1.
Houston
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Houston is the most populous city in the state of Texas and the fourth-most populous city in the United States. With a census-estimated 2014 population of 2.239 million within an area of 667 square miles, it also is the largest city in the southern United States and the seat of Harris County. Located in Southeast Texas near the Gulf of Mexico, it is the city of Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land. Houston was founded on August 28,1836, near the banks of Buffalo Bayou and incorporated as a city on June 5,1837. The city was named after former General Sam Houston, who was president of the Republic of Texas and had commanded, the burgeoning port and railroad industry, combined with oil discovery in 1901, has induced continual surges in the citys population. Houstons economy has an industrial base in energy, manufacturing, aeronautics. Leading in health care sectors and building equipment, Houston has more Fortune 500 headquarters within its city limits than any city except for New York City. The Port of Houston ranks first in the United States in international waterborne tonnage handled, the city has a population from various ethnic and religious backgrounds and a large and growing international community. Houston is the most diverse city in Texas and has described as the most diverse in the United States. It is home to cultural institutions and exhibits, which attract more than 7 million visitors a year to the Museum District. Houston has a visual and performing arts scene in the Theater District. In August 1836, two real estate entrepreneurs from New York, Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen, purchased 6,642 acres of land along Buffalo Bayou with the intent of founding a city. The Allen brothers decided to name the city after Sam Houston, the general at the Battle of San Jacinto. The great majority of slaves in Texas came with their owners from the slave states. Sizable numbers, however, came through the slave trade. New Orleans was the center of trade in the Deep South. Thousands of enslaved African Americans lived near the city before the Civil War, many of them near the city worked on sugar and cotton plantations, while most of those in the city limits had domestic and artisan jobs. Houston was granted incorporation on June 5,1837, with James S. Holman becoming its first mayor, in the same year, Houston became the county seat of Harrisburg County and the temporary capital of the Republic of Texas
2.
University of Houston
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The University of Houston is a state research university and the flagship institution of the University of Houston System. Founded in 1927, UH is the third-largest university in Texas with nearly 43,000 students and its campus spans 667 acres in southeast Houston, and was known as University of Houston–University Park from 1983 to 1991. The Carnegie Foundation classifies UH as a doctoral degree-granting institution with highest research activity, the U. S. News & World Report ranks the university No.194 in its National University Rankings, and No.103 among top public universities. The university offers more than 280 degree programs through its 14 academic colleges on campus—including programs leading to degrees in architecture, law, optometry. The institution conducts $150 million annually in research, and operates more than 40 research centers, interdisciplinary research includes superconductivity, space commercialization and exploration, biomedical sciences and engineering, energy and natural resources, and artificial intelligence. Awarding more than 9,000 degrees annually, UHs alumni base exceeds 260,000, the economic impact of the university contributes over $3 billion annually to the Texas economy, while generating about 24,000 jobs. The University of Houston hosts a variety of performances, concerts, lectures. It has more than 400 student organizations and 17 intercollegiate sports teams, annual UH events and traditions include The Cats Back, Homecoming, and Frontier Fiesta. The universitys varsity teams, known as the Houston Cougars, are members of the American Athletic Conference. The football team regularly makes bowl game appearances, and the basketball team has made 19 appearances in the NCAA Division I Tournament—including five Final Four appearances. The mens golf team has won 16 national championships—the most in NCAA history, the University of Houston began as Houston Junior College. On March 7,1927, trustees of the Houston Independent School District Board of Education unanimously passed a resolution that authorized the founding and operating of a junior college, the junior college was operated and administered by HISD. Originally HJC was located in San Jacinto High School and offered night courses. Its first session began March 7,1927, with an enrollment of 232 students and 12 faculty and this session was primarily held to educate the future teachers of the junior college, freshmen were not permitted to enroll. A more accurate date for the opening of HJC is September 19,1927. The first president of HJC was Edison Ellsworth Oberholtzer, who was the dominant force in establishing the junior college, the junior college became eligible to become a university in October 1933 when Governor of Texas, Miriam A. Ferguson, signed House Bill 194 into law. On April 30,1934, HISDs Board of Education adopted a resolution to make the school a four-year institution, UHs first session as a four-year institution began June 4,1934, at San Jacinto High School with an enrollment of 682. In 1934, the first campus of the University of Houston was established at the Second Baptist Church at Milam, the next fall, the campus was moved to the South Main Baptist Church on Main Street—between Richmond Avenue and Eagle Street—where it stayed for the next five years
3.
Android (robot)
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An android is a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to look and act like a human, especially one with a body having a flesh-like resemblance. Historically, androids remained completely within the domain of science fiction where they are seen in film. Only recently have advancements in technology allowed the design of functional. The word was coined from the Greek root ἀνδρ-, man, while the term android is used in reference to human-looking robots in general, a robot with a female appearance can also be referred to as a gynoid. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the earliest use to Ephraim Chambers Cyclopaedia, the term android appears in US patents as early as 1863 in reference to miniature human-like toy automatons. The term android was used in a modern sense by the French author Auguste Villiers de lIsle-Adam in his work Tomorrows Eve. This story features an artificial humanlike robot named Hadaly, as said by the officer in the story, In this age of Realien advancement, who knows what goes on in the mind of those responsible for these mechanical dolls. Although Karel Čapeks robots in R. U. R, —the play that introduced the word robot to the world—were organic artificial humans, the word robot has come to primarily refer to mechanical humans, animals, and other beings. The term android can mean one of these, while a cyborg would be a creature that is a combination of organic. The word android was used in Star Trek, The Original Series episode What Are Little Girls Made Of. The abbreviation andy, coined as a pejorative by writer Philip K. Dick in his novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. has seen some further usage, authors have used the term android in more diverse ways than robot or cyborg. In some fictional works, the difference between a robot and android is only their appearance, with androids being made to look like humans on the outside, in other stories, authors have used the word android to mean a wholly organic, yet artificial, creation. Other fictional depictions of androids fall somewhere in between, several projects aiming to create androids that look, and, to a certain degree, speak or act like a human being have been launched or are underway. In 2006, Kokoro Co. developed a new DER2 android, the height of the human body part of DER2 is 165 cm. DER2 can not only change its expression but also move its hands and feet, the air servosystem which Kokoro Co. developed originally is used for the actuator. As a result of having an actuator controlled precisely with air pressure via a servosystem, DER2 realized a slimmer body than that of the former version by using a smaller cylinder. Outwardly DER2 has a more beautiful proportion, compared to the previous model, DER2 has thinner arms and a wider repertoire of expressions. Once programmed, it is able to choreograph its motions and gestures with its voice, the Intelligent Mechatronics Lab, directed by Hiroshi Kobayashi at the Tokyo University of Science, has developed an android head called Saya, which was exhibited at Robodex 2002 in Yokohama, Japan
4.
Data (Star Trek)
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Data is a character in the fictional Star Trek franchise. He appears in the television series Star Trek, The Next Generation and the feature films Star Trek, Generations, Star Trek, First Contact, Star Trek, Insurrection, Data is portrayed by actor Brent Spiner. Data was found by Starfleet in 2338 as a sole survivor on Omicron Theta in the rubble of a colony left after an attack from the Crystalline Entity and his positronic brain allows him impressive computational capabilities. This goal eventually led to the addition of a chip, also created by Soong. Gene Roddenberry told Brent Spiner that over the course of the series, Data was to more and more like a human until the end of the show, when he would be very close. That was the idea and thats the way that the writers took it, Spiner felt that Data exhibited the Chaplinesque characteristics of a sad, tragic clown. To get into his role as Data, Spiner used the character of Robby the Robot from the film Forbidden Planet as a role model. Commenting on Datas perpetual albino-like appearance, he said, I spent more hours of the day in make-up than out of make-up, Spiner also portrayed Datas manipulative and malignant brother Lore, and Datas creator, Dr. Noonien Soong. Additionally, he portrayed another Soong-type android, B-4, in the film Star Trek Nemesis, Spiner said his favorite Data scene takes place in Descent, when Data plays poker on the holodeck with a re-creation of the famous physicist Stephen Hawking, played by Hawking himself. Spiner reprised his role of Data in the Star Trek, Enterprise series finale These Are the Voyages. in a speaking part. Spiner felt that he had aged out of the role. Dialog in Datalore establishes some of Datas backstory and it is stated that he was deactivated in 2336 on Omicron Theta before an attack by the Crystalline Entity, a spaceborne creature which converts life forms to energy for sustenance. He was found and reactivated by Starfleet personnel two years later, Data went to Starfleet Academy from 2341–45 and then served in Starfleet aboard the USS Trieste. He was assigned to the Enterprise under Captain Jean-Luc Picard in 2364, in Datalore, Data discovers his amoral brother, Lore, and learns that he was created after Lore. Lore fails in an attempt to betray the Enterprise to the Crystalline Entity, in Brothers, Data reunites with Dr. Soong. There he meets again with Lore, who steals the emotion chip Soong meant for Data to receive, Lore returns in the two-part episode Descent, using the emotion chip to control Data and make him help with Lores attempt to make the Borg entirely artificial lifeforms. Data eventually deactivates Lore, and recovers, but does not install the damaged emotion chip, in The Measure of a Man, a Starfleet judge rules that Data is not Starfleet property. The episode establishes that Data has a capacity of 800 quadrillion bits
5.
Star Trek: The Next Generation
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Star Trek, The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series in the Star Trek franchise created by Gene Roddenberry that ran between 1987 and 1994. Roddenberry, Maurice Hurley, Rick Berman, Michael Piller and Jeri Taylor served as producers at different times throughout its production. The series involves a starship named Enterprise and is set in the regions of the Milky Way galaxy. The first episode takes place in the year 2364,100 years after the start of the mission described in the original series. It features a new cast and a new starship Enterprise, the fifth to bear the name within the franchises storyline and these are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission, to strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations. TNG premiered the week of September 28,1987, drawing 27 million viewers, in total,176 episodes were made, ending with the two-hour finale All Good Things. The week of May 23,1994, the series was broadcast in first-run syndication with dates and times varying among individual television stations. Three additional Star Trek spin-offs followed The Next Generation, Star Trek, Deep Space Nine, Star Trek, Voyager, and Star Trek, Enterprise. The series formed the basis for the seventh through to the tenth of the Star Trek films, and is also the setting of novels, comic books. In its seventh season, Star Trek, The Next Generation became the first, the series received a number of accolades including 19 Emmy Awards, two Hugo Awards, five Saturn Awards, and a Peabody Award. The series follows the adventures of a crew on board the starship USS Enterprise, the fifth Federation vessel to bear the name and registry. The series is set about 70 years after the mission of the original Enterprise crew under the command of James T. Kirk. Beverly Crusher, conn officer Lieutenant Geordi La Forge, and junior officer Lieutenant Worf, the death of Lieutenant Yar in the series first season prompts an internal shuffle of personnel, making Worf official chief of security. Geordi La Forge is promoted to engineer at the beginning of season 2. The series begins with the crew of the Enterprise-D put on trial by a nefarious, the god-like entity threatens the extinction of mankind for being a race of savages, forcing them to solve a mystery at nearby Farpoint Station to prove their worthiness to be spared. After successfully solving the mystery and avoiding disaster, the crew departs on its mission to explore strange new worlds. Subsequent stories focus on the discovery of new life and sociological and political relationships with alien cultures, several new species are introduced as recurring antagonists, including the Ferengi, the Cardassian, and the Borg
6.
