1.
Tribeca Film Festival
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The mission of the festival is to enable the international film community and the general public to experience the power of film by redefining the film festival experience. The Tribeca Film Festival was founded to celebrate New York City as a filmmaking center. In 2006 and 2007, the Festival received over 8600 film submissions, the Festivals program line-up includes a variety of independent films including documentaries, narrative features and shorts, as well as a program of family-friendly films. The Festival also features panel discussions with personalities in the entertainment world, past artists of the Artists Awards program have included Chuck Close, Alex Katz, and Julian Schnabel. The festival now draws an estimated three million people—including often-elusive celebrities from the worlds of art, film, and music—and generates $600 million annually, the inaugural festival launched after 120 days of planning with the help of more than 1,300 volunteers. It was attended by more than 150,000 people and featured several up-and-coming filmmakers, the 2003 festival brought more than 300,000 people. It became one of the venues of the festival, in an effort to serve its mission of bringing independent film to the widest possible audience, in 2006, the Festival expanded its reach in New York City and internationally. In New York City, Tribeca hosted screenings throughout Manhattan as the Festivals 1, internationally, the Festival brought films to the Rome Film Fest. As part of the celebrations in Rome, Tribeca was awarded the first ever Steps and Stars award, presented on the Spanish Steps. A total of 169 feature films and 99 shorts were selected from 4,100 film submissions, the festival featured 90 world premieres, nine international premieres,31 North American premieres,6 U. S. premieres, and 28 New York City premieres. In 2009, Rosenthal, Hatkoff and De Niro were named number 14 on Barrons list of the worlds top 25 philanthropists for their role in regenerating TriBeCas economy after September 11, as of 2010, the festival is run as a business by Tribeca Enterprises. Andrew Essex has been the CEO of Tribeca Enterprises since January,2016, in 2011, L. A. Noire became the first video game to be recognized by the Tribeca Film Festival. com,02.23.2013
2.
Brooklyn, New York
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Brooklyn is the most populous borough of New York City, with a Census-estimated 2,636,735 residents in 2015. It borders the borough of Queens at the end of Long Island. Today, if New York City dissolved, Brooklyn would rank as the third-most populous city in the U. S. behind Los Angeles, the borough continues, however, to maintain a distinct culture. Many Brooklyn neighborhoods are ethnic enclaves, Brooklyns official motto, displayed on the Borough seal and flag, is Eendraght Maeckt Maght which translates from early modern Dutch as Unity makes strength. Since 2010, Brooklyn has evolved into a hub of entrepreneurship and high technology startup firms. The history of European settlement in Brooklyn spans more than 350 years, the neighborhood of Marine Park was home to North Americas first tidal mill. It was built by the Dutch, and the foundation can be seen today, however, the area was not formally settled as a town. Many incidents and documents relating to this period are in Gabriel Furmans early compilation, what is today Brooklyn left Dutch hands after the final English conquest of New Netherland in 1664, a prelude to the Second Anglo–Dutch War. The English reorganized the six old Dutch towns on southwestern Long Island as Kings County on November 1,1683 and this tract of land was recognized as a political entity for the first time, and the municipal groundwork was laid for a later expansive idea of Brooklyn identity. On August 27,1776 was fought the Battle of Long Island, the first major engagement fought in the American Revolutionary War after independence was declared, and the largest of the entire conflict. British troops forced Continental Army troops under George Washington off the heights near the sites of Green-Wood Cemetery, Prospect Park. The fortified American positions at Brooklyn Heights consequently became untenable and were evacuated a few days later, One result of the Treaty of Paris in 1783 was the evacuation of the British from New York City, celebrated by residents into the 20th century. The New York Navy Yard operated in Wallabout Bay for the entire 19th century, the first center of urbanization sprang up in the Town of Brooklyn, directly across from Lower Manhattan, which saw the incorporation of the Village of Brooklyn in 1817. Reliable steam ferry service across the East River to Fulton Landing converted Brooklyn Heights into a town for Wall Street. Ferry Road to Jamaica Pass became Fulton Street to East New York, Town and Village were combined to form the first, kernel incarnation of the City of Brooklyn in 1834. Industrial deconcentration in mid-century was bringing shipbuilding and other manufacturing to the part of the county. Each of the two cities and six towns in Kings County remained independent municipalities, and purposely created non-aligning street grids with different naming systems and it later became the most popular and highest circulation afternoon paper in America. The publisher changed to L. Van Anden on April 19,1842, on May 14,1849 the name was shortened to The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, on September 5,1938 it was further shortened to Brooklyn Eagle
3.
