1.
The Black Dahlia (film)
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The Black Dahlia is a 2006 neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Brian De Palma and written by Josh Friedman. It is drawn from a novel of the name by James Ellroy, the author of L. A. Confidential. The widely sensationalized murder of Elizabeth Short inspired both the novel and the film, the film played at the 63rd Venice International Film Festival on August 30,2006, and was released in the United States on September 15,2006. Despite its failure—both critically and financially—the film was nominated for Best Cinematography at the 79th Academy Awards, Mia Kirshners performance as Short was also widely praised. On January 15,1947, LAPD Detectives Dwight Bucky Bleichert and Lee Blanchard investigate the murder and dismemberment of Elizabeth Short, Bucky learns that Elizabeth was an aspiring actress who appeared in a pornographic film. Through his investigation, Bucky learns that Elizabeth liked to hang out with lesbians and he goes to a lesbian nightclub and meets Madeleine Linscott, who looks very much like Elizabeth. Madeleine, who comes from a prominent family, tells Bucky that she was close with Elizabeth. In exchange for his silence, she promises him sexual favors, continuing his relationship with Madeleine, Bucky meets her wealthy parents, Emmett and Ramona. Buckys partner, Lee, also obsessed with Elizabeths murder. Lees obsession leads him to become erratic and abusive towards his long-time girlfriend Kay Lake, Bucky goes to the location and gets into an altercation with DeWitt in the atrium of the building. DeWitt is gunned down by Lee, standing on the stairs across the atrium, Bucky sees a man sneak up behind Lee, and wrap a rope around Lees neck. Lee fights back while Bucky, paralyzed with shock, watches from across the atrium as a shadowy figure steps out. Lee and the man holding the rope fall over the railing to their deaths several floors below and it is then that Bucky is helped by Millard and Morrie Friedman, a friend of Lees whom Bucky saw with Lee at the New Years party in 1946. Dealing with the grief of losing Lee propels Bucky and Kay into a sexual encounter, the next morning, Bucky finds money from a bank robbery hidden in Lee and Kays bathroom. Kay reveals that she had been DeWitts girlfriend, that DeWitt had mistreated her, Lee had rescued Kay and stolen DeWitts bank robbery money. Lee needed to kill DeWitt now that he was out of prison, Bucky leaves, furious with Lee and Kay for their actions and lies. He returns to Madeleines family mansion and continues his relationship with her. Kay is furious when she discovers the relationship, especially with the fact that Madeleine bears a resemblance to the same girl Lee obsessed over before he was killed
2.
Hollywood Boulevard
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West of Laurel Canyon, it continues as a residential street and ending at Sunset Plaza Drive. The eastern end of Hollywood Boulevard passes through Little Armenia and Thai Town, parts of the boulevard are popular tourist destinations. Prior to Hollywood Boulevard, the street was named Prospect Avenue until 1910, after annexation, the street numbers changed from 100 Prospect Avenue, at Vermont Avenue, to 6400 Hollywood Boulevard. In the early 1920s, real estate developer Charles E. Toberman envisioned a thriving Hollywood theatre district, Toberman was involved in 36 projects while building the Max Factor Building, Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and the Hollywood Masonic Temple. With Sid Grauman, he opened the three themed theatres, Egyptian, El Capitan, and Chinese, and was inspired to write Here Comes Santa Claus with Oakley Haldeman. In 1958, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which runs from Gower Street to La Brea Avenue, was created as a tribute to artists working in the entertainment industry, the El Capitan Theatre was refurbished in 1991 then damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake. The full El Capitan building was restored and upgraded in December 1997. The Hollywood Entertainment District, a business improvement district, was formed for the properties from La Brea to McCadden on the boulevard. The Hollywood extension of the Metro Red Line subway was opened in June 1999, stops on Hollywood Boulevard are located at Western Avenue, Vine Street, and Highland Avenue. Metro Local lines 180,181, and 217, and Metro Rapid line 780 also serve Hollywood Boulevard, an anti-cruising ordinance prohibits driving on parts of the boulevard more than twice in four hours. Beginning in 1995, then Los Angeles City Council member Jackie Goldberg initiated efforts to clean up Hollywood Boulevard, central to these efforts was the construction of the Hollywood and Highland Center and adjacent Dolby Theatre in 2001. In early 2006, the city made revamping plans on Hollywood Boulevard for future tourists, the three-part plan was to exchange the original streetlights with red stars into two-headed old-fashioned streetlights, put in new palm trees, and put in new stoplights. The renovations were completed in late 2006, in the few years leading up to 2007, more than $2 billion was spent on projects in the neighborhood, including mixed-use retail and apartment complexes and new schools and museums. A popular event that takes place on the Boulevard is the transformation of the street to a Christmas theme. Shops and department stores attract customers by lighting their stores and the street with decorated Christmas trees. The street essentially becomes Santa Claus Lane, list of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments in Hollywood Hollywood Chamber of Commerce
3.
Film
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A film, also called a movie, motion picture, theatrical film or photoplay, is a series of still images which, when shown on a screen, creates the illusion of moving images due to the phi phenomenon. This optical illusion causes the audience to perceive continuous motion between separate objects viewed rapidly in succession, the process of filmmaking is both an art and an industry. The word cinema, short for cinematography, is used to refer to the industry of films. Films were originally recorded onto plastic film through a photochemical process, the adoption of CGI-based special effects led to the use of digital intermediates. Most contemporary films are now fully digital through the process of production, distribution. Films recorded in a form traditionally included an analogous optical soundtrack. It runs along a portion of the film exclusively reserved for it and is not projected, Films are cultural artifacts created by specific cultures. They reflect those cultures, and, in turn, affect them, Film is considered to be an important art form, a source of popular entertainment, and a powerful medium for educating—or indoctrinating—citizens. The visual basis of film gives it a power of communication. Some films have become popular worldwide attractions by using dubbing or subtitles to translate the dialog into the language of the viewer, some have criticized the film industrys glorification of violence and its potentially negative treatment of women. The individual images that make up a film are called frames, the perception of motion is due to a psychological effect called phi phenomenon. The name film originates from the fact that film has historically been the medium for recording and displaying motion pictures. Many other terms exist for a motion picture, including picture, picture show, moving picture, photoplay. The most common term in the United States is movie, while in Europe film is preferred. Terms for the field, in general, include the big screen, the screen, the movies, and cinema. In early years, the sheet was sometimes used instead of screen. Preceding film in origin by thousands of years, early plays and dances had elements common to film, scripts, sets, costumes, production, direction, actors, audiences, storyboards, much terminology later used in film theory and criticism apply, such as mise en scène. Owing to the lack of any technology for doing so, the moving images, the magic lantern, probably created by Christiaan Huygens in the 1650s, could be used to project animation, which was achieved by various types of mechanical slides
4.
Television program
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It may be a single production, or more commonly, a series of related productions. A limited number of episodes of a show may be called a miniseries or a serial or limited series. Television series are without a fixed length and are divided into seasons or series. While there is no defined length, U. S. industry practice has traditionally favored longer television seasons than those of other countries, a one-time broadcast may be called a special, or particularly in the UK a special episode. A television film is a film that is initially broadcast on television rather than released in theaters or direct-to-video, a program can be either recorded, as on video tape, other various electronic media forms, played with an on-demand player or viewed on live television. Television programs may be fictional, or non-fictional and it may be topical, or historical. They could be primarily instructional or educational, or entertaining as is the case in situation comedy, a drama program usually features a set of actors playing characters in a historical or contemporary setting. The program follows their lives and adventures, except for soap opera-type serials, many shows especially before the 1980s, remained static without story arcs, and the main characters and premise changed little. If some change happened to the characters lives during the episode, because of this, the episodes could be broadcast in any order. Since the 1980s, there are series that feature progressive change to the plot. For instance, Hill Street Blues and St. Elsewhere were two of the first American prime time television series to have this kind of dramatic structure. While the later series, Babylon 5 is an example of such production that had a predetermined story running over its intended five-season run. In 2012, it was reported that television was growing into a component of major media companies revenues than film. Some also noted the increase in quality of television programs. When a person or company decides to create a new series, they develop the elements, consisting of the concept, the characters, the crew. Then they offer it to the networks in an attempt to find one interested enough to order a prototype first episode of the series. They want very much to get the word out on what types of shows they’re looking for, to create the pilot, the structure and team of the whole series must be put together. If the network likes the pilot, they pick up the show to air it the next season, sometimes they save it for mid-season, or request rewrites and further review
5.
Set construction
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The set designer produces a scale model, scale drawings, paint elevations, and research about props, textures, and so on. In theater, the director or production manager is the person responsible for evaluating the finished designs and considering budget. He or she engineers the scenery, has it redrafted for building, budgets time, crew and materials, technical directors often have assistant technical directors whose duties can range from drafting to actually building scenery. A scene shop, in production is often overseen by a shop foreman or master carpenter. This person assigns tasks, does direct supervision of carpenters, and deals with matters such as absences, breaks, tool repair. The staff of a shop is usually referred to as scenic carpenters, but within that there are many specialities such as plasterers, welders. Scenic painting is an aspect of scenic construction, although the scenic painter usually answers to the technical director. In major film production in England, a Supervising Art Director is responsible for a team of Art Directors, Construction supervisors interpret the drawings and allocate labor and resources, with the Production Designer giving approval of the finished set on the Directors behalf. Film construction is rigidly compartmentalized on major motion pictures, a prop making workshop is set up in a similar stage and may be paid for out of a Construction or Art Department budget depending on the nature and size of the props in question. The construction department is led by a construction coordinator, the coordinator reports to the art director and production designer and is in charge of budgeting and implementing designs. The construction coordinator has a general foreman to assist, next there are other foremen, lead carpenters called gang bosses, and then all of the carpenters and craftsmen. In the United States, set construction workers are members of the entertainment union, IATSE. Sound stage Stagecraft Staging Theatrical scenery Film sculptor
6.
Film studio
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The majority of firms in the entertainment industry have never owned their own studios, but have rented space from other companies. The largest film studio in the world is Hengdian World Studios, in Zhejiang and he distributed these movies at vaudeville theaters, penny arcades, wax museums, and fairgrounds. The pioneering Thanhouser film studio was founded in New Rochelle, New York in 1909 by American theatrical impresario Edwin Thanhouser, the company produced and released 1,086 films between 1910 and 1917, successfully distributing them around the world. The first film ever, Million Dollar Mystery, was released by the Thanhouser company in 1914. In the early 1900s, companies started moving to Los Angeles, although electric lights were by then widely available, none were yet powerful enough to adequately expose film, the best source of illumination for motion picture production was natural sunlight. Some movies were shot on the roofs of buildings in Downtown Los Angeles, early movie producers also relocated to Southern California to escape Edisons Motion Picture Patents Company, which controlled almost all the patents relevant to movie production at the time. The first movie studio in the Hollywood area was Nestor Studios, in the same year, another 15 independents settled in Hollywood. Other production companies eventually settled in the Los Angeles area in such as Culver City, Burbank. Five large companies, 20th Century Fox, RKO Pictures, Paramount Pictures, smaller studios operated simultaneously with the majors. Together with smaller outfits such as PRC TKO and Grand National, the Big Fives ownership of movie theaters was eventually opposed by eight independent producers, including Samuel Goldwyn, David O. Selznick, Walt Disney, Hal Roach, and Walter Wanger. In 1948, the government won a case against Paramount in the Supreme Court. This decision, reached after years of litigation, hastened the end of the studio system. By the 1950s, the components of a typical major film studio had become standardized. Movement in and out of the studio is normally limited to specific gates, Studio premises generally feature multiple sound stages along with an outside backlot, as well as offices for studio executives and production companies. There is normally a studio commissary, which is the term in the film industry for what other industries call a company cafeteria. With the growing diversification of studios into such fields as video games, television, theme parks, home video and publishing, instead the studios transformed into financing and distribution entities for the films made by their affiliated production companies. With the decreasing cost of CG and visual effects, many studios sold large chunks of their once massive studio spaces or backlots to private real-estate developers. Century City in Los Angeles was once part of the 20th Century Fox backlot, in most cases portions of the backlots were retained and are available for rental by various film and television productions
7.