Star Trek: First Contact
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Star Trek, First Contact is a 1996 American science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures. It is the feature film in the Star Trek film franchise. In the films plot, the crew of the Starship USS Enterprise-E travel back in time to the mid-21st century to stop the cybernetic Borg from conquering Earth by changing the past. After the release of the film, Star Trek Generations, Paramount tasked writers Brannon Braga. Braga and Moore wanted to feature the Borg in the plot, after two better-known directors turned down the job, cast member Jonathan Frakes was chosen to direct, to make sure the task fell to someone who understood Star Trek. It was Frakes first theatrical film, the script required the creation of new starship designs, including a new USS Enterprise. Production designer Herman Zimmerman and illustrator John Eaves collaborated to make a ship than its predecessor. Principal photography began with weeks of shooting in Arizona and California before production moved to new sets for the ship-based scenes. Effects company Industrial Light & Magic rushed to complete the special effects in less than five months. Traditional optical effects techniques were supplemented with computer-generated imagery, Jerry Goldsmith and his son Joel collaborated to produce the films score. First Contact was the film on its opening weekend, making $30.7 million. The film made $92 million in the United States & Canada, critical reception was mostly positive, critics including Roger Ebert considered it one of the best Star Trek films. The Borg and the effects were lauded, while characterization was less evenly received. First Contact was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Makeup, the film has been released on videotape, LaserDisc, DVD and Blu-ray home video formats. Scholarly analysis of the film has focused on Captain Jean-Luc Picards parallels to Herman Melvilles Ahab, Captain Jean-Luc Picard wakes from a nightmare in which he relived his assimilation by the cybernetic Borg six years earlier. Starfleet informs him of a new Borg attack against The Federation, intercepting the overwhelmed fleets audio communications, Picard disobeys orders and heads the Enterprise for Earth, where a single, damaged Borg Cube destroys opposing Starfleet vessels. The Enterprise arrives in time to save the crew of the USS Defiant, Picard takes command of the fleet and, after hearing Borg communications in his mind, orders it to concentrate its firepower on a seemingly non-vital section of the Borg ship. The Cube is destroyed but manages to launch a smaller sphere ship towards the planet before disintegrating, the Borg sphere generates and enters a temporal vortex
7.
Independence Day (1996 film)
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Independence Day is a 1996 American science fiction action film directed and co-written by Roland Emmerich. The film focuses on disparate groups of people who converge in the Nevada desert in the aftermath of a attack by an extraterrestrial race of unknown origin. Along with the rest of the world, they launch a counterattack on July 4 – Independence Day in the United States. While promoting Stargate in Europe, Emmerich came up with the idea for the film when fielding a question about his own belief in the existence of alien life. He and Dean Devlin decided to incorporate a large-scale attack having noticed that aliens in most invasion films travel long distances in space only to remain hidden when reaching Earth. Shooting began in July 1995 in New York City, and the film was completed on June 20,1996. The film grossed over $817.4 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1996, and briefly, as of June 2016, it ranks 55th on the list of highest-grossing films, and was at the forefront of the large-scale disaster film and sci-fi resurgence of the mid-1990s. The film has an rating of 61% on Rotten Tomatoes. It won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Sound Mixing, a sequel, Independence Day, Resurgence, was released on June 24,2016. David Levinson, an MIT-trained satellite technician, decodes a signal embedded in the satellite transmissions that he determines is a timer counting down to a coordinated attack. Whitmore, the Levinsons, and a few others narrowly escape aboard Air Force One as the capital is destroyed, on July 3, international leaders begin ordering individual counterattacks. Their aviation forces attack destroyer ships positioned above the ruins of the cities, each destroyer launches a swarm of attack fighters, which wipe out the human fighter squadrons. He subdues the injured pilot and flags down a convoy of refugees. They transport the alien to nearby Area 51 where Whitmores group has landed. Area 51 houses the refurbished alien fighter and three alien corpses recovered from the crash, when eccentric scientist Brackish Okun examines the alien captured by Hiller, it regains consciousness and attacks. It telepathically invades Okuns mind and uses his vocal cords to communicate with Whitmore before launching an attack against him. Whitmore sees visions of the plans, their entire civilization travels from planet to planet, exterminating all indigenous life. On July 4, Levinson demonstrates that the key to defeating the aliens lies in deactivating their force fields and he proposes using the refurbished alien fighter to implement the plan, which Hiller volunteers to pilot
8.
Independence Day: Resurgence
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Independence Day, Resurgence is a 2016 American science fiction film written and directed by Roland Emmerich with co-writers Dean Devlin, Nicolas Wright, James A. Woods, and James Vanderbilt. Through reverse engineering, the world has harnessed the power of alien technology, plans for a sequel to Independence Day began as early as 2001, with 20th Century Fox eventually green-lighting the project in 2014. Principal photography began in April 2015 at locations primarily in New Mexico but also in the Bonneville Salt Flats of Utah, which were featured in the original. Independence Day, Resurgence was released in the United States on June 24,2016, in 2D, 3D, the film received generally unfavorable reviews from critics, who found the plot convoluted and action sequences overblown, though some praised its overall humor. As the twentieth anniversary of the approaches, ESD Director David Levinson meets with warlord Dikembe Umbutu. They travel to an alien city destroyer and discover that alien survivors sent a distress call to their home world before their defeat. An unidentified spherical city destroyer ship emerges from a wormhole near Earths Moon, narrowly escaping death, those on board the space tug are able to avoid capture and return to Area 51. General Joshua Adams groups interrogate one of the held in captivity at Area 51s prison facility from the war. They learn that the aliens exist in eusociality and that one of their colossal Queens is commanding the invasion, Levinson hypothesizes that and leads an attack on a city destroyer ship, if they kill the supervising Queen, her forces will cease drilling and retreat. In Area 51, Okun opens the container and releases a giant white sphere of virtual intelligence. She reveals that her mission is to evacuate survivors from worlds targeted by the aliens, whom she calls Harvesters. Knowing the Harvester Queen has become aware of the spheres presence, Whitmore volunteers to pilot the transport ship on a suicide mission, leading the Queens ship into a trap before detonating a bomb, thus sacrificing himself but destroying the enemy ship. However, the Harvester Queen survives by using an energy shield and this allows Dylans party, which arrives just in time, to kill her before she can take the sphere. With the Queen dead, all the alien fighters are rendered inactive, while the mothership stops drilling. Okun reveals that the sphere has asked humanity to lead her resistance and has offered them new technology in preparation for a counterattack on the Harvesters home world. The following includes backstory and details covered in the current film, in the original 1996 film, in cast interviews and in the canon novel Independence Day, Crucible. Originally from the city of Los Angeles, he grew up in an orphanage after his parents were killed in the invasion of 1996, jeff Goldblum as David Levinson, a scientist, MIT-educated computer expert, strategist, and environmental activist. Formerly a satellite technician at a television company in New York City
9.
American Jews
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American Jews, also known as Jewish Americans, are Americans who are Jews, either by religion, ethnicity, or nationality. The Jewish community in the United States is composed predominantly of Ashkenazi Jews and their US-born descendants, Minority Jewish ethnic divisions are also represented, including Sephardic Jews, Mizrahi Jews, and a smaller percentage of converts to Judaism. The American Jewish community manifests a wide range of Jewish cultural traditions, depending on religious definitions and varying population data, the United States is home to the largest or second largest Jewish community in the world. In 2012, the American Jewish population was estimated at between 5.5 and 8 million, depending on the definition of the term and this constitutes between 1. 7% and 2. 6% of the total U. S. population. Jews have been present in what is today the United States of America since the mid-17th century, however, they were small in number, with at most 200 to 300 having arrived by 1700. The majority were Sephardic Jewish immigrants of Spanish and Portuguese ancestry, until after 1720 when Ashkenazi Jews from Central, after passage of the Plantation Act of 1740, Jews were specifically permitted to become British citizens and immigrate to the colonies. Until about 1830, Charleston, South Carolina had more Jews than anywhere else in North America and they primarily became merchants and shop-owners. Jewish migration to the United States increased dramatically in the early 1880s, as a result of persecution, many Jews also emigrated from Romania. Over 2,000,000 Jews landed between the late 19th century and 1924, when the Immigration Act of 1924 restricted immigration, most settled in the New York metropolitan area, establishing the worlds major concentrations of Jewish population. In 1915 the circulation of the daily Yiddish newspapers was half a million in New York City alone, in addition thousands more subscribed to the numerous weekly papers and the many magazines. American Jewish writers of the time urged assimilation and integration into the wider American culture,500,000 American Jews fought in World War II, and after the war younger families joined the new trend of suburbanization. There, Jews became increasingly assimilated and demonstrated rising intermarriage, more recent waves of Jewish emigration from Russia and other regions have largely joined the mainstream American Jewish community. Americans of Jewish descent have been successful in many fields. Scholars debate whether the historical experience for Jews in the United States has been such a unique experience as to validate American exceptionalism. Korelitz shows how American Jews during the late 19th and early 20th centuries abandoned a racial definition of Jewishness in favor of one that embraced ethnicity. The key to understanding this transition from a racial self-definition to a cultural or ethnic one can be found in the ‘’Menorah Journal’’ between 1915 and 1925, siporin uses the family folklore of ethnic Jews to their collective history and its transformation into an historical art form. They tell us how Jews have survived being uprooted and transformed, many immigrant narratives bear a theme of the arbitrary nature of fate and the reduced state of immigrants in a new culture. By contrast, ethnic family narratives tend to show the more in charge of his life
10.
