1.
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
2.
Illinois
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Illinois is a state in the midwestern region of the United States, achieving statehood in 1818. It is the 6th most populous state and 25th largest state in terms of land area, the word Illinois comes from a French rendering of a native Algonquin word. For decades, OHare International Airport has been ranked as one of the worlds busiest airports, Illinois has long had a reputation as a bellwether both in social and cultural terms and politics. With the War of 1812 Illinois growth slowed as both Native Americans and Canadian forces often raided the American Frontier, mineral finds and timber stands also had spurred immigration—by the 1810s, the Eastern U. S. Railroads arose and matured in the 1840s, and soon carried immigrants to new homes in Illinois, as well as being a resource to ship their commodity crops out to markets. Railroads freed most of the land of Illinois and other states from the tyranny of water transport. By 1900, the growth of jobs in the northern cities and coal mining in the central and southern areas attracted a new group of immigrants. Illinois was an important manufacturing center during both world wars, the Great Migration from the South established a large community of African Americans in Chicago, who created the citys famous jazz and blues cultures. Three U. S. presidents have been elected while living in Illinois, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, additionally, Ronald Reagan, whose political career was based in California, was the only U. S. president born and raised in Illinois. Today, Illinois honors Lincoln with its official slogan, Land of Lincoln. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is located in the capital of Springfield. Illinois is the spelling for the early French Catholic missionaries and explorers name for the Illinois Native Americans. American scholars previously thought the name Illinois meant man or men in the Miami-Illinois language and this etymology is not supported by the Illinois language, as the word for man is ireniwa and plural men is ireniwaki. The name Illiniwek has also said to mean tribe of superior men. The name Illinois derives from the Miami-Illinois verb irenwe·wa he speaks the regular way and this was taken into the Ojibwe language, perhaps in the Ottawa dialect, and modified into ilinwe·. The French borrowed these forms, changing the ending to spell it as -ois. The current spelling form, Illinois, began to appear in the early 1670s, the Illinois name for themselves, as attested in all three of the French missionary-period dictionaries of Illinois, was Inoka, of unknown meaning and unrelated to the other terms. American Indians of successive cultures lived along the waterways of the Illinois area for thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans, the Koster Site has been excavated and demonstrates 7,000 years of continuous habitation
3.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
4.
Chivalric romance
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As a literary genre of high culture, romance or chivalric romance is a type of prose and verse narrative that was popular in the aristocratic circles of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. Popular literature also drew on themes of romance, but with ironic, satiric or burlesque intent. Still, the image of medieval is more influenced by the romance than by any other medieval genre, and the word medieval evokes knights, distressed damsels, dragons. Originally, romance literature was written in Old French, Anglo-Norman, Occitan, and Provençal, during the early 13th century, romances were increasingly written as prose. In later romances, particularly those of French origin, there is a tendency to emphasize themes of courtly love. Unlike the later form of the novel and like the chansons de geste, the earliest forms were invariably in verse, but the 15th century saw many in prose, often retelling the old, rhymed versions. Many influences are clear in the forms of chivalric romance, the epics of Charlemagne, unlike such ones as Beowulf, already had feudalism rather than the tribal loyalties, this was to continue in romances. The romance form is distinguished from the epics of the Middle Ages by the changes of the 12th century. This occurred regardless of congruity to the material, Alexander the Great featured as a fully feudal king. Chivalry was treated as continuous from Roman times, historical figures reappeared, reworked, in romance. The entire Matter of France derived from known figures, and suffered somewhat because their descendents had an interest in the tales that were told of their ancestors, unlike the Matter of Britain. Hereward the Wakes early life appeared in chronicles as the embellished, romantic adventures of an exile, complete with rescuing princess, fulk Fitzwarin, an outlaw in King Johns day, has his historical background a minor thread in the episodic stream of romantic adventures. The earliest medieval romances dealt heavily with themes from folklore, which diminished over time, morgan le Fay never loses her name, but in Le Morte dArthur, she studies magic rather than being inherently magical. Still, fairies never completely vanished from the tradition, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a late tale, but the Green Knight himself is an otherworldly being. In Italy there is the story called Il Bel Gherardino and it is the most ancient prototype of an Italian singing fairy tale by an anonymous Tuscan author. It tells the story of a young Italian knight, depleted for its magnanimitas, other examples of Italian poetry tales are Antonio Puccis literature, Gismirante, Il Brutto di Bretagna or Brito di Bretagna and Madonna Lionessa. Another work of a second anonymous Italian author that is worth mentioning is Istoria di Tre Giovani Disperati e di Tre Fate, some romances, such as Apollonius of Tyre, show classical pagan origins. Tales of the Matter of Rome in particular may be derived from such works as the Alexander Romance
5.
Titanic (1997 film)
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Titanic is a 1997 American epic romance-disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. Camerons inspiration for the film came from his fascination with shipwrecks, production began in 1995, when Cameron shot footage of the actual Titanic wreck. The modern scenes on the vessel were shot on board the Akademik Mstislav Keldysh. Scale models, computer-generated imagery, and a reconstruction of the Titanic built at Playas de Rosarito in Baja California were used to re-create the sinking, the film was partially funded by Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox. It was the most expensive film made at time, with an estimated budget of $200 million. Upon its release on December 19,1997, Titanic achieved critical and commercial success, with an initial worldwide gross of over $1.84 billion, Titanic was the first film to reach the billion-dollar mark. It remained the highest-grossing film of all time until Camerons 2009 film Avatar surpassed it in 2010. A 3D version of Titanic, released on April 4,2012 to commemorate the centennial of the sinking, earned it an additional $343.6 million worldwide and it became the second film to gross more than $2 billion worldwide. In 2015, Titanic Live, an orchestra version of the film. In 1996, treasure hunter Brock Lovett and his team aboard the research vessel Akademik Mstislav Keldysh search the wreck of RMS Titanic for a necklace with a rare diamond, the Heart of the Ocean. They recover a safe containing a drawing of a woman wearing only the necklace dated April 14,1912. Rose Dawson Calvert, the woman in the drawing, is brought aboard Keldysh, in 1912 Southampton, 17-year-old first-class passenger Rose DeWitt Bukater, her fiancé Cal Hockley, and her mother Ruth board the luxurious Titanic. Ruth emphasizes that Roses marriage will resolve their familys financial problems, distraught over the engagement, Rose considers suicide by jumping from the stern, Jack Dawson, a penniless artist, intervenes and discourages her. Discovered with Jack, Rose tells a concerned Cal that she was peering over the edge, when Cal becomes indifferent, she suggests to him that Jack deserves a reward. He invites Jack to dine with them in first class the following night, Jack and Rose develop a tentative friendship, despite Cal and Ruth being wary of him. Following dinner, Rose secretly joins Jack at a party in third class, aware of Cal and Ruths disapproval, Rose rebuffs Jacks advances, but realizes she prefers him over Cal. After rendezvousing on the bow at sunset, Rose takes Jack to her room, at her request, Jack sketches Rose posing nude wearing Cals engagement present. They evade Cals bodyguard and have sex in an automobile inside the cargo hold, on the forward deck, they witness a collision with an iceberg and overhear the officers and designer discussing its seriousness
6.
Science fiction
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Science fiction often explores the potential consequences of scientific and other innovations, and has been called a literature of ideas. Science fiction is difficult to define, as it includes a range of subgenres and themes. Author and editor Damon Knight summed up the difficulty, saying science fiction is what we point to when we say it, a definition echoed by author Mark C. Glassy, who argues that the definition of science fiction is like the definition of pornography, you do not know what it is, in 1970 or 1971William Atheling Jr. According to science fiction writer Robert A, rod Serlings definition is fantasy is the impossible made probable. Science fiction is the improbable made possible, Science fiction is largely based on writing rationally about alternative possible worlds or futures. Science fiction elements include, A time setting in the future, in alternative timelines, a spatial setting or scenes in outer space, on other worlds, or on subterranean earth. Characters that include aliens, mutants, androids, or humanoid robots, futuristic or plausible technology such as ray guns, teleportation machines, and humanoid computers. Scientific principles that are new or that contradict accepted physical laws, for time travel, wormholes. New and different political or social systems, e. g. utopian, dystopian, post-scarcity, paranormal abilities such as mind control, telepathy, telekinesis Other universes or dimensions and travel between them. A product of the budding Age of Reason and the development of science itself. Isaac Asimov and Carl Sagan considered Keplers work the first science fiction story and it depicts a journey to the Moon and how the Earths motion is seen from there. Later, Edgar Allan Poe wrote a story about a flight to the moon, more examples appeared throughout the 19th century. Wells The War of the Worlds describes an invasion of late Victorian England by Martians using tripod fighting machines equipped with advanced weaponry and it is a seminal depiction of an alien invasion of Earth. In the late 19th century, the scientific romance was used in Britain to describe much of this fiction. This produced additional offshoots, such as the 1884 novella Flatland, the term would continue to be used into the early 20th century for writers such as Olaf Stapledon. In the early 20th century, pulp magazines helped develop a new generation of mainly American SF writers, influenced by Hugo Gernsback, the founder of Amazing Stories magazine. In 1912 Edgar Rice Burroughs published A Princess of Mars, the first of his series of Barsoom novels, situated on Mars
7.
Back to the Future
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Back to the Future is a 1985 American science-fiction adventure comedy film directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It stars Michael J. Fox as teenager Marty McFly, who is sent back in time to 1955, where he meets his future parents in high school and accidentally becomes his mothers romantic interest. Christopher Lloyd portrays the eccentric scientist Dr. Emmett Doc Brown, Marty and Doc must also find a way to return Marty to 1985. Zemeckis and Gale wrote the script after Gale mused upon whether he would have befriended his father if they had attended school together, various film studios rejected the script until the financial success of Zemeckis Romancing the Stone. Zemeckis approached Steven Spielberg, who agreed to produce the project at Amblin Entertainment, the first choice for the role of Marty McFly was Michael J. Fox. However, he was filming his television series Family Ties. Consequently, Eric Stoltz was cast in the role, during filming, Stoltz and the filmmakers decided that the role was miscast, and Fox was again approached for the part. Now with more flexibility in his schedule and the blessing of his shows producers, Fox managed to out a timetable in which he could give enough time. Back to the Future was released on July 3,1985, grossing over $381 million worldwide, ronald Reagan even quoted the film in his 1986 State of the Union Address. Teenager Marty McFly is an aspiring musician dating girlfriend Jennifer Parker in Hill Valley and his father George is bullied by his supervisor, Biff Tannen, while his mother Lorraine is an overweight, depressed alcoholic. While dissatisfied with Martys relationship with Jennifer, Lorraine recalls how she met George when her father hit him with a car, on October 26,1985, Marty meets his scientist friend, Dr. Emmett Brown, at a shopping mall parking lot. Doc unveils a time machine built from a modified DeLorean and powered by plutonium stolen from Libyan terrorists, Doc demonstrates the navigation system with the example date of November 5,1955, the day he conceived the machine. A moment later, the Libyans arrive and shoot him, apparently killing him, Marty escapes in the DeLorean, but inadvertently activates the time machine, and arrives in 1955 without the required plutonium needed to return. There, Marty encounters the teenage George, who is bullied by classmate Biff, after Marty saves George from an oncoming car and is knocked unconscious, he awakens to find himself tended by an infatuated Lorraine. Marty leaves and tracks down Docs younger self to help him return to 1985, with no plutonium, Doc explains that the only power source capable of generating the necessary 1.21 gigawatts of electrical power for the time machine is a bolt of lightning. Marty shows Doc a flyer from the future that recounts a lightning strike at the courthouse the coming Saturday night. Marty realizes that he has prevented his parents from meeting and Doc warns Marty that he will be erased from existence if he not find a way to introduce George to Lorraine. Doc formulates a plan to harness the power of the lightning while Marty sets about introducing his parents, when Lorraine asks Marty to the upcoming school dance, Marty plans to have George rescue Lorraine from Martys inappropriate advances
8.
