19. The quest to answer or explain family and social rejection—and attain a sense of selfhood,24 on 128th Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues in Harlem, where he wrote the school song, which was used until the school closed down. He then went on to DeWitt Clinton High School, in the Bronxs Bedford Park section, there, along with Richard Avedon, Baldwin worked on the school magazine as literary editor but disliked school because of the constant racial slurs. The difficulties of his life, including his stepfathers abuse, led Baldwin to seek solace in religion, at the age of 14 he attended meetings of the Pentecostal Church and, during a euphoric prayer meeting, he converted and became a junior Minister. Before long, at the Fireside Pentecostal Assembly, he was drawing larger crowds than his stepfather had done in his day. At 17, however, Baldwin came to view Christianity as based on false premises, Baldwin once visited Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Nation of Islam, who inquired about Baldwins religious beliefs. He answered, I left the church 20 years ago and havent joined anything since, Elijah asked, And what are you now. Still, his church experience significantly shaped his worldview and writing, Baldwin reflected that being in the pulpit was like working in the theatre, I was behind the scenes and knew how the illusion was worked. Baldwin accused Christianity of reinforcing the system of American slavery by palliating the pangs of oppression, Baldwin praised religion, however, for inspiring some American blacks to defy oppression. He once wrote, If the concept of God has any use, it is to make us larger, freer, If God cant do that, its time we got rid of him. Baldwin publicly described himself as not religious, a recording of him singing Precious Lord, Take My Hand a cappella was played at his funeral. When Baldwin was 15, his high-school running buddy, Emile Capouya, skipped school one day and, in Greenwich Village, met Beauford Delaney, Capouya gave Baldwin Delaneys address and suggested paying him a visit
13.
If Beale Street Could Talk
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If Beale Street Could Talk, James Baldwins fifth novel, is a love story set in Harlem in the early 1970s. The title is a reference to the 1916 W. C, handy blues song Beale Street Blues. Fonny and Tish are in love and their love protects them from their respective dysfunctional families, after his imprisonment, Tish finds out she is pregnant and she, her family, and her lawyer race against the clock to find evidence that frees Fonny before the baby is born. This book is about a 19-year-old girl named Tish, whose name is Clementine, with a 22-year-old sculptor named Fonny. They become engaged and then, she becomes pregnant, however, he is falsely accused of raping a Puerto Rican woman, Victoria Rogers. He was set up by a racist police man and he goes to jail. Ms. Rogers left the United States to go back to Puerto Rico and Tishs mother Sharon travels there to find evidence that will set Fonny free, baldwin narrates through Tish’s point of view as well as Fonnys. The tone of the story is sad and sweet. This content is very explicit with mature scenes and this book describes what a strong family the Rivers family is and how they stuck together until the end of everything. Although Fonnys own mother and sisters did not bother to save him and they work extra hours so that they could make the money to pay the lawyer and to try to pay for Fonnys bail if he gets out on bail. In the end, Fonnys father commits suicide, furthermore, the baby is finally born. Throughout the whole story the author shows what a family is
14.
HBO
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Home Box Office is an American premium cable and satellite television network that is owned by Time Warner through its respective flagship company Home Box Office, Inc. HBO is the oldest and longest continuously operating pay television service in the United States, in 2014, HBO had an adjusted operating income of US$1.79 billion, compared to the US$1.68 billion it accrued in 2013. HBO has 49 million subscribers in the United States and 130 million worldwide as of 2016, the network provides seven 24-hour multiplex channels, including HBO Comedy, HBO Latino, HBO Signature and HBO Family. It launched the streaming service HBO Now in April 2015, and has over 2 million subscribers in the United States as of February 2017. In addition to its U. S. subscriber base, HBO distributes content in at least 151 countries, HBO subscribers generally pay for an extra tier of service that includes other cable- and satellite-exclusive channels even before paying for the channel itself. Cable providers can require the use of a converter box – usually digital – in order to receive HBO, many HBO programs have been syndicated to other networks and broadcast television stations, and a number of HBO-produced series and films have been released on DVD. The new system, which Dolan named Sterling Information Services, became the first urban underground cable system in the United States. In that same year, Time-Life, Inc. purchased a 20% stake in Dolans company, in the summer of 1971, while on a family vacation in France, Charles Dolan began to think of ideas to make Sterling Manhattan profitable. He came up with the concept for a television service. Dolan later presented his idea to Time-Life management, though satellite distribution seemed only a distant possibility at the time, he persuaded Time-Life to back him on the project. To gauge whether consumers would be interested in subscribing to a pay television service, in a meeting of Dolan and some Time-Life executives who were working on the project, various other names were discussed for the new service. Home Box Office launched on November 8,1972, however, HBOs launch came without fanfare in the press, as it was not covered by any local or national media outlets. Home Box Office distributed its first sports event immediately after the film, Four months later in February 1973, Home Box Office aired its first television special, the Pennsylvania Polka Festival. Home Box Office would use a network of relay towers to distribute its programming to cable systems throughout its service area. Sterling Manhattan Cable continued to lose money because the company had only a small base of 20,000 customers in Manhattan. Time-Life dropped the Sterling name and the company was renamed Manhattan Cable Television under Time-Lifes control in March 1973, Gerald Levin, who had been with Home Box Office since it began operations as its vice president of programming, replaced Dolan as the companys president and chief executive officer. In September 1973, Time-Life, Inc. completed its acquisition of the pay service. HBO would eventually increase its fortunes within two years, by April 1975, the service had around 100,000 subscribers in Pennsylvania and New York state, in 1974, they settled on using a geostationary communications satellite to transmit HBO to cable providers throughout the United States
15.