Houston, Texas
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Houston is the most populous city in the state of Texas and the fourth-most populous city in the United States. With a census-estimated 2014 population of 2.239 million within an area of 667 square miles, it also is the largest city in the southern United States and the seat of Harris County. Located in Southeast Texas near the Gulf of Mexico, it is the city of Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land. Houston was founded on August 28,1836, near the banks of Buffalo Bayou and incorporated as a city on June 5,1837. The city was named after former General Sam Houston, who was president of the Republic of Texas and had commanded, the burgeoning port and railroad industry, combined with oil discovery in 1901, has induced continual surges in the citys population. Houstons economy has an industrial base in energy, manufacturing, aeronautics. Leading in health care sectors and building equipment, Houston has more Fortune 500 headquarters within its city limits than any city except for New York City. The Port of Houston ranks first in the United States in international waterborne tonnage handled, the city has a population from various ethnic and religious backgrounds and a large and growing international community. Houston is the most diverse city in Texas and has described as the most diverse in the United States. It is home to cultural institutions and exhibits, which attract more than 7 million visitors a year to the Museum District. Houston has a visual and performing arts scene in the Theater District. In August 1836, two real estate entrepreneurs from New York, Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen, purchased 6,642 acres of land along Buffalo Bayou with the intent of founding a city. The Allen brothers decided to name the city after Sam Houston, the general at the Battle of San Jacinto. The great majority of slaves in Texas came with their owners from the slave states. Sizable numbers, however, came through the slave trade. New Orleans was the center of trade in the Deep South. Thousands of enslaved African Americans lived near the city before the Civil War, many of them near the city worked on sugar and cotton plantations, while most of those in the city limits had domestic and artisan jobs. Houston was granted incorporation on June 5,1837, with James S. Holman becoming its first mayor, in the same year, Houston became the county seat of Harrisburg County and the temporary capital of the Republic of Texas
11.
Bellaire High School (Texas)
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Bellaire High School is a secondary school of the Houston Independent School District, and its campus is located in Bellaire, Texas in Greater Houston. The high school serves the city of Bellaire and the Houston community of Meyerland. It has a racially and socioeconomically diverse student body and it was originally an all-White high school. Because of the number of Jewish students, the school had the nickname Hebrew High. Bellaire introduced International Baccalaureate programs in 1980, in the mid-to-late 1980s families began moving into Bellaire and Meyerland. They would tear down older houses and build new ones. This gave Bellaire High School a population of wealthier students, at the same time apartments formerly housing White singles began to house low income immigrants. Bellaire added Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate programs to encourage White parents to send their children to Bellaire, parents strove to get their children into the classes. In January 1987, Bellaire was offering the Arabic language for the second year, in 1987 the school also offered Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Latin, Russian, and Spanish. In September 1991 Bellaire was one of 32 HISD schools that had capped enrollments, in words the school was filled to capacity. By the 2000s Bellaire placed on the lists of the top performing schools in the United States. Athletic and academic programs won national and international awards, many graduates headed for prestigious American universities. At the same time, disciplinary infractions increased, Swartz said The case could be made that the school has triumphed despite being under enormous social pressures. But success has not come without pain, from the 1999-2000 school year to the 2003-2004 school year, the total number of disciplinary actions increased from 441 to 1,082 and the number of in-school suspensions increased from 336 to 855. In February 2006, a stabbing involving two male freshmen occurred in a school stairwell, the victim survived the stabbing while the perpetrator was arrested and prosecuted. During the same year Todd Spivak of the Houston Press reported about the magazines feature These Kids Go to the Best Public High School in Houston. Spivak said that Bellaire High School had strong, consistent leadership, Spivak said that the survey indicated that Bellaire graduated two thirds of its students. Dr. Robert Sanborn, president and CEO of the Children at Risk organization, in 200713 percent of high school-aged children zoned to Bellaire chose to attend a different Houston ISD school
12.
Bellaire, Texas
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Bellaire is a city in southwest Harris County, Texas, United States, within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. As of the 2010 U. S. Census, the city population was 16,855 and is surrounded by the cities of Houston and West University Place. Bellaire is known as the City of Homes, owing to its residential character, however. Bellaire was founded in 1908 by William Wright Baldwin, who was the president of the South End Land Company, Baldwin, a native of Iowa, was well known as the vice president of the Burlington Railroad. Bellaire was founded on what was part of William Marsh Rices 9,449 acres ranch, Baldwin surveyed the eastern 1,000 acres of the ranch into small truck farms. He named those farms Westmoreland Farms, Baldwin started Bellaire in the middle of Westmoreland Farms to serve as a residential neighborhood and an agricultural trading center. South End Land Company advertised to farmers in the Midwestern United States, Baldwin stated that the town was named Bellaire, or Good Air for its breezes. Bellaire may have named after Bellaire, Ohio, a town served by one of Baldwins rail lines. Six miles of prairie was a zone between Houston and Bellaire. Originally the town was bounded by Palmetto, First, Jessamine, in 1910 Edward Teas, a horticulturist, moved his nursery to Bellaire from Missouri so Teas could implement Sid Hares landscaping plans. Bellaire was incorporated as a city with a charter in 1918. Bellaire had a population of 200 at the time, because of the 1918 incorporation, Houston did not incorporate Bellaires territory into its city limits, while Houston annexed surrounding areas that were unincorporated. Bellaires population had reached 1,124 in 1940, after 1940, Bellaire had a rapid population explosion in the post-World War II building boom. On December 31,1948, the city of Houston had annexed the land around the city of Bellaire, Bellaire remained independent of Houston, Bellaire adopted a home rule charter with a council-manager government in April 1949. By 1950 the citys residents had numbered 10,173, however each subsequent year for the next two years, an additional 600 to 700 new houses opened. In the 1960s 250 houses in Bellaire were demolished to make way for the right of way of the 610 Loop, according to a Bellaire resident quoted in the Houston Post, prior to 1992, the tax base of the city of Bellaire had been decreasing. After neighbor West University Place eased restrictions on developers, new houses were constructed in West University Place, Bellaire decided to also liberalize its development restrictions to allow for new development by streamlining its no-growth building permit process. Michael Blum, president of Blum & Associates Realty, said Bellaire is a bargain, Blum added that Bellaire was affordable compared to similar American neighborhoods and that Bellaire had proximity to business districts, excellent municipal services, and superior schools
13.
Theater
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The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music, and dance. Elements of art, such as painted scenery and stagecraft such as lighting are used to enhance the physicality, presence, the specific place of the performance is also named by the word theatre as derived from the Ancient Greek θέατρον, itself from θεάομαι. Modern theatre, broadly defined, includes performances of plays and musical theatre, there are connections between theatre and the art forms of ballet, opera and various other forms. The city-state of Athens is where western theatre originated, participation in the city-states many festivals—and mandatory attendance at the City Dionysia as an audience member in particular—was an important part of citizenship. The Greeks also developed the concepts of dramatic criticism and theatre architecture, Actors were either amateur or at best semi-professional. The theatre of ancient Greece consisted of three types of drama, tragedy, comedy, and the satyr play, the origins of theatre in ancient Greece, according to Aristotle, the first theoretician of theatre, are to be found in the festivals that honoured Dionysus. The performances were given in semi-circular auditoria cut into hillsides, capable of seating 10, the stage consisted of a dancing floor, dressing room and scene-building area. Since the words were the most important part, good acoustics, the actors wore masks appropriate to the characters they represented, and each might play several parts. Athenian tragedy—the oldest surviving form of tragedy—is a type of dance-drama that formed an important part of the culture of the city-state. Having emerged sometime during the 6th century BCE, it flowered during the 5th century BCE, no tragedies from the 6th century BCE and only 32 of the more than a thousand that were performed in during the 5th century BCE have survived. We have complete texts extant by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, the origins of tragedy remain obscure, though by the 5th century BCE it was institution alised in competitions held as part of festivities celebrating Dionysus. As contestants in the City Dionysias competition playwrights were required to present a tetralogy of plays, the performance of tragedies at the City Dionysia may have begun as early as 534 BCE, official records begin from 501 BCE, when the satyr play was introduced. More than 130 years later, the philosopher Aristotle analysed 5th-century Athenian tragedy in the oldest surviving work of dramatic theory—his Poetics, Athenian comedy is conventionally divided into three periods, Old Comedy, Middle Comedy, and New Comedy. Old Comedy survives today largely in the form of the surviving plays of Aristophanes. New Comedy is known primarily from the papyrus fragments of Menander. Aristotle defined comedy as a representation of people that involves some kind of blunder or ugliness that does not cause pain or disaster. In addition to the categories of comedy and tragedy at the City Dionysia, finding its origins in rural, agricultural rituals dedicated to Dionysus, the satyr play eventually found its way to Athens in its most well-known form. Satyrs themselves were tied to the god Dionysus as his loyal companions, often engaging in drunken revelry
14.
Stephen Sondheim
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Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist known for more than a half-century of contributions to musical theatre. Sondheim has received an Academy Award, eight Tony Awards, eight Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize, the Laurence Olivier Award, and he has been described by Frank Rich of The New York Times as now the greatest and perhaps best-known artist in the American musical theater. He also wrote the lyrics for West Side Story and Gypsy, Sondheim has also written film music, contributing Goodbye for Now to Warren Beattys 1981 Reds. He wrote five songs for 1990s Dick Tracy, including Sooner or Later by Madonna, the composer was president of the Dramatists Guild from 1973 to 1981. To celebrate his 80th birthday, the former Henry Millers Theatre was renamed the Stephen Sondheim Theatre on September 15,2010, Cameron Mackintosh has called Sondheim possibly the greatest lyricist ever. Sondheim was born into a Jewish family in New York City and his father manufactured dresses designed by his mother. The composer grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and, after his parents divorced, on a farm near Doylestown, Pennsylvania. As the only child of parents living in the San Remo on Central Park West. When he lived in New York, Sondheim attended ECFS, the Ethical Culture Fieldston School known simply as Fieldston, Sondheim spent several summers at Camp Androscoggin. He traces his interest in theatre to Very Warm for May, the curtain went up and revealed a piano, Sondheim recalled. A butler took a duster and brushed it up, tinkling the keys, when Sondheim was ten, his father left his mother for another woman. Herbert sought custody of Stephen but was unsuccessful, Sondheim explained to biographer Secrest that he was what they call an institutionalized child, meaning one who has no contact with any kind of family. Youre in, though its luxurious, youre in an environment that supplies you with everything, No brothers and sisters, no parents, and yet plenty to eat, and friends to play with and a warm bed, you know. Sondheim detested his mother, who was said to be abusive and projected her anger from her failed marriage on her son, When my father left her. And she used me the way she used him, to come on to and to berate, beat up on, what she did for five years was treat me like dirt, but come on to me at the same time. She once wrote him a letter saying that the only ever had was giving him birth. When his mother died in the spring of 1992, Sondheim did not attend her funeral, when Sondheim was about ten years old, he became friends with James Hammerstein, son of lyricist and playwright Oscar Hammerstein II. The elder Hammerstein became Sondheims surrogate father, influencing him profoundly, Sondheim met Hal Prince, who would direct many of his shows, at the opening of South Pacific, Hammersteins musical with Richard Rodgers
15.