SUNY New Paltz
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The State University of New York at New Paltz, known as SUNY New Paltz or New Paltz for short, is a public college in New Paltz, in the U. S. state of New York. It traces its origins to the New Paltz Classical School, an institution founded in 1828. The college is one of four SUNY institutions in the New York metropolitan area, following a decimating fire in 1884, the New Paltz Classical School offered their land to the state government of New York contingent upon the establishment of a normal school. In 1885, the New Paltz Normal and Training School was established to prepare teachers to practice their professions in the schools of New York. It was granted the ability to award degrees in 1938, when it was renamed the State Teachers College at New Paltz. In 1947, a program in education was established. When the State University of New York was established by legislative act in 1948, an art education program was added in 1951. In 1960, the college was authorized to confer liberal arts degrees, there were several student-led demonstrations in the late 1960s and early 1970s, primarily against the Vietnam War. In the spring of 1967, a protesting military recruitment on campus blocked the entrance to the Student Union for two days. While there were scores of demonstrators the first day, all but 13 dispersed before New York State Troopers arrived, College President John J. Neumaier posted bail. Pastor was released and charges were dropped, following the Cambodian Campaign and concomitant Kent State shootings in May 1970, there was a protest leading to a five-day student occupation of the Administration Building. Amid this tumult, the general education program was eliminated in 1971. A program in African American studies was established in 1968, instructors in the program were hired by students and compensated through student activity fees. Under Chandlers leadership, the college began to offer degree programs in nursing, engineering, journalism. The Legislative Gazette, a journalism and political science internship in which live and work in Albany. On December 29,1991, the campus was the scene of a widely reported PCB incident that contaminated four dormitories, as well as the Coykendall Science Building, under the direction of the county and state health departments, the university began a massive, thorough clean-up effort. As an additional precaution,29 other buildings were thoroughly tested and, if necessary, the clean-up process lasted until May 1995. Since 1994, PCBs have not been used on the SUNY New Paltz campus, concerns about this incident have been covered in New York Times articles by Michael Winerip, as well as investigative reporting in the Woodstock Times and Sierra magazine by Eric Francis
4.
Yale School of Drama
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The school traces its roots to the Yale Dramatic Association, the second-oldest college theatre association in the country, founded in 1900. George Pierce Baker, a teacher of playwriting, was the first chairman of the department, the first Master of Fine Arts in drama was granted in 1931. In 1955, the department was organized as a professional school. In 1966, under Dean Robert Brustein, the Yale Repertory Theatre was formed to further ties between the professional and academic communities. Lloyd Richards, dean and artistic director from 1979 to 1991, increased the emphasis on new plays, premiering works by Athol Fugard, Lee Blessing. Today, Yale Drama students work on School of Drama productions, at the Yale Repertory Theatre, School of Drama students spend the morning in class, with the exact number of hours varying by their year in school and their department. After 2 p. m. all classes are over, and rehearsals for Yale Repertory Theatre, rehearsals can last up to eight hours. Students also participate in clubs, like soccer and volleyball. Students must hold a degree and complete their program of study with distinction. A Certificate in Drama is available to students who do not hold an undergraduate degree from an accredited college. The school also offers a Doctor of Fine Arts to students who hold an M. F. A. degree in Dramaturgy, committee, and a Technical Internship Certificate to students who complete a one-year internship program of the Technical Design and Production department. Founded in 1968, the Yale Cabaret provides an outlet for Yale School of Drama students. Students regularly work outside their disciplines in the 18 productions presented for a public audience. Official website History of the Yale Dramatic Association
5.