Back to the Future Part II
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Back to the Future Part II is a 1989 American science-fiction adventure comedy film directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Bob Gale. It is the sequel to the 1985 film Back to the Future, the film stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Thomas F. Wilson, and Lea Thompson and continues immediately following the original film. However, their presence allows Biff Tannen to steal Docs DeLorean time machine and travel to 1955, the film was produced on a $40-million budget and was filmed back-to-back with its sequel, Part III. Filming began in February 1989 after two years were spent building the sets and writing the scripts, two actors from the first film, Crispin Glover and Claudia Wells, did not return for the final two. While Elisabeth Shue was recast in the role of Wells character, Jennifer, Glovers character, George McFly, was not only minimized in the plot, Glover successfully sued both Zemeckis and Gale, changing how producers can deal with the departure and replacement of actors in a role. Back to the Future Part II was released by Universal Pictures on November 22,1989, the film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed over $331 million worldwide, making it the third-highest-grossing film of 1989. They arrive on October 21,2015, where Doc electronically knocks out Jennifer and leaves her asleep in an alley, explaining that she should not have too much knowledge of future events. He has Marty pose as his own son and lookalike Marty Jr. to refuse an offer to participate in a robbery with Biffs grandson Griff, Marty switches places with Marty Jr. and refuses Griffs offer, but Griff goads Marty into a fight. Griff and his gang are arrested, saving Martys future children, before rejoining Doc, Marty purchases an almanac containing the results of major sporting events from 1950 to 2000. They pursue, as does Biff, who has overheard their conversation, Jennifer wakes up in her 2015 home and hides from the McFly family. She overhears that her future life with Marty is not what she expected. She witnesses Marty being goaded by his co-worker Douglas J. Needles into a business deal. Attempting to escape the house, Jennifer encounters her 2015 self, while Marty and Doc attend to her, Biff steals the time machine and uses it to travel back to 1955 and give the almanac to his younger self to get rich betting, then returns to 2015. Marty, Doc, and an unconscious Jennifer return to 1985, the 1985 to which they return has changed drastically, Biff has become wealthy and corrupt, and has changed Hill Valley into a chaotic dystopia. Martys father, George, was killed in 1973, and Biff has forced Martys mother, Lorraine, Doc has been committed to an insane asylum. Marty and Doc determine that 2015 Biff took the machine to change 1985. Biff attempts to kill Marty, but Marty flees and returns to 1955 with Doc, Marty secretly follows the 1955 Biff and watches him receive the almanac from his 2015 self. Marty then follows him to the schools dance, being careful to avoid interrupting the events from his previous visit
9.
Dead Calm (film)
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Dead Calm is a 1989 Australian psychological thriller film starring Sam Neill, Nicole Kidman and Billy Zane. It was based on the 1963 novel of the name by Charles Williams. The film was directed by Australian filmmaker Phillip Noyce and filmed around the Great Barrier Reef, cinematography by Dean Semler and score composed by Graeme Revell. The plot focuses on a couple who are sailing a yacht through the Pacific. They encounter a damaged boat and a distraught man and their efforts to help and investigate lead both the husband and wife into danger. Rae Ingram, is involved in a car crash which results in the death of her son and her older husband, a Royal Australian Navy officer John Ingram, suggests that they help deal with their grief by heading out for a vacation alone on their yacht. In the middle of the Pacific, they encounter a drifting boat that seems to be taking on water, a man, Hughie Warriner, rows over to the Ingrams boat for help. He claims that his boat is sinking and that his companions have all died of food poisoning, suspicious of Hughies story, John rows over to the other ship, leaving Rae alone with Hughie. Inside, John discovers the corpses of the other passengers. John rushes back to his own boat, but hes too late as Hughie awakes, knocks out Rae and sails their yacht away, leaving John behind. As John attempts to keep Hughies ship from sinking and catch up them, Rae awakens. Hughie denies her request and keeps on sailing, alternating between kindness and bouts of rage, John manages to get through to his wife on the radio, but the water damage makes him unable to reply save for clicks on his boats radio receiver. He can respond only yes or no to her questions, John assures her that he is following close by. Rae tries to stall the yacht by turning off the engine and her dog jumps in to retrieve the keys and brings them back as he had done earlier with his fetch ball. Hughie starts the back up and tries to convince Rae to be friends with him. Rae accepts, attempting to earn his trust, after a while, she goes back to the radar room to contact John. A blip appears on the edge of the range, signifying the damaged boat. She soon learns that it is too far gone and will sink in the several hours
10.
Twin Peaks
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Twin Peaks is an American television serial drama created by Mark Frost and David Lynch that premiered on April 8,1990, on ABC. It was one of the shows of 1990, but declining ratings led to its cancellation after its second season in 1991. It nonetheless captured a cult following and has been referenced in a variety of media. In subsequent years, Twin Peaks has often been ranked as one of the greatest television dramas ever made, the series follows an investigation headed by FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper into the murder of homecoming queen Laura Palmer in the fictional town of Twin Peaks, Washington. Like much of Lynchs work, it is distinguished by surrealism and offbeat humor, the shows acclaimed score was composed by Angelo Badalamenti in collaboration with Lynch. Twin Peaks was followed by a 1992 feature film, Twin Peaks, Fire Walk with Me, in October 2014, Showtime announced that the series would return as a limited event series, scheduled to premiere on May 21,2017. The limited series is written by Lynch and Frost and directed by Lynch, many original cast members, including MacLachlan, returned. In 1989, logger Pete Martell discovers a corpse wrapped in plastic on the bank of a river outside the town of Twin Peaks. When Sheriff Harry S. Truman, his deputies, and Dr. Will Hayward arrive, a badly injured second girl, Ronette Pulaski, is discovered in a fugue state. FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper is called in to investigate, Coopers initial examination of Lauras body reveals a tiny typed letter R inserted under her fingernail. The authorities discover that Laura has been living a double life and she was cheating on her boyfriend, football captain Bobby Briggs, with biker James Hurley, and prostituting herself with the help of truck driver Leo Johnson and drug dealer Jacques Renault. Laura was also addicted to cocaine, which she obtained by coercing Bobby into doing business with Jacques, Lauras father, attorney Leland Palmer, suffers a nervous breakdown. Her best friend, Donna Hayward, begins a relationship with James, with the help of Lauras cousin Maddy Ferguson, Donna and James discover that Lauras psychiatrist, Dr. Lawrence Jacoby, was obsessed with Laura, but he is proven innocent of the murder. Hornes sultry, troubled daughter, Audrey, becomes infatuated with Cooper, Cooper has a dream in which he is approached by a one-armed otherworldly being who calls himself Mike. Mike says that Lauras murderer is an entity, Killer Bob. Cooper finds himself decades older with Laura and a dwarf in a red business suit, the next morning, Cooper tells Truman that, if he can decipher the dream, he will know who killed Laura. Cooper and the sheriffs department find the man from Coopers dream. Gerard knows a Bob, the veterinarian who treats Renaults pet bird, Cooper interprets these events to mean that Renault is the murderer and, with Trumans help, tracks Renault to One-Eyed Jacks, a brothel owned by Horne across the border in Canada
11.
Western (genre)
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Cowboys and gunslingers typically wear Stetson hats, bandannas, spurs, cowboy boots and buckskins. Other characters include Native Americans, bandits, lawmen, bounty hunters, outlaws, mounted cavalry, settlers, Westerns often stress the harshness of the wilderness and frequently set the action in an arid, desolate landscape of deserts and mountains. Often, the vast landscape plays an important role, presenting a. mythic vision of the plains, specific settings include ranches, small frontier towns, saloons, railways and isolated military forts of the Wild West. Many Westerns use a plot of depicting a crime, then showing the pursuit of the wrongdoer, ending in revenge and retribution. The Western was the most popular Hollywood genre, from the early 20th century to the 1960s, Western films first became well-attended in the 1930s. John Fords landmark Western adventure Stagecoach became one of the biggest hits in 1939, Westerns were very popular throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Many of the most acclaimed Westerns were released during this time – including High Noon, Shane, The Searchers, the Western depicts a society organized around codes of honor and personal, direct or private justice–frontier justice–dispensed by gunfights. These honor codes are played out through depictions of feuds or individuals seeking personal revenge or retribution against someone who has wronged them. The popular perception of the Western is a story that centers on the life of a semi-nomadic wanderer, a showdown or duel at high noon featuring two or more gunfighters is a stereotypical scene in the popular conception of Westerns. In some ways, such protagonists may be considered the descendants of the knight errant which stood at the center of earlier extensive genres such as the Arthurian Romances. And like knights errant, the heroes of Westerns frequently rescue damsels in distress, similarly, the wandering protagonists of Westerns share many characteristics with the ronin in modern Japanese culture. The Western typically takes these elements and uses them to tell simple morality tales, Westerns often stress the harshness and isolation of the wilderness and frequently set the action in an arid, desolate landscape. Apart from the wilderness, it is usually the saloon that emphasizes that this is the Wild West, it is the place to go for music, women, gambling, drinking, brawling and shooting. The American Film Institute defines western films as those set in the American West that embodies the spirit, the struggle, the term Western, used to describe a narrative film genre, appears to have originated with a July 1912 article in Motion Picture World Magazine. Most of the characteristics of Western films were part of 19th century popular Western fiction and were firmly in place before film became an art form. Protagonists ride between dusty towns and cattle ranches on their trusty steeds, Western films were enormously popular in the silent film era. With the advent of sound in 1927-28, the major Hollywood studios rapidly abandoned Westerns, leaving the genre to smaller studios and these smaller organizations churned out countless low-budget features and serials in the 1930s. Released through United Artists, Stagecoach made John Wayne a mainstream star in the wake of a decade of headlining B westerns
12.
Tombstone (film)
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Tombstone is a 1993 American western film directed by George P. The film is based on events in Tombstone, Arizona, including the Gunfight at the O. K. Corral and it depicts a number of western outlaws and lawmen, such as Wyatt Earp, William Brocius, Johnny Ringo, and Doc Holliday. Tombstone was released by Hollywood Pictures in theatrical release in the United States on December 24,1993. The film was a success, and for the Western genre it ranks number 14 in the list of highest-grossing films since 1979. Critical reception was positive, but the film failed to garner award nominations for production merits or acting from any mainstream motion picture organizations. The film opens with a prologue about the films setting, the old west. After the prologue, members of the gang known as the Cochise County Cowboys, led by William Curly Bill Brocius, ride into a Mexican town. They then proceed to massacre the assembled policemen in retribution for killing two of their gang members. Shortly before being shot in cold blood, a local priest warns them that their acts of murder and savagery will be avenged, referencing the biblical fourth horseman. Wyatt Earp, a peace officer with a notable reputation, reunites with his brothers Virgil and Morgan in Tucson, Arizona. There they encounter Wyatts long-time friend Doc Holliday, who seeks relief from his worsening tuberculosis, Josephine Marcus and Mr. Fabian are also newly arrived with a traveling theater troupe. Meanwhile, Wyatts common-law wife, Mattie Blaylock, is becoming dependent on laudanum, the Cowboys are identifiable by the red sashes worn around their waist. Wyatt, though no longer a lawman, is pressured to help rid the town of the Cowboys as tensions rise, Curly Bill begins shooting aimlessly after a visit to an opium house and is told by Marshal Fred White to relinquish his firearms. Curly Bill instead shoots the dead, although likely by accident. The arrest infuriates Ike Clanton and the other Cowboys, Curly Bill stands trial, but is found not guilty due to a lack of witnesses. Virgil, unable to tolerate lawlessness, becomes the new marshal and this leads to the legendary Gunfight at the O. K. Corral, in which Billy Clanton and other Cowboys are killed. Virgil and Morgan are wounded, and the allegiance of county sheriff Johnny Behan with the Cowboys is made clear, as retribution for the Cowboy deaths, Wyatts brothers are ambushed, Morgan is killed, while Virgil is left handicapped. A despondent Wyatt and his family leave Tombstone and board a train, with Clanton and Frank Stilwell close behind, Wyatt sees that his family leaves safely, and then surprises the assassins
13.