Sunday in the Park with George
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Sunday in the Park with George is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. The musical was inspired by the painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat, the plot revolves around George, a fictionalized version of Georges Seurat, who immerses himself deeply in painting his masterpiece. The Broadway production opened in 1984 and it has enjoyed several major revivals, including the 2005-06 UK production first presented at the Menier Chocolate Factory and its subsequent 2008 Broadway transfer. Act I In 1884, Georges Seurat, known as George in the musical, is sketching studies for his famous painting and he announces to the audience, White, a blank page or canvas. The challenge, bring order to the whole, through design, composition, tension, balance, light and he conjures up the island, a small suburban park, around him, and retains some control of his surroundings as he draws them. His longtime mistress, Dot, models for him, despite her frustrations at having to get up early on a Sunday, the quiet of the park is interrupted by a group of rude bathers. George freezes them with a gesture, setting them as the subjects of his first painting, the setting abruptly changes to a gallery where the painting is on display. Jules and his wife Yvonne think Georges work has No Life, back on the island, Jules and Yvonne have a short discussion with George and depart. They take their coachman Franz with them, interrupting Franzs rendezvous with the Nurse, Dot, who has grown tired of standing still in the early morning sunlight, leaves the park mollified after George promises to take her to the Follies. George approaches the Old Lady, revealed to be his mother, and requests to draw her, in Georges studio he works on his painting obsessively while Dot prepares for their date and fantasizes about being a Follies girl. When George briefly stops painting to clean his brushes, he, Dot is ready to leave, but George chooses to continue painting instead, greatly upsetting her. In the park, on a Sunday some time later, George sketches a disgruntled Boatman to the disapproval of an observing Jules, Dot enters on the arm of Louis, a baker. Two chatting shop girls, both named Celeste, notice Dot with a new man, when Jules and Yvonnes daughter Louise attempts to pet the Boatmans dog, he shouts at her, then lashes out at George and storms off. George and Dot have an awkward, strained conversation as she works on the book she is using to teach herself how to read. As Jules and Yvonne mock the unconventional nature of Georges art, they discuss an initiative to have his work included in the group show. George sketches two dogs while whimsically trying to imagine the world from their perspective, describing their relief to be free of their routines on Sunday. Dot sees George, but he slips away before she can speak to him and she clearly misses and loves George, but Louis loves, respects and needs her in a way George cannot, and she has made her choice. As the park empties for the evening, George returns, time has passed, and a heavily pregnant Dot visits Georges studio
16.
Stardust Memories
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The film is about a filmmaker who recalls his life and his loves - the inspirations for his films - while attending a retrospective of his work. The film is shot in black and white and is reminiscent of Federico Fellinis 8½, the film has nonetheless been re-evaluated to some extent, with modern reception more often positive than negative. Meanwhile, he is haunted by memories of his ex-girlfriend. William Zinsser in small role as a Catholic priest. <13>Allen has asserted that Stardust Memories is not an autobiographical work, thought that the lead character was me, the director is quoted as saying in Woody Allen on Woody Allen. Not a fictional character but me, and that I was expressing hostility towards my audience and that was in no way the point of the film. It was about a character who is obviously having a sort of breakdown and. The conflict between the maternal, nurturing woman and the earnest, usually one, is a recurring theme in Allens films. Like many of Allens films, Stardust Memories incorporates several jazz recordings including those by such notables as Louis Armstrong, Django Reinhardt, the films title alludes to the famous take of Stardust recorded in 1931 by Armstrong, wherein the trumpeter sings oh, memory three times in succession. The film deals with issues regarding religion, God, and philosophy, especially existentialism, psychology, symbolism, wars and it is also about realism, relationships, and death. It refers to questions about the meaning of life. It also ruminates on the role that plays in life. Most of the interiors, including the scenes, were shot in a vacant Sears Roebuck building. To reproduce the movement of a car, the whole train was mounted on jacks and gently jostled back. The film sharply divided both audiences and critics, with many Allen fans proclaiming it his best picture or among his worst. Janet Maslin wrote that the work is his most provocative film thus far and perhaps his most revealing, aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports 72% approval of Stardust Memories, with an average rating of 6. 6/10. Sam Fragoso of IndieWire also ranked it among Allens best works, the film was listed 16th among Allens efforts in a poll of Time Out contributors, with editor Joshua Rothkopf praising it as a piece of self-referential hilarity in its own right. In October 2013, Stardust Memories was voted by the Guardian readers as the eighth best film directed by Woody Allen, Stardust Memories opened in North America on September 26,1980 to an onslaught of bad reviews. At 29 theatres, it grossed $326,779 in its opening weekend, the film failed to attract more than Allens loyal fanbase in the long run, and it grossed $10,389,003 by the end of its run
17.
The Paper Chase (TV series)
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The Paper Chase is an American drama television series based on a 1970 novel by John Jay Osborn, Jr. as well as a 1973 film based on the novel. It follows the lives of law student James T. Hart, the CBS television network aired the series in the 1978–1979 season. John Houseman reprised his role, and James Stephens played Hart. It was cancelled one year, PBS subsequently rebroadcast all of the episodes. In 1983, pay-cable network Showtime brought back the show with both Houseman and Stephens, as well as other members of the original television cast. At the end of the season, Hart finally graduates from law school. James T. Hart is a law student from rural Minnesota who enters the intensely competitive environment of Harvard Law School and he has chosen Harvard specifically to study with Professor Charles W. Kingsfield, the worlds leading authority on contract law. Kingsfield inspires both awe and fear in his students in his determination to prepare them for the practice of law. To cope with the workload, Hart joins a study group organized by Franklin Ford III. Ford is under pressure to succeed. His family has produced a string of outstanding lawyers going back generations, culminating in his demanding father. The study group includes smooth woman-chaser Thomas Craig Anderson, slob Willis Bell, idealistic activist Elizabeth Logan, and struggling Jonathan Brooks, of these students, Brooks left Harvard Law School after he was caught cheating. Hart works part-time at Ernies Tavern to help pay his way through school, in the pilot, he worked at a pizza parlor, and worked alongside a waitress who showed him the ropes, played by Marilu Henner. He would find her a friend who helped him with mistakes. Hart survives the first year with flying colors and joins the staff of Harvard Law Review and he becomes seriously involved with a new law student, Connie Lehman, only to lose her. Later, he clashes with Law Review rival Rita Harriman. Bell, working as an adviser, is smitten with one of his charges, Laura Kiernan. Hart, now in his year, is joined by two new students, Franklin Fords younger brother Tom and former housewife Rose Samuels
18.
Night Court
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Night Court is an American television situation comedy that aired on NBC from January 4,1984, to May 31,1992. The setting was the shift of a Manhattan municipal court, Criminal Court Part 2, presided over by a young, unorthodox judge. The series was created by comedy writer Reinhold Weege, who had worked on Barney Miller in the 1970s. Night Court, according to the first season DVD, was created without comedian/magician Harry Anderson in mind, Anderson had developed a following with his performances on Saturday Night Live and made several successful appearances as con man Harry the Hat on another NBC sitcom, Cheers. In later seasons, while Anderson remained the key figure, John Larroquette became a popular personality winning a number of awards, the comedy style of Night Court changed as the series progressed. During its initial seasons, the show was compared to Barney Miller. But, while the characters appearing in the courtroom were often whimsical, bizarre or humorously inept, in an early review of the show, Time magazine called Night Court, with its emphasis on non-glamorous, non-violent petty crime, the most realistic law show on the air. Gradually, however, Night Court abandoned its initial real world setting, in the opening episode of Season 4, a ventriloquist dummy talks on his own without the ventriloquist to Dan, who panics and shouts while backing away slowly down the hall. When asked by Harry why they claimed West Virginia at first, Bob replies and it was just the first exotic place that popped into my head. The Wheelers were notoriously unlucky and were brought in on hilariously pathetic circumstances. He was very young for a new judge, being only 34 when he took the bench at Criminal Court Part 2 and his zany antics and goofball sense of humor were tempered by infinite compassion and sincere belief that everyone had good in them. Harry could be a little self-righteous at times, but more often than not was the compass of the show. Harry loved movies and fashions from the 1940s, was vocal in his disdain for modern music, the public defenders, Gail Strickland as uptight by-the-book public defender Sheila Gardner. Paula Kelly as Liz Williams, prior to the addition of Mac to the show, ellen Foley as Billie Young, a public defender and potential romantic interest for Harry Stone during Season 2. Post had been Reinhold Weeges first choice for the part but due to her other commitments could not take it, the Sullivan character was attractive, honest to a fault, and somewhat naïve. She was the romantic interest for Stone and a regular target for Dan Fieldings lechery throughout the series run. She had various Princess Diana memorabilia collections such as a set of porcelain thimbles and it was hinted that he frequented dominatrices. He was the source of witty and sometimes cruel remarks regarding almost every other character
19.
Rod Serling
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Serling was active in politics, both on and off the screen, and helped form television industry standards. He was known as the young man of Hollywood, clashing with television executives and sponsors over a wide range of issues including censorship, racism. Serling was born on December 25,1924, in Syracuse, New York and he was the second of two sons born to Esther and Samuel Lawrence Serling. Serlings father had worked as a secretary and amateur inventor before having children, sam Serling later became a butcher after the Great Depression forced the store to close. Rod had a brother, Robert J. Serling. Serling spent most of his youth 70 miles south of Syracuse in the city of Binghamton after his family moved there in 1926 and his parents encouraged his talents as a performer. Sam Serling built a stage in the basement, where Rod often put on plays. His older brother, writer Robert, recalled that, at the age of six or seven, Rod often talked to people around him without waiting for their answers. On a two-hour-long trip from Binghamton to Syracuse, the rest of the family remained silent to see if Rod would notice their lack of participation and he did not, talking nonstop through the entire car ride. In elementary school, Serling was seen as the class clown, however, his seventh-grade English teacher, Helen Foley, encouraged him to enter the schools public speaking extracurriculars. He joined the team and was a speaker at his high school graduation. He began writing for the newspaper, in which, according to the journalist Gordon Sander. He was also interested in sports and excelled at tennis and table tennis, when he attempted to join the varsity football team, he was told he was too small at 5 feet 4 inches tall. Serling was interested in radio and writing at an early age and he listened to various radio programs, especially thrillers with a fantasy or horror feel. Arch Oboler and Norman Corwin were two of his favorite writers and he also did some staff work at a Binghamton radio station. He was accepted into college during his year of high school. As editor of his school newspaper, Serling encouraged his fellow students to support the war effort. He wanted to leave school before graduation to join the fight, War is a temporary thing, Gus Youngstrom told him
20.
