1.
Hollywood
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Hollywood is an ethnically diverse, densely populated neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. It is notable as the home of the U. S. film industry, including several of its studios, and its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the industry. Hollywood was a community in 1870 and was incorporated as a municipality in 1903. It was consolidated with the city of Los Angeles in 1910, in 1853, one adobe hut stood in Nopalera, named for the Mexican Nopal cactus indigenous to the area. By 1870, an agricultural community flourished, the area was known as the Cahuenga Valley, after the pass in the Santa Monica Mountains immediately to the north. According to the diary of H. J. Whitley, known as the Father of Hollywood, along came a Chinese man in a wagon carrying wood. The man got out of the wagon and bowed, the Chinese man was asked what he was doing and replied, I holly-wood, meaning hauling wood. H. J. Whitley had an epiphany and decided to name his new town Hollywood, Holly would represent England and wood would represent his Scottish heritage. Whitley had already started over 100 towns across the western United States, Whitley arranged to buy the 500-acre E. C. Hurd ranch and disclosed to him his plans for the land. They agreed on a price and Hurd agreed to sell at a later date, before Whitley got off the ground with Hollywood, plans for the new town had spread to General Harrison Gray Otis, Hurds wife, eastern adjacent ranch co-owner Daeida Wilcox, and others. Daeida Wilcox may have learned of the name Hollywood from Ivar Weid, her neighbor in Holly Canyon and she recommended the same name to her husband, Harvey. In August 1887, Wilcox filed with the Los Angeles County Recorders office a deed and parcel map of property he had sold named Hollywood, Wilcox wanted to be the first to record it on a deed. The early real-estate boom busted that year, yet Hollywood began its slow growth. By 1900, the region had a post office, newspaper, hotel, Los Angeles, with a population of 102,479 lay 10 miles east through the vineyards, barley fields, and citrus groves. A single-track streetcar line ran down the middle of Prospect Avenue from it, but service was infrequent, the old citrus fruit-packing house was converted into a livery stable, improving transportation for the inhabitants of Hollywood. The Hollywood Hotel was opened in 1902 by H. J. Whitley who was a president of the Los Pacific Boulevard, having finally acquired the Hurd ranch and subdivided it, Whitley built the hotel to attract land buyers. Flanking the west side of Highland Avenue, the structure fronted on Prospect Avenue, the hotel was to become internationally known and was the center of the civic and social life and home of the stars for many years. Whitleys company developed and sold one of the residential areas
2.
Los Angeles
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Los Angeles, officially the City of Los Angeles and often known by its initials L. A. is the cultural, financial, and commercial center of Southern California. With a census-estimated 2015 population of 3,971,883, it is the second-most populous city in the United States, Los Angeles is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the United States. The citys inhabitants are referred to as Angelenos, historically home to the Chumash and Tongva, Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542 along with the rest of what would become Alta California. The city was founded on September 4,1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence, in 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thereby becoming part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4,1850, the discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city. The completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, delivering water from Eastern California, nicknamed the City of Angels, Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic diversity, and sprawling metropolis. Los Angeles also has an economy in culture, media, fashion, science, sports, technology, education, medicine. A global city, it has been ranked 6th in the Global Cities Index, the city is home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields, and is one of the most substantial economic engines within the United States. The Los Angeles combined statistical area has a gross metropolitan product of $831 billion, making it the third-largest in the world, after the Greater Tokyo and New York metropolitan areas. The city has hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1932 and 1984 and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics and thus become the second city after London to have hosted the Games three times. The Los Angeles area also hosted the 1994 FIFA mens World Cup final match as well as the 1999 FIFA womens World Cup final match, the mens event was watched on television by over 700 million people worldwide. The Los Angeles coastal area was first settled by the Tongva, a Gabrielino settlement in the area was called iyáangẚ, meaning poison oak place. Gaspar de Portolà and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí, reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2,1769, in 1771, Franciscan friar Junípero Serra directed the building of the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, the first mission in the area. The Queen of the Angels is an honorific of the Virgin Mary, two-thirds of the settlers were mestizo or mulatto with a mixture of African, indigenous and European ancestry. The settlement remained a small town for decades, but by 1820. Today, the pueblo is commemorated in the district of Los Angeles Pueblo Plaza and Olvera Street. New Spain achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, during Mexican rule, Governor Pío Pico made Los Angeles Alta Californias regional capital
3.