The Leftovers (TV series)
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The Leftovers is an American television drama series created by Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta, airing on HBO. It is based on Perrottas novel of the same name, the pilot was written by Lindelof and Perrotta, and directed by Peter Berg. The series stars an ensemble cast featuring Justin Theroux, Amy Brenneman, Christopher Eccleston, Liv Tyler, Chris Zylka, Margaret Qualley, Carrie Coon, and Ann Dowd. The series premiered on HBO on June 29,2014 and was renewed for a season, which premiered on October 4,2015. On December 10,2015, HBO renewed the show for a third and final season, following that event, mainstream religions declined, and a number of cults emerged, most notably the Guilty Remnant. The story focuses primarily on the Garvey family and their acquaintances in the town of Mapleton. Kevin Garvey is the Chief of Police and his wife Laurie has joined the Guilty Remnant. Their son Tommy has left home for college, and their daughter Jill is acting out, the second season moves the main characters to the fictional town of Jarden, Texas. Justin Theroux as Kevin Garvey, Jr. Mapletons Chief of Police, the breakup of his family puts more and more of a strain on him. Amy Brenneman as Laurie Garvey, Kevins wife, and Tom and Jills mother, Christopher Eccleston as Matt Jamison, a former reverend and current editor of a self-published tabloid that outs sinners. He struggles with his inability to accept that he, a good Christian, was not taken in the Sudden Departure while many sinners were, Liv Tyler as Megan Meg Abbott, a woman about to get married when she becomes the target of the Guilty Remnant. Chris Zylka as Tommy Garvey, Lauries son, who has dropped out of college. Margaret Qualley as Jill Garvey, Kevins teenage daughter, a student who has a difficult relationship with her father. Carrie Coon as Nora Durst, a wife and mother who lost her husband, son, Emily Meade as Aimee, Jills free-spirited high school friend, who seems unfazed by the rapture. Amanda Warren as Lucy Warburton, Mapletons take-no-prisoners mayor, Ann Dowd as Patti Levin, the leader of the local chapter of the Guilty Remnant. Michael Gaston as Dean, a man who seems to understand that times have changed, Max and Charlie Carver as Adam and Scott Frost, happy-go-lucky identical twin brothers. Annie Q. as Christine, one of Holy Waynes many groupies, janel Moloney as Mary Jamison, Matts wife, who was paralyzed by a car crash during the Sudden Departure. Regina King as Erika Murphy, a doctor who runs an urgent-care facility, the Murphys are the Garveys neighbors in Jarden, Texas
16.