The Twilight Zone
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The Twilight Zone is an American television anthology series created by Rod Serling. A popular and critical success, it introduced many Americans to common science fiction, the original series, shot entirely in black and white, ran for five seasons from 1959 to 1964. The success of the led to a feature film, a radio series, a comic book, a magazine. The first revival ran on CBS and in syndication in the 1980s, TV Guide ranked the original TV series #5 in their 2013 list of the 60 greatest dramas of all time. As a boy, Rod Serling was a fan of pulp fiction stories, as an adult, he sought topics with themes such as racism, government, war, society, and human nature in general. Serling decided to combine these two interests as a way to broach these subjects on television at a time such issues were not commonly addressed. Throughout the 1950s, Serling established himself as one of the most popular names in television and he was as famous for writing televised drama as he was for criticizing the mediums limitations. His most vocal complaints concerned censorship, which was practiced by sponsors. I was not permitted to have my senators discuss any current or pressing problem, he said of his 1957 production The Arena, to talk of tariff was to align oneself with the Republicans, to talk of labor was to suggest control by the Democrats. To say a single thing germane to the current political scene was absolutely prohibited, CBS purchased a teleplay in 1958 that writer Rod Serling hoped to produce as the pilot of a weekly anthology series. The Time Element marked Serlings first entry in the field of science fiction, several years after the end of World War II, a man named Peter Jenson visits a psychoanalyst, Dr. Gillespie. Jenson tells him about a dream in which he tries to warn people about the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor before it happens. Jenson believes the events of the dream are real, and each night he travels back to 1941, Dr. Gillespie insists that time travel is impossible given the nature of temporal paradoxes. While on the couch, Jenson falls asleep again and dreams that the Japanese planes shoot. In Dr. Gillespies office, the couch Jenson was lying on is now empty, Dr. Gillespie goes to a bar where he finds Jensons picture on the wall. The bartender tells him that Jenson had tended there, but he was killed during the Pearl Harbor attack, the Time Element was purchased immediately, but shelved indefinitely. The Time Element debuted on November 24,1958, to an overwhelmingly delighted audience of television viewers, the humor and sincerity of Mr. Serlings dialogue made The Time Element consistently entertaining, offered Jack Gould of The New York Times. Over 6000 letters of praise flooded Granets offices, convinced that a series based on such stories could succeed, CBS again began talks with Serling about the possibilities of producing The Twilight Zone
21.
Mama's Family
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Mamas Family is an American television sitcom starring Vicki Lawrence as Thelma Harper. The series is a spin-off of a series of comedy sketches called The Family featured on The Carol Burnett Show. That led to the movie, Eunice, and finally the television series. The shows theme song is Bless My Happy Home by Peter Matz, the shows producers chose to use an instrumental version. Mamas Family originally aired on NBC, debuting on January 22,1983, after several timeslot changes and subsequent drop in ratings, the network cancelled the series, the final episode aired on April 7,1984. NBC broadcast reruns until September 1985, the revived series, produced by JHP and distributed by Lorimar-Telepictures, premiered on September 27,1986. The syndicated version garnered substantially higher ratings than its network version did and its four season-run ended on February 24,1990. The show, set in the city of Raytown, revolves around the misadventures of the Harper family, extended non-Harper family members. Thelmas snappy retorts and fretful wisecracks are particularly highlighted with a gag in which the final scenes of each episode cut to an exterior shot of her house. While the exterior of Thelmas house displays, shes heard riposting the comments of whoever has previously spoken and this is then followed by audience laughter and applause. In spite of the many digs and fretful wisecracks that Mama regularly and casually makes about her family and she allows her various family members to live in her home, who would otherwise have no place to live. Beyond providing her resident family members shelter, Thelma routinely cooks for, despite her nurturance, Thelmas various family members can be ingrates, even banding together and ganging up on Thelma on occasion. Shortly after the highly rated Eunice TV movie and continued urgings by Korman and Burnett, Lawrence finally changed her mind, Lawrence also had a great deal of creative input and made many important decisions, including bringing in Korman to co-direct the series. For one and a half seasons from 1983 through 1984, Mamas Family ran on NBC, in the series first episode, Thelma Harper lives with her uptight spinster sister Fran, a journalist for a local paper. Thelmas son, Vinton, stops by to inform Thelma that he, much to Frans chagrin, Thelma allows Vint, Sonja and Buzz to move in. During the first season, Vinton forged a relationship with the Harpers flirtatious next-door neighbor, Naomi Oates, and soon married her. After selling her house and losing the money in a bad deal, Naomi and Vint are forced to move into Thelmas basement. Also seen on a recurring basis were Thelmas two daughters, the snobbish Ellen and the ornery Eunice, Harvey Korman, who directed many of the earlier episodes, made featured appearances as Eunices husband, Ed Higgins
22.
Cheers
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Cheers is an American sitcom that ran on NBC from September 30,1982 to May 20,1993, with a total of 270 half-hour episodes spanning over eleven seasons. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association with Paramount Network Television, the show was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles. The show is set in a bar named Cheers in Boston, Massachusetts, where a group of locals meet to drink, relax, the shows main theme song, written and performed by Gary Portnoy lent its famous refrain Where Everybody Knows Your Name as the shows tagline. After premiering on September 30,1982, it was canceled during its first season when it ranked almost last in ratings for its premiere. Cheers, however, eventually became a highly rated show in the United States, earning a top-ten rating during eight of its eleven seasons. The show spent most of its run on NBCs Thursday night Must See TV lineup and its widely watched series finale was broadcast on May 20,1993, and the shows 270 episodes have been successfully syndicated worldwide. Nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series for all eleven of its seasons on the air, the character Frasier Crane was featured in his eponymous spin-off show, which aired until 2004 and included guest appearances by virtually all of the major and minor Cheers characters. During its run, Cheers became one of the most popular series of all time and has received critical acclaim. In 1997, the episodes Thanksgiving Orphans and Home Is the Sailor, aired originally in 1987, were respectively ranked No.7, in 2002, Cheers was ranked No.18 on TV Guides 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time. In 2013, the Writers Guild of America ranked it as the eighth best written TV series, before the Cheers pilot Give Me a Ring Sometime was completed and aired in 1982, the series originally consisted of four employees in the first script. Neither Norm Peterson nor Cliff Clavin, regular customers of Cheers, were featured, in later years, Woody Boyd replaces Coach, who dies off-screen in season four to account for actor Nicholas Colasantos death. Frasier Crane starts as a character and becomes a permanent character. In season six, they added a new character Rebecca Howe, Lilith Sternin starts as a one-time character in an episode of season four, Second Time Around. After she appears in two episodes in five, she becomes a recurring character, and later featured as a permanent one for season ten. Ted Danson portrays Sam Malone, a bartender and an owner of Cheers, before the series began, he was a baseball relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox nicknamed Mayday Malone until he became an alcoholic, harming his career. He has an on-again, off-again relationship with Diane Chambers, his class opposite, during their off-times, Sam has flings with many not-so-bright sexy women, yet fails to pursue a meaningful relationship and fails to seduce other women, such as intellectuals. After Diane is written out of the series, he tries to pursue Rebecca Howe, at the end of the series, he is still unmarried and recovering from sexual addiction with a help of Dr. Robert Suttons group meetings, advised by Frasier. Shelley Long portrays Diane Chambers, an academic, sophisticated graduate student, in the pilot Diane is abandoned by her fiancé, leaving her without a job, a man, or money
23.
Tales from the Darkside
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Tales from the Darkside is an American anthology horror TV series created by George A. Romero, it debuted in 1983. Each episode was a short story that often ended with a plot twist. The series episodes spanned the genres of horror, science fiction, and fantasy, the moderate success of George A. Romeros horror anthology film Creepshow led to initial inquiries about the possibilities of a Creepshow series. Some episodes of the series were written by or adapted from the works of famous authors, stephen Kings short stories Word Processor of the Gods and Sorry, Right Number were amongst them. Works by Frederik Pohl, Harlan Ellison, Clive Barker, Michael Bishop, Robert Bloch, John Cheever, Michael McDowell, a number of stories and episode novelizations were published in the book Tales from the Darkside, Volume One in 1988. The series was followed by Tales from the Darkside, The Movie in 1990, stephen King also contributed a short story to this film, The Cat From Hell. The film starred Deborah Harry, Christian Slater, William Hickey, Steve Buscemi, tom Savini has called this film The real Creepshow 3. The series was syndicated weekly by Tribune Broadcasting, with most stations airing it after midnight. After ending production, it was picked up by LBS Communications for barter-based syndication, Worldvision Enterprises later became the series distributor, and the rights currently are held by Worldvision successor CBS Television Distribution. The opening/closing theme to the series was performed by Donald Rubinstein, Donald had worked on scores for Laurel Productions in the past, such as the films Martin and Knightriders. But. there is, unseen by most, an underworld, a place that is just as real, each episode would also end with a second voice-over during the closing credits, The darkside is always there, waiting for us to enter - waiting to enter us. Until next time, try to enjoy the daylight, see List of Tales from the Darkside episodes. CBS Home Entertainment has released the four seasons of Tales from the Darkside on DVD in Region 1, in Region 2, Revelation Films has released all four seasons on DVD in the UK. The DVD release contains an altered soundtrack without the music score. Episodes released on VHS during the 1980s do contain the music score throughout. In November 2013, it was announced that Joe Hill, Alex Kurtzman, at Comic Con 2014 Joe Hill announced that he would serve as the creative director and will guide the course of the show. When asked about the project Hill said, Darkside is a reboot of Tales From The Darkside. It tells stories about different characters and it also tells an ongoing story
24.