Horror film
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Horror film is a film genre that seeks to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on their fears. Inspired by literature from authors like Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker, the macabre and the supernatural are frequent themes. Horror may also overlap with the fantasy, supernatural fiction and thriller genres, Horror films often deal with viewers nightmares, fears, revulsions and terror of the unknown. Plots within the genre often involve the intrusion of an evil force, event. Another of his projects was 1898s La Caverne maudite. Japan made early forays into the genre with Bake Jizo and Shinin no Sosei. The era featured a slew of literary adaptations, with the works of Poe and Dante, in 1908, Selig Polyscope Company produced Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In 1910, Edison Studios produced the first filmed version of Frankenstein, the macabre nature of the source materials used made the films synonymous with the horror film genre. Before and during the Weimar Republic era, German Expressionist filmmakers would significantly influence later productions, the first vampire-themed movie, Nosferatu, was made during this period, though it was an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stokers Dracula. Other European countries also, contributed to the genre during this period, though the word horror to describe the film genre would not be used until the 1930s, earlier American productions often relied on horror themes. Some notable examples include The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Phantom of the Opera, The Cat and the Canary, The Unknown, and The Man Who Laughs. Many of these films were considered dark melodramas because of their stock characters and emotion-heavy plots that focused on romance, violence, suspense. The trend of inserting an element of macabre into American pre-horror melodramas continued into the 1920s, directors known for relying on macabre in their films during the 1920s were Maurice Tourneur, Rex Ingram, and Tod Browning. Ingrams The Magician contains one of the first examples of a mad doctor and is said to have had a influence on James Whales version of Frankenstein. The Unholy Three is an example of Brownings use of macabre and unique style of morbidity, he remade the film in 1930 as a talkie, during the early period of talking pictures, Universal Pictures began a successful Gothic horror film series. Tod Brownings Dracula was quickly followed by James Whales Frankenstein and The Old Dark House, some of these films blended science fiction with Gothic horror, such as Whales The Invisible Man and featured a mad scientist, mirroring earlier German films. Frankenstein was the first in a series of remakes which lasted for years, the Mummy introduced Egyptology as a theme, Make-up artist Jack Pierce was responsible for the iconic image of the monster, and others in the series. Universals horror cycle continued into the 1940s with B-movies including The Wolf Man, the once controversial Freaks, based on the short story Spurs, was made by MGM, though the studio disowned the completed film, and it remained banned, in the UK, for thirty years
14.
Demon Knight
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Demon Knight is a 1995 American horror film directed by Ernest Dickerson, starring Billy Zane, William Sadler, and Jada Pinkett Smith. Brenda Bakke, CCH Pounder, Dick Miller, and Thomas Haden Church co-star, Demon Knight is a feature-length film presented by the HBO series Tales from the Crypt, and features scenes with the Crypt Keeper at the beginning and end of the film. The film was followed by Bordello of Blood, although it is not a direct sequel, on a film set, The Crypt Keeper directs an installment of the television show despite his disapproval of the lead actors talent. The actor is about to hack a woman to death, when the Crypt Keeper cuts in, upon becoming aware of the viewer, he proffers his latest project, which he hopes will get him into Hollywood, Demon Knight. On a New Mexico desert road, The Collector pursues drifter Frank Brayker, the vehicles crash, and Brayker flees. A misogynistic cook named Roach arrives and informs the group about an attempt on his employers car, unaware it was Brayker. Sheriff Tupper and his deputy Bob encounter the Collector at the crash site, at the boarding house, Tupper and Bob learn that Brayker has the artefact and that he is carrying false ID. Tupper also gets word from his base that both cars were stolen and he arrests Brayker as well as the Collector, the Collector kills Tupper by punching through his skull. Driven outside by a key-like artifact Brayker possesses, the Collector draws his own blood on the sand, Brayker uses blood from the artifact to protect the building and tells the group they must wait out the night. Unable to get in, the Collector uses psychic powers to seduce, Cordelia kills Wally and cripples Irene before Brayker kills her. The group attempts to escape through old tunnels under the building. The other townsfolk, under demonic possession, drive back into the church. The residents demand an explanation, and Brayker reluctantly tells them the history of the key, following the creation of Earth by God, demons used seven keys to focus the power of the cosmos into their hands. When discovered, God created light, which scattered the demons, the artifact that Brayker holds is the last key they need to reclaim power, and to protect it God had a thief named Sirach fill it with the blood of Jesus Christ, after the crucifixion. Danny disappears and Jeryline rallies everyone to look for him, during which Roach sneaks the key out of Braykers satchel, in the attic, Irene and Bob discover that Wally was planning to attack the post office with a trunk full of weapons. The Collector soon possesses a drunk Uncle Willy, who attacks the others, while battling Willy, Roach makes a deal with the Collector to trade his life for the key, but the Collector betrays and kills him soon after Roach walks away. Brayker retrieves the key in the battle, and Irene and Bob sacrifice themselves to stop the remaining minions, in the attic, the Collector brainwashes Danny, who mortally wounds Brayker before Jeryline kills him. As he dies, Brayker initiates Jeryline as a guardian of the key, Jeryline confronts The Collector and spits blood from the key in his face, causing the Collector to transform into a large demon before being destroyed
15.
CQ (film)
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CQ is a 2001 comedy-drama film written and directed by Roman Coppola. It was screened out of competition at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival, the film is an homage to 1960s European spy/sci-fi spoofs like 1968s Barbarella and Danger, Diabolik as well as the 1967 documentary spoof David Holzmans Diary. The cinematography is by Robert D. Yeoman, the film stars Jeremy Davies, Jason Schwartzman, Giancarlo Giannini, Gérard Depardieu, Billy Zane, and Angela Lindvall. John Phillip Law also appears in his film appearance. The film features a soundtrack by French electronic band Mellow. CQ was released by United Artists, the title CQ is revealed to be code for seek you, in line with the movies theme of seeking and finding love. In Paris in 1969, young film editor Paul Ballard is currently working on an adventure film called Codename, Dragonfly, written. Dragonflys latest mission is to stop a revolutionary leader known as Mr. E who is based on the side of the Moon. The World Council turns for help to Dragonfly, reluctantly because she charges huge sums of money - with which the council literally showers her, Andrezej is utterly infatuated with his films star, Valentine, a young American whom he discovered at a political rally some time ago. Paul, a filmmaker working on Codename, Dragonfly, regularly borrows cameras and other equipment from work in order to film his own project. When the producers prove unhappy with Andrezejs ideas for the movies ending, Andrezej is first replaced with the flashy Felix DeMarco - but ultimately producers settle on Paul. Much as Andrezej before him, Paul finds his efforts to complete Codename, ultimately, Marlene leaves Paul, realizing that his obsessions will never include her. Paul is also challenged by the apparent work of a saboteur, who cuts up footage before it can be edited, others suspect Andrezej - who resents being fired and losing control of what he considers to be his film. As the crew prepares to shoot a chase scene in Codename, Dragonfly, Andrezej sneaks onto the set. Valentine and Paul jump into Dragonflys car and chase Andrezej through Paris, Paul convinces Andrezej to return the film, and ultimately it is completed, apparently keeping Andrezejs original idea for the ending. Finally, Paul is a guest speaker at a French film festival in early 1970, despite signs of stature, he is asked to pass along a script to Felix DeMarco, as though he is still in the other mans shadow. The festival also presents Pauls own film - the collection of self-reflections hed been shooting over the course of Codename, in voice overs accompanying Pauls film, it is learned that Marlene and Paul never got back together
16.
Greeks
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The Greeks or Hellenes are an ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus, southern Albania, Turkey, Sicily, Egypt and, to a lesser extent, other countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world, many of these regions coincided to a large extent with the borders of the Byzantine Empire of the late 11th century and the Eastern Mediterranean areas of ancient Greek colonization. The cultural centers of the Greeks have included Athens, Thessalonica, Alexandria, Smyrna, most ethnic Greeks live nowadays within the borders of the modern Greek state and Cyprus. The Greek genocide and population exchange between Greece and Turkey nearly ended the three millennia-old Greek presence in Asia Minor, other longstanding Greek populations can be found from southern Italy to the Caucasus and southern Russia and Ukraine and in the Greek diaspora communities in a number of other countries. Today, most Greeks are officially registered as members of the Greek Orthodox Church, the Greeks speak the Greek language, which forms its own unique branch within the Indo-European family of languages, the Hellenic. They are part of a group of ethnicities, described by Anthony D. Smith as an archetypal diaspora people. Both migrations occur at incisive periods, the Mycenaean at the transition to the Late Bronze Age, the Mycenaeans quickly penetrated the Aegean Sea and, by the 15th century BC, had reached Rhodes, Crete, Cyprus and the shores of Asia Minor. Around 1200 BC, the Dorians, another Greek-speaking people, followed from Epirus, the Dorian invasion was followed by a poorly attested period of migrations, appropriately called the Greek Dark Ages, but by 800 BC the landscape of Archaic and Classical Greece was discernible. The Greeks of classical antiquity idealized their Mycenaean ancestors and the Mycenaean period as an era of heroes, closeness of the gods. The Homeric Epics were especially and generally accepted as part of the Greek past, as part of the Mycenaean heritage that survived, the names of the gods and goddesses of Mycenaean Greece became major figures of the Olympian Pantheon of later antiquity. The ethnogenesis of the Greek nation is linked to the development of Pan-Hellenism in the 8th century BC, the works of Homer and Hesiod were written in the 8th century BC, becoming the basis of the national religion, ethos, history and mythology. The Oracle of Apollo at Delphi was established in this period, the classical period of Greek civilization covers a time spanning from the early 5th century BC to the death of Alexander the Great, in 323 BC. It is so named because it set the standards by which Greek civilization would be judged in later eras, the Peloponnesian War, the large scale civil war between the two most powerful Greek city-states Athens and Sparta and their allies, left both greatly weakened. Many Greeks settled in Hellenistic cities like Alexandria, Antioch and Seleucia, two thousand years later, there are still communities in Pakistan and Afghanistan, like the Kalash, who claim to be descended from Greek settlers. The Hellenistic civilization was the period of Greek civilization, the beginnings of which are usually placed at Alexanders death. This Hellenistic age, so called because it saw the partial Hellenization of many non-Greek cultures and this age saw the Greeks move towards larger cities and a reduction in the importance of the city-state. These larger cities were parts of the still larger Kingdoms of the Diadochi, Greeks, however, remained aware of their past, chiefly through the study of the works of Homer and the classical authors. An important factor in maintaining Greek identity was contact with barbarian peoples and this led to a strong desire among Greeks to organize the transmission of the Hellenic paideia to the next generation
17.