California
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California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565
4.
Bing Crosby
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Harry Lillis Bing Crosby, Jr. was an American singer and actor. The first multimedia star, from 1931 to 1954 Crosby was a leader in sales, radio ratings. His early career coincided with technical recording innovations such as the microphone and this allowed him to develop a laid-back, intimate singing style that influenced many of the popular male singers who followed him, including Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, Dick Haymes, and Dean Martin. Also in 1948, the Music Digest estimated that Crosby recordings filled more than half of the 80,000 weekly hours allocated to recorded radio music, in 1963, Crosby received the first Grammy Global Achievement Award. He is one of only 33 people to have three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in the categories of motion pictures, radio, Crosby influenced the development of the postwar recording industry. He became the first performer to pre-record his radio shows and master his commercial recordings onto magnetic tape. In addition to his work with early tape recording, he helped to finance the development of videotape, bought television stations, bred racehorses, Crosby died at the age of 74 on October 14,1977, from a sudden heart attack in Alcobendas, Spain. Crosby was born on May 2,1903 in Tacoma, Washington, in 1906, Crosbys family moved to Spokane, and in 1913, Crosbys father built a house at 508 E. Sharp Avenue. The house now sits on the campus of Crosbys alma mater Gonzaga University and he was the fourth of seven children, brothers Larry, Everett, Ted, and Bob, and two sisters, Catherine and Mary Rose. His parents were Harry Lowe Crosby, Sr. a bookkeeper, Crosbys mother was a second generation Irish-American. In 1910, seven-year-old Harry Crosby Jr. was forever renamed, the Sunday edition of the Spokesman-Review published a feature called The Bingville Bugle. Written by humorist Newton Newkirk, The Bingville Bugle was a parody of a hillbilly newsletter filled with gossipy tidbits, minstrel quips, creative spelling, and mock ads. A neighbor, 15-year-old Valentine Hobart, shared Crosbys enthusiasm for The Bugle, and noting Crosbys laugh, took a liking to him, eventually, the last vowel was dropped and the nickname stuck. Crosby later described Jolsons delivery as electric, Crosby graduated from Gonzaga High School in 1920 and enrolled at Gonzaga University. He attended Gonzaga for three years, but did not earn a bachelors degree, as a freshman, he played on the universitys baseball team. The university granted him a doctorate in 1937. In 1923, Crosby was invited to join a new band composed of school students a few years younger than himself. Al Rinker, Miles Rinker, James Heaton, Claire Pritchard and Robert Pritchard, along with drummer Crosby, formed the Musicaladers, the group performed on Spokane radio station KHQ, but disbanded after two years
5.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (season 1)
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Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of the crew of the Starfleet starship Enterprise-D. It was the first live-action television series in the franchise to be broadcast since Star Trek, The Original Series was cancelled in 1969, and the first to feature all new characters. Paramount Television eventually sought the advice of the creator of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry, the characters in the series gradually changed during preproduction, with adjustments made to the names, genders and ethnicity. When the cast was announced at first, LeVar Burton was the main actor highlighted because of his work on the Roots mini series, his character, Geordi La Forge was named for a disabled fan. Although the casting was managed by producers Rick Berman and Robert H. Justman, Roddenberry intervened to switch the characters assigned to Marina Sirtis and Denise Crosby. Sirtis took over Crosbys role as Deanna Troi, and Crosby became Tasha Yar, behind the scenes, the writing team became chaotic. Eddie Milkis had quit prior to casting, with Berman taking over from him, Roddenberrys insistence on re-writing scripts and unusual behaviour alienated some staff. Fontana quit, filing a claim with the Writers Guild of America as she had been acting as editor but was unpaid in the role. Such were the troubles that the series had a problem recruiting potential writers halfway through the season, by the end of the second season, all the writing staff recruited during season one except for Rick Berman had quit. As the series was being launched directly into syndication, there were concerns that it could affect the ratings, while highly anticipated, initial reviews other than for Encounter at Farpoint were poor. The second episode, The Naked Now had fans and critics concerned that The Next Generation would re-hash plots of The Original Series and it was nominated for seven Emmy Awards, winning in makeup, costume design and sound editing. The Big Goodbye was awarded a Peabody Award, while cast member Wil Wheaton was nominated for an award at the 9th Youth in Film Awards, the season was first released on DVD on March 26,2002 on Region 1, and was subsequently released in other regions. The pilot episode of Phase II, entitled In Thy Image was changed to become the first Star Trek film, Star Trek, Paramount spoke to Leonard Nimoy, who was still portraying Spock in the film franchise, about the new series. They offered him the chance of producing the new series, Next, Paramount sought to consult franchise creator Gene Roddenberry. He turned down the idea of running the show, given the time production of The Original Series had distracted him from his family. Although they had not planned on it originally, Paramount hired Roddenberry to oversee the production, however, one of his ideas appeared in the premise of The Next Generation, that the Federation and the Klingons had become allies. The first announcement of a new series was made by Roddenberry publicly on October 10,1986, several stars of The Original Series and the film franchise stated that they did not like the premise of a new series set in the same universe that did not feature them. James Doohan, who played Montgomery Scotty Scott, said that Star Trek was about the characters and with a new cast the studio was trying to fool the public, and thats bad business
6.