San Diego Comic-Con International
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San Diego Comic-Con International is a multi-genre entertainment and comic convention held annually in San Diego, California. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International, San Diego and it is a four-day event held during the summer at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego. On the Wednesday evening prior to the opening of the event, there is a preview for professionals, exhibitors. Comic-Con International also produces two other conventions, WonderCon, held in Los Angeles, and the Alternative Press Expo and it is also the home of the Will Eisner Awards. In 2010, it filled the San Diego Convention Center to capacity with more than 130,000 attendees, the convention was founded in 1970 by Shel Dorf, Richard Alf, Ken Krueger, Mike Towry, Barry Alfonso, Bob Sourk, and Greg Bear. Detroit, Michigan-born, comics fan Shel Dorf, had, in the mid-1960s, mounted the Detroit Triple-Fan Fairs, one of the first commercial comics-fan conventions. When he moved to San Diego, California, in 1970, he organized a convention on March 21,1970. Dorf went on to be associated with the convention as president or manager, variously, Alf co-chaired the first convention with Krueger and became chairman in 1971. Following the initial gathering, Dorfs first three-day San Diego comics convention, other locations in the conventions early years included the El Cortez Hotel, the University of California, San Diego, and Golden Hall, before being moved to the San Diego Convention Center in 1991. I was quietly walking the floor stunned and in awe of just how much bigger it really was, the convention is organized by a panel of 13 board members,16 to 20 full-time and part-time workers, and 80 volunteers who assist via committees. Comic Con International is an organization, and proceeds of the event go to funding it, as well as the Alternative Press Expo. The convention logo was designed by Richard Bruning and Josh Beatman in 1995, in September 2010, the convention announced that it would stay in San Diego through 2015. In 2015, working with Lionsgate, a channel was created to host Comic-Con related content. According to the San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau, the convention has a regional economic impact of $162.8 million. Along with panels, seminars, and workshops with comic book professionals, there are previews of upcoming feature films, like most comic-book conventions, Comic-Con features a large floorspace for exhibitors. These include media companies such as studios and TV networks, as well as comic-book dealers. And like most comics conventions, Comic-Con includes an area, as well as the Artists Alley where comics artists can sign autographs. Despite the name, artists alleys can include writers and even models, academics and comic industry professionals annually hold the Comics Arts Conference at Comic-Con, presenting scholarly studies on comics as a medium
25.
Star Trek Generations
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Star Trek Generations is a 1994 American science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures. Generations is the feature film based on Star Trek, and is the first film in the series to star the cast of the television series Star Trek. Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise-D teams up with his predecessor Captain James T, Kirk to stop a villain from destroying a planet. Parts of the film were shot at the Valley of Fire State Park near Overton, Nevada, Paramount Studios, while the film received mixed reviews from critics, it performed well at the box office. In the year 2293, retired Captain James T. Kirk, Montgomery Scott, during the voyage, Enterprise is pressed into a rescue mission to save two El-Aurian ships from a strange energy ribbon. Enterprise is able to some of the refugees before their ships are destroyed. In 2371, the crew of the USS Enterprise-D celebrate the promotion of Worf to Lieutenant Commander, Captain Jean-Luc Picard receives a message that his brother and nephew were killed in a fire, meaning the storied Picard family line will end with him. Enterprise receives a call from an observatory in orbit of the star Amargosa. The android Data and engineer Geordi La Forge discover a compound called trilithium in a room of the observatory. Soran appears, knocks La Forge unconscious, and launches a solar probe at Amargosa. The probe causes the star to implode, sending a shock wave toward the observatory, Data is rescued just before the station is destroyed by the shock wave. Guinan, Enterprises bartender, tells Captain Jean-Luc Picard more about Soran, Guinan explains that Soran is obsessed with reentering the Nexus, an extra-dimensional realm where time has no meaning and anyone can experience whatever they desire. Upon entering the Veridian system, Enterprise makes contact with the Duras Bird of Prey, Picard offers himself to the sisters in exchange for La Forge, but insists that he be transported to Sorans location first. La Forge is returned to Enterprise, but he inadvertently reveals Enterprises shield frequency, Enterprise destroys the Bird of Prey, but has sustained irreversible damage to its warp core. Commander William Riker orders an evacuation to the saucer section of the ship which separates from the star drive. The shock wave from the star drives destruction sends the saucer crashing to the surface of Veridian III, Picard fails to talk Soran out of his plan and is too late to stop him from launching his missile. The collapse of the Veridian star alters the course of the Nexus ribbon as predicted, in the Nexus, Picard finds himself surrounded by the family he never had, including a wife and children, but realizes it is an illusion. He is confronted by an echo of Guinan, after being told that he may leave whenever he chooses and go wherever and whenever he wishes, Guinan sends him to meet Kirk, also safe in the Nexus
26.
Star Trek: Insurrection
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Star Trek, Insurrection is a 1998 American science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures. It is the feature film in the Star Trek film franchise. In addition to that cast, F. Murray Abraham, Donna Murphy, the crew of the USS Enterprise-E rebel against Starfleet after they discover a conspiracy with a species known as the Sona to steal the peaceful Bakus planet for its rejuvenating properties. Paramount Pictures sought a change in pace after the film, Star Trek. Michael Piller was asked to write the script, which was created from story ideas by Piller, the storys first drafts featured the Romulans, and the Sona and Baku were introduced in the third draft. After Ira Steven Behr reviewed the script, Piller revised it, the ending was further revised after test screenings. The special effects depicting outer space were completely computer generated, a first for a Star Trek film, the Baku village was fully built on location at Lake Sherwood, California, but suffered weather damage. Sets from the television series Star Trek, Voyager and Star Trek, Michael Westmore created the make-up for the new alien races, and Robert Blackman revised the Starfleet dress uniform designs. Sanja Milkovic Hayes created costumes for the Baku from cellulose fibers, Jerry Goldsmith produced the films score, his fourth for the franchise. Insurrection was the film on its opening weekend, making US$22.4 million. The film made over $70.1 million in the United States and Canada, Insurrection was nominated for both a Saturn Award and a Hugo Award, but the only award it received was a Youth in Film Award for Michael Welch. The film has released on videotape, DVD and Blu-ray home video formats. Lieutenant Commander Data is temporarily transferred to an undercover mission observing the peaceful Baku people, while on their planet, he malfunctions and reveals the presence of the joint Federation–Sona task force observing the Baku. Admiral Matthew Dougherty contacts the USS Enterprise-E to obtain Datas schematics, Captain Picard decides to ignore these orders and takes the Enterprise to capture Data. After stopping Data, Captain Jean-Luc Picard becomes suspicious of Doughertys insistence that the Enterprise is no longer needed and his crew investigates the cause of Datas malfunction. They discover that the Baku have advanced technology, but have rejected its use to live simpler lives, due to unique radiation or metaphasic particles emanating from their planets rings, they are effectively immortal. Doughertys allies, the Sona, are a race who use medical techniques to prevent death. The Enterprise crew also begin to experience the effects of the planet
27.
Star Trek: Nemesis
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Star Trek, Nemesis is a 2002 American science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures. It is the film in the Star Trek film franchise and is the fourth and last film to star the cast of the television program Star Trek. It was directed by Stuart Baird and written by John Logan, principal photography took place from November 2001 to March 2002. Jerry Goldsmith composed the films score, the film was released in North America on December 13,2002. The film received mixed reviews, with publications criticizing the film for being the least successful in the Star Trek franchise. The film went on to earn $67,312,826 worldwide, following the failure of the film and the cancellation of Star Trek, Enterprise, Berman and Erik Jendresen began development on the unproduced Star Trek, The Beginning. Three years later, Viacom split from CBS Corporation and Paramount eventually rebooted the series in 2009 with Star Trek by J. J. Abrams. On Romulus members of the Romulan Imperial Senate debate whether to accept the terms of peace and alliance with the Reman rebel leader Shinzon, the Remans are a slave race of the Romulan Empire, used as miners and as cannon fodder. A faction of the military is in support of Shinzon, but the Praetor, after rejecting the motion, the Praetor and remaining senators are disintegrated by a device left in the room by a military-aligned senator. Meanwhile, the crew of the USS Enterprise-E prepare to bid farewell to first officer Commander William Riker and Counselor Deanna Troi, en route, they discover a positronic energy reading on a planet in the Kolaran system near the Romulan Neutral Zone. Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Lieutenant Commander Worf, and Lieutenant Commander Data land on Kolarus III, when the android is reassembled it introduces itself as B-4. The crew deduce it to be a less-advanced, earlier version of Data, Picard is contacted by Vice-Admiral Kathryn Janeway and orders the ship on a diplomatic mission to nearby Romulus. Janeway explains that the Romulan Empire has been taken over in a coup by Shinzon. On arrival, they learn Shinzon is a clone of Picard, the project was abandoned when he was still a child and he was left on Remus to die as a slave. After many years, Shinzon became a leader of the Remans, and constructed his heavily armed flagship, there are also unexpected attempts to communicate with the Enterprise computers, and Shinzon himself violates Trois mind through the telepathy of his Reman viceroy. Dr. Crusher discovers that Shinzon is aging rapidly because of the used to clone him. Shinzon kidnaps Picard from the Enterprise, as well as B-4, however, Data reveals he has swapped places with B-4, rescues Picard, and returns with Picard to the Enterprise. The Enterprise races back to Federation space but is ambushed by the Scimitar in the Bassen Rift, Two Romulan Warbirds come to the aid of the Enterprise, as they do not want to be complicit in Shinzons genocidal plans, but Shinzon destroys one and disables the other
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Star Trek: The Next Generation - A Final Unity