Backlot
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A backlot is an area behind or adjoining a movie studio, containing permanent exterior buildings for outdoor scenes in filmmaking or television productions, or space for temporary set construction. Some movie studios build a variety of sets on the backlot. There are streets that comprise an assortment of styles, Victorian to suburban homes. An example of this is Forty Acres in Culver City, California or, in the case of Universal Studios, the home of Norman Bates from the Hitchcock movie Psycho. The shells, or façades, on a studio backlot are usually constructed with three sides and a roof, often missing the back wall and/or one of the side walls. The interior is a space, with no rooms, and from the back of the structure one can see the electrical wires, pipes, beams and scaffolding. Ladders are usually built into the structure, allowing performers to climb to a window or the roof to perform scenes. Not all the buildings and houses are shells, some are closed in with a fourth wall. When not otherwise in use, they serve as facilities for lighting. When in use, the structures are dressed by adding doors, window treatments, l-shaped temporary walls are placed inside of doors to give the illusion of an interior. When not in use, the structures are stripped of this dressing. Television shows such as Moonlighting and Its Garry Shandlings Show also broke the fourth wall and gave audiences a peek of life on the other side of the camera. All the sets on a studio backlot are built so that what seems large, or as if it covers miles of ground on the big or small screen, today many studio backlots are gone or nearly gone. There are several reasons for this, los Angeles, like the rest of the United States, went through an economic boom after World War II. This caused real estate prices and property taxes linked to market value to rise dramatically. At the same time, during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, global movie audiences were annoyed by films that were supposedly set all over the world. The primitive special effects technology of the era made it difficult to remove clues, audiences wanted to see actors in locations which were both exotic and authentic, as opposed to tacky Hollywood copies. The box office failure of the 1968 film Camelot was blamed in part on this issue, many were razed and the land was either sold to developers or repurposed for theme parks or office buildings
8.
Realism (arts)
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Realism in the arts is the attempt to represent subject matter truthfully, without artificiality and avoiding artistic conventions, implausible, exotic and supernatural elements. Realism has been prevalent in the arts at many periods, and is in part a matter of technique and training. In the visual arts, illusionistic realism is the depiction of lifeforms, perspective. Realist works of art may emphasize the mundane, ugly or sordid, such as works of realism, regionalism. There have been various movements in the arts, such as the opera style of verismo, literary realism, theatrical realism. The realism art movement in painting began in France in the 1850s, the realist painters rejected Romanticism, which had come to dominate French literature and art, with roots in the late 18th century. Realism is the precise, detailed and accurate representation in art of the appearance of scenes. Realism in this sense is also called naturalism, mimesis or illusionism, realistic art was created in many periods, and it is in large part a matter of technique and training, and the avoidance of stylization. It becomes especially marked in European painting in the Early Netherlandish painting of Jan van Eyck, however such realism is often used to depict, for example, angels with wings, which were not things the artists had ever seen in real life. It is the choice and treatment of matter that defines Realism as a movement in painting. The development of increasingly accurate representation of the appearances of things has a long history in art. It includes elements such as the depiction of the anatomy of humans and animals, of perspective and effects of distance. Ancient Greek art is recognised as having made great progress in the representation of anatomy. Pliny the Elders famous story of birds pecking at grapes painted by Zeuxis in the 5th century BC may well be a legend, roman portraiture, when not under too much Greek influence, shows a greater commitment to a truthful depiction of its subjects. The art of Late Antiquity famously rejected illusionism for expressive force, scientific methods of representing perspective were developed in Italy and gradually spread across Europe, and accuracy in anatomy rediscovered under the influence of classical art. As in classical times, idealism remained the norm, intriguingly, having led the development of illusionic painting, still life was to be equally significant in its abandonment in Cubism. The depiction of ordinary, everyday subjects in art also has a history, though it was often squeezed into the edges of compositions. However these objects are at least largely there because they carry layers of complex significance, pieter Bruegel the Elder pioneered large panoramic scenes of peasant life
9.
Location shooting
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Location shooting is the practice of filming in the actual setting in which a story takes place rather than on a sound stage or back lot. In filmmaking, a location is any place where a crew will be filming actors. A location where dialog is not recorded may be considered as a second unit photography site, filmmakers often choose to shoot on location because they believe that greater realism can be achieved in a real place, however location shooting is also often motivated by the films budget. However, many films shoot interior scenes on a sound stage and it is often mistakenly believed that filming on location takes place in a location where the story is set, but this is not necessarily the case. In certain situations it may be cheaper to shoot in a studio, in these situations lower budget films often shoot more in a studio. Before filming, the locations are generally surveyed in pre-production, also known as recce, canadian locations such as Vancouver and Toronto are known for this. It sometimes allows frozen currency to be used, the 1968 movie Kellys Heroes was filmed in Yugoslavia using profits that had been made on movie exhibitions in that country but could not be exported. Its disadvantages include, Lack of control over the environment — lighting, passing aircraft, traffic, pedestrians, bad weather, city regulations, cast and crew heavily rely upon local facilities such as catering, transportation, and accommodations. A film that becomes a blockbuster hit can introduce movie audiences around the world to a visually breathtaking location that they were unaware of. This can boost tourism for years or even decades, Location shooting usually requires a location manager, and locations are usually chosen by a location scout. In many cases a second unit is dispatched to film on location, with a unit director. Filming location Location manager, the responsible for the locations department Location scouting Location library Filmmaking
10.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
11.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
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The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is a 1966 Italian epic Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone, starring Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach in the title roles respectively. The screenplay was written by Age & Scarpelli, Luciano Vincenzoni, director of photography Tonino Delli Colli was responsible for the films sweeping widescreen cinematography and Ennio Morricone composed the films score, including its main theme. It was a co-production between companies in Italy, Spain, West Germany, and the United States, the film is known for Leones use of long shots and close-up cinematography, as well as his distinctive use of violence, tension, and stylistic gunfights. The film was the collaboration between Leone and Clint Eastwood, and the second with Lee Van Cleef. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly was marketed as the third and final installment in the Dollars Trilogy, following A Fistful of Dollars, the film was a financial success, grossing over $25 million at the box office, and is credited with catapulting Eastwood into stardom. Due to general disapproval of the Spaghetti Western genre at the time, critical reception of the film following its release was mixed, but it gained critical acclaim in later years. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is now seen as an influential example of the Western film genre. Stevens offers Angel Eyes $1,000 to kill Baker, Angel Eyess employer, Angel Eyes accepts the contract, and kills Stevens as he leaves. Angel Eyes returns to Baker for his fee, then shoots Baker, meanwhile, Mexican bandit Tuco Ramírez is rescued from three bounty hunters by Blondie, who delivers him to the local sheriff to collect his $2,000 bounty. As Tuco is about to be hanged, Blondie severs Tucos noose by shooting it, the two escape on horseback and split the bounty in a lucrative money-making scheme. They repeat the process in another town for more reward money, Blondie grows weary of Tucos complaints, and abandons him penniless in the desert. A vengeful Tuco tracks Blondie to a town being abandoned by Confederate troops, as he prepares to have Blondie hang himself, Union forces shell the town, allowing Blondie to escape. Following an arduous search, Tuco recaptures Blondie and force-marches him across a desert until Blondie collapses from dehydration, as Tuco prepares to shoot him, he sees a runaway carriage. Inside is a delirious Bill Carson, who promises Tuco $200,000 in Confederate gold, Tuco demands to know the name on the grave, but Carson collapses from thirst before answering. When Tuco returns with water, Carson has died and Blondie, slumped next to him, reveals that Carson recovered, Tuco, who now has strong motivation to keep Blondie alive, gives him water and takes him to a nearby frontier mission to recover. After Blondies recovery, the two leave in Confederate uniforms from Carsons carriage, only to be captured by Union soldiers, at roll call, Tuco answers for Bill Carson, getting the attention of Angel Eyes, now a disguised Union sergeant at the camp. Angel Eyes tortures Tuco, who reveals the name of the cemetery, realizing that Blondie will not yield to torture, Angel Eyes offers him an equal share of the gold and a partnership. Blondie agrees and rides out with Angel Eyes and his gang, Tuco is packed on a train to be executed, but escapes
12.
Spaghetti Western
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The term was used by American critics and other countries because most of these Westerns were produced and directed by Italians. According to veteran Spaghetti Western actor Aldo Sambrell, the phrase Spaghetti Western was coined by Spanish journalist Alfonso Sánchez, the denomination for these films in Italy is western allitaliana. Italo-Western is also used, especially in Germany, the term Eurowesterns may be used to also include Western movies that were produced in Europe but not called Spaghetti Westerns, like the West German Winnetou films or Ostern Westerns. The majority of the films were international co-productions between Italy and Spain, and sometimes France, Germany, Israel, Yugoslavia, or the United States. These movies were released in Italian, but as most of the films featured multilingual casts and sound was post-synched. Over six hundred European Westerns were made between 1960 and 1978 and these are consistently listed among the best Westerns of any variety. Sergio Leones A Fistful of Dollars established the Spaghetti Western as a kind of Western. In this seminal film the hero enters a town that is ruled by two outlaw gangs and ordinary social relations are non-existent and he betrays and plays the gangs against one another in order to make money. Then he uses his cunning and exceptional skill to assist a family threatened by both gangs. His treachery is exposed and he is beaten, but in the end he defeats the remaining gang. Leone moved on from borrowing and established his own oft imitated style, Leones films and other core Spaghetti Westerns are often described as having eschewed, criticised or even demythologized many of the conventions of traditional U. S. Westerns. This was partly intentional and partly the context of a different cultural background, use of pathos received a big boost with Sergio Corbuccis influential Django. However, in the years use of cunning and irony became more prominent. This was seen in Leones next two Westerns, with their emphasis on unstable partnerships, Ennio Morricones music for A Fistful of Dollars and later Spaghetti Westerns was just as seminal and imitated. It expresses a similar duality between quirky and unusual sounds and instruments on the one hand, and sacral dramatizing for the big scenes on the other. Most Spaghetti Westerns were made on low budgets, using inexpensive locales, gods Gun was filmed in Israel. In the 1960s, critics recognized that the American genres were rapidly changing, the genre most identifiably American, the Western, seemed to be evolving into a new rougher form. For many critics, Sergio Leones films were part of the problem, Leones Dollars Trilogy was not the beginning of the Spaghetti Western cycle in Italy, but for Americans Leones films represented the true beginning of the Italian invasion of an American genre
13.