Chios
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Chios is the fifth largest of the Greek islands, situated in the Aegean Sea,7 kilometres off the Anatolian coast. The island is separated from Turkey by the Çeşme Strait, Chios is notable for its exports of mastic gum and its nickname is the Mastic Island. Tourist attractions include its medieval villages and the 11th-century monastery of Nea Moni, administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Chios regional unit, which is part of the North Aegean region. The principal town of the island and seat of the municipality is Chios town, locals refer to Chios town as Chora. Chios island is crescent or kidney shaped,50 kilometres long north to south,29 kilometres at its widest. The terrain is mountainous and arid, with a ridge of mountains running the length of the island, the two largest of these mountains, Pelineon and Epos, are situated in the north of the island. The center of the island is divided between east and west by a range of peaks, known as Provatas. Chios can be divided into five regions, Midway up the east coast lie the main centers, the main town of Chios. Chios Town, with a population of 32,400, is built around the main harbour. The town was damaged by an earthquake in 1881. North of Chios Town lies the suburb of Vrontados, which claims to be the birthplace of Homer. The suburb lies in the Omiroupoli municipality, and its connection to the poet is supported by a site known traditionally as Teachers Rock. The villages, built between the 14th and 16th centuries, have a carefully designed layout with fortified gates and narrow streets to protect against the frequent raids by marauding pirates. Between Chios Town and the Mastichochoria lie a number of historic villages including Armolia, Myrmighi. Along the east coast are the villages of Kataraktis and to the south Nenita. Directly in the centre of the island, between the villages of Avgonyma to the west and Karyes to the east, is the 11th century monastery of Nea Moni, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The monastery was built with funds given by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine IX, the monastery had substantial estates attached, with a thriving community until the massacre of 1822. It was further damaged during the 1881 earthquake, in 1952, due to the shortage of monks, Nea Moni was converted to a convent
18.
Mani Peninsula
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The Mani Peninsula, also long known by its medieval name Maina or Maïna, is a geographical and cultural region in Greece that is home to the Maniots. The capital city of Mani is Areopoli, Mani is the central peninsula of the three which extend southwards from the Peloponnese in southern Greece. To the east is the Laconian Gulf, to the west the Messenian Gulf, the peninsula forms a continuation of the Taygetos mountain range, the western spine of the Peloponnese. Mani is home of the Maniots, the name Mani may come from the name of the Frankish castle le Grand Magne. The terrain is mountainous and inaccessible, until recent years many Mani villages could be reached only by sea. Today a narrow and winding road extends along the west coast from Kalamata to Areopoli, Mani has been traditionally divided into three regions, Exo Mani or Outer Mani to the northwest, Kato Mani or Lower Mani to the east, Mesa Mani or Inner Mani to the southwest. A fourth region named Vardounia to the north is sometimes included but was never historically part of Mani. Vardounia served as a buffer between the Ottoman-Turkish controlled Evrotas plains and Mani, a contingent of Muslim Albanian settlers were relocated to the region by the Ottomans. These settlers formed a large segment of the population until the Greek War of Independence when they fled to the Turkish stronghold at Tripoli. Following the war Vardounias Greek population was reinforced by settlers from Lower Mani, the Messenian Mani receives somewhat more rainfall than the Laconian, and is consequently more productive in agriculture. Neolithic remains have been found in caves along the Mani coasts. Homer refers to a number of towns in the Mani region, the area was occupied by the Dorians in about 1200 BC, and became a dependency of Sparta. After Spartan power was destroyed in the 3rd century BC, Mani remained self-governing, as the power of the Byzantine Empire declined, the peninsula drifted out of the Empires control. The fortress of Maini in the south became the areas centre, over the subsequent centuries, the peninsula was fought over by the Byzantines, the Franks, and the Saracens. After the Fourth Crusade in 1204 AD, Italian and French knights occupied the Peloponnese and they built the fortresses of Mystras, Passavas, Gustema, and Great Maina. The area fell under Byzantine rule after 1262, forming part of the Despotate of the Morea, in 1460, after the fall of Constantinople, the Despotate fell to the Ottomans. Mani was not subdued and retained its internal self-government in exchange for an annual tribute, local chieftains or beys governed Mani on behalf of the Ottomans, The first of these rulers, Liberakis Yerakaris, reigned in the middle of the seventeenth century. By the age of twenty he had served several years as an oarsman in the Venetian galleys, captured by the Turks and condemned to death, he was reprieved by the Grand Vizier---the great Albanian Ahmet Küprülü---on condition that he accepted the hegemony of the Mani
19.
Greek Orthodox Church
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Historically, the term Greek Orthodox has also been used to describe all Eastern Orthodox Churches in general, since Greek in Greek Orthodox can refer to the heritage of the Byzantine Empire. Over time, most parts of the liturgy, traditions, and practices of the church of Constantinople were adopted by all, thus, the Eastern Church came to be called Greek Orthodox in the same way that the Western Church is called Roman Catholic. Orthodox Churches, unlike the Catholic Church, have no Bishopric head, such as a Pope, however, they are each governed by a committee of Bishops, called the Holy Synod, with one central Bishop holding the honorary title of first among equals. Greek Orthodox Churches are united in communion with other, as well as with the other Eastern Orthodox Churches. The Eastern Orthodox hold a doctrine and a common form of worship. The most commonly used Divine Liturgy of the Orthodox Church was written by Saint John Chrysostom, others, are attributed to St. Basil the Great, St. James, the Brother of God and St. The majority of Greek Orthodox Christians live within Greece and elsewhere in the southern Balkans, but also in Lebanon, Cyprus, Anatolia, European Turkey, and the South Caucasus. In addition, due to the large Greek diaspora, there are many Greek Orthodox Christians who live in North America, Orthodox Christians in Finland, who compose about 1% of the population, are also under the jurisdiction of a Greek Orthodox Church. Thus, they may attend services held in Old Russian and Old Church Slavonic, the Church conducts its liturgy in Koine Greek in the areas of Albania populated by the ethnic Greek minority, alongside the use of Albanian throughout the country. The Greek and Eastern Churches online Constantelos, Demetrios J. Understanding the Greek Orthodox church, its faith, history, the Orthodox Eastern Church Hussey, Joan Mervyn. The orthodox church in the Byzantine empire online Kephala, Euphrosyne, the Church of the Greek People Past and Present Latourette, Kenneth Scott. Christianity in a Revolutionary Age, II, The Nineteenth Century in Europe, The Protestant,2, 479-484, Christianity in a Revolutionary Age, IV, The Twentieth Century in Europe, The Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Churches McGuckin, John Anthony. The Encyclopedia of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, media related to Greek Orthodox Church at Wikimedia Commons
20.
American School in Switzerland
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The American School In Switzerland is a private coeducational boarding and day school for elementary, middle, and high school students. Located in Montagnola, a village south of Lugano in canton Ticino, TASIS enrolls approximately 700 pupils from around the world, including 270 middle, TASIS is the oldest American college-preparatory boarding school in Europe. TASIS was founded in 1956 by M. Crist Fleming, for the first few years, the School was located in Locarno, then in Lugano-Loreto, until the purchase of the 17th-century Villa de Nobili in Montagnola in 1960. The school and campus continued to grow throughout the years, adding a post graduate program in 1959, since then, TASIS has expanded to include schools and summer programs in England, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, France, Spain, and Puerto Rico. In 1983, the US Secretary of Education honored Fleming for her “significant efforts and tremendous contributions towards the furtherance of education at the international level. ”The School is owned by the TASIS Foundation, a Board of Directors is responsible for all aspects of the School’s operations. TASIS is accredited by the New England Association of Schools & Colleges, the School’s crest reflects the virtues and values of the School, the tower represents culture humanitas, the lamp wisdom sapientia, the book knowledge scientia, and the sun truth veritas. The TASIS campus is located on the Collina dOro, or hill of gold, overlooking the city of Lugano and it houses dormitories, classrooms, administrative offices, and the schools dining room. Other historic buildings include the 18th-century Hadsall House, which served as a British consulate building, the 17th-century Casetta. Since 1996, Architect and urban designer David Mayernik has created and renovated nine buildings, recent additions to the campus include the Ferit Şahenk Fine Arts Center, and the Campo Science Center. Students are encouraged to both as learners and as global citizens. Course content is oriented towards the liberal arts tradition. Elementary students follow the Core Knowledge curriculum as well as an Italian Section curriculum in liaison with cantonal law, enriched opportunities include SAT prep courses, an IB support class, a nightly EAL language lab, and academic help centers for math and writing. The University and College Counseling team works with students as soon as they arrive to ensure they are on the track to meet the requirements of their top choice schools. All High School, Middle School and Elementary School students are required to wear school uniforms, TASIS offers competitive soccer, volleyball, basketball, swimming, tennis, badminton, track, cross country, and lacrosse at the varsity and junior varsity levels. Students travel throughout Switzerland and Europe for tournaments, recreational sports available include, spinning, Pilates, yoga, hiking, dance, gymnastics, indoor soccer, and lacrosse. High School soccer teams are a part of the AC Milan Scuola calcio, TASIS has a tradition of strong arts programs. Performing Arts opportunities include drama, music theater, and instrumental and vocal music, the Palmer Center offers rehearsal and performance spaces. The Visual Arts is centered around the Ferit Şahenk Fine Arts Center, with purpose-built Photography, Architecture & Design, Ceramics, travel is an integral part of a TASIS education
21.
Francis W. Parker School (Chicago)
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Francis W. Parker School is an independent school serving students who live in the Chicago area from kindergarten through twelfth grade. Located in Chicagos Lincoln Park neighborhood, the school is based on the education philosophies of John Dewey and Colonel Francis Wayland Parker, emphasizing community. Tuition and fees range from $29,710 for kindergarten to $37,240 for grade 12, Parker has 938 students, and has undergone considerable physical renovation between 2000 and 2009. Parker added an AstroTurf field which started construction in June 2012, during the 2008–09 school year, the Auditorium was completely renovated, with new classrooms, more seating, office space and a balcony. The school is a member of the Chicago Independent School League, many notable figures have spoken at Parker including Barack Obama, Albert Einstein, and Jane Addams in the schools assemblies known throughout the school as Morning Exercise. Parker is part of the Independent School League athletic conference, and its mascot is the Colonel named after the schools founder, sports at Parker range from boys and girls soccer, to tennis, basketball, baseball, cross country, track and field, and field hockey. Paul Adelstein, actor Jonathan Alter, liberal journalist, critic, author, alexandra Bruce, filmmaker and writer Sir Henry Channon, Member of Parliament, diarist. Bobby Florsheim, screenwriter Eric Forsberg, filmmaker Chuck Gelatka, football player Edward Gorey, writer and illustrator Justin Hall, pioneer blogger Daryl Hannah, sarah Haskins, comedian Anne Heche, actress. Alec Michod, novelist Joan Mitchell, artist best known for her painting in the abstract expressionism movement, jordan Weisman, founder of FASA Corporation & WizKids Haskell Wexler, cinematographer. Hillary Wolf, actress & two-time U. S Olympian in judo Billy Zane, actor Lisa Zane, actress, vocalist Official Site
22.