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Star Trek, The Next Generation – A Final Unity is an adventure game by Spectrum HoloByte, based on the Star Trek universe. The cast of Star Trek, The Next Generation reprise their roles, while on routine patrol of the Romulan neutral zone, the Enterprise intercepts a distress signal from the crew of a Garidian scout ship, seeking asylum in Federation space. After a brief confrontation with the commander of a Garidian Warbird, one of the refugees mentions to Captain Picard that they are in search of the Lawgivers legendary Fifth Scroll, which could aid in preventing war on Garid. Picard agrees to assist them, and the crew of the Enterprise sets out in search of clues to the location of the scroll, the storyline takes place around stardate 47111.1, according to the opening sequence of the game. This would place the events of the game between the first two episodes of the season of the series, Descent and Liaisons. The non-canonical Chodak race reappear in the Star Trek Generations game, gameplay is mostly linear in nature, sometimes branching partially depending on choices made during various conversations. On board the Enterprise, gameplay basically amounts to waiting until the ship arrives at its next destination, there are various areas of the main bridge that can be interacted with to control the ship and consult with various people. The conference lounge allows the player to ask advice from the Garidian refugees, the Conn can be used to change the ships destination and speed. Various information on planets, alien species, and previous missions can be accessed from the Ops console, the tactical console is manned by Lt. Worf. Accessing it automatically brings the ship to red alert status, during the occasional battle with an enemy ship, control of the tactical console can be delegated to Lt. Worf, or controlled by the player. The turbolift allows for access to areas of the ship. From engineering, power levels can be adjusted and resources applied toward damaged systems can be designated, control of engineering can be delegated to Lt. Cmdr. Players can manipulate engineering to such a degree it is possible to cause a warp core breach or eject the warp core, in the transporter room, an away team can be assembled and an inventory chosen, though each mission has an automatically assigned away team. On the holodeck, any previous cutscenes can be viewed, as well as a brief tutorial going over the controls of the ship. The majority of the takes place by controlling an away team on various space stations and alien worlds. The away team is selected by the player and is controlled in a point-and-click manner by selecting the desired command from the interface in the lower area of the screen. Items in the inventory can be used to interact with the environment in much the same way, as in most adventure games, inventory items are used to solve various puzzles. The comments and responses of the characters vary depending on the combination the player chose, upon completion of the away mission, the team is beamed up, and the Enterprise awaits further orders or acts with the new information provided by the away mission
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Star Trek: Hidden Evil
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Star Trek, Hidden Evil is a third-person action-adventure video game released in 1999 by Activision. It was developed by Presto Studios over the course of a year, the critical response to the game has been mostly negative, with it receiving a score of 53% on review aggregator website GameRankings. Criticism has been directed at the length of the game. The game is a sequel to the ninth Star Trek movie, Star Trek, the Sona and the Baku now live in peace on the planet, and a Starfleet outpost has been set up to monitor the situation. Sona construction uncovers ancient ruins and Captain Jean-Luc Picard is sent to investigate, the player plays the character of Ensign Sovok, who becomes embroiled in a plot to harness the destructive powers of a coveted genetic seed. The player must engage alien forces and outwit foes in a series of missions, jens reprised the role of the Progenitor that she had previously played in The Next Generation episode The Chase. Ensign Sovok is voiced by Christopher Gorham, similar to the Resident Evil series of games, the characters in Hidden Evil are modeled using 3D computer graphics and move around a static two-dimensional background. As the character moves from screen to screen, the camera angle changes each time. The player also makes use of a variety of items from the Star Trek universe such as phasers, tricorders, hyposprays and the communicator, Presto Studios were hired by Activision to create a tie-in game for Star Trek, Insurrection. One requirement was that the game had to come out before Christmas,1999 and it gave the game an average score of four out of ten, which included a mark of one out of ten for lasting appeal. GameSpot described the character animations during dialogue sequences as singularly unimpressive, however, it said that it plummets like a rock once the player departs Baku. It described the combat sequences as uniformly uninteresting and thought that the left the gamer with a bad taste in their mouths thats likely to linger for a long time. Joshua Mintzer played the game for website Adventure Classic Gaming, and compared it to Star Trek and he thought that while A Final Unity seemed grand in scope, Hidden Evil seemed more like a Star Trek comic book. Mintzer described Hidden Evil as 2,891 phaser shots connected by some irrelevant puzzles and he thought the game seemed rushed and thought it made a mockery of the earlier and better Star Trek games such as A Final Unity and Star Trek, Judgment Rites. However, he criticized the replay value of the game saying that dont count on playing Star Trek. Star Trek, Hidden Evil at Memory Alpha Star Trek, Hidden Evil at the Internet Movie Database
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Star Trek: Bridge Commander
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Star Trek, Bridge Commander is a space combat simulation video game, published by Activision and Totally Games in 2002, based in the Star Trek universe. The plot revolves around a newly promoted captain who is assigned to investigate an explosion of a star in the Maelstrom, throughout the mystery, the player will often encounter characters from the Star Trek universe, including Captain Picard and Commander Data. The captain and his crew take command of the Galaxy-class USS Dauntless as well as the USS Sovereign to combat a new threat to the Federation, the game allows two different styles of gameplay, storyline mode and quick battle mode. Quick battle mode allows for customized scenarios within an environment, allowing the player to pick their allies/enemies, system. With the advent of modding for Star Trek, Bridge Commander, custom missions, there are several game play modes in Bridge Commander, with the main two means of control being the bridge view and the tactical view. A variety of shortcut keys work in the manner in both modes. Additional modes in the include the map mode and the cinematic mode. In this way, the game simulates being in command of a starship, for example, a player could issue the command to intercept a fleeing starship through the Helm menu, or order Lt. Felix Savali, the tactical officer to destroy an enemy ship. An AI would then pilot the ship for the player, Bridge Commander incorporates a Quick Battle mode which is a combat simulation that allows the player to control any ship encountered during the course of the game. There is also a selection of a system which on rare occasions, players also have the option to switch to an external ship view, and carry out many piloting and weapons functions themselves. In this view, they are able to view various tactical indicators, the USS Dauntless is in orbit of planet Vesuvi III. The Dauntless crew is given the USS Sovereign, the USS Enterprise-Es sister ship. They also undergo a shakedown cruise to check for bugs in the systems which results in a simulated battle against the USS Geronimo. Additionally, Lieutenant Commander Data from the Enterprise is temporarily assigned to the Sovereign to assist in the investigation, initial hostilities with the Romulans briefly lead the crew to suspect them as the culprits, but further evidence reveals a renegade faction of Cardassians are responsible. They are led by Legate Matan, the central villain. Matan is assisted by a new race of aliens called the Kessok whom Matan exploited and lied to in order to gain their cooperation. While searching for the technology that destroyed the Vesuvi star in the Alioth system, the revelation of the Cardassians responsibility for the destruction of the Vesuvi star leads to a full-scale war between the Federation and Matans faction. Additionally, a Federation–Klingon–Romulan alliance is formed to put an end to the war in the final missions
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Star Trek: Enterprise
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Star Trek, Enterprise is an American science fiction television series created by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga as a prequel to Star Trek, The Original Series. It originally aired from September 26,2001 to May 13,2005 on UPN, Set in the 22nd century 100 years before the USS Enterprises five-year mission, the series follows the adventures of the crew of the first Starfleet starship, Enterprise, as they explore the galaxy. An ongoing storyline, referred to as the Temporal Cold War, continued through the third season, in the third season, an escalation of this campaign introduced the Xindi and dealt with the repercussions of their attack on Earth. After being asked to produce a fifth Star Trek series by UPN, Braga and Berman sought to create a basic and relatable series set after the events of the film Star Trek. The episodes concentrated on a trio of characters, Captain Jonathan Archer, Commander Charles Trip Tucker III. It was filmed on the Paramount lot in Los Angeles, California, on the stages that had housed the Star Trek series and films since the abandoned Star Trek. Although Berman and Braga wanted to do a prequel to the original Star Trek series. At the start of the season, Braga said that the storyline would continue to be included while viewers were still interested. The pilot, Broken Bow, was received positively by critics, with praise for the writing and its ratings were good enough that a full seven-season order was expected. However, reviews became more mixed as the first season progressed, by the following season, reviews improved during the last two seasons, but ratings continued to decline. UPN cut its orders for the third and fourth seasons by two episodes each, and canceled the series in 2005. Prior to cancellation, work had begun on planning episodes for the fifth season. Star Trek, Enterprise follows the adventures of the crew of the starship Enterprise and they are the first deep space explorers in Starfleet, using the first Warp 5 equipped vessel. At the start of the series, it is revealed that the Vulcans have withheld advanced technology from humanity since their first contact, concerned that humans were not ready for it. This has delayed human space exploration and caused resentment in Captain Jonathan Archer, whose father developed the Warp 5 engine, Enterprise was intentionally equipped with less advanced versions of technologies seen in previous series. For example, it has no tractor beam, uses instead of photon torpedoes. Communications Officer Linguist Hoshi Satos expertise in linguistics helps compensate for the lack of advanced universal translators, the series also showed the crew making first contacts with a number of races previously seen in the franchise. This particular change was attributed by Berman and Braga to advancements in makeup and they felt that contradictions in the continuity such as the Klingon ridges were unavoidable, as well as those involving technology
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Ol' Yellow Eyes Is Back
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Ol Yellow Eyes Is Back is an album by Brent Spiner, best known for his role as Data in the American television series Star Trek, The Next Generation, first released in June 1991. The title is a reference both to Frank Sinatras Ol Blue Eyes Is Back and the Data character, whose eyes are golden yellow. On the album, Spiner is backed by the orchestra from that series as he sings a number of old pop standards, in the liner notes, Spiner wrote of Sinatras You Make Me Feel So Young, Sinatra at his awesome best. This song and dozens of others accompanied every dinner I ate between the ages of five and thirteen. My stepfather, a saxophone player and a hell of a mambo dancer, had put together one of the all time great collections of popular music recordings anywhere. C. A. Spiner had help from a number of his colleagues from Star Trek, wendy Neuss, associate producer for the series, and Dennis McCarthy, who scored the music for many of the episodes, co-produced the album with Spiner. Several fellow cast members joined him to sing Its a Sin, appearing under the group name of The Sunspots, a word play on The Ink Spots. McCarthy praised the experience, and compared it to the time he spent earlier in his career on tour with Glen Campbell. According to Spiner, the album was released in Europe against his wishes after he had rejected attempts by the company to renegotiate his contract. Time After Time The Very Thought of You More Than You Know Toot Toot Tootsie Embraceable You Its a Sin Long, Long Time Carolina in the Morning Marie Zing
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Contact lens