Havana
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Havana is the capital city, largest city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city extends mostly westward and southward from the bay, which is entered through a narrow inlet, the sluggish Almendares River traverses the city from south to north, entering the Straits of Florida a few miles west of the bay. King Philip II of Spain granted Havana the title of City in 1592, walls as well as forts were built to protect the old city. The sinking of the U. S. battleship Maine in Havanas harbor in 1898 was the cause of the Spanish–American War. Contemporary Havana can essentially be described as three cities in one, Old Havana, Vedado and the suburban districts. The city is the center of the Cuban government, and home to various ministries, headquarters of businesses, the current mayor is Marta Hernández of the Communist Party of Cuba. In 2009, the city/province had the third highest income in the country, the city attracts over a million tourists annually, the Official Census for Havana reports that in 2010 the city was visited by 1,176,627 international tourists, a 20% increase from 2005. Old Havana was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982, the city is also noted for its history, culture, architecture and monuments. As typical of Cuba, Havana also features a tropical climate, in May 2015, Havana was officially recognized as one of the New7Wonders Cities together with Vigan, Doha, La Paz, Durban, Beirut, and Kuala Lumpur. Most native settlements became the site of Spanish colonial cities retaining their original Taíno names, an alternate theory is that Habana is derived from the Middle Dutch word havene, referring to a harbour, etymologically related to the English word haven. All attempts to found a city on Cubas south coast failed, however, an early map of Cuba drawn in 1514 places the town at the mouth of this river. The town that became Havana finally originated adjacent to what was then called Puerto de Carenas, the quality of this natural bay, which now hosts Havanas harbor, warranted this change of location. Pánfilo de Narváez gave Havana – the sixth town founded by the Spanish on Cuba – its name, the name combines San Cristóbal, patron saint of Havana. Shortly after the founding of Cubas first cities, the served as little more than a base for the Conquista of other lands. Havana began as a port, and suffered regular attacks by buccaneers, pirates. The first attack and resultant burning of the city was by the French corsair Jacques de Sores in 1555, ships from all over the New World carried products first to Havana, in order to be taken by the fleet to Spain. The thousands of ships gathered in the bay also fueled Havanas agriculture and manufacture, since they had to be supplied with food, water. On December 20,1592, King Philip II of Spain granted Havana the title of City, later on, the city would be officially designated as Key to the New World and Rampart of the West Indies by the Spanish Crown
14.
Cuba
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Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is a country comprising the island of Cuba as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located in the northern Caribbean where the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and it is south of both the U. S. state of Florida and the Bahamas, west of Haiti, and north of Jamaica. Havana is the largest city and capital, other cities include Santiago de Cuba. Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean, with an area of 109,884 square kilometres, prior to Spanish colonization in the late 15th century, Cuba was inhabited by Amerindian tribes. It remained a colony of Spain until the Spanish–American War of 1898, as a fragile republic, Cuba attempted to strengthen its democratic system, but mounting political radicalization and social strife culminated in the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1952. Further unrest and instability led to Batistas ousting in January 1959 by the July 26 Movement, since 1965, the state has been governed by the Communist Party of Cuba. A point of contention during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, a nuclear war broke out during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Culturally, Cuba is considered part of Latin America, Cuba is a Marxist–Leninist one-party republic, where the role of the vanguard Communist Party is enshrined in the Constitution. Independent observers have accused the Cuban government of human rights abuses. It is one of the worlds last planned economies and its economy is dominated by the exports of sugar, tobacco, coffee, according to the Human Development Index, Cuba is described as a country with high human development and is ranked the eighth highest in North America. It also ranks highly in some metrics of national performance, including health care, the name Cuba comes from the Taíno language. The exact meaning of the name is unclear but it may be translated either as where fertile land is abundant, authors who believe that Christopher Columbus was Portuguese state that Cuba was named by Columbus for the town of Cuba in the district of Beja in Portugal. Before the arrival of the Spanish, Cuba was inhabited by three distinct tribes of indigenous peoples of the Americas, the Taíno, the Guanajatabey, and the Ciboney people. The ancestors of the Ciboney migrated from the mainland of South America, the Taíno arrived from Hispanola sometime in the 3rd century A. D. When Columbus arrived they were the dominant culture in Cuba, having a population of 150,000. The name Cuba comes from the native Taíno language and it is derived from either coabana meaning great place, or from cubao meaning where fertile land is abundant. The Taíno were farmers, while the Ciboney were farmers as well as fishers and hunter-gatherers, Columbus claimed the island for the new Kingdom of Spain and named it Isla Juana after Juan, Prince of Asturias. In 1511, the first Spanish settlement was founded by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar at Baracoa, other towns soon followed, including San Cristobal de la Habana, founded in 1515, which later became the capital
15.
Die Another Day
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Die Another Day is the twentieth spy film in the James Bond series, and the fourth and final film to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film follows Bond as he leads a mission to North Korea, during which he is betrayed and, fourteen months later, Bond is released as part of a prisoner exchange. Die Another Day, produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, the series began in 1962 with Sean Connery starring as Bond in Dr. No. Die Another Day includes references to each of the preceding films, some critics praised the work of Lee Tamahori, while others criticised the films heavy use of computer-generated imagery, which they found unconvincing and a distraction from the films plot. Nevertheless, Die Another Day was the highest-grossing James Bond film up to time if inflation is not taken into account. MI6 officer James Bond—agent 007—infiltrates a North Korean military base, where Colonel Tan-Sun Moon is illegally trading weapons for African blood diamonds. After Moons assistant Zao discovers that Bond is a British agent, Moon attempts to kill Bond and a chase ensues. Bond survives, but is captured by North Korean soldiers and imprisoned by the Colonels father, after 14 months of captivity and torture, Bond is traded for Zao in a prisoner exchange. He is sedated and taken to meet M, who informs him that his status as a 00 Agent is suspended under suspicion of having leaked information under duress. Bond is convinced that he has set up by a double agent in the British government. After escaping from the custody of MI6, he discovers that he is in Hong Kong, in Havana Bond meets NSA agent Giacinta Jinx Johnson, with whom he is intimate. Later, Bond follows her to a gene therapy clinic, where patients can have their appearances altered through DNA restructuring, Bond locates Zao inside the clinic and attempts to kill him, but Zao escapes. He leaves behind a pendant which leads Bond to a cache of diamonds, identified as conflict diamonds, at Blades Club in London Bond meets Graves, along with his assistant Miranda Frost, who is also an undercover MI6 agent. After a fencing exercise, Bond is invited by Graves to Iceland for a scientific demonstration, shortly afterwards, M restores Bonds Double-0 status and offers assistance in the investigation. At his ice palace in Iceland Graves unveils a new orbital mirror satellite, Icarus, during the night, Jinx infiltrates Graves command centre, but is captured by Graves and Zao. Bond rescues her and later discovers that Colonel Moon is still alive, Moon has used the gene therapy technology to change his appearance, assuming the identity of Gustav Graves. Bond confronts Graves, but Frost arrives to reveal herself as the traitor who betrayed Bond in North Korea, Bond then returns in his Aston Martin Vanquish to rescue Jinx, who has been captured once again. Zao pursues him in his own vehicle, both cars driving inside the rapidly melting ice palace, Bond kills Zao by shooting an ice chandelier onto him, and then revives Jinx after she has drowned
16.
Hawaii
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Hawaii is the 50th and most recent state to have joined the United States of America, having received statehood on August 21,1959. Hawaii is the only U. S. state located in Oceania and it is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean. Hawaii is the only U. S. state not located in the Americas, the state encompasses nearly the entire volcanic Hawaiian archipelago, which comprises hundreds of islands spread over 1,500 miles. At the southeastern end of the archipelago, the eight main islands are—in order from northwest to southeast, Niʻihau, Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, Kahoʻolawe, Maui, and the Island of Hawaiʻi. The last is the largest island in the group, it is called the Big Island or Hawaiʻi Island to avoid confusion with the state or archipelago. The archipelago is physiographically and ethnologically part of the Polynesian subregion of Oceania, Hawaii has over a million permanent residents, along with many visitors and U. S. military personnel. Its capital is Honolulu on the island of Oʻahu, Hawaii is the 8th-smallest and the 11th-least populous, but the 13th-most densely populated of the fifty U. S. states. It is the state with an Asian plurality. The states coastline is about 750 miles long, the fourth longest in the U. S. after the coastlines of Alaska, Florida, the state of Hawaii derives its name from the name of its largest island, Hawaiʻi. A common Hawaiian explanation of the name of Hawaiʻi is that was named for Hawaiʻiloa and he is said to have discovered the islands when they were first settled. The Hawaiian language word Hawaiʻi is very similar to Proto-Polynesian *Sawaiki, cognates of Hawaiʻi are found in other Polynesian languages, including Māori, Rarotongan and Samoan. According to linguists Pukui and Elbert, lsewhere in Polynesia, Hawaiʻi or a cognate is the name of the underworld or of the home, but in Hawaii. A somewhat divisive political issue arose in 1978 when the Constitution of the State of Hawaii added Hawaiian as an official state language. The title of the constitution is The Constitution of the State of Hawaii. Article XV, Section 1 of the Constitution uses The State of Hawaii, diacritics were not used because the document, drafted in 1949, predates the use of the okina and the kahakō in modern Hawaiian orthography. The exact spelling of the name in the Hawaiian language is Hawaiʻi. In the Hawaii Admission Act that granted Hawaiian statehood, the government recognized Hawaii as the official state name. Official government publications, department and office titles, and the Seal of Hawaii use the spelling with no symbols for glottal stops or vowel length
17.
West Africa
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West Africa, also called Western Africa and the West of Africa, is the westernmost subregion of Africa. Early human settlers from northern Holocene societies arrived in West Africa around 12,000 B. C, sedentary farming began in, or around the fifth millennium B. C, as well as the domestication of cattle. By 1500 B. C, ironworking technology allowed an expansion of productivity. Northern tribes developed walled settlements and non-walled settlements that numbered at 400, in the forest region, Iron Age cultures began to flourish, and an inter-region trade began to appear. The desertification of the Sahara and the change of the coast cause trade with upper Mediterranean peoples to be seen. Local leather, cloth, and gold also contributed to the abundance of prosperity for many of the following empires. Also, based on the archaeology of city of Kumbi Saleh in modern-day Mauritania, three great kingdoms were identified in Bilad al-Sudan by the ninth century. They included Ghana, Gao and Kanem, the Sosso Empire sought to fill the void, but was defeated by the Mandinka forces of Sundiata Keita, founder of the new Mali Empire. In the 15th century, the Songhai would form a new dominant state based on Gao, in the Songhai Empire, under the leadership of Sonni Ali, further east, Oyo arose as the dominant Yoruba state and the Aro Confederacy as a dominant Igbo state in modern-day Nigeria. The Kingdom of Nri was a West African medieval state in the present-day southeastern Nigeria, the Kingdom of Nri was unusual in the history of world government in that its leader exercised no military power over his subjects. The kingdom existed as a sphere of religious and political influence over a third of Igboland, the Eze Nri managed trade and diplomacy on behalf of the Nri people, and possessed divine authority in religious matters. The Oyo Empire was a Yoruba empire of what is today Western, established in the 15th century, the Oyo Empire grew to become one of the largest West African states. It rose through the organizational skills of the Yoruba, wealth gained from trade. The Benin Empire was an empire located in what is now southern Nigeria. Its capital was Edo, now known as Benin City, Edo and it should not be confused with the modern-day country called Benin, formerly called Dahomey. The Benin Empire was one of the oldest and most highly developed states in the hinterland of West Africa. Olfert Dapper, a Dutch writer, describing Benin in his book Description of Africa and its craft was the most adored and treasured bronze casting in the history of Africa. It was annexed by the British Empire in 1897 during the invasion, in the early 19th century, a series of Fulani reformist jihads swept across Western Africa
18.