Italian people
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Italians are a nation and ethnic group native to Italy who share a common culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a native tongue. The majority of Italian nationals are speakers of Standard Italian. Italians have greatly influenced and contributed to the arts and music, science, technology, cuisine, sports, fashion, jurisprudence, banking, Italian people are generally known for their localism and their attention to clothing and family values. The term Italian is at least 3,000 years old and has a history that goes back to pre-Roman Italy. According to one of the common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú. 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 Etruscan civilization reached its peak about the 7th century BC, but by 509 BC, when the Romans overthrew their Etruscan monarchs, its control in Italy was on the wane. By 350 BC, after a series of wars between Greeks and Etruscans, the Latins, with Rome as their capital, gained the ascendancy by 272 BC, and they managed to unite the entire Italian peninsula. This period of unification was followed by one of conquest in the Mediterranean, in the course of the century-long struggle against Carthage, the Romans conquered Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica. Finally, in 146 BC, at the conclusion of the Third Punic War, with Carthage completely destroyed and its inhabitants enslaved, octavian, the final victor, was accorded the title of Augustus by the Senate and thereby became the first Roman emperor. After two centuries of rule, in the 3rd century AD, Rome was threatened by internal discord and menaced by Germanic and Asian invaders. Emperor Diocletians administrative division of the empire into two parts in 285 provided only temporary relief, it became permanent in 395, in 313, Emperor Constantine accepted Christianity, and churches thereafter rose throughout the empire. However, he moved his capital from Rome to Constantinople. The last Western emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed in 476 by a Germanic foederati general in Italy and his defeat marked the end of the western part of the Roman Empire. During most of the period from the fall of Rome until the Kingdom of Italy was established in 1861, Odoacer ruled well for 13 years after gaining control of Italy in 476. Then he was attacked and defeated by Theodoric, the king of another Germanic tribe, Theodoric and Odoacer ruled jointly until 493, when Theodoric murdered Odoacer. Theodoric continued to rule Italy with an army of Ostrogoths and a government that was mostly Italian, after the death of Theodoric in 526, the kingdom began to grow weak
6.
American people
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Americans are citizens of the United States of America. The country is home to people of different national origins. As a result, Americans do not equate their nationality with ethnicity, although citizens make up the majority of Americans, non-citizen residents, dual citizens, and expatriates may also claim an American identity. See Names for United States citizens. S, virgin Islands and Northern Mariana Islands in the 20th century. It also includes influences of African-American culture, westward expansion integrated the Creoles and Cajuns of Louisiana and the Hispanos of the Southwest and brought close contact with the culture of Mexico. Large-scale immigration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries from Southern and Eastern Europe introduced a variety of elements, immigration from Asia, Africa, and Latin America has also had impact. A cultural melting pot, or pluralistic salad bowl, describes the way in which generations of Americans have celebrated and exchanged distinctive cultural characteristics, in addition to the United States, Americans and people of American descent can be found internationally. As many as seven million Americans are estimated to be living abroad, the United States of America is a diverse country, racially, and ethnically. Some other race is also an option in the census and other surveys, people of European descent, or White Americans, constitute the majority of the 308 million people living in the United States, with 72. 4% of the population in the 2010 United States Census. They are considered people who trace their ancestry to the peoples of Europe, the Middle East. Of those reporting to be White American,7,487,133 reported to be Multiracial, with largest combination being white, additionally, there are 29,184,290 White Hispanics or Latinos. Non-Hispanic Whites are the majority in 46 states, there are four minority-majority states, California, Texas, New Mexico, and Hawaii. In addition, the District of Columbia has a non-white majority, the state with the highest percentage of non-Hispanic White Americans is Maine. The largest continental ancestral group of Americans are that of Europeans who have origins in any of the peoples of Europe. This includes people via African, North American, Caribbean, Central American or South American and Oceanian nations that have a large European diaspora, the Spanish were the first Europeans to establish a continuous presence in what is now the United States. Martín de Argüelles born 1566, San Agustín, La Florida, was the first person of European descent born in what is now the United States. Twenty-one years later, Virginia Dare born 1587 Roanoke Island in present-day North Carolina, was the first child born in the Thirteen Colonies to English parents. 8% of the total population, Hispanic or Latino Americans constitute the largest ethnic minority in the United States. They form the second largest group after non-Hispanic Whites in the United States, hispanic/Latino Americans are very racially diverse, and as a result form an ethnic category, rather than a race
7.