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A contact lens, or simply contact, is a thin lens placed directly on the surface of the eye. Contact lenses are considered medical devices and can be worn to correct vision, in 2004, it was estimated that 125 million people use contact lenses worldwide, including 28 to 38 million in the United States. In 2010, worldwide market for contact lenses was estimated at $6.1 billion, multiple analysts estimated that the global market for contact lenses would reach $11.7 billion by 2015. As of 2010, the age of contact lens wearers globally was 31 years old. People choose to wear contact lenses for many reasons, aesthetics and cosmetics are the main motivating factors for people who want to avoid wearing glasses or to change the appearance of their eyes. Others wear contact lenses for functional or optical reasons, when compared with spectacles, contact lenses typically provide better peripheral vision, and do not collect moisture or perspiration, this makes them ideal for sports and other outdoor activities. Contact lens wearers can also wear sunglasses, goggles, or other eyewear of their choice without having to fit them with prescription lenses or worry about compatibility with glasses. Additionally, there are such as keratoconus and aniseikonia that are typically corrected better with contact lenses than with glasses. The size of the contact lens market is likely to due to the increasing occurrence of eye related conditions such as astigmatism. The other drivers are increasing population and the desire to make fashion statements, by the end of 2020, the value of the contact lens market is predicted to reach $13.5 billion. Neither idea was practically implementable in da Vincis time and he did not suggest his idea be used for correcting vision, as he was more interested in learning about the mechanisms of accommodation of the eye. Descartes proposed another idea in 1636, a tube filled with liquid placed in direct contact with the cornea. The protruding end was to be composed of glass, shaped to correct vision, however. In 1801, Thomas Young made a pair of contact lenses based on Descartes model. He used wax to affix water-filled lenses to his eyes, which neutralized its refractive power and he then corrected for it with another pair of lenses. However, like da Vincis, Youngs device was not intended to correct refraction errors and this enabled the manufacture of lenses that, for the first time, conformed to the actual shape of the eye. It was not until 1887 that German glassblower F. E. Muller produced the first eye covering to be seen through, in 1888, German ophthalmologist Adolf Gaston Eugen Fick constructed and fitted the first successful contact lens. These lenses were made from heavy blown glass and were 18–21 mm in diameter, Fick filled the empty space between cornea/callosity and glass with a dextrose solution
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Frank Sinatra
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Francis Albert Sinatra was an American singer, actor, and producer who was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century. He is one of the music artists of all time. Born in Hoboken, New Jersey, to Italian immigrants, Sinatra began his career in the swing era with bandleaders Harry James. Sinatra found success as a solo artist after he signed with Columbia Records in 1943 and he released his debut album, The Voice of Frank Sinatra, in 1946. Sinatras professional career had stalled by the early 1950s, and he turned to Las Vegas and his career was reborn in 1953 with the success of From Here to Eternity, with his performance subsequently winning an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. Sinatra released several critically lauded albums, including In the Wee Small Hours, Come Fly with Me, Only the Lonely and Nice n Easy. Sinatra left Capitol in 1960 to start his own label, Reprise Records. It was followed by 1968s collaboration with Duke Ellington, using his Las Vegas shows as a home base, he toured both within the United States and internationally until a short time before his death in 1998. Sinatra forged a successful career as a film actor. After winning an Academy Award for From Here to Eternity, he starred in The Man with the Golden Arm and he appeared in various musicals such as On the Town, Guys and Dolls, High Society, and Pal Joey, winning another Golden Globe for the latter. Toward the end of his career, he associated with playing detectives. Sinatra would later receive the Golden Globe Cecil B, on television, The Frank Sinatra Show began on ABC in 1950, and he continued to make appearances on television throughout the 1950s and 1960s. While Sinatra never formally learned how to read music, he had a natural, intuitive understanding of it, a perfectionist, renowned for his impeccable dress sense and cleanliness, he always insisted on recording live with his band. His bright blue eyes earned him the popular nickname Ol Blue Eyes, Sinatra led a colorful personal life, and was often involved in turbulent affairs with women, such as with his second wife Ava Gardner. He went on to marry Mia Farrow in 1966 and Barbara Marx in 1976, Sinatra had several violent confrontations, usually with journalists he felt had crossed him, or work bosses with whom he had disagreements. He was honored at the Kennedy Center Honors in 1983, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Ronald Reagan in 1985, Sinatra was also the recipient of eleven Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Trustees Award, Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. After his death, American music critic Robert Christgau called him the greatest singer of the 20th century, Francis Albert Sinatra was born on December 12,1915, in an upstairs tenement at 415 Monroe Street in Hoboken, New Jersey. He was the child of Italian immigrants Antonino Martino Marty Sinatra
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John Adams
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John Adams was an American patriot who served as the second President of the United States and the first Vice President. He was a lawyer, diplomat, statesman, political theorist, and, as a Founding Father and he was also a dedicated diarist and correspondent, particularly with his wife and closest advisor Abigail. He collaborated with his cousin, revolutionary leader Samuel Adams, Adams was a delegate from Massachusetts to the Continental Congress, where he played a leading role in persuading Congress to declare independence. He assisted Thomas Jefferson in drafting the Declaration of Independence in 1776, as a diplomat in Europe, he helped negotiate the eventual peace treaty with Great Britain, and acquired vital governmental loans from Amsterdam bankers. Adams was the author of the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780 which influenced American political theory. Adamss credentials as a revolutionary secured for him two terms as President George Washingtons vice president and also his own election in 1796 as the second president. In his single term as president, he encountered fierce criticism from the Jeffersonian Republicans, as well as the dominant faction in his own Federalist Party, led by his rival Alexander Hamilton. Adams signed the controversial Alien and Sedition Acts, and built up the army, the major accomplishment of his presidency was a peaceful resolution of the conflict in the face of Hamiltons opposition. Due to his strong posture on defense, Adams is often called the father of the American Navy and he was the first U. S. president to reside in the executive mansion, now known as the White House. In 1800, Adams lost re-election to Thomas Jefferson and retired to Massachusetts and he eventually resumed his friendship with Jefferson upon the latters own retirement by initiating a correspondence which lasted fourteen years. He and his wife established a family of politicians, diplomats, Adams was the father of John Quincy Adams, the sixth President of the United States. He died on the anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Modern historians in the aggregate have favorably ranked his administration, John Adams was born on October 30,1735 to John Adams Sr. and Susanna Boylston. He had two brothers, Peter and Elihu. Adams birthplace was then in Braintree, Massachusetts, and is preserved at Adams National Historical Park, Adams mother was from a leading medical family of present-day Brookline, Massachusetts. His father was a Congregationalist deacon, a farmer, a cordwainer, the Deacon also served as a selectman and supervised the building of schools and roads. Adams often praised his father and recalled their close relationship, though raised in modest surroundings, Adams felt an acute responsibility to live up to his familys heritage of reverence. Journalist Richard Brookhiser wrote that Adams Puritan ancestors believed they lived in the Bible, England under the Stuarts was Egypt, they were Israel fleeing
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1776 (musical)
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1776 is a musical with music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone. The story is based on the surrounding the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It dramatizes the efforts of John Adams to persuade his colleagues to vote for American independence and it premiered on Broadway in 1969, earning warm reviews, and ran for 1,217 performances. The production was nominated for five Tony Awards and won three, including the Tony Award for Best Musical, in 1972 it was made into a film adaptation. It was revived on Broadway in 1997, in 1925, Rodgers and Hart had written a musical about the American Revolution, called Dearest Enemy. Edwards recounted that I wanted to show at their outermost limits and these men were the cream of their colonies. They disagreed and fought each other. But they understood commitment, and though they fought, they fought affirmatively, producer Stuart Ostrow recommended that librettist Peter Stone collaborate with Edwards on the book of the musical. Stone recalled, The minute you heard, you knew what the show was. You knew immediately that John Adams and the others were not going to be treated as gods or cardboard characters, chopping down trees and flying kites with strings. It had this very affectionate familiarity, it wasnt reverential, Adams, the outspoken delegate from Massachusetts, was chosen as the central character, and his quest to persuade all 13 colonies to vote for independence became the central conflict. Stone confined nearly all of the action to Independence Hall and the debate among the delegates, after tryouts in New Haven, Conn. and Washington, the show opened on Broadway at the 46th Street Theatre on March 16,1969. NOTE, The show can be performed in one or two acts, on May 8,1776, in Philadelphia, as the Second Continental Congress proceeds with its business. John Adams, the widely disliked delegate from Massachusetts, is frustrated, the other delegates, too preoccupied by the rising heat, implore him to sit down. Adams response is that Congress has done nothing for the last year and he reads the latest missive to his loving wife Abigail, who appears in his imagination. He asks if she and the women are making saltpeter for the war effort but she ignores him and states the women have a more urgent problem. They bicker about it until Adams gives in and they pledge their love to each other, later that day, Adams finds delegate Benjamin Franklin outside. Adams bemoans the failure of his arguments for independence, Franklin suggests that a resolution for independence would have more success if proposed by someone else
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Tony Award
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The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at a ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway productions and performances, and an award is given for regional theatre, several discretionary non-competitive awards are also given, including a Special Tony Award, the Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre, and the Isabelle Stevenson Award. The awards are named after Antoinette Tony Perry, co-founder of the American Theatre Wing, the rules for the Tony Awards are set forth in the official document Rules and Regulations of The American Theatre Wings Tony Awards, which applies for that season only. It also forms the fourth spoke in the EGOT, that is someone who has won all four awards, the Tony Awards are also considered the equivalent of the Laurence Olivier Award in the United Kingdom and the Molière Award of France. From 1997 to 2010, the Tony Awards ceremony was held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City in June and broadcast live on CBS television, except in 1999, in 2011 and 2012, the ceremony was held at the Beacon Theatre. From 2013 to 2015, the 67th, 68th, and 69th ceremonies returned to Radio City Music Hall, the 70th Tony Awards were held on June 12,2016 at the Beacon Theatre. The 71st Tony Awards will be held on June 11,2017, as of 2014, there are 24 categories of awards, plus several special awards. Starting with 11 awards in 1947, the names and number of categories have changed over the years, some examples, the category Best Book of a Musical was originally called Best Author. The category of Best Costume Design was one of the original awards, for two years, in 1960 and 1961, this category was split into Best Costume Designer and Best Costume Designer. It then went to a category, but in 2005 it was divided again. For the category of Best Director of a Play, a category was for directors of plays. A newly established non-competitive award, The Isabelle Stevenson Award, was given for the first time at the ceremony in 2009. The award is for an individual who has made a contribution of volunteered time and effort on behalf of one or more humanitarian. The category of Best Special Theatrical Event was retired as of the 2009–2010 season, the categories of Best Sound Design of a Play and Best Sound Design of a Musical were retired as of the 2014-2015 season. Performance categories Show and technical categories Special awards Retired awards The award was founded in 1947 by a committee of the American Theatre Wing headed by Brock Pemberton. The award is named after Antoinette Perry, nicknamed Tony, an actress, director, producer and co-founder of the American Theatre Wing, who died in 1946. As her official biography at the Tony Awards website states, At Jacob Wilks suggestion, proposed an award in her honor for distinguished stage acting, at the initial event in 1947, as he handed out an award, he called it a Tony