The New York Times
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The New York Times is an American daily newspaper, founded and continuously published in New York City since September 18,1851, by The New York Times Company. The New York Times has won 119 Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other newspaper, the papers print version in 2013 had the second-largest circulation, behind The Wall Street Journal, and the largest circulation among the metropolitan newspapers in the US. The New York Times is ranked 18th in the world by circulation, following industry trends, its weekday circulation had fallen in 2009 to fewer than one million. Nicknamed The Gray Lady, The New York Times has long been regarded within the industry as a newspaper of record. The New York Times international version, formerly the International Herald Tribune, is now called the New York Times International Edition, the papers motto, All the News Thats Fit to Print, appears in the upper left-hand corner of the front page. On Sunday, The New York Times is supplemented by the Sunday Review, The New York Times Book Review, The New York Times Magazine and T, some other early investors of the company were Edwin B. Morgan and Edward B. We do not believe that everything in Society is either right or exactly wrong, —what is good we desire to preserve and improve, —what is evil, to exterminate. In 1852, the started a western division, The Times of California that arrived whenever a mail boat got to California. However, when local California newspapers came into prominence, the effort failed, the newspaper shortened its name to The New-York Times in 1857. It dropped the hyphen in the city name in the 1890s, One of the earliest public controversies it was involved with was the Mortara Affair, the subject of twenty editorials it published alone. At Newspaper Row, across from City Hall, Henry Raymond, owner and editor of The New York Times, averted the rioters with Gatling guns, in 1869, Raymond died, and George Jones took over as publisher. Tweed offered The New York Times five million dollars to not publish the story, in the 1880s, The New York Times transitioned gradually from editorially supporting Republican Party candidates to becoming more politically independent and analytical. In 1884, the paper supported Democrat Grover Cleveland in his first presidential campaign, while this move cost The New York Times readership among its more progressive and Republican readers, the paper eventually regained most of its lost ground within a few years. However, the newspaper was financially crippled by the Panic of 1893, the paper slowly acquired a reputation for even-handedness and accurate modern reporting, especially by the 1890s under the guidance of Ochs. Under Ochs guidance, continuing and expanding upon the Henry Raymond tradition, The New York Times achieved international scope, circulation, in 1910, the first air delivery of The New York Times to Philadelphia began. The New York Times first trans-Atlantic delivery by air to London occurred in 1919 by dirigible, airplane Edition was sent by plane to Chicago so it could be in the hands of Republican convention delegates by evening. In the 1940s, the extended its breadth and reach. The crossword began appearing regularly in 1942, and the section in 1946
17.
Variety (magazine)
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Variety is a weekly American entertainment trade magazine and website owned by Penske Media Corporation. The last daily printed edition was put out on March 19,2013, Variety originally reported on theater and vaudeville. Variety has been published since December 16,1905, when it was launched by Sime Silverman as a weekly periodical covering vaudeville with its headquarters in New York City, on January 19,1907, Variety published what is considered the first film review in history. In 1933, Sime Silverman launched Daily Variety, based in Hollywood, Sime Silverman had passed on the editorship of the Weekly Variety to Abel Green as his replacement in 1931, he remained as publisher until his death in 1933 soon after launching the Daily. His son Sidne Silverman, known as Skigie, succeeded him as publisher of both publications, both Sidne and his wife, stage actress Marie Saxon, died of tuberculosis. Their only son Syd Silverman, born 1932, was the heir to what was then Variety Inc. Young Syds legal guardian Harold Erichs oversaw Variety Inc. until 1956, after that date Syd Silverman was publisher of both the Weekly Variety in New York and the Daily Variety in Hollywood, until the sale of both papers in 1987 to the Cahners Corp. In L. A. the Daily was edited by Tom Pryor from 1959 until 1988, for twenty years its editor-in-chief was Peter Bart, originally only of the weekly New York edition, with Michael Silverman running the Daily in Hollywood. Bart had worked previously at Paramount Pictures and The New York Times, in April 2009, Bart moved to the position of vice president and editorial director, characterized online as Boffo No More, Bart Up and Out at Variety. From mid 2009 to 2013, Timothy M. Gray oversaw the publication as Editor-in-Chief, after over 30 years of various reporter, in October 2014, Eller and Wallenstein were upped to Co-Editors in Chief, with Littleton continuing to oversee the trades television coverage. This dissemination comes in the form of columns, news stories, images, video, Cahners Publishing purchased Variety from the Silverman family in 1987. On December 7,1988, Barts predecessor, Roger Watkins, proposed, upon its launch, the new-look Variety measured one inch shorter with a washed-out color on the front. In October 2012, Reed Business Information, the periodicals owner, PMC is the owner of Deadline. com, which since the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike has been considered Varietys largest competitor in online showbiz news. In October,2012, Jay Penske announced that the paywall would come down, the print publication would stay. A significant portion of the advertising revenue comes during the film-award season leading up to the Academy Awards. During this Awards Season, large numbers of colorful, full-page For Your Consideration advertisements inflate the size of Variety to double or triple its usual page count, paid circulation for the weekly Variety magazine in 2013 was 40,000. Each copy of each Variety issue is read by an average of three people, with a total readership of 120,000. Variety. com has 17 million unique monthly visitors, Variety is a weekly entertainment publication with a broad coverage of movies, television, theater, music and technology, written for entertainment executives
18.