Playboy
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Playboy is an American mens lifestyle and entertainment magazine. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, with a presence in nearly every medium. In addition to the magazine in the United States, special nation-specific versions of Playboy are published worldwide. The magazine has a history of publishing short stories by notable novelists such as Arthur C. Clarke, Ian Fleming, Vladimir Nabokov, Saul Bellow, Chuck Palahniuk, P. G. Wodehouse, Haruki Murakami, the magazine generally reflects a liberal editorial stance, although it often interviews conservative celebrities. After a year-long removal of most nude photos in Playboy magazine and he formed HMH Publishing Corporation, and recruited his friend Eldon Sellers to find investors. Hefner eventually raised just over $8,000, including from his brother and mother. However, the publisher of a mens adventure magazine, Stag, contacted Hefner. Hefner, his wife Millie, and Sellers met to seek a new name, considering Top Hat, Gentleman, Sir, Satyr, Pan, the first issue, in December 1953, was undated, as Hefner was unsure there would be a second. He produced it in his Hyde Park kitchen, the first centerfold was Marilyn Monroe, although the picture used originally was taken for a calendar rather than for Playboy. Hefner chose what he deemed the sexiest image, a previously unused nude study of Marilyn stretched with an arm on a red velvet background with closed eyes. The heavy promotion centered around Marilyns nudity on the calendar, together with the teasers in marketing. The first issue sold out in weeks, copies of the first issue in mint to near mint condition sold for over $5,000 in 2002. The novel Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, was serialized in the March, April, an urban legend started about Hefner and the Playmate of the Month because of markings on the front covers of the magazine. From 1955 to 1979, the P in Playboy had stars printed in or around the letter. The legend stated that this was either a rating that Hefner gave to the Playmate according to how attractive she was, the stars, between zero and 12, actually indicated the domestic or international advertising region for that printing. From 1966 to 1976, Robie Macauley was the Fiction Editor at Playboy, P. Donleavy, as well as poetry by Yevgeny Yevtushenko. Macauley also contributed all of the popular Ribald Classics series published between January 1978 and March 1984, christie Hefner, daughter of the founder Hugh Hefner, joined Playboy in 1975 and became head of the company in 1988
7.