Do the Right Thing
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Do the Right Thing is a 1989 American comedy-drama film produced, written, and directed by Spike Lee, who also played the part of Mookie in the film. Other members of the cast include Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Nunn, John Turturro and it is also notably the feature film debut of both Martin Lawrence and Rosie Perez. The movie tells the story of a Brooklyn neighborhoods simmering racial tension and it is often listed among the greatest films of all time. Mookie is a 25-year-old black man living in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn with his sister and he and his girlfriend, Tina, have a son. Hes a pizza delivery man at the pizzeria, but lacks ambition. Sal, the pizzerias Italian-American owner, has been in the neighborhood for twenty-five years and his older son Pino intensely dislikes blacks, and does not get along with Mookie. Pino is at odds with his younger brother Vito, who is friendly with Mookie, while at Sals, Mookies trouble-making b-boyish friend, Buggin Out, questions Sal about his Wall of Fame, a wall decorated with photos of famous Italian-Americans. Buggin Out demands that Sal put up pictures of black celebrities since Sals pizzeria is in a black neighborhood, Sal replies that he doesnt need to feature anyone but Italians as it is his restaurant. Buggin Out attempts to start a protest over the Wall of Fame, only Radio Raheem and Smiley support him. During the day, the heat and tensions begin to rise, the local teenagers open a fire hydrant and douse the street, before police officers intervene. Mookie and Pino begin arguing over race, which leads to a series of scenes in which the characters spew racial insults into the camera, Pino and Sal talk about the neighborhood, with Pino expressing his hatred, and Sal insisting that he is not leaving. Sal almost fires Mookie, but Jade intervenes, before Mookie confronts her for being too close to Sal and that night, Buggin Out, Radio Raheem, and Smiley march into Sals and demand that Sal change the Wall of Fame. Raheems boombox is blaring and Sal demands that they turn the radio off, Buggin Out calls Sal and sons guineas while saying that theyre closing down the pizzeria for good until they change the Wall of Fame. Sal, in a fit of frustration, tells him he will tear his nigger ass, Raheem attacks Sal, leading to a huge violent fight that spills out into the street, attracting a crowd. While Radio Raheem is choking Sal, the police arrive and they break up the fight and apprehend Radio Raheem and Buggin Out. Despite the pleas of his officers and the onlookers, one officer refuses to release his chokehold on Raheem. Realizing that Raheem has been killed in front of onlookers, the place his body in the back of a squad car, and drive off, leaving Sal, Pino. The onlookers, enraged about Radio Raheems death, blame Sal, Mookie grabs a trash can and throws it through the window of Sals pizzeria, sparking the crowd to rush into the restaurant and destroy it, with Smiley finally setting it on fire
8.
Miller's Crossing
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The plot concerns a power struggle between two rival gangs and how the protagonist, Tom Reagan, plays both sides off against each other. In 2005, TIME chose Millers Crossing as one of the 100 greatest films made since the inception of the periodical. TIME critic Richard Corliss called it a noir with a touch so light, Tom Reagan is the advisor and right-hand man for Leo OBannon, an Irish mobster and political boss who runs an unspecified U. S. city during Prohibition. When Leos rival, the Italian gangster Johnny Caspar announces his intent to kill bookie Bernie Bernbaum, Leo goes against Toms advice, Bernie is the brother of Verna, who has begun a relationship with Leo – while also carrying on an affair with Tom. Tom tries everything he can to convince Leo to give Bernie up to Caspar to end the war, he attempts to convince Leo that Verna is playing him to protect her brother, but Leo will not be swayed. After an assassination attempt on Leo, Tom reveals his affair with Verna to Leo to prove that she is dishonest, Leo beats Tom, and turns his back on both of them. Tom then approaches Caspar looking for work, and Caspar commands him to kill Bernie in the woods at Millers Crossing to prove his loyalty, Bernie pleads with Tom to spare him, saying Look in your heart. Tom fires his gun to fake the killing and tells Bernie to run, Caspar assumes Leos position as boss of the city, controlling the police and using them to destroy Leos operations. Meanwhile, Tom begins sowing discord between Caspar and his enforcer, the brutal Eddie the Dane Dane. Upon finding that his men didnt actually see Tom kill Bernie, Tom nearly cracks as they approach the location, but they find a body that had been shot in the face and disfigured by birds. Unknown to Tom, Bernie returned to town and killed Danes lover Mink, who was Bernies lover too, Bernie holds this over Toms head and tries to blackmail Tom into killing Caspar. Tom uses Minks unknown whereabouts to convince Caspar that Eddie Dane has betrayed him, Dane denies it, and Caspar has to decide whom he believes, and whom he will kill. In a rage, he beats Eddie Dane before shooting him in the head, Tom then arranges a meeting with Bernie, but sends Caspar instead on the pretext that he will be meeting Mink. Bernie gets the jump on Caspar and kills him, Tom arrives and tricks Bernie into giving up his gun, saying they can blame Eddie Dane, then reveals that Dane is dead, and that he intends to kill Bernie in retribution for blackmailing him. Bernie again begs for mercy, saying Look in your heart, with Caspar and Eddie Dane dead, Leo resumes his post as boss. Verna has won her way back into Leos good graces, on the day Bernie is buried, Leo announces that Verna has proposed to him, and offers Tom his job back. Tom refuses, and remains behind, watching as Leo departs, Gabriel Byrne as Tom Reagan Marcia Gay Harden as Verna Bernbaum Albert Finney as Leo OBannon John Turturro as Bernie Bernbaum Jon Polito as Johnny Caspar J. E. The first image they conceived was that of a black hat coming to rest in a forest clearing, then and this image begins the films opening credit sequence
9.
