1.
San Diego Comic-Con
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San Diego Comic-Con International is a multi-genre entertainment and comic convention held annually in San Diego, California. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International, San Diego and it is a four-day event held during the summer at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego. On the Wednesday evening prior to the opening of the event, there is a preview for professionals, exhibitors. Comic-Con International also produces two other conventions, WonderCon, held in Los Angeles, and the Alternative Press Expo and it is also the home of the Will Eisner Awards. In 2010, it filled the San Diego Convention Center to capacity with more than 130,000 attendees, the convention was founded in 1970 by Shel Dorf, Richard Alf, Ken Krueger, Mike Towry, Barry Alfonso, Bob Sourk, and Greg Bear. Detroit, Michigan-born, comics fan Shel Dorf, had, in the mid-1960s, mounted the Detroit Triple-Fan Fairs, one of the first commercial comics-fan conventions. When he moved to San Diego, California, in 1970, he organized a convention on March 21,1970. Dorf went on to be associated with the convention as president or manager, variously, Alf co-chaired the first convention with Krueger and became chairman in 1971. Following the initial gathering, Dorfs first three-day San Diego comics convention, other locations in the conventions early years included the El Cortez Hotel, the University of California, San Diego, and Golden Hall, before being moved to the San Diego Convention Center in 1991. I was quietly walking the floor stunned and in awe of just how much bigger it really was, the convention is organized by a panel of 13 board members,16 to 20 full-time and part-time workers, and 80 volunteers who assist via committees. Comic Con International is an organization, and proceeds of the event go to funding it, as well as the Alternative Press Expo. The convention logo was designed by Richard Bruning and Josh Beatman in 1995, in September 2010, the convention announced that it would stay in San Diego through 2015. In 2015, working with Lionsgate, a channel was created to host Comic-Con related content. According to the San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau, the convention has a regional economic impact of $162.8 million. Along with panels, seminars, and workshops with comic book professionals, there are previews of upcoming feature films, like most comic-book conventions, Comic-Con features a large floorspace for exhibitors. These include media companies such as studios and TV networks, as well as comic-book dealers. And like most comics conventions, Comic-Con includes an area, as well as the Artists Alley where comics artists can sign autographs. Despite the name, artists alleys can include writers and even models, academics and comic industry professionals annually hold the Comics Arts Conference at Comic-Con, presenting scholarly studies on comics as a medium
2.
San Antonio
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San Antonio, officially the City of San Antonio, is the seventh-most populated city in the United States and the second-most populous city in the state of Texas, with a population of 1,409,019. It was the fastest growing of the top 10 largest cities in the United States from 2000 to 2010, the city straddles South Texas and Central Texas and is on the southwestern corner of an urban megaregion known as the Texas Triangle. San Antonio serves as the seat of Bexar County, recent annexations have extended the citys boundaries into Medina County and, though for only a very tiny area near the city of Garden Ridge, into Comal County. Due to its placement, the city has characteristics of other urban centers in which there are sparsely populated areas. San Antonio is the center of the San Antonio–New Braunfels Metropolitan Statistical Area, growth along the Interstate 35 and Interstate 10 corridors to the north, west and east make it likely that the metropolitan area will continue to expand. San Antonio was named for Saint Anthony of Padua, whose feast day is on June 13, the city contains five 18th-century Spanish frontier missions, including The Alamo and San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, which were designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2015. Other notable attractions include the River Walk, the Tower of the Americas, the Alamo Bowl, the city is home to the five-time NBA champion San Antonio Spurs and hosts the annual San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, one of the largest such events in the country. The U. S. Kelly Air Force Base operated out of San Antonio until 2001, the remaining portions of the base were developed as Port San Antonio, an industrial/business park and aerospace complex. San Antonio is home to six Fortune 500 companies and the South Texas Medical Center, at the time of European encounter, Payaya Indians lived near the San Antonio River Valley in the San Pedro Springs area, calling the vicinity Yanaguana, meaning refreshing waters. In 1691, a group of Spanish Catholic explorers and missionaries came upon the river and Payaya settlement on June 13 and they named the place and river San Antonio in his honor. It was years before any Spanish settlement took place, father Antonio de Olivares visited the site in 1709, and he was determined to found a mission and civilian settlement there. He directed Martin de Alarcón, the governor of Coahuila and Texas, differences between Alarcón and Olivares resulted in delays, and construction did not start until 1718. The families who clustered around the presidio and mission formed the beginnings of Villa de Béjar, on May 1, the governor transferred ownership of the Mission San Antonio de Valero to Fray Antonio de Olivares. On May 5,1718 he commissioned the Presidio San Antonio de Béxar on the west side of the San Antonio River, one-fourth league from the mission. On February 14,1719, the Marquis of San Miguel de Aguayo proposed to the king of Spain that 400 families be transported from the Canary Islands, Galicia, or Havana to populate the province of Texas. By June 1730,25 families had reached Cuba, and 10 families had sent to Veracruz before orders from Spain came to stop the re-settlement. Under the leadership of Juan Leal Goraz, the group marched overland from Veracruz to the Presidio San Antonio de Béxar, due to marriages along the way, the party now included 15 families, a total of 56 persons. They joined the community established in 1718
3.