The Atlantic
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The Atlantic is an American magazine, founded in 1857 as The Atlantic Monthly in Boston, Massachusetts. Since 2006, the magazine is based in Washington, D. C, created as a literary and cultural commentary magazine, it has grown to achieve a national reputation as a high-quality review organ with a moderate worldview. The magazine has recognized and published new writers and poets. It has published leading writers commentary on abolition, education, the periodical has won more National Magazine Awards than any other monthly magazine. The first issue of the magazine was published on November 1,1857, the magazines initiator and founder was Francis H. Underwood, an assistant to the publisher, who received less recognition than his partners because he was neither a humbug nor a Harvard man. After experiencing financial hardship and a series of changes, the magazine was reformatted as a general editorial magazine. Focusing on foreign affairs, politics, and the cultural trends, it is now primarily aimed at a target audience of serious national readers. In 2010, The Atlantic posted its first profit in a decade, in profiling the publication at the time, The New York Times noted the accomplishment was the result of a cultural transfusion, a dose of counterintuition and a lot of digital advertising revenue. The magazine, subscribed to by over 425,000 readers, the Atlantic features articles in the fields of the arts, the economy, foreign affairs, political science, and technology. The Atlantics president is Bob Cohn, in April 2005, The Atlantics editors decided to cease publishing fiction in regular issues in favor of a newsstand-only annual fiction issue edited by longtime staffer C. Michael Curtis. They have since re-instituted the practice, on January 22,2008, TheAtlantic. com dropped its subscriber wall and allowed users to freely browse its site, including all past archives. TheAtlantic. com covers politics, business, entertainment, technology, health, international affairs, and more. In December 2011, a new Health Channel launched on TheAtlantic. com, incorporating coverage of food, as well as related to the mind, body, sex, family. TheAtlantic. com has expanded to visual storytelling with the addition of the In Focus photo blog, curated by Alan Taylor. A leading literary magazine, The Atlantic has published significant works. It was the first to publish pieces by the abolitionists Julia Ward Howe, for example, Emily Dickinson, after reading an article in The Atlantic by Thomas Wentworth Higginson, asked him to become her mentor. In 2005, the magazine won a National Magazine Award for fiction, the magazine also published many of the works of Mark Twain, including one that was lost until 2001. Editors have recognized major cultural changes and movements, for example, the magazine has also published speculative articles that inspired the development of new technologies
19.
Academy Awards
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The various category winners are awarded a copy of a golden statuette, officially called the Academy Award of Merit, which has become commonly known by its nickname Oscar. The awards, first presented in 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, are overseen by AMPAS, the awards ceremony was first broadcast on radio in 1930 and televised for the first time in 1953. It is now live in more than 200 countries and can be streamed live online. The Academy Awards ceremony is the oldest worldwide entertainment awards ceremony and its equivalents – the Emmy Awards for television, the Tony Awards for theater, and the Grammy Awards for music and recording – are modeled after the Academy Awards. The 89th Academy Awards ceremony, honoring the best films of 2016, were held on February 26,2017, at the Dolby Theatre, in Los Angeles, the ceremony was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and was broadcast on ABC. A total of 3,048 Oscars have been awarded from the inception of the award through the 88th, the first Academy Awards presentation was held on May 16,1929, at a private dinner function at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel with an audience of about 270 people. The post-awards party was held at the Mayfair Hotel, the cost of guest tickets for that nights ceremony was $5. Fifteen statuettes were awarded, honoring artists, directors and other participants in the industry of the time. The ceremony ran for 15 minutes, winners were announced to media three months earlier, however, that was changed for the second ceremony in 1930. Since then, for the rest of the first decade, the results were given to newspapers for publication at 11,00 pm on the night of the awards. The first Best Actor awarded was Emil Jannings, for his performances in The Last Command and he had to return to Europe before the ceremony, so the Academy agreed to give him the prize earlier, this made him the first Academy Award winner in history. With the fourth ceremony, however, the system changed, for the first six ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned two calendar years. At the 29th ceremony, held on March 27,1957, until then, foreign-language films had been honored with the Special Achievement Award. The 74th Academy Awards, held in 2002, presented the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, since 1973, all Academy Awards ceremonies always end with the Academy Award for Best Picture. The Academy also awards Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, see also § Awards of Merit categories The best known award is the Academy Award of Merit, more popularly known as the Oscar statuette. The five spokes represent the branches of the Academy, Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers. The model for the statuette is said to be Mexican actor Emilio El Indio Fernández, sculptor George Stanley sculpted Cedric Gibbons design. The statuettes presented at the ceremonies were gold-plated solid bronze
20.