Critters (film)
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Critters is a 1986 American science fiction comedy horror film starring Dee Wallace, M. Emmet Walsh, Billy Green Bush and Scott Grimes. It was the debut of Stephen Herek who co-wrote it alongside Domonic Muir and Don Keith Opper. It is the first film in the Critters series, the film begins on a prison set on an asteroid, from which a group of Critters are set to be transported to another station. When the Critters kill two guards and injure three, hijack a ship from the station, and escape, the commander of the station hires two shape-changing bounty hunters to pursue them. On Earth, the Brown family are living in a rural Kansas town, the father, Jay, the mother, Helen, the daughter, April, and the son, Brad. When on the later, Brad mistakes the Critters spaceship for a meteorite. The ship thereafter lands, causing the ground to shake, investigating, Jay discovers Brad in a tree, and allows him to come along. Devouring the majority of a cow, the Critters are interrupted by Jay, the Critters thereafter consume a police officer, and later approach the farm and cut its electrical connection. Jay, Helen, and Brad go to check the circuit breaker, meanwhile, the two bounty hunters search the town, causing a ruckus at the town church, and then the local bowling alley. They are later recruited by Brad, the bounty hunters leave in their ship after giving Brad a hand held device that they say to call them by, and also by which the familys house is restored. At the very end, Critter eggs can be seen in the barn inside a chickens nest that seem to be ready to hatch, Dee Wallace as Helen Brown M. Critter The film was released theatrically in the United States by New Line Cinema in April 1986. It turned out to be a modest hit for the company, the film was released on VHS and laserdisc by RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video the same year. In September 1997, New Line Home Video re-released the film on VHS, in 2003, New Line Home Entertainment released the film on DVD. The film was re-released in a set containing all four Critters films on DVD by Warner Bros. in 2010, according to Rotten Tomatoes, 57% of reviewers gave the film a positive review. Marylynn Uricchio, film critic for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette described the film as an enjoyable, if unoriginal, Uricchio wrote, Critters isnt a memorable or even very slick movie, but it is good fun. What it lacks in substance it makes up for with a kind of charm. Roger Ebert, film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film a positive review, caryn James, film critic for the New York Times complained that the movie lacked humor and suspense, writing, Critters just doesnt make the audience laugh or jump often enough. Warner Bros. have announced their plans to produce a web based on the Critters films
23.
Nicole Kidman
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Nicole Mary Kidman, AC is an Australian actress and film producer. Kidmans breakthrough roles were in the 1989 feature film thriller Dead Calm, other successful films followed in the late 1990s. Her performance in the musical Moulin Rouge, earned her a second Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical and her first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Her performances in the drama Birth and the thriller The Paperboy earned her Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress and her performance in the 2010 drama Rabbit Hole, which she also produced, earned Kidman further accolades, including a third nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. In 2012, she earned her first Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie for her role in the biopic Hemingway & Gellhorn. Kidmans performance in Lion earned her a fourth Academy Award nomination, Kidman has been a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF since 1994 and for UNIFEM since 2006. In 2006, Kidman was made a Companion in the Order of Australia, as a result of being born to Australian parents in Hawaii, Kidman has dual citizenship in Australia and the United States. Kidman founded and owns the production company Blossom Films, Kidman was born 20 June 1967 in Honolulu, Hawaii, while her Australian parents were temporarily in the United States on educational visas. Her father was Antony Kidman, a biochemist, clinical psychologist and author and her mother, Janelle Ann, is a nursing instructor who edited her husbands books and was a member of the Womens Electoral Lobby. Kidmans ancestry includes Irish, Scottish, and English heritage, being born in Hawaii, she was given the Hawaiian name Hōkūlani. The inspiration for the name came from a baby elephant born around the time at the Honolulu Zoo but the name is also a commonly used Hawaiian name for girls. At the time of Kidmans birth, her father was a student at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. He became a fellow at the National Institute of Mental Health of the United States. Opposed to the war in Vietnam, Kidmans parents participated in anti-war protests while living in Washington, the family returned to Australia when Kidman was four and her mother now lives on Sydneys North Shore. Kidman has a sister, Antonia Kidman, a journalist. Kidman attended Lane Cove Public School and North Sydney Girls High School and she was enrolled in ballet at three and showed her natural talent for acting in her primary and high school years. She says that she was first inspired to become an actress upon seeing Margaret Hamiltons performance as the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz. Kidman has revealed that she was timid as a child, saying, I am very shy – really shy – I even had a stutter as a kid, which I slowly got over, but I still regress into that shyness
24.
Sam Neill
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He won a broad international audience in 1993 for his roles as Alisdair Stewart in The Piano and Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park, a role he reprised in 2001s Jurassic Park III. Neill also had roles in Merlin, The Hunt for Red October, Peaky Blinders. In 2016, he starred in Hunt for the Wilderpeople alongside Julian Dennison and he holds New Zealand and British nationality, but identifies primarily as a New Zealander. At the time of Neills birth, his father was stationed in Northern Ireland and his fathers family owned Neill and Co. the largest liquor retailers in New Zealand. In 1954, Neill returned with his family to New Zealand and he then went on to study English literature at the University of Canterbury, where he had his first exposure to acting. He then moved to Wellington to continue his education at Victoria University. In 2004, on the Australian talk show Enough Rope, interviewer Andrew Denton briefly touched on the issue of Neills very bad stuttering and it affected most of his childhood and as a result he was hoping that people wouldnt talk to so he would not have to answer back. He also stated, I kind of outgrew it and you can still detect me as a stammerer. Neill first took to calling himself Sam at school there were several other students named Nigel. After working at the New Zealand National Film Unit as a director, following this he appeared in Australian romance My Brilliant Career, opposite Judy Davis. In the late 1970s, his mentor was James Mason, later, Neill was also one of the leading candidates to succeed Roger Moore in the role of James Bond, but lost out to Timothy Dalton. Among his many Australian roles is playing Michael Chamberlain in Evil Angels about the case of Azaria Chamberlain, Neill has played heroes and occasionally villains in a succession of film and television dramas and comedies. In the UK he won fame, and was Golden Globe nominated, after portraying real-life spy Sidney Reilly in mini-series Reilly. An early American starring role was in 1987s Amerika, playing a senior KGB officer leading the occupation and division of a defeated United States, Neill has occasionally acted in New Zealand films, notably The Piano, Perfect Strangers, Under the Mountain, and Hunt for the Wilderpeople. He returned to directing in 1995 with documentary Cinema of Unease, A Personal Journey by Sam Neill which he wrote and directed with Judy Rymer. In 1993, Neill co-starred with Anne Archer in Question of Faith, in 2000, he provided the voice of Sam Sawnoff in The Magic Pudding. In 2001, he hosted and narrated a series for the BBC entitled Space. He portrayed the wizard in Merlin, a miniseries based on the legends of King Arthur
25.
NBC
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The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcast television network that is the flagship property of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. The network is part of the Big Three television networks, founded in 1926 by the Radio Corporation of America, NBC is the oldest major broadcast network in the United States. Following the acquisition by GE, Bob Wright served as executive officer of NBC, remaining in that position until his retirement in 2007. In 2003, French media company Vivendi merged its entertainment assets with GE, Comcast purchased a controlling interest in the company in 2011, and acquired General Electrics remaining stake in 2013. Following the Comcast merger, Zucker left NBC Universal and was replaced as CEO by Comcast executive Steve Burke, during a period of early broadcast business consolidation, radio manufacturer Radio Corporation of America acquired New York City radio station WEAF from American Telephone & Telegraph. Westinghouse, a shareholder in RCA, had an outlet in Newark, New Jersey pioneer station WJZ. This station was transferred from Westinghouse to RCA in 1923, WEAF acted as a laboratory for AT&Ts manufacturing and supply outlet Western Electric, whose products included transmitters and antennas. The Bell System, AT&Ts telephone utility, was developing technologies to transmit voice- and music-grade audio over short and long distances, the 1922 creation of WEAF offered a research-and-development center for those activities. WEAF maintained a schedule of radio programs, including some of the first commercially sponsored programs. In an early example of chain or networking broadcasting, the station linked with Outlet Company-owned WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island, AT&T refused outside companies access to its high-quality phone lines. The early effort fared poorly, since the telegraph lines were susceptible to atmospheric. In 1925, AT&T decided that WEAF and its network were incompatible with the companys primary goal of providing a telephone service. AT&T offered to sell the station to RCA in a deal that included the right to lease AT&Ts phone lines for network transmission, the divisions ownership was split among RCA, its founding corporate parent General Electric and Westinghouse. NBC officially started broadcasting on November 15,1926, WEAF and WJZ, the flagships of the two earlier networks, were operated side-by-side for about a year as part of the new NBC. On April 5,1927, NBC expanded to the West Coast with the launch of the NBC Orange Network and this was followed by the debut of the NBC Gold Network, also known as the Pacific Gold Network, on October 18,1931. The Orange Network carried Red Network programming, and the Gold Network carried programming from the Blue Network, initially, the Orange Network recreated Eastern Red Network programming for West Coast stations at KPO in San Francisco. The Orange Network name was removed from use in 1936, at the same time, the Gold Network became part of the Blue Network. In the 1930s, NBC also developed a network for shortwave radio stations, in 1927, NBC moved its operations to 711 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, occupying the upper floors of a building designed by architect Floyd Brown
26.
Low-budget film
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A low-budget film is a motion picture shot with little to no funding from a major film studio or private investor. Many independent films are made on low budgets, but films made on the circuit with inexperienced or unknown filmmakers can also have low budgets. Many young or first time filmmakers shoot low-budget films to prove their talent before doing bigger productions, there is no precise number to define a low budget production, and it is relative to both genre and country. What might be a film in one country may be a big budget in another. Modern-day young filmmakers rely on film festivals for pre promotion and they use this to gain acclaim and attention for their films, which often leads to a limited release in theatres. Film that acquire a cult following may be given a wide release, low-budget films can be either professional productions or amateur. They are either shot using professional or consumer equipment, some genres are more conducive to low-budget filmmaking than others. Horror films are a popular genre for low-budget directorial debuts. Jeremy Gardner, director of The Battery says that fans are more attracted to how the films affect them than seeing movie stars. This allows horror films to more on provoking a reaction than on expensive casting choices. Thriller films are also a choice for low-budget films, as they focus on narrative. The money flow in filmmaking is a system because of the uncertainty of demand. The makers of the film do not know how well the film they release will be received and they may predict a film will do very well and pay back the cost of production, but only get a portion back. Or the opposite may happen where a project that few think will go far can bring in more profit than imaginable, a big gambling variable that is also involved is the use of stars. Frequently stars are brought on to a project to gain the film publicity and this process can be profitable, but it is not a foolproof mechanism to successful funding. Well-known actors may join a film for a portion of the gross. One of the most successful films was 1999s The Blair Witch Project. It had a budget of around $60,000 but grossed almost $249 million worldwide and it spawned books, a trilogy of video games, and a less-popular sequel
27.