Austin, Texas
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Austin is the capital of the U. S. state of Texas and the seat of Travis County. It is the 11th-most populous city in the U. S. and it is the fastest growing large city in the United States and the second most populous capital city after Phoenix, Arizona. As of the U. S. Census Bureaus July 1,2015 estimate and it is the cultural and economic center of the Austin–Round Rock metropolitan area, which had an estimated population of 2,056,405 as of July 1,2016. In the 1830s, pioneers began to settle the area in central Austin along the Colorado River, in 1839, the site was officially chosen to replace Houston as the new capital of the Republic of Texas and was incorporated under the name Waterloo. Shortly thereafter, the name was changed to Austin in honor of Stephen F. Austin, the Father of Texas and the republics first secretary of state. The city subsequently grew throughout the 19th century and became a center for government and education with the construction of the Texas State Capitol and the University of Texas at Austin. After a lull in growth from the Great Depression, Austin resumed its development into a city and, by the 1980s, it emerged as a center for technology. A number of Fortune 500 companies have headquarters or regional offices in Austin, including Amazon. com, cisco, eBay, Google, IBM, Intel, Oracle Corporation, Texas Instruments, 3M, and Whole Foods Market. Dells worldwide headquarters is located in nearby Round Rock, a suburb of Austin, residents of Austin are known as Austinites. They include a mix of government employees, college students, musicians, high-tech workers, blue-collar workers. The city also adopted Silicon Hills as a nickname in the 1990s due to an influx of technology. In the late 1800s, Austin was known as the City of the Violet Crown because of the glow of light across the hills just after sunset. Even today, many Austin businesses use the term Violet Crown in their name, Austin is known as a clean-air city for its stringent no-smoking ordinances that apply to all public places and buildings, including restaurants and bars. The FBI ranked Austin as the second-safest major city in the U. S. for the year 2012, U. S. News & World Report named Austin the best place to live in the U. S. in 2017. Austin, Travis County and Williamson County have been the site of habitation since at least 9200 BC. When settlers arrived from Europe, the Tonkawa tribe inhabited the area, the Comanches and Lipan Apaches were also known to travel through the area. Spanish colonists, including the Espinosa-Olivares-Aguirre expedition, traveled through the area for centuries, in 1730, three missions from East Texas were combined and reestablished as one mission on the south side of the Colorado River, in what is now Zilker Park, in Austin. The mission was in area for only about seven months
4.
Genevieve Cortese
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Genevieve Nicole Cortese, also known as Genevieve Padalecki, is an American actress known for her role on the television series Wildfire as Kris Furillo. She is also known for her role in Supernatural as the demon Ruby. Cortese was born in San Francisco, California and she has two brothers, Johnny and Ben, and a sister, Sarah. At the age of 13, she moved to Montana, and later to Sun Valley and she holds a BA in English and a BFA degree in drama from the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. Cortese met actor Jared Padalecki when she guest starred on his show Supernatural during its fourth season and he proposed to her in front of their favorite painting, Joan of Arc by French realist Jules Bastien-Lepage at New Yorks Metropolitan Museum of Art in October 2009. The engagement was announced in January 2010, the pair married on February 27,2010, in Corteses hometown of Sun Valley, Idaho. On October 10,2011, the announced that they were expecting their first child together. Their first son was born in March 2012 and their second son was born in December 2013. Their third child, a daughter, was born in March 2017, Genevieve Cortese at the Internet Movie Database
5.