Barton Fink
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Barton Fink is a 1991 American period film written, produced, directed and edited by the Coen brothers. The Coens wrote the screenplay for Barton Fink in three weeks while experiencing difficulty during the writing of Millers Crossing and they began filming the former soon after Millers Crossing was finished. The film is influenced by works of several directors, particularly Roman Polanskis Repulsion. Barton Fink had its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1991, in a rare sweep, it won the Palme dOr, as well as awards for Best Director and Best Actor. Although the film was a box office bomb, only grossing $6 million against its $9 million budget, it received positive reviews and was nominated for three Academy Awards. The diverse elements of the film have led it to defy efforts at classification, with the work being variously referred to as a film noir, a horror film, a Künstlerroman. P. Mayhew are often seen as fictional representations, despite disagreement around certain details of the work, Barton Fink continues to be positively received, with screenwriter Charlie Kaufman among its admirers. In 1941, Barton Finks first Broadway play, Bare Ruined Choirs, has achieved critical and his agent informs him that Capitol Pictures in Hollywood has offered him a thousand dollars per week to write film scripts. Barton hesitates, worried that moving to California would separate him from the common man and he accepts the offer, however, and checks into the Hotel Earle, a large and unusually deserted building. His room is sparse and draped in subdued colors, its decoration is a small painting of a woman on the beach. In his first meeting with Capitol Pictures boss Jack Lipnick, Barton explains that he chose the Earle because he wants lodging that is less Hollywood, Lipnick promises that his only concern is Bartons writing ability and assigns his new employee to a wrestling film. Back in his room, however, Barton is unable to write and he is distracted by sounds coming from the room next door, and he phones the front desk to complain. His neighbor, Charlie Meadows, is the source of the noise and visits Barton to apologize, as they talk, Barton proclaims his affection for the common man, and Charlie describes his life as an insurance salesman. Later, Barton falls asleep, but is awakened by the incessant whine of a mosquito, still unable to proceed beyond the first lines of his script, Barton consults producer Ben Geisler for advice. Irritated, the frenetic Geisler takes him to lunch and orders him to another writer for assistance. While in the room, Barton meets the novelist William Preston Bill Mayhew. They briefly discuss movie writing and arrange a meeting later in the day. When Barton arrives, Mayhew is drunk and yelling wildly and his secretary, Audrey Taylor, reschedules the meeting and confesses to Barton that she and Mayhew are in love
10.