Thriller film
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Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a film genre that falls under the general thriller genre. The thriller films key characteristics are excitement and suspense, the suspense element, found in most films plots, is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. Tension is created by delaying what the audience sees as inevitable, a strict definition of the thriller film is that the films overarching goal is to build tension in audiences as the film approaches its climax. Tension is built through situations that are menacing or where escape seems impossible, Life is typically threatened in thriller film, such as when the protagonist does not realize entering a dangerous situation. Thriller films characters conflict with other or with an outside force. Thriller films are typically hybridized with other genres, there exist adventure thrillers, science fiction thrillers, Western thrillers, Thriller films also share a close relationship with horror films, both eliciting tension. In plots about crime, thriller films focus less on the criminal or the detective, common themes include terrorism, political conspiracy, pursuit, or romantic triangles leading to murder. Alfred Hitchcocks first thriller was his silent film, The Lodger. His next thriller was Blackmail, his and Britains first sound film and his notable thrillers in the 1930s include The Man Who Knew Too Much and The 39 Steps. 326 —this film would be an inspiration for the future James Bond films, the German film M, directed by Fritz Lang, starred Peter Lorre as a criminal deviant who preys on children. Hitchcock continued his suspense-thrillers, directing Foreign Correspondent, the Oscar-winning Rebecca, Suspicion, Saboteur and Shadow of a Doubt, notable non-Hitchcock films of the 1940s include The Spiral Staircase and Sorry, Wrong Number. In the 1950s, Hitchcock added technicolor to his thrillers, now with exotic locales and he reached the zenith of his career with a succession of classic films such as, Strangers on a Train, Dial M For Murder with Ray Milland, Rear Window and Vertigo. Non-Hitchcock thrillers of the 1950s include The Night of the Hunter —Charles Laughtons only film as director—and Orson Welless crime thriller Touch of Evil, director Michael Powells Peeping Tom featured Carl Boehm as a psychopathic cameraman. After Hitchcocks classic films of the 1950s, he produced Psycho about a lonely, mother-fixated motel owner, J. Lee Thompsons Cape Fear, with Robert Mitchum, had a menacing ex-con seeking revenge. A famous thriller at the time of its release was Wait Until Dark by director Terence Young, john Boormans Deliverance followed the perilous fate of four Southern businessmen during a weekends trip. In Francis Ford Coppolas The Conversation, a bugging-device expert systematically uncovered a covert murder while he himself was being spied upon, Peter Hyams science fiction thriller Capricorn One proposed a government conspiracy to fake the first mission to Mars. His notable films include Sisters, Obsession, which was inspired by Vertigo, Dressed to Kill. Other films include Curtis Hansons The Hand That Rocks the Cradle and Unlawful Entry, detectives/FBI agents hunting down a serial killer was another popular motif in the 90s
28.
Megaville
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Megaville is an independent/low-budget direct-to-video 1990 American science fiction film, starring Billy Zane in his first lead role. Megaville is a psychological thriller which utilizes elements of science fiction such as cyberpunk. National boundaries have been broken, two giant super-states remain—a bleak, decaying Hemisphere, and the sprawling media state Megaville, travel between the states is restricted. The CKS governs daily life in the Hemisphere, all forms of media are illegal here. Raymond Palinov, a captain of the media police finds himself drawn to a spaghetti western. Palinov is ostracized by his superior for the incident, after nearly losing his job, Palinov begins to exhibit strange character traits. During a rally in which outlawed media recordings are shown to the police as examples of contraband. Palinov then appears to have a mental breakdown and loses consciousness. Whereas most agents would have been terminated following such an incident, Palinov is found to be exhibiting unusual brain activity and is sent for an examination. Palinov explains to Dr. Vogel that he has been having bizarre flashbacks, the procedure doesnt work and Palinovs mental episodes become steadily worse. Palinov is contacted by Mr. Duprell, the director of the CKS, the Hemisphere war against media is about to intensify with news of the introduction of Dream-A-Life a hallucination-inducing consumer product. People in Megaville could start new lives in their own world of choice. The government of Megaville has deemed DAL legal and its use has become prevalent with the help of a figure in the Megaville underworld known as Mr. Newman. Duprell explains that Palinov bears a physical resemblance to Newmans only known contact in the Hemisphere. In order to assist his infiltration, Palinov is implanted with some of Jensens memories, as he slips into the role, he soon meets Jensens almost lover, Christine, a former demolitions expert for the armed forces who went AWOL after being ordered to kill civilians. Christine demands that Jensen take her to Megaville, Christine and Palinov travel to Megaville and meet Newman, who refuses to reveal any information about his operation. Meanwhile, the president of Megaville, outspoken against DAL, is assassinated, Palinov suspects Newman is involved, but the only witness is the presidents personal aide, who is now permanently trapped in a DAL induced hallucination. When Palinov attempts to remove the headset, the aide is shot in daylight by Newman
29.
Memphis Belle (film)
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Memphis Belle is a 1990 British-American drama war film film directed by Michael Caton-Jones and written by Monte Merrick. The film featured an all-star cast with Matthew Modine, Eric Stoltz, the 1990 version was co-produced by David Puttnam and Wylers daughter Catherine, and dedicated to her father. The film closes with a dedication to all airmen, friend or foe, in May 1943, the crew of the Memphis Belle, a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress of the US Army Air Force, are grounded in England while their aircraft is repaired. The group is under the command of Col. Craig Harriman, an Army publicist, Lt. Col. Bruce Derringer is visiting the base, to interview the Belle crew in anticipation of their flying their 25th mission, a requirement to complete their tour of duty. Derringer is eager to use the crew on a war bonds tour stateside and he believes their success would help the war effort, and confides to Harriman that many people back home are upset at the losses the Air Force has suffered. Some are beginning to think daylight bombing is ineffective, while Harriman openly favors it, the officers of the squadron are informed the target for the day will be Bremen, Germany. After a delay due to weather over the target, the Memphis Belle. They are soon assembled in formation with bomb group and their escort of North American P-51 Mustang fighters and they face frequent harassment by defending German Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters along the way. Eventually the escorting fighters, low on fuel, turn away, back at the base, Harriman and Derringer have harsh words after the latter starts decorating the mess hall for a celebration upon the Belles return. Derringer accuses Harriman of being cold-hearted and concerned only with advancing his military career, in response, Harriman brings Derringer into his office and angrily dumps a pile of letters on his desk and forces Derringer to read some of them. They are replies Harriman received from the families of lost airmen. Meanwhile, the bombers have suffered significant losses, the German interceptors focus their attacks on the leading aircraft in the formation. The first lead bomber, Windy City, loses its engines and explodes in front of the Belle, piloted by Captain Dennis Dearborn and co-pilot 1st Lt. Luke Sinclair. More attacks ensue, and the replacement lead bomber, C Cup, is forced to break formation when its nose is crippled by a Bf 109, the crew of the Belle watch in horror when they see an airman fall out of the stricken aircraft without a parachute. The Belle is then tasked to lead the formation to the target, finding the target – an aircraft assembly plant – becomes difficult as bombardier 1st Lt. Val Kozlowski cant see the target because of a smokescreen the Germans have created. Dearborn aborts the initial run and orders the formation to circle around for a second attempt. On the second run, Kozlowski spots the assembly plant through a gap in the smokescreen, once clear of the anti-aircraft fire, they are again attacked by fighters. Richard Rascal Moores ball turret is destroyed, but he is saved by the safety strap, the attacks continue, blasting a hole in the fuselage, tearing off a large chunk of the tail, and setting the number four engine on fire
30.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
31.
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
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The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engine heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps. Competing against Douglas and Martin for a contract to build 200 bombers, although Boeing lost the contract because the prototype crashed, the air corps ordered 13 more B-17s for further evaluation. From its introduction in 1938, the B-17 Flying Fortress evolved through numerous design advances, the B-17 was primarily employed by the United States Army Air Forces in the daylight strategic bombing campaign of World War II against German industrial and military targets. The B-17 also participated to an extent in the War in the Pacific, early in World War II. From its prewar inception, the USAAC promoted the aircraft as a weapon, it was a relatively fast, high-flying. It developed a reputation for toughness based upon stories and photos of badly damaged B-17s safely returning to base, the B-17 developed a reputation as an effective bomber, dropping more bombs than any other U. S. aircraft in World War II. Of the 1.5 million tonnes of bombs dropped on Germany, in addition to its role as a bomber, the B-17 was also employed as a transport, antisubmarine aircraft, drone controller, and search-and-rescue aircraft. As of May 2015, ten aircraft remain airworthy, none of them are combat veterans. Dozens more are in storage or on static display, the oldest of these is a D-series veteran of combat in the Pacific and the Caribbean. On 8 August 1934, the U. S. Army Air Corps tendered a proposal for a bomber to replace the Martin B-10. The air corps was looking for a capable of reinforcing the air forces in Hawaii, Panama. Requirements were that it would carry a useful bombload at an altitude of 10,000 ft for ten hours with a top speed of at least 200 mph. They also desired, but did not require, a range of 2,000 mi, the competition for the air corps contract would be decided by a fly-off between Boeings design, the Douglas DB-1, and the Martin Model 146 at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio. The prototype B-17, with the Boeing factory designation of Model 299, was designed by a team of engineers led by E. Gifford Emery and Edward Curtis Wells and it combined features of the experimental Boeing XB-15 bomber with the Boeing 247 transport aircraft. The B-17s armament consisted of up to 4,800 lb of bombs on two racks in the bay behind the cockpit, and initially possessed five.30 caliber machine guns. It was powered by four Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet radial engines each producing 750 hp at 7,000 ft, the first flight of the Model 299 was on 28 July 1935 with Boeing chief test-pilot Leslie Tower at the controls. Richard Williams, a reporter for the Seattle Times, coined the name Flying Fortress with his comment, Why, when the Model 299 was rolled out bristling with multiple machine gun installations. The most unusual gun emplacement was the installation which allowed the single machine gun to be fired toward almost any frontal angle
32.
David Lynch
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David Keith Lynch is an American director, screenwriter, producer, painter, musician, and photographer. He has been described by The Guardian as the most important director of this era, allMovie called him the Renaissance man of modern American filmmaking, while the success of his films has led to him being labelled the first popular Surrealist. He moved to Los Angeles, where he produced his first motion picture, meanwhile, Lynch embraced the Internet as a medium, producing several web-based shows, such as the animated DumbLand and the surreal sitcom Rabbits. Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director and a nomination for best screenplay. He has won Frances César Award for Best Foreign Film twice, as well as the Palme dOr at the Cannes Film Festival, the French government awarded him the Legion of Honor, the countrys top civilian honor, as a Chevalier in 2002 and then an Officier in 2007. Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive are widely considered by critics to be among the greatest films of their respective decades, Lynch was born in Missoula, Montana on January 20,1946. His father, Donald Walton Lynch, was a research scientist working for the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Lynchs maternal great-grandparents were Finnish, and had immigrated to the United States from Finland in the 19th century. The Lynch family often moved around according to where the USDA assigned Donald and it was here that Lynchs sister Martha was born. The family then moved to Durham, North Carolina, then Boise, Idaho, Lynch found this transitory early life relatively easy to adjust to, noting that he found it fairly easy to meet new friends whenever he started attending a new school. Commenting on much of his life, Lynch has remarked, Alongside his schooling, Lynch joined the Boy Scouts, although he would later note that he only became so I could quit. He rose to the highest rank of Eagle Scout and it was through being an Eagle Scout that he was present with other Boy Scouts outside of the White House at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy, which took place on Lynchs birthday in 1961. They had some hopes that in Europe they could train with the expressionist painter Oskar Kokoschka at his school. Upon reaching Salzburg, however, they found that he was not available and, Back in the United States, Lynch returned to Virginia, but since his parents had moved to Walnut Creek, California, he stayed with his friend Toby Keeler for a while. He decided to move to the city of Philadelphia and enroll at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, after advice from Jack Fisk and it was here that he began a relationship with a fellow student, Peggy Reavey, and they were married in 1967. The following year, Peggy gave birth to their daughter Jennifer, later describing this situation, Peggy stated that definitely was a reluctant father, but a very loving one. Hey, I was pregnant when we got married, later describing living there, Lynch stated that We lived cheap, but the city was full of fear. A kid was shot to death down the street and we were robbed twice, had windows shot out and a car stolen. The house was first broken into three days after we moved in
33.