Tears of the Sun
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Tears of the Sun is a 2003 American action war drama film depicting a U. S. Navy SEAL team rescue mission amidst the civil war in Nigeria. Waters commands the team sent to rescue U. S. citizen Dr. Lena Fiore Kendricks from the war en route to her jungle hospital. The film was directed by Antoine Fuqua, Willis produced Tears of the Sun through Cheyenne Enterprises, his production company, and took the title from an early sub–title for Live Free or Die Hard, the fourth film in the Die Hard series. He filmed the sequel on the condition that he could use its sub-title for his SEALs war film, the cast of Tears of the Sun features refugees portrayed by actual African refugees living in the United States. Turmoil erupts in Nigeria following a coup detat, which sees the brutal murder of the president. As foreign nationals are evacuated from the country, Lieutenant A. K and their secondary mission is to extract the mission priest and two nuns, should they choose to come. Waters calls Captain Rhodes for options, after their short and ambiguous conversation and she begins assembling the able-bodied for the 12 kilometres hike, the priest and the nuns stay behind to take care of the some injured. Irritated and behind the schedule, the team and the leave their hospital mission after daybreak. At nightfall they take a short break, guerrilla rebels rapidly approach their position, and Waters stealthily kills a straggling rebel. Dr. Kendricks warns Waters that the rebels are going to the mission, but he is determined to carry out his orders, back at the mission, the staff and refugees are confronted by rebel forces. Despite the priests pleas for mercy, the rebel forces execute him, when the team arrive at the extraction point, Waters initial plan becomes clear, the SEALs suddenly turn away the refugees from the waiting helicopter. Waters forces Dr. Kendricks into the helicopter, leaving the refugees stranded in the jungle, en route to the aircraft carrier, they fly over the original mission compound, seeing it destroyed and all its occupants murdered, as Dr. Kendricks had predicted. Remorseful, Waters orders the pilot to return to the refugees and he then loads as many refugees as he can into the helicopter instead and decides to escort the remaining refugees to the Cameroon border. During the hike to the border, using satellite scans, they discover the rebels are somehow tracking them, as they escape and evade the rebels, the team enters a village whose inhabitants are being raped, tortured, and massacred by rebel soldiers. Aware of having the opportunity to stop it, Waters orders the team to take down the rebels, the team is visibly shaken by the atrocities they see the rebels have committed against the villagers. Again en route, Slo determines that a refugee is transmitting a signal allowing the rebels to locate them, the search for the transmitter reveals the presence of Arthur Azuka, surviving son of late President Samuel Azuka, which they realize is the reason the rebels are hunting them. Samuel Azuka was not only the president of the country, as the only surviving member of this royal bloodline, Arthur is the only person left with a legitimate claim to the leadership of Nigeria. A newer refugee picked up during the trek is discovered with the transmitter on his person and he attempts to run but is shot
19.
Brazil
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Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. As the worlds fifth-largest country by area and population, it is the largest country to have Portuguese as an official language. Its Amazon River basin includes a vast tropical forest, home to wildlife, a variety of ecological systems. This unique environmental heritage makes Brazil one of 17 megadiverse countries, Brazil was inhabited by numerous tribal nations prior to the landing in 1500 of explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral, who claimed the area for the Portuguese Empire. Brazil remained a Portuguese colony until 1808, when the capital of the empire was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, in 1815, the colony was elevated to the rank of kingdom upon the formation of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. Independence was achieved in 1822 with the creation of the Empire of Brazil, a state governed under a constitutional monarchy. The ratification of the first constitution in 1824 led to the formation of a bicameral legislature, the country became a presidential republic in 1889 following a military coup détat. An authoritarian military junta came to power in 1964 and ruled until 1985, Brazils current constitution, formulated in 1988, defines it as a democratic federal republic. The federation is composed of the union of the Federal District, the 26 states, Brazils economy is the worlds ninth-largest by nominal GDP and seventh-largest by GDP as of 2015. A member of the BRICS group, Brazil until 2010 had one of the worlds fastest growing economies, with its economic reforms giving the country new international recognition. Brazils national development bank plays an important role for the economic growth. Brazil is a member of the United Nations, the G20, BRICS, Unasul, Mercosul, Organization of American States, Organization of Ibero-American States, CPLP. Brazil is a power in Latin America and a middle power in international affairs. One of the worlds major breadbaskets, Brazil has been the largest producer of coffee for the last 150 years and it is likely that the word Brazil comes from the Portuguese word for brazilwood, a tree that once grew plentifully along the Brazilian coast. In Portuguese, brazilwood is called pau-brasil, with the word brasil commonly given the etymology red like an ember, formed from Latin brasa and the suffix -il. As brazilwood produces a red dye, it was highly valued by the European cloth industry and was the earliest commercially exploited product from Brazil. The popular appellation eclipsed and eventually supplanted the official Portuguese name, early sailors sometimes also called it the Land of Parrots. In the Guarani language, a language of Paraguay, Brazil is called Pindorama
20.
Amazon River
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The Amazon River, usually abbreviated to Amazon, in South America is the largest river by discharge of water in the world and, according to some authors, the longest in length. Brazilians call this section the Solimões River above its confluence with the Rio Negro to form what Brazilians call the Amazon at the Meeting of Waters at Manaus, the rivers largest city. The Amazon basin is the largest drainage basin in the world, the portion of the rivers drainage basin in Brazil alone is larger than any other rivers basin. The Amazon enters Brazil with only one-fifth of the flow it finally discharges into the Atlantic Ocean, during what many archaeologists call the formative stage, Amazonian societies were deeply involved in the emergence of South Americas highland agrarian systems. Early human settlements were based on low-lying hills or mounds. Shell mounds were the earliest evidences of inhabitation, they represent piles of refuse and are mainly dated between 7500 and 4000 years BP. They are associated with ceramic age cultures, no preceramic shell mounds have been documented so far by archaeologists, artificial earth platforms for entire villages are the second type of mounds. They are best represented by the Marajoara culture, figurative mounds are the most recent types of occupation. There is ample evidence that the surrounding the Amazon River were home to complex and large-scale indigenous societies, mainly chiefdoms who developed large towns. Archeologists estimate that by the time the Spanish conquistador De Orellana travelled across the Amazon in 1541 and these pre-Columbian settlements created highly developed civilizations. For instance, pre-Columbian indigenous people on the island of Marajó may have developed social stratification, in order to achieve this level of development, the indigenous inhabitants of the Amazon rainforest altered the forests ecology by selective cultivation and the use of fire. Scientists argue that by burning areas of the forest repetitiously, the people caused the soil to become richer in nutrients. This created dark soil areas known as terra preta de índio, further research has hypothesized that this practice began around 11,000 years ago. Some say that its effects on forest ecology and regional climate explain the otherwise inexplicable band of rainfall through the Amazon basin. Many indigenous tribes engaged in constant warfare, james Stuart Olson wrote, The Munduruku expansion dislocated and displaced the Kawahíb, breaking the tribe down into much smaller groups. First came to the attention of Europeans in 1770 when they began a series of attacks on Brazilian settlements along the Amazon River. In March 1500, Spanish conquistador Vicente Yáñez Pinzón was the first documented European to sail up the Amazon River. Pinzón called the stream Río Santa María del Mar Dulce, later shortened to Mar Dulce, literally, sweet sea, because of its fresh water pushing out into the ocean
21.
The Rundown
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The Rundown is a 2003 American action comedy film starring Dwayne The Rock Johnson as a bounty hunter who must head for Brazil to retrieve his employers renegade son. It was directed by Peter Berg, the film received positive reviews but failed at the box office. Beck is an expert, a bounty hunter who collects debts for a man named Billy Walker. He is dispatched to a nightclub to retrieve a ring from a football player. Angry, he confronts Walker and tells him that he out of the business. Walker talks him into one last bounty - retrieve Walkers son Travis from a mining town in Brazil. Beck accepts and leaves for Brazil, when Beck arrives in the town of El Dorado he meets with the man running the mining operation, Mr. Hatcher. Hatcher gives Beck his blessing to grab Travis, but reneges when he finds out that Travis has discovered a golden artifact called El Gato do Diabo. Beck confronts Hatcher and his men in the bar and leaves with Travis. On the way back to the airfield, Travis forces their Jeep off the road, there he tries to escape but is re-captured by Beck. After an unfortunate encounter with some local monkeys, the two find themselves in the camp of the resistance movement. At the resistance encampment, Travis convinces the rebels that Beck works for Hatcher and was sent to them all. After a prolonged fight, Beck gains the hand before the rebel leader Mariana intervenes. She wants Travis, as the Gato can be used to ensure the locals can free themselves from Hatcher, Hatcher suddenly attacks the camp, killing many rebels. Beck, Travis, and Mariana escape the camp and Beck makes Mariana a deal, after some searching, Travis leads them to a cave behind a waterfall where the Gato is located. They retrieve it and begin the journey back, on the way back, Mariana chastises Travis for wanting to sell the artifact, but Travis argues that he actually did want to give it to a museum. Mariana gives the two men Konlobos, a fruit that paralyzes the eater. As she tells Beck which direction the airfield is, she leaves them with the fire to keep the animals away, after waking up able to move, Beck hauls Travis to the airfield
22.
Madrid
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Madrid is the capital city of the Kingdom of Spain and the largest municipality in both the Community of Madrid and Spain as a whole. The city has a population of almost 3.2 million with an area population of approximately 6.5 million. It is the third-largest city in the European Union after London and Berlin, the municipality itself covers an area of 604.3 km2. Madrid lies on the River Manzanares in the centre of both the country and the Community of Madrid, this community is bordered by the communities of Castile and León. As the capital city of Spain, seat of government, and residence of the Spanish monarch, Madrid is also the political, economic, the current mayor is Manuela Carmena from Ahora Madrid. Madrid is home to two football clubs, Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid. Madrid is the 17th most liveable city in the according to Monocle magazine. Madrid organises fairs such as FITUR, ARCO, SIMO TCI, while Madrid possesses modern infrastructure, it has preserved the look and feel of many of its historic neighbourhoods and streets. Cibeles Palace and Fountain have become one of the monument symbols of the city, the first documented reference of the city originates in Andalusan times as the Arabic مجريط Majrīṭ, which was retained in Medieval Spanish as Magerit. A wider number of theories have been formulated on possible earlier origins, according to legend, Madrid was founded by Ocno Bianor and was named Metragirta or Mantua Carpetana. The most ancient recorded name of the city Magerit comes from the name of a built on the Manzanares River in the 9th century AD. Nevertheless, it is speculated that the origin of the current name of the city comes from the 2nd century BC. The Roman Empire established a settlement on the banks of the Manzanares river, the name of this first village was Matrice. In the 8th century, the Islamic conquest of the Iberian Peninsula saw the changed to Mayrit, from the Arabic term ميرا Mayra. The modern Madrid evolved from the Mozarabic Matrit, which is still in the Madrilenian gentilic, after the disintegration of the Caliphate of Córdoba, Madrid was integrated in the Taifa of Toledo. With the surrender of Toledo to Alfonso VI of León and Castile, the city was conquered by Christians in 1085, Christians replaced Muslims in the occupation of the centre of the city, while Muslims and Jews settled in the suburbs. The city was thriving and was given the title of Villa, since 1188, Madrid won the right to be a city with representation in the courts of Castile. In 1202, King Alfonso VIII of Castile gave Madrid its first charter to regulate the municipal council, which was expanded in 1222 by Ferdinand III of Castile
23.