Quiz Show (film)
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Quiz Show is a 1994 American historical film produced and directed by Robert Redford, and written by Paul Attanasio, based on Richard N. Goodwins memoir Remembering America, A Voice From the Sixties. It stars John Turturro, Rob Morrow, and Ralph Fiennes, with Paul Scofield, David Paymer, Hank Azaria, the film received generally positive reviews and was nominated for several awards, including a Best Picture Oscar nomination and several Golden Globes. It had a box office return. The evenings main attraction is Queens resident Herb Stempel, the reigning champion, Enright and Freedman are surprised when Columbia University instructor Charles Van Doren, son of a prominent literary family, visits their office to audition. Realizing that they have found a challenger for Stempel, they subtly offer to rig the game in Van Dorens favor. Enright later informs Stempel that he must lose in order to boost the shows ratings, Stempel begrudgingly agrees, on the condition that he can remain on television. He threatens to reveal the reason for his success, he had been given the answers in advance. Stempel and Van Doren face each other on Twenty One, where the match comes down to a question regarding Marty. Despite knowing the film, Stempel gives the wrong answer of On the Waterfront. In the weeks that follow, Van Dorens winning streak makes him a national celebrity, meanwhile, Stempel, having lost his prize money to an unscrupulous bookie, begins threatening legal action against NBC after weeks go by without his return to television. He visits New York County District Attorney Frank Hogan, who convenes a grand jury to look into his allegations, Richard Goodwin, a young Congressional lawyer, learns that the grand jury findings have been sealed and travels to New York City to investigate rumors of rigged quiz shows. Visiting a number of contestants, including Stempel and Van Doren, however, Stempels volatile personality damages his credibility, and nobody else seems willing at first to confirm that the show is rigged. Stempel desperately confesses to Goodwin that he was in on the fix, as Goodwin collects more evidence, Van Doren deliberately loses. He is rewarded by NBC with a contract to appear as a special correspondent on the morning Today show. The House Committee for Legislative Oversight convenes a hearing, at which Goodwin presents his evidence of the quiz shows corruption, during the hearing, Stempels testimony fails to convince the committee. Both NBC network head Robert Kintner and Geritol executive Martin Rittenhome deny any knowledge of Twenty One being rigged, after being subpoenaed by Goodwin, Van Doren testifies before the committee and admits his role in the deception. After the hearing adjourns, he learns from reporters that he has fired from Today. Goodwin believes he is on the verge of a victory against Geritol and NBC and he silently watches the producers testimony, vindicating the sponsors and the network from any wrongdoing, and taking full responsibility for rigging the show
11.
The Big Lebowski
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The Big Lebowski is a 1998 American crime comedy film written, produced, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. It stars Jeff Bridges as Jeffrey The Dude Lebowski, a Los Angeles slacker and he is assaulted as a result of mistaken identity, after which The Dude learns that a millionaire also named Jeffrey Lebowski was the intended victim. Julianne Moore and Steve Buscemi also star, with David Huddleston, John Turturro, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sam Elliott, Tara Reid, David Thewlis, the film is loosely inspired by the work of Raymond Chandler. The original score was composed by Carter Burwell, a collaborator of the Coen brothers. The Big Lebowski was a disappointment at the U. S. box office, in 2014, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, being deemed culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. A spin-off based on Turturros character, titled Going Places, is filming, with Turturro also acting as writer. The two soon realize they have attacked the wrong Jeffrey Lebowski and leave, but not before one of them urinates on the Dudes rug, the Dude meets his bowling friends, the timid Donny and the temperamental Vietnam War veteran Walter Sobchak. Encouraged by Walter, the Dude approaches the other Jeffrey Lebowski, the eponymous Big Lebowski, the Dude subsequently meets Bunny, Lebowskis young trophy wife. Days later, Lebowski contacts the Dude stating that Bunny has been kidnapped, Lebowski wants the Dude to deliver a briefcase containing a million-dollar ransom and see if he can recognize the culprits. Later, a different pair of thugs appear in the Dudes apartment, knock him unconscious, when Bunnys kidnappers call to arrange delivery of the ransom, Walter suggests they give the kidnappers a fake ransom instead, namely a briefcase filled with dirty underwear. The kidnappers grab the fake ransom and leave, later that night, the Dudes car is stolen, with the real ransom money briefcase still inside. Jeffrey Lebowskis adult daughter Maude contacts the Dude and reveals she took the rug and she reckons that Bunny kidnapped herself and asks the Dude to recover the ransom which her father illegally withdrew from the familys foundation. Lebowski is angry that the Dude failed to deliver the money and shows him a severed green-painted toe, allegedly belonging to Bunny. Later, a gang of German nihilist musicians invade the Dudes apartment and threaten him, Maude says the German nihilists are actually Bunnys friends. The Dudes car is found by the police without the ransom money, later, while cruising around in the car, The Dude finds the homework assignment of a high school student named Larry inside. Taking this to mean that Larry was the one who stole the car, Walter and The Dude go to his house, when Larry refuses to respond to Walter and the Dudes threats, Walter wrecks a new sports car parked outside which they assume Larry bought with the money. However, a neighbor rushes outside, reveals himself as having just bought the car and angrily wrecks The Dudes car in revenge, the Dude is forcibly brought before Treehorn, who asks about the whereabouts of Bunny and says he wants the money she owes him. He drugs the Dudes White Russian cocktail, causing The Dude to have a sequence involving Maude
12.