Sam Winchester
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Samuel Sam Winchester is a fictional character and one of the two protagonists of the American drama television series Supernatural along with his older brother Dean. He is portrayed by Jared Padalecki, Sam was born on May 2,1983 to John and Mary Winchester in Lawrence, Kansas. He is one of two characters of the series. He is the second child, four years younger than his older brother Dean. He is named after his grandfather, Samuel Campbell. When Sam was only six months old, his mother Mary was killed by the demon Azazel, Sam is saved from the ensuing fire by his father, who then gives him to a four-year-old Dean to carry outside. Since that moment, Dean has felt responsible for Sam and became Sams protector, Sam and Dean spent their childhood moving from town to town every few weeks while their father hunted supernatural beings and their mothers unknown killer. Until the age of 8, Sam believed that his mother had died in a car accident and his father was a traveling salesman, at nineteen, after a heated argument with John, Sam leaves for Stanford University, thus leaving his family and their hunting crusade behind him. At the start of the series, 22-year-old Sam is seen as a senior at Stanford, Sam also has a girlfriend, Jessica, with whom he lives and secretly plans to marry. One night, Dean comes to Sams apartment seeking his help after their father John goes missing, although reluctant at first, Sam eventually accompanies his brother. This incites him to go with Dean to find their father and to kill the demon in order to avenge the deaths of his mother, in the consequent episodes, the brothers deal with dangerous mythical creatures and urban legends such as the wendigo, Bloody Mary, and shapeshifters. During this time, Sam begins experiencing episodes of precognitive dreams, the brothers eventually split up, with Dean going to investigate a mystery his father has assigned him while Sam decides to search for their father elsewhere. The two are reunited after Dean apologizes. Later in the season, John is captured by demons, however, they soon learn that the demon who killed their mother is in possession of their fathers body. Though John begs Sam to kill him, Sam instead shoots John in the leg using the Colt, and the demon escapes. As Sam drives his father and a badly wounded Dean to a hospital, at the beginning of the second season, the Winchesters are at the Nashville hospital, with Sam and John escaping with minor injuries, while Dean is on the brink of death. In a deal with Azazel, John sacrifices his soul and the Colt in exchange for Deans life. While the boys mourn their fathers death, Sam expresses much guilt about never having a chance to reconcile with John, as the boys start to take a more active role in hunting, Sam begins to search for psychic children like him to find out Azazels plan
6.
Supernatural (U.S. TV series)
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Supernatural is an American fantasy horror television series created by Eric Kripke. It was first broadcast on September 13,2005, on The WB, starring Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester and Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester, the series follows the two brothers as they hunt demons, ghosts, monsters, and other supernatural beings. The series is produced by Warner Bros, Television, in association with Wonderland Sound and Vision. Along with Kripke, executive producers have been McG, Robert Singer, Phil Sgriccia, Sera Gamble, Jeremy Carver, John Shiban, Ben Edlund, former executive producer and director Kim Manners died of lung cancer during production of the fourth season. The series is filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia and surrounding areas and was in development for nearly ten years, as creator Kripke spent several years unsuccessfully pitching it. The pilot was viewed by an estimated 5.69 million viewers, originally, Kripke planned the series for three seasons but later expanded it to five. The fifth season concluded the main storyline, and Kripke departed the series as showrunner. The series has continued on for more seasons with new showrunners, including Sera Gamble, Jeremy Carver, Robert Singer. The series was renewed for a season, which premiered on October 7,2015. With its eleventh season, Supernatural became the longest-running American fantasy series, the series was renewed for a twelfth season, which premiered on October 13,2016. On January 8,2017, The CW renewed the show for a thirteenth season, before bringing Supernatural to television, creator Eric Kripke had been developing the series for nearly ten years, having been fascinated with urban legends since he was a child. Although he had envisioned Supernatural as a movie, he spent years unsuccessfully pitching it as a series, Kripke wanted it to be a road trip series, feeling that it was the best vehicle to tell these stories because its pure, stripped down and uniquely American. These stories exist in small towns all across the country. As he had written for The WB series Tarzan, Kripke was offered the chance to pitch show ideas to the network. However, the network disliked his tabloid reporter idea, so Kripke successfully pitched his idea of the characters being brothers. He decided to have the brothers be from Lawrence, Kansas, because of its closeness to Stull Cemetery, when it came time to name the two lead characters, Kripke decided on Sal and Dean as an homage to Jack Kerouacs road-trip novel On the Road. However, he felt that Sal was inappropriate for a main character and it was originally intended for the brothers last name to be Harrison as a nod to actor Harrison Ford, as Kripke wanted Dean to have the devil-may-care swagger of Han Solo. However, there was a Sam Harrison living in Kansas, so the name had to be changed for legal reasons, combining his interest in the Winchester Mystery House and his desire to give the series the feel of a modern-day Western, Kripke settled on the surname of Winchester
7.