Academy Award for Best Director
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The Academy Award for Best Director is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It is given in honor of a director who has exhibited outstanding directing while working in the film industry. However, these categories were merged for all subsequent ceremonies, nominees are determined by single transferable vote within the directors branch of AMPAS, winners are selected by a plurality vote from the entire eligible voting members of the Academy. For the first eleven years of the Academy Awards, directors were allowed to be nominated for multiple films in the same year, the Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture have been very closely linked throughout their history. Of the 89 films that have been awarded Best Picture,63 have also been awarded Best Director, since its inception, the award has been given to 69 directors or directing teams. John Ford has received the most awards in this category with four, william Wyler was nominated on twelve occasions, more than any other individual. As of the 2017 ceremony, Damien Chazelle is the most recent winner in category for his work on La La Land. Chazelle also became the youngest director in history to receive this award, two directing teams have shared the award, Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins for West Side Story in 1961 and Joel and Ethan Coen for No Country for Old Men in 2007. The Coen brothers are the siblings to have won the award. For the first five ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned twelve months from August 1 to July 31, for the 6th ceremony held in 1934, the eligibility period lasted from August 1,1932 to December 31,1933. Since the 7th ceremony held in 1935, the period of eligibility became the full calendar year from January 1 to December 31. org The Academy Awards Database Oscar. com
21.
Netflix
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Netflix is an American entertainment company founded by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph on August 29,1997, in Scotts Valley, California. It specializes in and provides streaming media and video-on-demand online and DVD by mail, in 2013, Netflix expanded into film and television production, as well as online distribution. As of 2017 the company has its headquarters in Los Gatos, Netflixs initial business model included DVD sales and rental, although Hastings jettisoned DVD sales about a year after Netflixs founding to focus on the DVD rental by mail business. In 2007, Netflix expanded its business with the introduction of streaming media, while retaining the DVD, Netflix entered the content-production industry in 2013, debuting its first series, House of Cards. It has greatly expanded the production of film and television series since then, offering Netflix Original content through its online library of films. Netflix released an estimated 126 original series or films in 2016, in January 2017, Netflix reported having over 93 million subscribers worldwide, including more than 49 million in the United States. Netflix was founded on August 29,1997, in Scotts Valley, California, by Marc Randolph, Randolph worked as marketing director for Hastings company, Pure Atria Corporation. Randolph was a co-founder of MicroWarehouse, a mail order company. Hastings, a computer scientist and mathematician, sold Pure Atria to Rational Software Corporation in 1997 for $700 million in what was then the richest acquisition in Silicon Valley history. Hastings, Randolphs mother and Integrity QA founder Steve Kahn invested $2.5 million in cash for Netflix. Randolph admired the fledgling e-commerce company Amazon and wanted to find a category of portable items to sell over the internet using a similar model. He and Hastings considered and rejected VHS tapes as too expensive to stock and too delicate to ship. When they heard about DVDs, which were available in only a few markets in 1997, when the disc arrived intact, they decided to take on the $16 billion home video sales and rental industry. Netflix introduced the monthly subscription concept in September 1999, and then dropped the model in early 2000. Since that time, the company has built its reputation on the model of flat-fee unlimited rentals without due dates, late fees, shipping and handling fees. In 2000, Netflix offered to be acquired by Blockbuster for $50 million, Netflix initiated an initial public offering on May 29,2002, selling 5.5 million shares of common stock at the price of US$15.00 per share. On June 14,2002, the company sold an additional 825,000 shares of stock at the same price. After incurring substantial losses during its first few years, Netflix posted its first profit during fiscal year 2003, in 2005,35,000 different films were available, and Netflix shipped 1 million DVDs out every day
22.