Tilda Swinton
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Katherine Matilda Tilda Swinton is a British actress, performance artist, model, and fashion muse, known for her roles in independent and Hollywood films. She is the recipient of two BAFTA Awards, one BIFA Award, an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and has received three nominations for a Golden Globe Award. She began her career in films directed by Derek Jarman, starting with Caravaggio, followed by The Last of England, War Requiem, Swinton won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival for her performance as Isabella of France in Edward II. She next starred in Sally Potters Orlando, and was nominated for the European Film Award for Best Actress, Swinton was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her performance in The Deep End. She followed this with appearances in Vanilla Sky, Adaptation, Young Adam and she then starred in the crime drama Julia, I Am Love, and the psychological thriller We Need to Talk About Kevin. Swinton later starred in the romantic fantasy drama, Only Lovers Left Alive. She is also known for her performances as the White Witch in the Chronicles of Narnia series, Swinton won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance as lawyer Karen Crowder in Michael Clayton. In 2005, Swinton was given the Richard Harris Award by the British Independent Film Awards in recognition of her contributions to the British film industry, in 2013 she was given a special tribute by the Museum of Modern Art. Swinton was born in London, the daughter of Judith Balfour and her father is a retired major general in the British Army, and was Lord Lieutenant of Berwickshire from 1989 to 2000. Her paternal great-grandfather was a Scottish politician and herald, George Swinton, the Swinton family is an ancient Anglo-Scots family that can trace its lineage to the Middle Ages. The family is one of three families that can trace their unbroken land ownership and lineage to before the Norman Conquest. Swinton attended three independent schools, Queens Gate School in London, the West Heath Girls School and also Fettes College for a brief period, West Heath was an expensive boarding school where she was a classmate and friend of Princess Diana. Children need their parents and the parents can provide. Swinton went to volunteer in Kenya during a break from college with a charity called Project Trust. In 1983, Swinton graduated from New Hall at the University of Cambridge with a degree in Social and Political Sciences, while at Cambridge, she joined the Communist Party, she later joined the Scottish Socialist Party. It was in college that Swinton began performing on stage, Swinton joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1984, appearing in Measure for Measure. She also worked with the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, starring in Mann ist Mann by Manfred Karge in 1987, on television, she appeared as Julia in the 1986 mini-series Zastrozzi, A Romance based on the Gothic novel by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Her first film was Caravaggio in 1986, directed by Derek Jarman, Swinton also played the title role in Orlando, Sally Potters film version of the novel by Virginia Woolf
34.
Orlando (film)
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It was directed by Sally Potter. It was particularly acclaimed for its treatment of the settings of Woolfs 1928 novel. Potter chose to film much of the Constantinople portion of the book in the city of Khiva in Uzbekistan. The film premiered at the 49th Venice International Film Festival, in which it entered the main competition, Orlando was re-released for screening in select cinemas in August 2010. The film begins in the Elizabethan era shortly before the death of Queen Elizabeth I, both he and his heirs will keep the land and inheritance forever. Orlando acquiesces and resides in splendid isolation in the castle for a couple of centuries, during which time he dabbles in poetry and his attempts to befriend a celebrated poet, however, backfire when the poet ridicules his verse. Orlando then travels to Constantinople as English ambassador to the Turks, waking up the next morning, he learns something even more startling, he has physically transformed into a woman overnight. The editor who judges the work as good is, ironically. Having lived a most bizarre existence, Orlando finally finds a niche within it. The most immediate changes were structural, the storyline was simplified – any events which did not significantly further Orlandos story were dropped. The film contains two anachronisms not in the novel, on arrival in Constantinople c1700 England is referred to as a green and pleasant land, a quote from William Blakes Jerusalem, written post 1800. And Orlando receives a gift to celebrate the new century from Queen Anne, thus it is Queen Elizabeth who bestows the long life upon Orlando. The change of sex is a result of Orlando reaching a crisis of identity when he is unwilling to conform to what is expected of him as a man. Nor as a woman can Orlando conform, unlike the novel, the film ends with Orlando having a daughter, not a son. Nevertheless, in 1988 she began writing the script and raising money, Potter saw Tilda Swinton in the Manfred Karge play Man to Man and said that there was a profound subtlety about the way she took on male body language and handled maleness and femaleness. In Potters words, Quentin Crisp was the Queen of Queens, particularly in the context of Virginia Woolfs gender-bending politics and thus fit to play the aged Queen Elizabeth. Throughout Ms. Canby does caution that while the stands on its own. In contrast, Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times described Orlando as hollow, smug. and self-satisfied and complains that any kind of emotional connection to match carefully constructed look
35.
Virginia Woolf
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Adeline Virginia Woolf was an English writer and one of the foremost modernists of the twentieth century. During the interwar period, Woolf was a significant figure in London literary society, Woolf suffered from severe bouts of mental illness throughout her life and took her own life by drowning in 1941 at the age of 59. Virginia Woolf was born Adeline Virginia Stephen at 22 Hyde Park Gate in Kensington, London and her parents were Sir Leslie Stephen and Julia Prinsep Duckworth Stephen. Julia Stephen was born in British India to Dr. John and she was the niece of the photographer Julia Margaret Cameron and first cousin of the temperance leader Lady Henry Somerset. Julia moved to England with her mother, where she served as a model for Pre-Raphaelite painters such as Edward Burne-Jones, Woolf was educated by her parents in their literate and well-connected household. Her parents had each been married previously and been widowed, and, consequently, Julia had three children by her first husband, Herbert Duckworth, George, Stella, and Gerald Duckworth. Leslie and Julia had four children together, Vanessa Stephen, Thoby Stephen, Virginia, Henry James, George Henry Lewes, and Virginias honorary godfather, James Russell Lowell, were among the visitors to the house. Julia Stephen was equally well connected, supplementing these influences was the immense library at the Stephens house, from which Virginia and Vanessa were taught the classics and English literature. Unlike the girls, their brothers Adrian and Julian were formally educated and sent to Cambridge, the sisters did, however, benefit indirectly from their brothers Cambridge contacts, as the boys brought their new intellectual friends home to the Stephens drawing room. According to Woolfs memoirs, her most vivid memories were not of London but of St Ives, Cornwall. The Stephens summer home, Talland House, looked out over Porthminster Bay, memories of these family holidays and impressions of the landscape, especially the Godrevy Lighthouse, informed the fiction Woolf wrote in later years, most notably To the Lighthouse. She describes why she felt so connected to Talland House in an entry dated March 22nd,1921. Why am I so incredibly and incurably romantic about Cornwall. One’s past, I suppose, I see children running in the garden … The sound of the sea at night … almost forty years of life, all built on that, permeated by that, so much I could never explain. The sudden death of her mother in 1895, when Virginia was thirteen, after her mother and half-sister, she quickly lost her surrogate mother, Stella Duckworth, as well as her cherished brother Thoby, when he was in his mid-20s. She was, however, able to take courses of study in Ancient Greek, Latin, German and this brought her into contact with some of the early reformers of womens higher education such as the principal of the Ladies Department, Lilian Faithfull, Clara Pater and George Warr. Her sister Vanessa also studied Latin, Italian, art and architecture at Kings Ladies Department, in 2013 Woolf was honoured by her alma mater with the opening of a building named after her on Kingsway. The death of her father in 1904 provoked her most alarming collapse and she spent time recovering at her friend Violet Dickinsons house, and at her aunt Carolines house in Cambridge
36.
Orlando: A Biography
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Orlando, A Biography is a novel by Virginia Woolf, first published on 11 October 1928. The book describes the adventures of a poet who changes sex from man to woman and lives for centuries, considered a feminist classic, the book has been written about extensively by scholars of womens writing and gender and transgender studies. There have been several adaptations, in 1989 director Robert Wilson, a film adaptation was released in 1992, starring Tilda Swinton as Orlando. Another stage adaption by Sarah Ruhl premiered in New York City in 2010, in 2016, composer Peter Aderhold and librettist Sharon L. Joyce premiered an opera based on the work at the Braunschweig State Theater. The eponymous hero is born as a nobleman in England during the reign of Elizabeth I. He undergoes a change of sex at the age of about 30. As a teenage boy, the handsome Orlando serves as a page at the Elizabethan court, after her death he falls deeply in love with Sasha, an elusive and somewhat feral princess in the entourage of the Russian embassy. Frozen roses fell in showers when the Queen and her ladies walked abroad, the melting of the ice coincides with Sashas unfaithfulness and sudden departure for Russia. The desolate Orlando returns to writing The Oak Tree, a long poem started and abandoned in his youth and he meets and hospitably entertains an invidious poetaster, Nicholas Greene, who proceeds to find fault with Orlandos writing. Later Orlando feels betrayed on learning that he has been lampooned in one of Greenes subsequent works, a period of contemplating love and life leads Orlando to appreciate the value of his ancestral stately home, which he proceeds to furnish lavishly. There he plays host to the populace, ennui sets in and the harassment of a persistent suitor, the tall and somewhat androgynous Archduchess Harriet, leads Orlando to look for a way to flee the country. He is appointed by King Charles II as ambassador to Constantinople, Orlando performs his duties well, until a night of civil unrest and murderous riots. He falls asleep for a period of days, resistant to all efforts to rouse him, upon awakening he finds that he has metamorphosed into a woman – the same person, with the same personality and intellect, but in a womans body. Although the narrator of the novel professes to be disturbed and befuddled by Orlandos change, from here on, Orlandos amorous inclinations change frequently although she stays biologically female. The now Lady Orlando covertly escapes Constantinople in the company of a Gypsy clan and she adopts their way of life until its essential conflict with her upbringing leads her to head home. She concludes it has an advantage, declaring Praise God Im a woman. Back in England, Orlando is hounded again by the archduchess, who now reveals herself to be a man and she goes on to live switching between gender roles, dressing alternately as both man and woman. Orlando soon becomes caught up in the life of the 18th and 19th centuries, critic Nick Greene, apparently also timeless, reappears and promotes Orlandos writing, promising to help her publish The Oak Tree
37.