Days of Our Lives
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Days of Our Lives is an American daytime soap opera broadcast on the NBC television network. It is one of the scripted television programs in the world. It has since been syndicated to many countries around the world and it rebroadcast same-day episodes on SOAPnet weeknights at 8 and 10 p. m. until the networks closure in 2013. The series was created by husband-and-wife team Ted Corday and Betty Corday. Irna Phillips was an editor for Days of Our Lives. In February 2016, the received a one-year renewal through 2017. Due to the success, it was expanded from 30 minutes to 60 minutes on April 21,1975. The series focuses on its core families, the Hortons and the Bradys, several other families have been added to the cast, and many of them still appear on the show. Frances Reid, the matriarch of the series Horton family remained with the show from its inception to her death on February 3,2010. Suzanne Rogers celebrated 40 years on Days of Our Lives this year, Susan Seaforth Hayes is the only cast member to appear on Days of Our Lives in all five decades it has been on air. Days of Our Lives aired its 10, 000th episode on February 21,2005, the soap was given the title of most daring drama in the seventies due to covering topics other soaps would not dare to do. The shows executive producer is Ken Corday, and co-executive producers are Greg Meng, Days of Our Lives is the most widely distributed soap opera in the United States. The show has had high-profile fans such as actress Julia Roberts, the Cordays and Bell combined the hospital soap idea with the tradition of centering a series on a family, by making the show about a family of doctors, including one who worked in a mental hospital. Former executive producer Al Rabin took pride in the characters passion, critics originally praised the show for its non-reliance on nostalgia and its portrayal of real American contemporary families. The January 12,1976 cover of Time magazine featured Days of Our Lives Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth Hayes, Days of Our lives actors have also won awards, Macdonald Carey won Best Actor in 1974 and 1975. Susan Flannery and Eileen Davidson won Best Actress in 1975 and 2014, suzanne Rogers, Leann Hunley, and Tamara Braun won Best Supporting Actress for, respectively,1979,1986, and 2009 and Billy Warlock won Best Younger Actor for 1988. In January 2007 it was suggested by NBC that the show is unlikely to continue past 2009, in November 2008, in an eleventh-hour decision, it was announced the show had been renewed through September 2010. The 18-month renewal was down from its previous renewal, which was for five years, the show made somewhat of a comeback in 2009, with ratings increasing as the year progressed. The series received a renewal in January 2014 that is set to last until September 2016
8.
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
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Lois & Clark, The New Adventures of Superman is an American television series based on the DC Comics character Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. It stars Dean Cain as Clark Kent/Superman and Teri Hatcher as Lois Lane, the series aired on ABC from September 12,1993 to June 14,1997. Developed for television by Deborah Joy LeVine, the series loosely followed the modern origin of Superman, established by writer John Byrne—where Clark Kent is the true personality and Superman a disguise. As the shows title suggests, the focused on the relationship. The series spawned several tie-in young adults novels and a novel, Lois & Clark, A Superman Novel. The show was entirely in California. On May 17,1966, Jonathan and Martha Kent witness the crash-landing of a spaceship in Shusters Field outside of Smallville. When they investigate, they discover the baby Kal-El and decide to raise him as their own, throughout the series, Clark proudly states his mother made his Superman costume for him. He often consults Jonathan and Martha, either by telephone or in person after impromptu Superman flights to Smallville, about personal and moral concerns and dilemmas. The series opens twenty-seven years later, on the day Clark moves to Metropolis, Clark becomes acquainted with photographer Jimmy Olsen and gossip columnist Cat Grant. Soon after being hired, Clark is partnered with star reporter Lois Lane, Clark falls in love with Lois at first sight, but she considers him to be little more than a rookie slowing her down. When Superman saves her from a space shuttle disaster, Lois instantly becomes infatuated with Clarks alter-ego, Supermans first mission interferes with the illegal dealings of Lex Luthor, a Metropolis business giant and benefactor. After Luthors plot has been stopped, Clark lets him know he is watching him, however, Clark respects Luthors life, even surreptitiously using his superpowers to save Lex from bleeding to death. Luthor develops an interest in Lois Lane and through most of the first season tries to woo her, although Lois is receptive to his romantic advances, Lois also develops feelings for Clark, but represses or denies them. Luthor eventually proposes marriage to Lois, Clark, seeing he may lose Lois, attempts to convince her of Luthors true nature, but fails. In a last-ditch attempt, Clark tells Lois that he is in love with her, she replies that she not return his feelings. Later, Lois asks Superman if there is any chance of a romance between the two of them, Superman turns her down and Lois accepts Luthors proposal. Luthor decides to coincide his nuptials with the death of Superman, who he traps in a cage in the wine cellar of Luthor Tower
9.