Colson Whitehead
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Colson Whitehead is a New York-based novelist. He is the author of six novels, including his work, the 1999 novel The Intuitionist. He has also published two books of non-fiction, in 2002, he received a MacArthur Fellowship. Whitehead was born in New York City on November 6,1969, Whitehead graduated from Harvard University in 1991. After leaving college, Whitehead wrote for The Village Voice, while working at the Voice, he began drafting his first novels. Whitehead has since produced seven book-length works—six novels and a meditation on life in Manhattan in the style of E. B, whites famous essay Here Is New York. Esquire magazine named The Intuitionist the best first novel of the year, whiteheads The Intuitionist was nominated as the Common Novel at Rochester Institute of Technology. The Common Novel nomination was part of a tradition at the Institute that included authors like Maya Angelou, Andre Dubus III, William Joseph Kennedy. Whiteheads non-fiction, essays and reviews have appeared in publications, including The New York Times, The New Yorker, Granta. His non-fiction account of the 2011 World Series of Poker The Noble Hustle, Poker, in the spring of 2015, he joined The New York Times Magazine to write a column on language. His 2016 novel, The Underground Railroad, was a selection of Oprahs Book Club 2.0, in January 2017 it was awarded the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction at the American Library Association Mid-Winter conference in Atlanta, GA. Hard Times in the Uncanny Valley, occasional Dispatches from the Republic of Anhedonia. Colson Whitehead, The Postracial Voice of Contemporary Literature, University of South Carolina Press,2014. Personal site Profile at The Whiting Foundation On Point - Whats in a Name
23.
Claressa Shields
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Claressa Shields is an American boxer, and the current NABF Female Middleweight title holder. She was the youngest boxer at the February 2012 U. S. Olympic trials, in May 2012, Shields qualified to compete at the 2012 Olympics, the first year that womens boxing was an Olympic event. At the London Olympic games in August 2012, she became the first U. S. woman to win a gold medal. She won the 2012 Olympic middleweight title by defeating Russian boxer Nadezda Torlopova, Shields was born and raised in Flint, Michigan, where she was a high school junior in May 2012. She was introduced to boxing by her father, Bo Shields, Bo was in prison from the time Shields was two years old, and released when she was nine. At that time she began boxing at Berston Field House in Flint, Shields credits her grandmother with encouraging her to not accept restrictions based on her gender. S. At the trials in she defeated the national champion, Franchon Crews, the 2010 world champion, Andrecia Wasson. Shields won her first round, but suffered a loss in the second round on May 13 to Savannah Marshall of England. She won a medal in the end, after beating Russian boxer Nadezda Torlopova 19–12. In 2014, Shields won the World Championships and the year, she became the first American to win titles in womens boxing at the Olympics. Shields won gold at the 2016 AMBC Olympic Qualifying tournament in Argentina and her amateur boxing record was 78-1. In November 2016, Shields officially went pro and she won her first match, against Franchon Crews, by unanimous decision. On March 10,2017 she faced Szilvia Szabados for the North American Boxing Federation middleweight title and this was the main event on ShoBox, with a regional title fight between Antonio Nieves and Nikolai Potapov serving as the co-main event. It was the first time a womens boxing bout was the event on a United States premium network card. While growing up in Flint, Michigan, Shields was sexually abused by her mothers boyfriends, Shields was baptized at age 13 and began attending a local church. She found strength in her Christian faith and eventually left home, now Shields prays before every fight, talks about Gods plan for her life, and says, All glory to God. Shields attempted to adopt her cousins daughter in 2014, Shields is the subject of the 2015 documentary T-Rex, Her Fight for Gold. In 2016 Universal Pictures, a division of Comcast, which holds Olympic broadcast rights in the United States, Shields will be acting in the Susan Seidelman-directed film Punch Me
24.
Annapurna Pictures
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Annapurna Pictures is an American motion picture company founded by Megan Ellison in 2011. It specializes in production, distribution, television production, video game development. Annapurna invests in finance and sales through its subsidiary Annapurna International and it also produces television shows through subsidiary Annapurna Television and develops video games under its Annapurna Interactive banner. Annapurna Pictures is named after Mount Annapurna in Nepal, which was explored by Ellison on a visit to Nepal, on September 27,2016, Annapurna launched a television production division, Annapurna Television, which is headed by former HBO executive Sue Naegle. On January 10,2017, it was reported that Annapurna Television would produce the Coen Brothers first TV series, The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs. In December 2016, the company launched Annapurna Interactive, to produce, develop, in January 2017, the company announced they would begin distributing films, with their first being Untitled Detroit project directed by Kathryn Bigelow, set for release on August 4,2017. Many of the produced by the company have received widespread critical acclaim. In 2013 alone, Her and American Hustle had a combined fifteen Academy Award nominations, in the box office results have been mixed. Official website Annapurna Pictures at the Internet Movie Database
25.