Texas
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Texas is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population. Other major cities include Austin, the second most populous state capital in the U. S. Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State to signify its former status as an independent republic, and as a reminder of the states struggle for independence from Mexico. The Lone Star can be found on the Texan state flag, the origin of Texass name is from the word Tejas, which means friends in the Caddo language. Due to its size and geologic features such as the Balcones Fault, although Texas is popularly associated with the U. S. southwestern deserts, less than 10 percent of Texas land area is desert. Most of the centers are located in areas of former prairies, grasslands, forests. Traveling from east to west, one can observe terrain that ranges from coastal swamps and piney woods, to rolling plains and rugged hills, the term six flags over Texas refers to several nations that have ruled over the territory. Spain was the first European country to claim the area of Texas, Mexico controlled the territory until 1836 when Texas won its independence, becoming an independent Republic. In 1845, Texas joined the United States as the 28th state, the states annexation set off a chain of events that caused the Mexican–American War in 1846. A slave state before the American Civil War, Texas declared its secession from the U. S. in early 1861, after the Civil War and the restoration of its representation in the federal government, Texas entered a long period of economic stagnation. One Texan industry that thrived after the Civil War was cattle, due to its long history as a center of the industry, Texas is associated with the image of the cowboy. The states economic fortunes changed in the early 20th century, when oil discoveries initiated a boom in the state. With strong investments in universities, Texas developed a diversified economy, as of 2010 it shares the top of the list of the most Fortune 500 companies with California at 57. With a growing base of industry, the leads in many industries, including agriculture, petrochemicals, energy, computers and electronics, aerospace. Texas has led the nation in export revenue since 2002 and has the second-highest gross state product. The name Texas, based on the Caddo word tejas meaning friends or allies, was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves, during Spanish colonial rule, the area was officially known as the Nuevo Reino de Filipinas, La Provincia de Texas. Texas is the second largest U. S. state, behind Alaska, though 10 percent larger than France and almost twice as large as Germany or Japan, it ranks only 27th worldwide amongst country subdivisions by size. If it were an independent country, Texas would be the 40th largest behind Chile, Texas is in the south central part of the United States of America. Three of its borders are defined by rivers, the Rio Grande forms a natural border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south
8.
Gilmore Girls
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Gilmore Girls is an American comedy-drama television series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel. Sherman-Palladino, her husband Daniel Palladino, David S. Rosenthal, the series debuted on October 5,2000, on The WB and remained a tent-pole to the network until its move to The CW on September 26,2006. The series originally ran for seven seasons and ended its run on May 15,2007, the show follows single mother Lorelai Gilmore and her daughter Rory, living in the fictional town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut. The town is filled with characters and is located approximately 30 minutes from Hartford. The series explores issues of family, friendship and romance, as well as generational divides, ambition, education, work, love, family, and questions of class constitute some of the series central concerns. Gilmore Girls was released to critical acclaim and it featured fast-paced dialogue filled with pop-culture references. It won one Emmy Award for makeup in 2004, the show placed No.32 on Entertainment Weeklys New TV Classics list, and was listed as one of Time magazines All-TIME100 TV Shows in 2007. In 2016, the main cast and Sherman-Palladino returned for a four-part miniseries revival titled Gilmore Girls, A Year in the Life, Lorelai Gilmore grew up with her old money parents, Richard and Emily, in Hartford, Connecticut, but always felt stifled by this environment. At age sixteen she accidentally became pregnant, and a year later left home to raise her daughter Rory in the town of Stars Hollow. Later episodes reveal that Lorelai and infant Rory were taken in by Mia, owner of the Independence Inn, Lorelai and Rory develop a very close relationship, akin to best friends, and Lorelai is proud of the independent life she has formed away from her parents. Desperation and determination lead Lorelai to approach her parents, who she has only once or twice a year since leaving home. Emily and Richard provide her with a loan in exchange for an agreement that every Friday night she, the contrasting mother–daughter relationships of Emily–Lorelai and Lorelai–Rory become a defining theme of the show. The series also focuses on both girls ambition, Rory to become a journalist, and Lorelai to open an inn with her best friend Sookie St James. Rory has three boyfriends during the run of the show - local boy Dean Forrester, bad boy Jess Mariano, the quirky townspeople of Stars Hollow are a constant presence in the show. Rory has a difficult time settling in at Chilton, struggling to match the demands of private school and she meets her first boyfriend, Dean, but the pair break up when Rory doesnt reciprocate his I love you. She is also pursued by arrogant Chilton student Tristan, but she has little interest, Lorelai begins dating Rorys English teacher, Max Medina, though their relationship is complicated by the situation. At the same time, she has a friendship with the local diner owner, Luke Danes. Rorys father, Christopher Hayden, returns and also wants Lorelai, all the while, Lorelai struggles to adjust to having her parents in her life on a regular basis
9.