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
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Set in 1937 rural Mississippi during the Great Depression, the films story is a modern satire loosely based on Homers epic poem, Odyssey. The title of the film is a reference to the 1941 film Sullivans Travels, in which the protagonist wants to film O Brother, a fictional book about the Great Depression. Much of the used in the film is period folk music. The movie was one of the first to use digital color correction, to give the film an autumnal. The film received positive reviews, and the American folk music soundtrack won a Grammy for Album of the Year in 2001, the three get a lift from a blind man driving a handcar on a railway. He tells them, among other prophecies, that they find a fortune. The trio make their way to the house of Wash, Petes cousin and they sleep in the barn, but Wash reports them to Sheriff Cooley, who, along with his men, torches the barn. They pick up Tommy Johnson, a black man, who claims he sold his soul to the devil in exchange for the ability to play guitar. In need of money, the four stop at a radio broadcast tower where they record a song as The Soggy Bottom Boys and that night, the trio part ways with Tommy after their car is discovered by the police. Unbeknownst to them, the recording becomes a major hit, near a river, the group hears singing. They see three women washing clothes and singing, the women drug them with corn whiskey and they lose consciousness. Upon waking, Delmar finds Petes clothes lying next to him, Delmar is convinced the women were Sirens and transformed Pete into the toad. Later, one-eyed Bible salesman Big Dan Teague invites them for a lunch, then mugs them. Everett and Delmar arrive in Everetts home town, Everett confronts his wife Penny, who changed her last name and told his daughters he was dead. He gets into a fight with Vernon T. Waldrip, her new suitor and they later see Pete working on a chain gang. Later that night, they sneak into Petes holding cell and free him, as it turns out, the women had dragged Pete away and turned him in to the authorities. Under torture, Pete gave away the location to the police. Everett then confesses that there is no treasure and he made it up to convince the guys he was chained with to escape with him
13.
Transformers (film series)
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Transformers is a series of American science fiction action films based on the toys created by Hasbro and Tomy. The first four were directed by Michael Bay, including Transformers, Revenge of the Fallen, Dark of the Moon, Bay is directing a fifth film, The Last Knight, as his last. A Bumblebee spin-off, directed by Travis Knight, is scheduled for 2018, the series has been distributed by Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks. The series has received a critical reception, critics expressed criticism on the plots, crude humor, overuse of product placements. However, many praised the effects, action sequences. It is currently the 10th highest-grossing film series, two films in the series have grossed $1 billion. Transformers is the first film in the series, released on July 3,2007 and it grossed $709.7 million worldwide, and garnered mixed to positive reviews. It was directed by Michael Bay from a screenplay by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman and a story by Kurtzman, Orci and John Rogers, Transformers, Revenge of the Fallen is the second film in the series, released on June 24,2009. It grossed $836.3 million worldwide, and garnered negative reviews and it was directed by Michael Bay from a screenplay written by Ehren Kruger, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, and starred Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox. Transformers, Dark of the Moon is the film in the series, released on June 29,2011, in 3D. It grossed $1.124 billion worldwide, and garnered mixed reviews with a 35% on Rotten Tomatoes and it was directed by Michael Bay from a screenplay written by Ehren Kruger and starred Shia LaBeouf and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. Transformers, Age of Extinction is the film in the series. Released on June 27,2014, in 2D and 3D and it grossed $1.104 billion worldwide, and garnered negative reviews, holding, at 18%, the worst score on Rotten Tomatoes of the series so far. It was directed by Michael Bay from a written by Ehren Kruger. Transformers, The Last Knight is the film in the series. Filming started in May 2016 and ended in December 2016, it is expected to be released on June 23,2017. It is being directed by Michael Bay from a written by Art Marcum, Matt Holloway and Ken Nolan. This film will be the final time Michael Bay directs, as the franchise will search for a new director for future sequels
14.