The X-Files
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The X-Files is an American science fiction drama television series created by Chris Carter, which originally aired from September 10,1993 to May 19,2002 on Fox. The program spanned nine seasons, included 202 episodes, and a film of the same name. Later in 2008, a film was made and preceded a tenth season revival. The series revolves around FBI special agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully who investigate X-Files, early in the series, both agents become pawns in a larger conflict and come to trust only each other and a very few select people. The agents also discover an agenda of the government to keep the existence of life a secret. They develop a relationship which begins as a platonic friendship. In addition to the story arc, Monster-of-the-Week episodes form roughly two-thirds of all episodes. When creating the characters, Carter sought to reverse gender stereotypes by making Mulder a believer. The first seven seasons featured Duchovny and Anderson equally, in the last two seasons, Anderson took precedence while Duchovny appeared intermittently. New main characters were introduced, FBI agents John Doggett and Monica Reyes, Mulder and Scullys boss, Assistant Director Walter Skinner, also became a main character. The first five seasons of The X-Files were filmed and produced in Vancouver, British Columbia, the series later returned to Vancouver to film The X-Files, I Want to Believe as well as the tenth season of the series. The X-Files was a hit for the Fox network and received positive reviews. Initially considered a series, it turned into a pop culture touchstone that tapped into public mistrust of governments and large institutions and embraced conspiracy theories. Both the series itself and lead actors Duchovny and Anderson received multiple awards and nominations, the series also spawned a franchise which includes The Lone Gunmen spin-off, two theatrical films and accompanying merchandise. The revival premiered on January 24,2016, the X-Files follows the careers and personal lives of FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. Mulder is a profiler and strong believer in the supernatural. He is also adamant about the existence of intelligent extraterrestrial life and this set of beliefs earns him the nickname Spooky Mulder and an assignment to a little-known department that deals with unsolved cases, known as the X-Files. His belief in the springs from the claimed abduction of his sister Samantha Mulder by extraterrestrials when Mulder was 12
10.
Black Sabbath
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The band experienced multiple line-up changes, with Iommi being the only constant member throughout its history. Originally formed as a rock band, the group soon adopted the Black Sabbath moniker and began incorporating occult themes with horror-inspired lyrics. They also composed songs about social instability, political corruption and drugs, Osbournes regular use of alcohol and other drugs led to his dismissal from the band in 1979. He was replaced by former Rainbow vocalist Ronnie James Dio, in 1992, Iommi and Butler rejoined Dio and drummer Vinny Appice to record Dehumanizer. The original line-up reunited with Osbourne in 1997 and released a live album Reunion, Black Sabbaths final studio album and nineteenth overall,13, features all of the original members but Ward. A year after embarking on a tour, the band played their final concert in their home city of Birmingham on 4 February 2017. Iommi has stated, however, that he has not ruled out the possibility of new material or one-off shows under the Black Sabbath name, Black Sabbath are often cited as pioneers of heavy metal music. The band helped define the genre with releases such as Black Sabbath, Paranoid and they were ranked by MTV as the Greatest Metal Band of all time, and placed second in VH1s 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock list. Rolling Stone magazine ranked them number 85 in their 100 Greatest Artists of All Time and they have sold over 70 million records worldwide. Black Sabbath were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005 and they have also won two Grammy Awards for Best Metal Performance. Following the break-up of their previous band Mythology in 1968, guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward sought to form a blues rock band in Aston. The new group was named the Polka Tulk Blues Band, the name taken either from a brand of talcum powder or an Indian/Pakistani clothing shop. The Polka Tulk Blues Band featured slide guitarist Jimmy Phillips, a friend of Osbournes. After shortening the name to Polka Tulk, the band changed their name to Earth and continued as a four-piece without Phillips. Iommi became concerned that Phillips and Clarke lacked the dedication and were not taking the band seriously. Rather than asking them to leave, they decided to break up. While the band was performing under the Earth title, they recorded several demos written by Norman Haines such as The Rebel, Song for Jim, the demo titled Song for Jim was in reference to Jim Simpson. Jim Simpson was a manager for the bands Bakerloo Blues Line, Simpson was also a trumpet player for the group Locomotive
11.