Doctor Zhivago (film)
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Doctor Zhivago is a 1965 British-Italian epic romantic drama film directed by David Lean. It is set in Russia between the prior to World War I and the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922, and is based on the Boris Pasternak novel of the same name. While immensely popular in the West, the book was banned in the Soviet Union for decades, for this reason, the film could not be made in the Soviet Union and was instead filmed mostly in Spain. The film stars Omar Sharif in the role as Yuri Zhivago. The supporting cast includes Geraldine Chaplin, Rod Steiger, Alec Guinness, Tom Courtenay, Ralph Richardson, Siobhán McKenna, over time, however, the films reputation has improved greatly. It also won five awards at the 23rd Golden Globe Awards including Best Motion Picture - Drama, as of 2016, it is the eighth highest-grossing film of all time in the United States and Canada, adjusted for ticket-price inflation. The film takes place mostly against a backdrop of the pre-World War I years, World War I itself, the Russian Revolution of 1917, Yevgraf believes a young woman, Tanya Komarova, may be his niece and tells her the story of her fathers life. When Yuri Zhivago is orphaned after his mothers death in rural Russia, he is taken in by his mothers friends, Alexander and Anna Gromeko, and grows up with their daughter Tonya in Moscow. In 1913, Zhivago, as a student in training. Lara, only 17, is involved in an affair with the older and well-connected Victor Ipolitovich Komarovsky, one night, the idealistic reformer Pavel Pavlovich Antipov drifts into left-wing extremism after being wounded by sabre-wielding Cossacks during a peaceful demonstration. Pasha runs to Lara, whom he wants to marry, to treat his wound and he asks her to hide a gun he picked up at the demonstration. Laras mother discovers her affair with Komarovsky and attempts suicide, Komarovsky summons help from his physician, Zhivagos former professor, whom he accompanies back to Laras home to treat her mother. When Komarovsky learns of Laras intentions to marry Pasha, he tries to dissuade Lara, in revenge, the humiliated Lara takes the pistol she has been hiding for Pasha and shoots Komarovsky at a Christmas Eve party, wounding him. Komarovsky insists no action be taken against Lara, who is escorted out by Pasha, although enraged and devastated by Laras affair with Komarovsky, Pasha marries Lara, and they have a daughter named Katya. During World War I, Yevgraf Zhivago is sent by the Bolsheviks to subvert the Imperial Russian Army, Pasha is reported missing in action following a daring charge attack on German forces. Lara enlists as a nurse to search for him, Yuri Zhivago is drafted and becomes a battlefield doctor. During the February Revolution in 1917, Zhivago enlists Laras help to tend to the wounded, together they run a field hospital for six months, during which time radical changes ensue throughout Russia as Vladimir Lenin arrives in Moscow. Before their departure, Yuri and Lara fall in love, but Yuri remains true to Tonya, after the war, Yuri returns to his wife Tonya, son Sasha, and Alexander, whose house in Moscow has been divided into tenements by the new Soviet government
24.
Malta
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Malta, officially known as the Republic of Malta, is a Southern European island country consisting of an archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. It lies 80 km south of Italy,284 km east of Tunisia, the country covers just over 316 km2, with a population of just under 450,000, making it one of the worlds smallest and most densely populated countries. The capital of Malta is Valletta, which at 0.8 km2, is the smallest national capital in the European Union, Malta has one national language, which is Maltese, and English as an official language. John, French and British, have ruled the islands, King George VI of the United Kingdom awarded the George Cross to Malta in 1942 for the countrys bravery in the Second World War. The George Cross continues to appear on Maltas national flag, the country became a republic in 1974, and although no longer a Commonwealth realm, remains a member state of the Commonwealth of Nations. Malta was admitted to the United Nations in 1964 and to the European Union in 2004, in 2008, Catholicism is the official religion in Malta. The origin of the term Malta is uncertain, and the modern-day variation derives from the Maltese language, the most common etymology is that the word Malta derives from the Greek word μέλι, meli, honey. The ancient Greeks called the island Μελίτη meaning honey-sweet, possibly due to Maltas unique production of honey, an endemic species of bee lives on the island. The Romans went on to call the island Melita, which can be considered either as a latinisation of the Greek Μελίτη or the adaptation of the Doric Greek pronunciation of the same word Μελίτα. Another conjecture suggests that the word Malta comes from the Phoenician word Maleth a haven or port in reference to Maltas many bays, few other etymological mentions appear in classical literature, with the term Malta appearing in its present form in the Antonine Itinerary. The extinction of the hippos and dwarf elephants has been linked to the earliest arrival of humans on Malta. Prehistoric farming settlements dating to the Early Neolithic period were discovered in areas and also in caves. The Sicani were the tribe known to have inhabited the island at this time and are generally regarded as being closely related to the Iberians. Pottery from the Għar Dalam phase is similar to found in Agrigento. A culture of megalithis temple builders then either supplanted or arose from this early period, the temples have distinctive architecture, typically a complex trefoil design, and were used from 4000 to 2500 BCE. Animal bones and a knife found behind an altar stone suggest that temple rituals included animal sacrifice. Tentative information suggests that the sacrifices were made to the goddess of fertility, the culture apparently disappeared from the Maltese Islands around 2500 BC. Archaeologists speculate that the builders fell victim to famine or disease
25.
Sparta
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Sparta was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece. In antiquity the city-state was known as Lacedaemon, while the name Sparta referred to its settlement on the banks of the Eurotas River in Laconia. Around 650 BC, it rose to become the dominant military land-power in ancient Greece, given its military pre-eminence, Sparta was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during the Greco-Persian Wars. Between 431 and 404 BC, Sparta was the enemy of Athens during the Peloponnesian War, from which it emerged victorious. Spartas defeat by Thebes in the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC ended Spartas prominent role in Greece, however, it maintained its political independence until the Roman conquest of Greece in 146 BC. It then underwent a period of decline, especially in the Middle Ages. Modern Sparta is the capital of the Greek regional unit of Laconia, Sparta was unique in ancient Greece for its social system and constitution, which completely focused on military training and excellence. Its inhabitants were classified as Spartiates, mothakes, perioikoi, Spartiates underwent the rigorous agoge training and education regimen, and Spartan phalanges were widely considered to be among the best in battle. Spartan women enjoyed more rights and equality to men than elsewhere in the classical world. Sparta was the subject of fascination in its own day, as well as in the West following the revival of classical learning and this love or admiration of Sparta is known as Laconism or Laconophilia. At its peak around 500 BC the size of the city would have been some 20,000 –35,000 free residents, plus numerous helots, olliers theory of the Spartan mirage has been widely accepted by scholars. The ancient Greeks used one of three words to refer to the location of the Spartans. The first refers primarily to the cluster of settlements in the valley of the Eurotas River. The second word was Lacedaemon, this was used sometimes as an adjective and is the name commonly used in the works of Homer. Herodotus seems to denote by it the Mycenaean Greek citadel at Therapne and it could be used synonymously with Sparta, but typically it was not. It denoted the terrain on which Sparta was situated, in Homer it is typically combined with epithets of the countryside, wide, lovely, shining and most often hollow and broken. The hollow suggests the Eurotas Valley, Sparta on the other hand is the country of lovely women, a people epithet. The name of the population was used for the state of Lacedaemon
26.
Troy (film)
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Troy is a 2004 American action-war film written by David Benioff and directed by Wolfgang Petersen. The film features an ensemble cast led by Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Achilles leads his Myrmidons along with the rest of the Greek army invading the historical city of Troy, defended by Hectors Trojan army. The end of the film is not taken from the Iliad, Troy made more than 73% of its revenues outside the U. S. Eventually, Troy made over $497 million worldwide, temporarily placing it in the #60 spot of top box office hits of all time. It was the 8th highest-grossing film of 2004, meanwhile, Prince Hector of Troy and his younger brother Paris negotiate a peace treaty with Menelaus, King of Sparta. Paris, however, is having a love affair with Menelaus wife, Queen Helen. Upon learning of this, Menelaus meets with Agamemnon, his elder brother, Agamemnon, who has wanted to conquer Troy for a long time, agrees, since it will give him control of the Aegean Sea. On Nestor, King of Pylos advice, Agamemnon has Odysseus, King of Ithaca, Achilles, who strongly dislikes Agamemnon, initially refuses, but eventually decides to go after his mother, Thetis, tells him that though he will die, he will be forever remembered. The Trojan and Greek armies meet outside the walls of Troy, during a parley, Paris offers to duel Menelaus personally for Helens hand in exchange for the city being spared. Agamemnon, intending to take the city regardless of the outcome, Menelaus wounds Paris and almost kills him, but is himself killed by Hector. In the ensuing battle, most of Agamemnons forces fall to Troys archers, on Odysseus insistence, Agamemnon gives the order to fall back. In order to keep their spirits up, he gives Briseis to the Greek soldiers for their amusement, Briseis sneaks into Achilless quarters later that night intent on killing him. However, Briseis quickly falls for him, giving up her virginity as Achilles seduces, Achilles, realizing the war is a lost cause, resolves to leave Troy in the morning. Despite Hectors advice otherwise, Priam instructs him to retake the Trojan beach in the night, the attack brings the Greeks together and the Myrmidons enter the battle. Hector personally duels a man he believes to be Achilles and cuts his throat, devastated, the armies agree to stop fighting for the day. Achilles is informed of his cousins death and vows revenge, the next day, Achilles arrives outside Troy and demands Hector come out. The two fight evenly for a while until Achilles wears Hector down and kills him, dragging his corpse back to the Trojan beach, straining his relationship with Briseis. Priam, in disguise, sneaks into the camp and meets with Achilles, ashamed of his actions, Achilles agrees and allows Briseis to return to Troy with Priam, promising a truce of twelve days so that Hectors funeral rites may be held in peace. He also tells his men to return home without him, Agamemnon declares that he will take Troy no matter what
27.
Rome
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Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is also the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called the Caput Mundi, due to that, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, and then the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism. Famous artists, painters, sculptors and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, in 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city, Rome ranked in 2014 as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, monuments and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are among the worlds most visited tourist destinations with both locations receiving millions of tourists a year. Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is the seat of United Nations Food, however, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternate theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools, pottery and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the age and the beginning of the Iron age. However, none of them had yet an urban quality, nowadays, there is a wide consensus that the city was gradually born through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. All these happenings, which according to the excavations took place more or less around the mid of the 8th century BC. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome has been indeed founded with an act of will as the legend suggests in the middle of the 8th century BC remains a fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth
28.