New York Minute (film)
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New York Minute is a 2004 American teen comedy film starring Mary-Kate Olsen, Ashley Olsen and Eugene Levy. It was directed by Dennie Gordon and released on May 7,2004, in the film Mary-Kate and Ashley play twins with opposing personalities who have a series of misadventures around New York City. New York Minute reunited Mary-Kate and Ashley with their Full House co-star and it is the Olsen twins first theatrical film release since the 1995s It Takes Two. It was also the last film released by Dualstar Entertainment before it went into dormancy, 17-year-old identical twin sisters Jane and Roxy Ryan are completely different and never see eye to eye, and live with their father in a suburban Long Island neighborhood. Jane and Roxy board the train into New York but are thrown off together after Roxy is found without a ticket. At the station, Jane bumps into Jim, and they flirt back, meanwhile, Roxy becomes unknowingly involved in a shady black-market transaction after an illegal chip device is mistakenly planted in her bag. Bennie Bang, the man behind the plan, offers Roxy a ride in a limousine and she accepts. He locks them inside but they escape through the sun roof, meanwhile, Max Lomax, an overzealous truant officer, is on the hunt to find Roxy after news of her continuously missing school and forging absence letters from her father. Several unlucky incidents occur as they begin their journey such as Janes heels snapping and being drenched by a hobos blue slush drink. At the nearest store, Jane realizes shes left her day planner in the limo, which has her life in it including money. They are forced to take Reinaldo with them and they make their way to their destinations and decide to part ways. Roxy heads to the Simple Plan video shoot being followed by Max, when he finds out the dog, Reinaldo, has swallowed the chip, he tries to attack Jane who flees from the car and goes to find Roxy. While running from Max and Bennie, the two end up on stage with the band and crowd surf to get away, Trey is also trying to find Roxy who runs into Bennie and gets kidnapped in the trunk of his car. Meanwhile, Jane and Roxy end up in the sewer with Reinaldo with Janes speech in less than two hours. A little later, they walk into the House of Bling where Big Shirl gives them both a makeover, Max hunts them down and they escape in a cab even when Jane failed her driving test. They accidentally pick up the man that Roxy spilled her drink on in the train. Jane explains that Roxy has never been there for her and never takes life seriously, conversely, Roxy believes Jane doesnt need to take control of everything and feels shes been pushed away, since she wasnt even invited to Janes speech. Jane goes to meet Bennie who throws her in the back of a van with Reinaldo and drives her to see his mother who is in charge of the operation, they buy
10.
House of Wax (2005 film)
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House of Wax is a 2005 American-Australian horror thriller film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and stars Elisha Cuthbert, Chad Michael Murray, Brian Van Holt, Paris Hilton and Jared Padalecki. It is a remake of the 1953 film of the same name. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was released in US theaters on May 6,2005 and it grossed $70 million worldwide and has a 25% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes. In 1974, a woman makes a wax mask as one of her sons eats breakfast and her husband enters with another son. After being strapped and taped into his chair, he scratches his mothers hand, then she slaps the child across the face. In 2005, Carly Jones, her twin brother Nick, her boyfriend Wade, her best friend Paige, Paiges boyfriend Blake, when night falls, the group sets up camp. A stranger in a pickup truck visits their campsite, shines his lights, the next morning, Wade discovers that his fan belt is broken. Carly and Paige wander into the woods, and Carly falls down a hill, the two arrive at Ambrose, which is virtually a ghost town. Unable to find an attendant at the gas station, they wander into the church, there, they meet a mechanic named Bo, who offers to sell them a fan belt after the funeral. While waiting for the services to end, Carly and Wade visit the wax museum, the gas station does not have the right size fan belt, so they follow Bo to his house. Wade is knocked out by Bos twin brother, Vincent, outside, Carly realizes Bo is the one who visited them the night before, after noticing his cars broken headlight. She runs to the church for help, but finds that it is populated only by wax sculptures, Bo captures Carly and brings her to the cellar of the gas station, where she is restrained. Meanwhile, Wade is stripped naked and strapped to a chair to be covered in wax, Nick, Dalton, Paige, and Blake realize they will not arrive at the game in time and turn around. Nick and Dalton arrive in Ambrose to find Carly and Wade, Nick visits the gas station, where he questions Bo about Carlys whereabouts. When she tries to gain Nicks attention, Bo cuts off the tip of Carlys finger, Nick fends off Bo and frees Carly. Meanwhile, Dalton finds Wade, who is alive but unable to move due to the wax. Attempting to peel off the wax, Dalton realizes that he is unintentionally removing Wades skin in the process, Vincent finds Dalton and slashes Wades face with a machete, killing him. After a chase through the museum, Vincent catches Dalton and decapitates him, at the campsite, Vincent kills Blake and chases Paige to a sugar mill, where he kills her
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