Shakespeare
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William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the worlds pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called Englands national poet, and the Bard of Avon and his extant works, including collaborations, consist of approximately 38 plays,154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright, Shakespeare was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children, Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a career in London as an actor, writer. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, at age 49, Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories, which are regarded as some of the best work ever produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, in his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and it was prefaced with a poem by Ben Jonson, in which Shakespeare is hailed, presciently, as not of an age, but for all time. In the 20th and 21st centuries, his works have been adapted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship. His plays remain highly popular and are studied, performed. William Shakespeare was the son of John Shakespeare, an alderman and a successful glover originally from Snitterfield, and Mary Arden and he was born in Stratford-upon-Avon and baptised there on 26 April 1564. His actual date of birth unknown, but is traditionally observed on 23 April. This date, which can be traced back to an 18th-century scholars mistake, has proved appealing to biographers because Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616 and he was the third child of eight and the eldest surviving son. At the age of 18, Shakespeare married 26-year-old Anne Hathaway, the consistory court of the Diocese of Worcester issued a marriage licence on 27 November 1582. The next day, two of Hathaways neighbours posted bonds guaranteeing that no lawful claims impeded the marriage, twins, son Hamnet and daughter Judith, followed almost two years later and were baptised 2 February 1585. Hamnet died of unknown causes at the age of 11 and was buried 11 August 1596, after the birth of the twins, Shakespeare left few historical traces until he is mentioned as part of the London theatre scene in 1592. The exception is the appearance of his name in the bill of a law case before the Queens Bench court at Westminster dated Michaelmas Term 1588 and 9 October 1589
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Sniper (1993 film)
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Sniper is a 1993 American action thriller starring Tom Berenger and Billy Zane as snipers on an assassination mission in Panama. It was shot in Queensland, Australia, and debuted at two in the United States. It initiated the Sniper film series and was followed by six sequels, Sniper 2, Sniper 3, Sniper, Reloaded, Sniper, Legacy, Sniper, Ghost Shooter and Sniper, Homeland Security. Master Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Beckett, Force Reconnaissance Marine, an experienced sniper, Papich, are on a mission to assassinate a Panamanian rebel leader in the jungle. Because they are extracted in daylight instead of at night, Papich is killed by a sniper, Beckett runs back under fire to carry Papichs body to the helicopter. Later, Beckett is paired up with a civilian, Richard Miller. Miller is a SWAT team sharpshooter, with no experience or confirmed kills to his name. While on the way to the area, Millers helicopter is attacked by a guerrilla. Miller is unable to take out the attacker, instead, the choppers dying gunner makes the kill, on the mission, Beckett insists on deviating from the plan that Miller was given. This, together with the fact that Miller has no experience or aptitude for jungle operations, uncertain of Millers reliability and skeptical about his kill while aboard the helicopter, he tells Miller to kill El Cirujano in order to prove himself. However, when the comes, Miller fails again by first firing a warning shot. Cirujano is able to dodge the shot by ducking under it into the river in which he has been swimming. In the ensuing firefight with the guerrillas, one of the Indians is killed. Although the Indians do not directly blame either Beckett or Miller, en route to the target, they realize they are being followed. They head to a village to contact their informant, a priest, Beckett speculates out loud that it is the work of El Cirujano, calling into question Millers credibility. That night, Beckett marks their track to bait the follower - the sniper that killed Papich - into a trap, the two men finally reach the generals hacienda. While waiting for their targets to emerge, they find Cirujano to be alive after all, Miller isnt hidden very well, and is spotted by one of the guards trying to sneak up on Miller. Beckett kills Millers attacker while Miller takes out the drug lord, having had to save Millers life instead of killing the general, Beckett insists on going back to take out the general
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The Phantom (1996 film)
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The Phantom is a 1996 American superhero film directed by Simon Wincer. Based on Lee Falks comic strip The Phantom, the film stars Billy Zane as a seemingly immortal crimefighter, the Phantom also stars Treat Williams, Kristy Swanson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, James Remar and Patrick McGoohan. The films plot is inspired by three of The Phantom stories, The Singh Brotherhood, The Sky Band and The Belt. Principal photography began in October 1995 and concluded on February 13,1996, the film was shot in California, Thailand and Australia. The Phantom was released on June 7,1996, and received mixed reviews from film critics, despite financial disappointment in its theatrical release, the film has since enjoyed success on VHS and DVD. In the early 16th century, a young boy witnesses his fathers death at the hands of Kabai Sengh. The boy jumps overboard and is washed ashore on an island called Bengalla where he is found by tribesmen who take him to their village, there he is given the Skull Ring and swears to devote his life to the destruction of piracy, greed, cruelty and injustice. In adulthood, he adopts the identity of The Phantom, a masked avenger, in 1938, Kit Walker, the 21st Phantom, finds a man named Quill leading a mercenary group in the jungle. The group is searching for one of the Skulls of Touganda, the Phantom saves the native boy they had kidnapped to be their guide and captures Quills men, leaving them to be picked up by the jungle patrol while their leader escapes. Quill—revealed as a member of the Sengh Brotherhood, and the man who killed Kits father — flees with the Skull and returns to the United States. In New York City, Kits ex-girlfriend from college, Diana Palmer, is a frequent traveler whose uncle, the paper has been investigating power-hungry business man Xander Drax, a shady character with a reputation for having dealings with criminals. Mr. Palmer has managed to uncover that Drax is connected to a spider web symbol. He sends Diana to investigate, and en route, her airplane is hijacked by female air pirates employed by Drax, Diana is kidnapped and taken to their base on the waterfront in Bengalla. Having been informed of Dianas kidnapping by the Jungle Patrols captain Phillip Horton, the Phantom rescues Diana and escapes from Quill and his men to his headquarters, the Skull Cave. There, Diana meets with Horton, where she is informed by the Phantom, the Phantom tells Horton to use the Jungle Patrol to take care of Diana and return her to New York while he goes after the Brotherhood. Dianas would-be suitor Jimmy Wells mentions he had one of the skulls in the Museum of Natural History. Kit sees his fathers old skull belt buckled around Quills waist and he manages to escape from him and his henchmen and, as the Phantom, evades the police outside the museum. Meanwhile, Sala flies Drax, Quill and Diana to the Devils Vortex, on the island, Drax meets with the pirate Kabai Sengh, a descendant of the Brotherhoods original leader, who possesses the third Skull
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Lee Falk
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Lee Falk, born Leon Harrison Gross, was an American writer, theater director and producer, best known as the creator of the popular comic strips The Phantom and Mandrake the Magician. At the height of their popularity, these strips attracted over 100 million readers every day, Falk also wrote short stories, and he contributed to a series of pulp novels about The Phantom. A playwright and theatrical director/producer, Falk directed actors such as Marlon Brando, Charlton Heston, Paul Newman, Chico Marx, Falk was born in St. Louis, Missouri, where he spent his boyhood and his youth. His mother was Eleanor Alina, and his father was Benjamin Gross, both of his parents were Jewish. Lee was born and raised Jewish, Benjamin Gross died when Falk was just a boy, and after a time, his mother Eleanor married Albert Falk Epstein, who became the father figure for Lee Falk and his brother, Leslie. Falk changed his surname after leaving college and he took the middle name of his stepfather, but Lee had been his nickname since childhood, so he took that name also. His brother, Leslie, also took the name Falk, when Falk began his comic strip and comic book writing and drawing career, his official biography claimed that he was an experienced world traveler who had studied with Eastern mystics. In fact, Falk had simply made it up in order to more like the right kind of person to be writing about globe-trotting heroes like Mandrake the Magician. His trip to New York City to pitch Mandrake the Magician for publication by the King Features Syndicate was at time the farthest that he had traveled from home in St. Louis. Lee Falk married three times, to Louise Kanaseriff, Constance Moorehead Lilienthal, and Elizabeth Moxley, Elizabeth also sometimes helped him with the scripts in his later years. She even finished his last The Phantom stories after he died, Falk became the father of three children, Valerie, and Diane and Conley. Falk died of heart failure in 1999 and he lived the last years of his life in New York, in an apartment with a panoramic view of the New York skyline and Central Park, he spent his summers in a house on Cape Cod. He literally wrote his comic strips from 1934 to the last days of his life, however, new episodes of The Phantom, and also Mandrake the Magician, are still being drawn by others, both as comic strips and in comic books. New movie and TV versions of his comic strip characters are reported to be forthcoming. His interment was in Brooklyns Cypress Hills Cemetery, Falk had had a fascination for stage magicians ever since he was a boy. Falk, according to his own recollections, sketched the first few Mandrake the Magician comic strips himself, when asked why the magician looked so much like himself, he replied, Well, of course he did. I was alone in a room with a mirror when I drew him and he was fascinated by the Thugs of India, and hence based his first Phantom comic on the Singh Brotherhood. Falk originally considered the idea of calling his character The Gray Ghost, in the A&E Networks Phantom biography program, Falk explained that Ancient Greek stone busts inspired the notion of pupils of the eyes of The Phantom not showing whenever he wore his mask
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Misanthropy
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Misanthropy is the general hatred, distrust or contempt of the human species or human nature. A misanthrope or misanthropist is someone who holds such views or feelings, the words origin is from the Greek words μῖσος and ἄνθρωπος. The condition is often confused with asociality, misanthropy has been ascribed to a number of writers of satire, such as William S. Gilbert and William Shakespeare. Jonathan Swift is widely believed to be misanthropic, molières play The Misanthrope is one of the more famous French plays on this topic. Less famous, but more contemporary is the 1970 play by Françoise Dorin, Un sale égoïste which takes the point of view of the misanthrope, fernando Pessoas factless autobiography The Book of Disquiet has been described as misanthropic. In Western philosophy, misanthropy has been connected to isolation from human society, and when it happens to someone often. There is a difference between philosophical pessimism and misanthropy, immanuel Kant said that Of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing can ever be made, and yet this was not an expression of the uselessness of mankind itself. Kant further stated that hatred of mankind can take two forms, aversion from men and enmity towards them. The condition can arise partly from dislike and partly from ill-will and this might be thought of as more of a criticism of conformity rather than people in general. Certain thinkers such as Ibn al-Rawandi, a skeptic of Islam, and Muhammad ibn Zakariya ar-Razi often expressed misanthropic views
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James Cameron
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James Francis Jim Cameron is a Canadian filmmaker, director, producer, screenwriter, inventor, engineer, philanthropist, and deep-sea explorer. He first found success with the science fiction action film The Terminator. He then became a popular Hollywood director and was hired to write and direct Aliens and he found further critical acclaim for his use of special effects in Terminator 2, Judgment Day. After his film True Lies Cameron took on his biggest film at the time, Titanic, despite Avatar being his only movie made to date in 3D, Cameron is the most successful 3D film-maker in terms of box-office revenue. In the time between making Titanic and Avatar, Cameron spent several years creating many documentary films and co-developed the digital 3D Fusion Camera System, described by a biographer as part scientist and part artist, Cameron has also contributed to underwater filming and remote vehicle technologies. On March 26,2012, Cameron reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench and he is the first person to do this in a solo descent, and is only the third person to do so ever. In total, Camerons directorial efforts have grossed approximately US$2 billion in North America, not adjusted for inflation, Camerons Titanic and Avatar are the two highest-grossing films of all time at $2.19 billion and $2.78 billion respectively. Cameron also holds the achievement of having directed two of the three films in history to gross over $2 billion worldwide, in March 2011, he was named Hollywoods top earner by Vanity Fair, with estimated 2010 earnings of $257 million. Cameron was born in 1954 in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada, the son of Shirley, an artist and nurse, and Phillip Cameron and his paternal great-great-great-grandfather emigrated from Balquhidder, Scotland, in 1825. Cameron grew up in Chippawa, Ontario, and attended Stamford Collegiate School in Niagara Falls and his family moved to Brea, California in 1971, when Cameron was 17 years old. He dropped out of Sonora High School, then attended Brea Olinda High School to further his secondary education, Cameron enrolled at Fullerton College, a two-year community college, in 1973 to study physics. He switched to English, then dropped out before the start of the fall 1974 semester, next, he worked several jobs, including as a truck driver, writing when he had time. That way I could sit down and read it, and if theyd let me photocopy it, Cameron quit his job as a truck driver to enter the film industry after seeing Star Wars in 1977. When Cameron read Syd Fields book Screenplay, it occurred to him that science and art was possible. They raised money, rented camera, lenses, film stock and they dismantled the camera to understand how to operate it and spent the first half-day of the shoot trying to figure out how to get it running. He was the director, writer, producer, and production designer for Xenogenesis and he then became a production assistant on a film called Rock and Roll High School, though uncredited, in 1979. While continuing to educate himself in film-making techniques, Cameron started working as a miniature-model maker at Roger Corman Studios, making rapidly produced, low-budget productions taught Cameron to work efficiently and effectively. He soon found employment as an art director in the sci-fi movie Battle Beyond the Stars and he did special effects work design and direction on John Carpenters Escape from New York, acted as production designer on Galaxy of Terror, and consulted on the design of Android
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Screen Actors Guild Award
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The statuette given, a nude male figure holding both a mask of comedy and a mask of tragedy, is called The Actor. It is 16 inches tall, weighs over 12 pounds, is cast in solid bronze, SAG Awards have been one of the major awards events in Hollywood since 1995. It is considered an indicator of success at the Academy Awards, the awards have been telecast since 1998 on TNT, and since 2007 have been simulcast on TBS. The inaugural SAG Awards aired live on February 25,1995 from Universal Studios Stage 12, the second SAG awards aired live from the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, while subsequent awards have been held at the Shrine Exposition Center