Gladiator (2000 film)
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Gladiator is a 2000 epic historical drama film directed by Ridley Scott and written by David Franzoni, John Logan and William Nicholson. It stars Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Ralf Möller, Oliver Reed, Djimon Hounsou, Derek Jacobi, John Shrapnel, reduced to slavery, Maximus rises through the ranks of the gladiatorial arena to avenge the murders of his family and his emperor. The film was released in the United States on May 5,2000, the film won multiple awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Crowe and three other Oscars at the 73rd Academy Awards. It has also credited with rekindling interest in films centered around ancient Greek. In AD180, Hispano-Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius leads the Roman army to a victory against the Germanic tribes near Vindobona on the northern frontier. Now weary of battle, Maximus only desires to retire to his Spanish farm estate, but Emperor Marcus Aurelius tells him that his own son and heir, Commodus, is unfit to rule and that he will appoint Maximus as regent to help save Rome from corruption. When the Emperor reveals his plan to his son, Commodus murders him in a fit of rage, Commodus announces he is the new Emperor and asks Maximus for his loyalty. When the general refuses, he is arrested by his officers and is sentenced to death at dawn, Maximus kills his captors and rides for his farm. However, he too late, and finds it destroyed and his family murdered. Maximus buries his wife and son, and then collapses from his wounds and he is found by slavers who take him to Zucchabar, a colonia in the Roman North African province of Mauretania Caesariensis, where he is sold to a lanista named Proximo. As he wins every match because of his skills and indifference to death, he gains fame. Proximo encourages Maximus to go to Rome and fight in the Colosseum and he could then use the power he commands in the arena as leverage against the Emperor. Maximus first gladiatorial combat in the Colosseum is a re-enactment of the Roman victory over Carthage at the Battle of Zama, although the gladiators are expected to be massacred, Maximus leads them to victory over the legionaries of Scipio Africanus. This prompts a surprised and delighted Commodus to enter the arena to offer his personal congratulations, when the emperors young nephew, Lucius, also joins them, Maximus decides not to kill Commodus. Instead he reveals himself and vows to have vengeance, the Praetorian Guard is ordered to attack but this angers the crowd. Under pressure to keep the mob of Rome happy, Commodus angrily relents, Maximus next fight is a victory against a large undefeated gladiator. Despite Commoduss orders to kill the loser, Maximus spares his opponents life. This defiance earns him the nickname Maximus the Merciful and more cheers of adulation, angered at this outcome, Commodus enters the arena to taunt Maximus about his familys death
29.
Beirut
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Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. No recent population census has been done but in 2007 estimates ranged from more than 1 million to slightly less than 2 million as part of Greater Beirut. Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanons Mediterranean coast, Beirut is the countrys largest and it is one of the oldest cities in the world, inhabited more than 5,000 years ago. The first historical mention of Beirut is found in the ancient Egyptian Tell el Amarna letters dating from the 15th century BC, the Beirut River runs south to north on the eastern edge of the city. Beirut is Lebanons seat of government and plays a role in the Lebanese economy, with most banks and corporations based in its Central District, Badaro, Rue Verdun, Hamra. Following the destructive Lebanese Civil War, Beiruts cultural landscape underwent major reconstruction, identified and graded for accountancy, advertising, banking/finance and law, Beirut is ranked as a Beta World City by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. In May 2015, Beirut was officially recognized as one of the New7Wonders Cities together with Vigan, Doha, Durban, Havana, Kuala Lumpur, and La Paz. Beirut I, or Minet el Hosn, was listed as Beyrouth ville by Louis Burkhalter and said to be on the beach near the Orent, the site was discovered by Lortet in 1894 and discussed by Godefroy Zumoffen in 1900. The flint industry from the site was described as Mousterian and is held by the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon, Beirut II, or Umm el Khatib, was suggested by Burkhalter to have been south of Tarik el Jedideh, where P. E. Gigues discovered a Copper Age flint industry at around 100 metres above sea level, the site had been built on and destroyed by 1948. Beirut III, Furn esh Shebbak or Plateau Tabet, was suggested to have located on the left bank of the Beirut River. Burkhalter suggested that it was west of the Damascus road, although this determination has been criticized by Lorraine Copeland, P. E. Gigues discovered a series of Neolithic flint tools on the surface along with the remains of a structure suggested to be a hut circle. Auguste Bergy discussed polished axes that were found at this site. The area was covered in red sand that represented Quaternary river terraces, the site was found by Jesuit Father Dillenseger and published by fellow Jesuits Godefroy Zumoffen, Raoul Describes and Auguste Bergy. Collections from the site were made by Bergy, Describes and another Jesuit, a large number of Middle Paleolithic flint tools were found on the surface and in side gullies that drain into the river. They included around 50 varied bifaces accredited to the Acheulean period, some with a lustrous sheen, Henri Fleisch also found an Emireh point amongst material from the site, which has now disappeared beneath buildings. Levallois flints and bones and similar material were found amongst brecciated deposits. The area has now built on
30.
Cyprus
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Cyprus, officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean and the third largest and third most populous island in the Mediterranean. It is located south of Turkey, west of Syria and Lebanon, northwest of Israel and Palestine, north of Egypt, the earliest known human activity on the island dates to around the 10th millennium BC. Archaeological remains from this include the well-preserved Neolithic village of Khirokitia. Cyprus was settled by Mycenaean Greeks in two waves in the 2nd millennium BC, Cyprus was placed under British administration based on Cyprus Convention in 1878 and formally annexed by Britain in 1914. While Turkish Cypriots made up 18% of the population, the partition of Cyprus and creation of a Turkish state in the north became a policy of Turkish Cypriot leaders, following nationalist violence in the 1950s, Cyprus was granted independence in 1960. On 15 July 1974, a coup détat was staged by Greek Cypriot nationalists and elements of the Greek military junta in an attempt at enosis and these events and the resulting political situation are matters of a continuing dispute. The Cyprus Republic has de jure sovereignty over the island of Cyprus, as well as its territorial sea and exclusive economic area, another nearly 4% of the islands area is covered by the UN buffer zone. The international community considers the part of the island as territory of the Republic of Cyprus occupied by Turkish forces. The occupation is viewed as illegal under law, amounting to illegal occupation of EU territory since Cyprus became a member of the European Union. Cyprus is a major tourist destination in the Mediterranean, on 1 January 2008, the Republic of Cyprus joined the eurozone. The earliest attested reference to Cyprus is the 15th century BC Mycenaean Greek
31.
Tel Aviv
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Tel Aviv-Yafo is a major city in Israel, located on the countrys Mediterranean coastline. It is the center and the technology hub of Israel, with a population of 432,892. Tel Aviv is the largest city in the Gush Dan region of Israel, Tel Aviv is also a focal point in the high-tech concentration known as the Silicon Wadi. Tel Aviv is governed by the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality, headed by Ron Huldai, Tel Aviv is a global city, and is the thirty eighth most important financial center in the world. Tel Aviv is known to have the third-largest economy of any city in the Middle East after Abu Dhabi and Kuwait City, the city receives over a million international visitors annually. Known as The City that Never Sleeps and a party capital, it has a lively nightlife, the city was founded in 1909 by Jewish immigrants on the outskirts of the ancient port city of Jaffa. It is named after the Hebrew translation of Theodor Herzls 1902 novel, Altneuland, the modern citys first neighbourhoods had already been established in 1886, the first being Neve Tzedek. Immigration by mostly Jewish refugees meant that the growth of Tel Aviv soon outpaced Jaffas, Tel Aviv and Jaffa were merged into a single municipality in 1950, two years after the establishment of the State of Israel. Tel Avivs White City, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003, Tel Aviv is the Hebrew title of Theodor Herzls Altneuland, translated from German by Nahum Sokolow. The name was chosen in 1910 from several suggestions, including Herzliya and it was found fitting as it embraced the idea of a renaissance in the ancient Jewish homeland. Aviv is Hebrew for spring, symbolizing renewal, and tel is a man-made mound accumulating layers of civilization built one over the other and symbolizing the ancient. Although founded in 1909 as a settlement on the sand dunes North of Jaffa. The marketing pamphlets advocating for its establishment in 1906, wrote, In this city we will build the streets so they have roads and sidewalks and electric lights. Every house will have water wells that will flow through pipes as in every modern European city. Since 1886, Jewish settlers had founded new neighborhoods outside Jaffa on the current territory of Tel Aviv, the first was Neve Tzedek, built on lands owned by Aharon Chelouche and inhabited primarily by Mizrahi Jews. Other neighborhoods were Neve Shalom, Yafa Nof, Achva, Ohel Moshe, Kerem HaTeimanim, once Tel Aviv received city status in the 1920s, those neighborhoods joined the newly formed municipality, now becoming separated from Jaffa. The Second Aliyah led to further expansion, in 1906, a group of Jews, among them residents of Jaffa, followed the initiative of Akiva Aryeh Weiss and banded together to form the Ahuzat Bayit society. The societys goal was to form a Hebrew urban centre in an environment, planned according to the rules of aesthetics
32.
Athens
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Athens is the capital and largest city of Greece. In modern times, Athens is a cosmopolitan metropolis and central to economic, financial, industrial, maritime. In 2015, Athens was ranked the worlds 29th richest city by purchasing power, Athens is recognised as a global city because of its location and its importance in shipping, finance, commerce, media, entertainment, arts, international trade, culture, education and tourism. It is one of the biggest economic centres in southeastern Europe, with a financial sector. The municipality of Athens had a population of 664,046 within its limits. The urban area of Athens extends beyond its administrative city limits. According to Eurostat in 2011, the Functional urban areas of Athens was the 9th most populous FUA in the European Union, Athens is also the southernmost capital on the European mainland. The city also retains Roman and Byzantine monuments, as well as a number of Ottoman monuments. Athens is home to two UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the Acropolis of Athens and the medieval Daphni Monastery, Athens was the host city of the first modern-day Olympic Games in 1896, and 108 years later it welcomed home the 2004 Summer Olympics. In Ancient Greek, the name of the city was Ἀθῆναι a plural, in earlier Greek, such as Homeric Greek, the name had been current in the singular form though, as Ἀθήνη. It was possibly rendered in the later on, like those of Θῆβαι and Μυκῆναι. During the medieval period the name of the city was rendered once again in the singular as Ἀθήνα, an etiological myth explaining how Athens has acquired its name was well known among ancient Athenians and even became the theme of the sculpture on the West pediment of the Parthenon. The goddess of wisdom, Athena, and the god of the seas, Poseidon had many disagreements, in an attempt to compel the people, Poseidon created a salt water spring by striking the ground with his trident, symbolizing naval power. However, when Athena created the tree, symbolizing peace and prosperity. Different etymologies, now rejected, were proposed during the 19th century. Christian Lobeck proposed as the root of the name the word ἄθος or ἄνθος meaning flower, ludwig von Döderlein proposed the stem of the verb θάω, stem θη- to denote Athens as having fertile soil. In classical literature, the city was referred to as the City of the Violet Crown, first documented in Pindars ἰοστέφανοι Ἀθᾶναι. In medieval texts, variant names include Setines, Satine, and Astines, today the caption η πρωτεύουσα, the capital, has become somewhat common
33.