Plan B Entertainment
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Plan B Entertainment Inc. more commonly known as Plan B, is an American film production company founded in November 2001 by Brad Pitt, Brad Grey, and Jennifer Aniston. In 2005, after Pitt and Aniston divorced, and Grey became the CEO of Paramount Pictures and it currently holds a release deal with Paramount Pictures, along with Warner Bros. 20th Century Fox, and Walt Disney Pictures. The president of the company was for years Dede Gardner, but she, three of the production companys movies, The Departed,12 Years a Slave, and Moonlight have won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Golden Boy Shines Behind the Scenes, Plan B Entertainment at the Internet Movie Database
26.
Chicago International Film Festival
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The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the eyes of early film actresses Theda Bara, Pola Negri and Mae Murray. In 2010, the 46th Chicago International Film Festival presented 150 films from more than 50 countries, the Festivals program is composed of many different sections, including the International Competition, New Directors Competition, Docufest, Black Perspectives, Cinema of the Americas, and Reel Women. Foreign films are screened for free throughout the city weekly from July through September, bruce Dern Terrence Howard Susan Sarandon Shirley MacLaine Robert Zemeckis Irma P. Hall, Robert Townsend and Harry J
27.
Independent Spirit Awards
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The Film Independent Spirit Awards, founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with acrylic glass pyramids containing suspended shoestrings representing the paltry budgets of independent films, in 1986, the event was renamed the Independent Spirit Awards. Since 2006, winners have received a trophy depicting a bird with its wings spread sitting atop of a pole with the shoestrings from the previous design wrapped around the pole, Film Independent Members vote to determine the winners of the Spirit Awards. The awards show is held inside a tent on the beach in Santa Monica, California, the show is broadcast live on the IFC network, as well as Hollywood Suite in Canada and A&E Latin America. The 32nd Independent Spirit Awards ceremony, hosted by Nick Kroll and John Mulaney, was broadcast live on IFC on Saturday, official website Film Independent Film Independents channel on YouTube Film Independent at the Internet Movie Database Independent Spirit Awards at the Internet Movie Database
28.
Los Angeles Film Festival
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The LA Film Festival is an annual film festival held in June in Culver City, California. It showcases independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, since 2001 it is run by the organization Film Independent, which also has been arranging the annual Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica since 1985. The festival began as the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival in 1995, the LAIFF ran for six years, until it was absorbed into Film Independent in 2001. At its height, the LAIFF attracted 19,000 attendees, today, the LA Film Festival attracts more than 36,000 visitors. With an attendance of more than 36,000 people, it more than 100 feature films. The event also includes world premieres of such as Disney/Pixars Brave, and a variety of panels, seminars. The Festival features signature programs including the exclusive Filmmaker Retreat, hosted by a film director. In 2010, the Filmmaker Retreat was hosted by Kathryn Bigelow, in 2011, it was hosted by George Lucas at his Skywalker Ranch. In addition to films, it also screens short films created by high school students. Films submitted to the Festival are reviewed by Film Independents programming department, in 2011, the Festival showed over 200 films, music videos and shorts from over 30 countries. The first LAIFF took place over the course of five days in a single location, in 1996, the LAIFF expanded to include the Directors Guild of America Building in Hollywood. In 2001, the Festival became part of the organization Film Independent, in 2006, the Los Angeles Times became the Festivals main sponsor. In 2010 the Festival was moved to the Regal Cinemas at the L. A, live complex in downtown Los Angeles, with additional screenings at several other downtown venues including the Downtown Independent, Orpheum Theatre and the REDCAT Theatre. The Festival also has a tradition of screenings at the open-air John Anson Ford Amphitheatre in Hollywood. Free screenings are scheduled at California Plaza, in conjunction with Grand Performances, today the LA Film Festival attracts over 36,000 visitors. The LA Film Festival is a festival in all categories for Film Independents Spirit Awards. It is also a festival for the short films categories of the Academy Awards. During the festival of 2009, festival officials was approached by Dole Food Company, Dole urged festival officials to immediately cease and desist their sponsorship of the documentary Bananas. *, directed by Fredrik Gertten