Quentin Tarantino
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Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American director, writer, and actor. His career began in the late 1980s, when he wrote and directed My Best Friends Birthday and its popularity was boosted by his second film, Pulp Fiction, a black comedy crime film that was a major success both among critics and audiences. Judged the greatest film from 1983–2008 by Entertainment Weekly, many critics, for his next effort, Tarantino paid homage to the blaxploitation films of the 1970s with Jackie Brown, an adaptation of the novel Rum Punch. Tarantino directed Death Proof as part of a feature with friend Robert Rodriguez. His long-postponed Inglourious Basterds, which tells the fictional alternate history story of two plots to assassinate Nazi Germanys political leadership, was released in 2009 to positive reviews, after that came 2012s critically acclaimed Django Unchained, a Western film set in the antebellum era of the Deep South. It became the film of his career so far, making over $425 million at the box office. Tarantinos films have garnered critical and commercial success. He has received industry awards, including two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTA Awards and the Palme dOr, and has been nominated for an Emmy and a Grammy. He was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by Time in 2005, Filmmaker and historian Peter Bogdanovich has called him the single most influential director of his generation. In December 2015, Tarantino received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the film industry, Tarantino was born on March 27,1963 in Knoxville, Tennessee, the son of Connie McHugh and Tony Tarantino. His father is of Italian descent, and his mother has English and Irish ancestry, Quentin was named after Quint Asper, Burt Reynolds character in the CBS series Gunsmoke. Quentins mother met his father during a trip to Los Angeles and she married him soon after, to gain independence from her parents, but the marriage did not last. Connie Tarantino left Los Angeles, and moved to Knoxville, where her parents lived, in 1966, Tarantinos mother, after finishing her nursing studies, moved back to Los Angeles with her then three-year-old son. They lived in the South Bay, in the part of the city. Tarantinos mother married musician Curtis Zastoupil soon after coming to Los Angeles, and the moved to Torrance. Zastoupil encouraged his love of movies, and accompanied him to film screenings. Tarantinos mother allowed him to see movies with adult content, such as Carnal Knowledge, after his mother divorced Zastoupil in 1973, and received a misdiagnosis of Hodgkins lymphoma, Tarantino was sent to live with his grandparents in Tennessee. He remained there for six months to a year, before returning to California
12.
Western (genre)
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Cowboys and gunslingers typically wear Stetson hats, bandannas, spurs, cowboy boots and buckskins. Other characters include Native Americans, bandits, lawmen, bounty hunters, outlaws, mounted cavalry, settlers, Westerns often stress the harshness of the wilderness and frequently set the action in an arid, desolate landscape of deserts and mountains. Often, the vast landscape plays an important role, presenting a. mythic vision of the plains, specific settings include ranches, small frontier towns, saloons, railways and isolated military forts of the Wild West. Many Westerns use a plot of depicting a crime, then showing the pursuit of the wrongdoer, ending in revenge and retribution. The Western was the most popular Hollywood genre, from the early 20th century to the 1960s, Western films first became well-attended in the 1930s. John Fords landmark Western adventure Stagecoach became one of the biggest hits in 1939, Westerns were very popular throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Many of the most acclaimed Westerns were released during this time – including High Noon, Shane, The Searchers, the Western depicts a society organized around codes of honor and personal, direct or private justice–frontier justice–dispensed by gunfights. These honor codes are played out through depictions of feuds or individuals seeking personal revenge or retribution against someone who has wronged them. The popular perception of the Western is a story that centers on the life of a semi-nomadic wanderer, a showdown or duel at high noon featuring two or more gunfighters is a stereotypical scene in the popular conception of Westerns. In some ways, such protagonists may be considered the descendants of the knight errant which stood at the center of earlier extensive genres such as the Arthurian Romances. And like knights errant, the heroes of Westerns frequently rescue damsels in distress, similarly, the wandering protagonists of Westerns share many characteristics with the ronin in modern Japanese culture. The Western typically takes these elements and uses them to tell simple morality tales, Westerns often stress the harshness and isolation of the wilderness and frequently set the action in an arid, desolate landscape. Apart from the wilderness, it is usually the saloon that emphasizes that this is the Wild West, it is the place to go for music, women, gambling, drinking, brawling and shooting. The American Film Institute defines western films as those set in the American West that embodies the spirit, the struggle, the term Western, used to describe a narrative film genre, appears to have originated with a July 1912 article in Motion Picture World Magazine. Most of the characteristics of Western films were part of 19th century popular Western fiction and were firmly in place before film became an art form. Protagonists ride between dusty towns and cattle ranches on their trusty steeds, Western films were enormously popular in the silent film era. With the advent of sound in 1927-28, the major Hollywood studios rapidly abandoned Westerns, leaving the genre to smaller studios and these smaller organizations churned out countless low-budget features and serials in the 1930s. Released through United Artists, Stagecoach made John Wayne a mainstream star in the wake of a decade of headlining B westerns