Munich (film)
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The film was produced and directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Tony Kushner and Eric Roth. Shot in Malta, Budapest, Paris and New York City and it garnered positive reviews and five Academy Awards nominations, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing and Best Original Score. Its worldwide box office gross was $130,358,911, to give the Israeli government plausible deniability and at the direction of his handler Ephraim, Avner resigns from Mossad and operates with no official ties to Israel. They are given information by a shadowy French informant, Louis, in Rome, the team shoots and kills Wael Zwaiter, who is broke and living as a poet. In Paris, they detonate a bomb in the home of Mahmoud Hamshari, in Cyprus, Avner makes a brief visit to his wife, who has given birth to their first baby. Avner has a conversation with PLO member Ali over their homelands. The squad moves to London to track down Ali Hassan Salameh, who orchestrated the Munich Massacre, but the assassination attempt is interrupted by several drunken Americans. It is implied that these are agents of the CIA, which, according to Louis, protects, meanwhile, attempts are made on the assassins themselves. Carl is killed by Jeanette, an independent Dutch contract killer, in revenge, the team tracks her down and executes her at a houseboat in Hoorn, Netherlands. Hans is found stabbed to death on a bench, while Robert is killed by an explosion in his workshop. Avner and Steve finally locate Salameh in Spain, but again their assassination attempt is thwarted and it is implied that the amoral Louis has sold information on the team to the PLO. A disillusioned Avner flies to Israel, where he is unhappy to be hailed as a hero by two soldiers, and then to his new home in Brooklyn, where he suffers post-traumatic stress. He is thrown out of the Israeli consulate after storming in to demand that Mossad leave his wife, in the final scene, Ephraim comes to ask Avner to return to Israel and Mossad, but is refused by Avner. A final intertitle notes that 9 of the 11 original targets were eventually assassinated, the World Trade Center is seen in this last shot before the film ends. The film garnered a 78% rating from critics, james Berardinelli wrote that Munich is an eye-opener – a motion picture that asks difficult questions, presents well-developed characters, and keeps us white-knuckled throughout. He named it the best film of the year, it was the film in 2005 which Berardinelli gave four stars. Entertainment Weekly film critic Owen Gleiberman mentioned Munich amongst the best movies of the decade, variety reviewer Todd McCarthy called Munich a beautifully made film. However, he criticized the film for failing to include compelling characters, and for its use of laborious plotting, McCarthy says that the film turns into. a lumpy and overlong morality play on a failed thriller template
34.
Popeye (film)
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Popeye is a 1980 American musical comedy film directed by Robert Altman. It is a film adaptation of E. C. Segars Popeye comic strip and stars Robin Williams as Popeye the Sailor Man, the film premiered on December 6,1980 in Los Angeles, California, to mixed reviews and disappointing box office results. Harry Nilssons soundtrack received positive reviews. Popeye, a sailor, arrives at the coastal town of Sweethaven while searching for his long-lost father. He is immediately feared by the townsfolk simply because he is a stranger and he rents a room at the Oyl familys boarding house where the Oyls daughter, Olive, is preparing for her engagement party. Her hand is promised to Captain Bluto, a powerful, perpetually angry bully who runs the town in the name of the mysterious Commodore. In the morning, Popeye visits the diner for breakfast and demonstrates his strength as he brawls with a gang of provocative ruffians who give him. On the night of the engagement party, Bluto and the townsfolk arrive at the Oyls home, Olive, however, sneaks out of the house, after discovering that the only attribute she can report for her bullying fiancé is size. She encounters Popeye, who failed to fit in with the townsfolk at the party, the two eventually come across an abandoned baby in a basket. Popeye adopts the child, naming him SweePea, and the two return to the Oyls home, Bluto, however, has grown increasingly furious with Olives absence. He realizes that she means to break off the engagement and he eventually flies into a rage and destroys the house. When he sees Popeye and Olive with SweePea, Bluto beats Popeye into submission, the taxman repossesses the remains of the Oyls home and all their possessions. The Oyls son, Castor, decides to compete against the heavyweight boxer, Oxblood Oxheart. However, Castor is no match for Oxheart and is savagely beaten, Popeye takes the ring in Castors place and defeats Oxheart, putting on a show for the townsfolk and finally earning their respect. Back at home, Popeye and Olive sing SweePea to sleep, the next day, Olive tells Popeye that during his match with Oxheart, she discovered that SweePea can predict the future by whistling when he hears the correct answer to a question. Wimpy, the con artist and petty gambler, overhears and asks to take SweePea out for a walk, though he actually takes him to the horse races. Popeye, however, is outraged, and vents his frustrations to the racing parlors customers, in the chaos, Wimpy, who has been intimidated by Bluto, kidnaps SweePea for him
35.
Matera
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Matera is a city and a province in the region of Basilicata, in Southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Matera and the capital of Basilicata from 1663 to 1806, the town lies in a small canyon carved out by the Gravina. Known as la Città Sotterranea, Matera is well known for being one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world and its historical center called Sassi, along with the Park of the Rupestrian Churches, is considered a World Heritage Site by UNESCO since 1993. On October 17,2014, Matera was declared Italian host of European Capital of Culture for 2019, the area of what is now Matera has been settled since the Palaeolithic. The city was founded by the Romans in the 3rd century BC. In AD664 Matera was conquered by the Lombards and became part of the Duchy of Benevento, in the 7th and 8th centuries the nearby grottos were colonized by both Benedictine and Basilian monastic institutions. The 9th and 10th centuries were characterized by the struggle between the Byzantines and the German emperors, including Louis II, who destroyed the city. After the settlement of the Normans in Apulia, Matera was ruled by William Iron-Arm from 1043. After a short communal phase and a series of pestilences and earthquakes, the city in the 15th century became an Aragonese possession, in 1514, however, the population rebelled against the oppression and killed Count Giovanni Carlo Tramontano. In the 17th century Matera was handed over to the Orsini, later it was capital of Basilicata, a position it retained until 1806, when Joseph Bonaparte reassigned it to Potenza. In 1927 it became capital of the province of Matera, on September 21,1943, the Materani rose against the German occupation, the first Italian city to fight against the Wehrmacht. Matera has gained fame for its ancient town, the Sassi di Matera. The Sassi originated in a prehistoric settlement, and these dwellings are thought to be among the first ever human settlements in what is now Italy. The Sassi are habitations dug into the rock itself, which is characteristic of Basilicata. Many of them are little more than caverns, and in some parts of the Sassi a street lies on top of another group of dwellings. The ancient town grew up on one slope of the ravine created by a river that is now a small stream. In the 1950s, the government of Italy used force to relocate most of the population of the Sassi to areas of the modern city. Until the late 1980s the Sassi was considered an area of poverty, since its dwellings were, the present local administration, however, has become more tourism-oriented, and it has promoted the regeneration of the Sassi with the aid of the Italian government, UNESCO, and Hollywood
36.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
37.
Jerusalem
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Jerusalem is a city located on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is considered a city in the three major Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, the part of Jerusalem called the City of David was settled in the 4th millennium BCE. In 1538, walls were built around Jerusalem under Suleiman the Magnificent, today those walls define the Old City, which has been traditionally divided into four quarters—known since the early 19th century as the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters. The Old City became a World Heritage Site in 1981, and is on the List of World Heritage in Danger, Modern Jerusalem has grown far beyond the Old Citys boundaries. These foundational events, straddling the dawn of the 1st millennium BCE, the sobriquet of holy city was probably attached to Jerusalem in post-exilic times. The holiness of Jerusalem in Christianity, conserved in the Septuagint which Christians adopted as their own authority, was reinforced by the New Testament account of Jesuss crucifixion there, in Sunni Islam, Jerusalem is the third-holiest city, after Mecca and Medina. As a result, despite having an area of only 0, outside the Old City stands the Garden Tomb. Today, the status of Jerusalem remains one of the issues in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, West Jerusalem was among the captured and later annexed by Israel while East Jerusalem, including the Old City, was captured. Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War and subsequently annexed it into Jerusalem, one of Israels Basic Laws, the 1980 Jerusalem Law, refers to Jerusalem as the countrys undivided capital. All branches of the Israeli government are located in Jerusalem, including the Knesset, the residences of the Prime Minister and President, the international community does not recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital, and the city hosts no foreign embassies. Jerusalem is also home to some non-governmental Israeli institutions of importance, such as the Hebrew University. In 2011, Jerusalem had a population of 801,000, of which Jews comprised 497,000, Muslims 281,000, a city called Rušalim in the Execration texts of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt is widely, but not universally, identified as Jerusalem. Jerusalem is called Urušalim in the Amarna letters of Abdi-Heba, the name Jerusalem is variously etymologized to mean foundation of the god Shalem, the god Shalem was thus the original tutelary deity of the Bronze Age city. The form Yerushalem or Yerushalayim first appears in the Bible, in the Book of Joshua, according to a Midrash, the name is a combination of Yhwh Yireh and the town Shalem. The earliest extra-biblical Hebrew writing of the word Jerusalem is dated to the sixth or seventh century BCE and was discovered in Khirbet Beit Lei near Beit Guvrin in 1961. The inscription states, I am Yahweh thy God, I will accept the cities of Judah and I will redeem Jerusalem, or as other scholars suggest, the mountains of Judah belong to him, to the God of Jerusalem
38.
The Passion of the Christ
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The Passion of the Christ is a 2004 American biblical epic drama film directed by Mel Gibson, written by Gibson and Benedict Fitzgerald, and starring Jim Caviezel as Jesus Christ. It depicts the Passion of Jesus largely according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and it also draws on pious accounts such as the Friday of Sorrows along with other devotional writings, such as the reputed Marian apparitions attributed to Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich. The film was a commercial hit, grossing $612 million during its theatrical release. The Passion of the Christ was the highest-grossing R-rated film in the United States until Deadpool was released in 2016 and it received three Academy Award nominations in 2005. The film opens in Gethsemane at night as Jesus Christ, at the height of his cause, prays while his disciples Peter, James, and John sleep. After he wakes them and tells them to pray, Satan appears in an androgynous, albino form. Ignoring it and praying on, Jesus sweat turns into blood, Jesus hears his disciples call out for him, and he rebukes Satan by stomping on the snakes head, and Satan vanishes. After receiving a bribe of thirty pieces of silver, Judas, another of Jesus disciples, approaches with a group of temple guards and betrays Jesus with a simple kiss on the cheek. As the armed guards move in to arrest Jesus, Peter draws his dagger and slashes off the ear of Malchus, one of the guards, Jesus, in turn, heals the ear as he reprimands Peter for his actions. As the disciples flee, the guards secure Jesus, and beat him during the journey to the Sanhedrin, John informs Mary and Mary Magdalene of the arrest, while Peter follows Jesus and his captors at a distance. Caiaphas holds trial over the objection of some of the other priests, when questioned by Caiaphas if he is the Son of God, Jesus replies, I am. Caiaphas is horrified, tears his robes in outrage, and Jesus is condemned to death for blasphemy, Peter, secretly watching, is confronted by the surrounding mob for being a follower of Jesus, and he angrily denies this three times. But after cursing at the mob during the third denial, a sobbing Peter flees after remembering that Jesus had foretold this coping of a defense, meanwhile, a guilt-ridden Judas attempts to return the money he was paid to have Jesus freed, but is refused by the priests. Tormented by demons, he flees the city, finds solitude, after Jesus is again found not guilty and returned, Pilate offers the crowd options for either him to chastise Jesus, or release him. He then attempts to have Jesus freed by the peoples choice, to his dismay, the crowd demands to have Barabbas freed and Jesus killed. In an attempt to appease the moment, Pilate orders that he simply be punished, Jesus is brutally scourged, abused, and mocked by the Roman guards as king of the Jews with a crown of thorns. However, Caiaphas, with the crowds verbal backing, continues to demand that Jesus be crucified as a heretic, admonished, Pilate washes his hands, takes no responsibility of the incident, and reluctantly orders Jesus crucifixion. During the course of events, Satan watches Jesus bloody sufferings with great interest, a dismayed Pilate watches the march, while his wife Claudia, who knows of Jesus status as a holy man, comforts him
39.
Gran Sasso d'Italia
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Gran Sasso dItalia is a mountain located in the Abruzzo region of central Italy. Teramo and LAquila are the nearest cities to the Gran Sasso, while Assergi, at the base of the mountain, is the nearest village, Corno Grande and Corno Piccolos ash coloration come from their limestone and dolomite composition. The peaks are snow-covered for much of the year though the cover appears to be less each decade. Corno Piccolo is referred to as, The Sleeping Giant and this is due to the appearance of a profile of a reclined face. This view of Corno Piccolo is evident when viewing the mountain from Pietracamela, Corno Grande and Corno Piccolo with their rough vertical walls provide serious rock climbers with challenges. Situated below the peak of the Corno Grande is the Calderone glacier, until 2009 the southernmost known glacier in Europe, glaciologists now question whether the glacier will survive past 2020. The mid- to lower slopes of the Gran Sasso are grazed in spring, summer and autumn by large flocks of sheep guarded by Maremmano-Abruzzese sheepdogs as well as herds of cattle, the pastures are covered with field grasses and meadowland wildflowers. At the northern base of Corno Piccolo is Prati di TiVo, to the east of Corno Grande and Corno Piccolo lies Campo Imperatore, a 27-kilometre-long and 8-kilometre-wide high plain or plateau at about 2,000 metres height. Campo Imperatore is home to Italys oldest continuously operating ski area. A hotel midway on the top of Campo Imperatore is where the Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini was imprisoned from August until September 1943 when he was freed by a Nazi commando operation. The plateau is also the site of the Campo Imperatore station of the Rome Observatory, from which the Campo Imperatore Near-Earth Object Survey, the name Gran Sasso means Great Stone. In 2005, a 2, 424-metre-high peak previously named The Gendarme was renamed John Paul II Peak on what would have been Pope John Paul IIs 85th birthday and he had visited the Gran Sasso many times, saying it reminded him of the mountains of his native Poland. In January 2017 an avalanche on the Gran Sasso near Farindola killed several people, in 1984, a 10-kilometre two-lane highway tunnel carrying the A24 autostrade, the Traforo del Gran Sasso, was bored through the Gran Sasso Massif. In 1995, a parallel tunnel was completed. Construction of the tunnel included an underground physics laboratory at Assergi. The first large experiments there started in 1989, the laboratory is composed of three large underground chambers, sometimes referred to collectively as the third tunnel and lies beneath 1,400 metres of rock. The laboratory employs over 700 scientists from twenty different countries, in recent years, the laboratory has itself begun promoting preservation of the Gran Sasso environment. The LNGS was the destination of the involved in the faster-than-light neutrino anomaly publicly announced in September 2011
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Red Sonja
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Red Sonja debuted in Conan the Barbarian #23. In 1975 Marvel Comics published the first issue of Red Sonja after the made a short solo appearance in Marvel Feature that same year. At the 2013 Emerald City Comic Con, Dynamite, which began publishing Red Sonja comics in 2005, Simone noted in further interviews that her version is slightly rebooted, showing the characters beginnings. Issue #1 of Simones run was released in July 2013, the series ran through 18 issues. In 2017, a new Red Sonja comic series began, written by Amy Chu and she was portrayed by Brigitte Nielsen in the 1985 film Red Sonja. In 2011, Sonja was ranked first in Comics Buyers Guides 100 Sexiest Women in Comics list, Red Sonjas origin story, The Day of the Sword, first appeared in Kull and the Barbarians #3 by Roy Thomas, Doug Moench, and Howard Chaykin. The same story was redrawn by Dick Giordano and Terry Austin for The Savage Sword of Conan. In this story, Red Sonja lives with her family in a house in the Western Hyrkanian steppes. When she is just 17, a group of mercenaries kills her family, Sonja attempts to defend herself, but cant lift her brothers sword. She is brutally raped by the leader of the group, answering her cry for revenge, the red goddess Scáthach appears to her, and gives her incredible fighting skills, on the condition that she never lie with a man unless he defeats her in fair combat. In the Dynamite comic book series by Michael Avon Oeming, Sonjas origins are portrayed in flashbacks within each issue beginning with issue #8, the goddess makes her first appearance in this series in issue #12, which also marks the return of the deadly sorcerer Kulan Gath. In the Dynamite series by Gail Simone, Sonjas origins are told in flashbacks. Sonja is a teenager in a Hyrkanian village which is attacked by bandits. After her family is killed, Sonja lures the bandits into the forest, No goddess appears in this version, and Sonja makes no vow of chastity. While she is threatened by the bandits, she is neither raped nor seriously injured, another set of flashbacks shows Sonja as an adult, and indicates that she learned many of her fighting skills from a fellow prisoner when she was captured and forced to fight as a gladiator. The original Sonja is killed off in issue #34 of the first Dynamite series, instead, a new character of the same name, described as a reincarnation of Red Sonja, takes her place from issue #35 onward. Eventually she is reunited with her husband, but then a pirate crew slays him and leaves Sonja on the brink of death. He and Sonja find that, even though she has occasional flashes of her former reflexes, despite this, Sonja is able to learn faster than Osin expects
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Prague
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Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. It is the 14th largest city in the European Union and it is also the historical capital of Bohemia. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city has a temperate climate, with warm summers and chilly winters. Prague has been a political, cultural, and economic centre of central Europe with waxing and waning fortunes during its history and it was an important city to the Habsburg Monarchy and its Austro-Hungarian Empire. Prague is home to a number of cultural attractions, many of which survived the violence. Main attractions include the Prague Castle, the Charles Bridge, Old Town Square with the Prague astronomical clock, since 1992, the extensive historic centre of Prague has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. The city has more than ten major museums, along with theatres, galleries, cinemas. An extensive modern public transportation system connects the city, also, it is home to a wide range of public and private schools, including Charles University in Prague, the oldest university in Central Europe. Prague is classified as an Alpha- global city according to GaWC studies, Prague ranked sixth in the Tripadvisor world list of best destinations in 2016. Its rich history makes it a popular tourist destination, and the city more than 6.4 million international visitors annually. Prague is the fifth most visited European city after London, Paris, Istanbul, the region was settled as early as the Paleolithic age. In the last century BC, the Celts were slowly driven away by Germanic tribes, around the area where present-day Prague stands, the 2nd century map of Ptolemaios mentioned a Germanic city called Casurgis. In the following century, the Czech tribes built several fortified settlements in the area, most notably in Levý Hradec, Butovice and in the Šárka valley. The construction of what came to be known as the Prague Castle began near the end of the 9th century, the first masonry under Prague Castle dates from the year 885 at the latest. The other prominent Prague fort, the Přemyslid fort Vyšehrad, was founded in the 10th century, Prague Castle is dominated by the cathedral, which was founded in 1344, but completed in the 20th century. The legendary origins of Prague attribute its foundation to the 8th century Czech duchess and prophetess Libuše and her husband, Přemysl, legend says that Libuše came out on a rocky cliff high above the Vltava and prophesied, I see a great city whose glory will touch the stars. She ordered a castle and a town called Praha to be built on the site, a 17th century Jewish chronicler David Solomon Ganz, citing Cyriacus Spangenberg, claimed that the city was founded as Boihaem in c.1306 BC by an ancient king, Boyya. The region became the seat of the dukes, and later kings of Bohemia, under Roman Emperor Otto II the area became a bishopric in 973
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Czech Republic
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The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, is a nation state in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west, Austria to the south, Slovakia to the east and Poland to the northeast. The Czech Republic covers an area of 78,866 square kilometres with mostly temperate continental climate and it is a unitary parliamentary republic, has 10.5 million inhabitants and the capital and largest city is Prague, with over 1.2 million residents. The Czech Republic includes the territories of Bohemia, Moravia. The Czech state was formed in the late 9th century as the Duchy of Bohemia under the Great Moravian Empire, after the fall of the Empire in 907, the centre of power transferred from Moravia to Bohemia under the Přemyslid dynasty. In 1002, the duchy was formally recognized as part of the Holy Roman Empire, becoming the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1198 and reaching its greatest territorial extent in the 14th century. Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the whole Crown of Bohemia was gradually integrated into the Habsburg Monarchy alongside the Archduchy of Austria, the Protestant Bohemian Revolt against the Catholic Habsburgs led to the Thirty Years War. After the Battle of the White Mountain, the Habsburgs consolidated their rule, reimposed Roman Catholicism, the Czech part of Czechoslovakia was occupied by Germany in World War II, and was liberated in 1945 by the armies of the Soviet Union and the United States. The Czech country lost the majority of its German-speaking inhabitants after they were expelled following the war, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia won the 1946 elections. Following the 1948 coup détat, Czechoslovakia became a one-party communist state under Soviet influence, in 1968, increasing dissatisfaction with the regime culminated in a reform movement known as the Prague Spring, which ended in a Soviet-led invasion. Czechoslovakia remained occupied until the 1989 Velvet Revolution, when the communist regime collapsed, on 6 March 1990, the Czech Socialistic Republic was renamed to the Czech Republic. On 1 January 1993, Czechoslovakia peacefully dissolved, with its constituent states becoming the independent states of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. The Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004, it is a member of the United Nations, the OECD, the OSCE, and it is a developed country with an advanced, high income economy and high living standards. The UNDP ranks the country 14th in inequality-adjusted human development, the Czech Republic also ranks as the 6th most peaceful country, while achieving strong performance in democratic governance. It has the lowest unemployment rate in the European Union, the traditional English name Bohemia derives from Latin Boiohaemum, which means home of the Boii. The current name comes from the endonym Čech, spelled Cžech until the reform in 1842. The name comes from the Slavic tribe and, according to legend, their leader Čech, the etymology of the word Čech can be traced back to the Proto-Slavic root *čel-, meaning member of the people, kinsman, thus making it cognate to the Czech word člověk. The country has traditionally divided into three lands, namely Bohemia in the west, Moravia in the southeast, and Czech Silesia in the northeast. Following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia at the end of 1992, the Czech part of the former nation found itself without a common single-word geographical name in English, the name Czechia /ˈtʃɛkiə/ was recommended by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs
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