Coen brothers
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Joel David Coen and Ethan Jesse Coen, collectively referred to as the Coen brothers, are American filmmakers. Their films span many genres and styles, which they frequently subvert or parody and their best-reviewed works include Fargo, The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men, A Serious Man, True Grit, and Inside Llewyn Davis. The brothers write, direct, and produce their films jointly, although until The Ladykillers, Joel received sole credit for directing and they often alternate top billing for their screenplays while sharing film credits for editor under the alias Roderick Jaynes. The duo also won the Palme dOr for Barton Fink, and were nominated for Fargo, the Coen brothers have written a number of films that neither of the two directed. Ethan is also a writer of stories, theater. Their films No Country for Old Men, A Serious Man, Joel and Ethan Coen were born and raised in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. Their mother, Rena, was an art historian at St. Cloud State University, when they were children, Joel saved money from mowing lawns to buy a Vivitar Super 8 camera. Together, the brothers remade movies they saw on television, with a kid, Mark Zimering. Their first attempt was a romp entitled Henry Kissinger, Man on the Go, cornel Wildes The Naked Prey became their Zeimers in Zambia, which also featured Ethan as a native with a spear. Joel Coen has said, in regards to whether our background influences our film making, theres no doubt that our Jewish heritage affects how we see things. Joel and Ethan graduated from St. Louis Park High School in 1973 and 1976 and they both also graduated from Bard College at Simons Rock in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Joel then spent four years in the film program at New York University. Ethan went on to Princeton University and earned a degree in philosophy in 1979. His senior thesis was a 41-page essay, Two Views of Wittgensteins Later Philosophy, Joel has been married to actress Frances McDormand since 1984. They adopted a son from Paraguay, named Pedro McDormand Coen and she also did a voice-over in Barton Fink. Ethan married film editor Tricia Cooke in 1990 and they have two children, daughter Dusty and son Buster Jacob, who goes to Vassar College. Both couples live in New York, after graduating from New York University, Joel worked as a production assistant on a variety of industrial films and music videos. He developed a talent for film editing and met Sam Raimi while assisting Enda Ruth Paul in editing Raimis first feature film, in 1984, the brothers wrote and directed Blood Simple, their first commercial film together
15.
Adam Sandler
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Adam Richard Sandler is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, film producer, and musician. After becoming a Saturday Night Live cast member, Sandler went on to star in many Hollywood feature films that combined have grossed over $2 billion at the box office. He has ventured into more dramatic territory with his roles in Punch-Drunk Love, Spanglish, Reign Over Me, Sandler has released five comedy albums in his career. Theyre All Gonna Laugh at You. and What the Hell Happened to Me. are both certified double-platinum, in 1999, Sandler founded Happy Madison Productions. Sandler was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1966, to Judith Judy, a school teacher, and Stanley Sandler. His family is Jewish and descends from Russian and Israeli immigrants on both sides and he grew up in Manchester, New Hampshire after moving there at the age of six. He attended Manchester Central High School, as a teen, Sandler was in BBYO, a popular Jewish youth group. Sandler graduated from New York Universitys Tisch School of the Arts in 1988, early in his career, Sandler played Theo Huxtables friend, Smitty in The Cosby Show and the Stud Boy or Trivia Delinquent in the MTV game show Remote Control. After his film debut Going Overboard in 1989, Sandler performed in comedy clubs and he was discovered by comedian Dennis Miller, who caught Sandlers act in Los Angeles and recommended him to Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels. Sandler told Conan OBrien on The Tonight Show that NBC fired him, in 1993, Adam Sandler appeared in the film Coneheads with Chris Farley, David Spade, Dan Aykroyd, Phil Hartman, and Jane Curtin. In 1994, he co-starred in Airheads with Brendan Fraser and Steve Buscemi and he followed this film with Bulletproof, and the financially successful comedies Happy Gilmore and The Wedding Singer. He was initially cast in the bachelor-party-themed comedy/thriller Very Bad Things but had to back out due to his involvement in The Waterboy, although his earliest films did not receive critical praise, he started to receive more positive reviews, beginning with Punch-Drunk Love in 2002. Roger Eberts review of Punch-Drunk Love concluded that Sandler had been wasted in earlier films with poorly written scripts, Sandler has moved outside the genre of slapstick comedy to take on more serious parts such as the aforementioned Punch-Drunk Love, Spanglish and Reign Over Me. He played a father figure in Big Daddy. He returned to more dramatic fare with Mike Binders Reign Over Me and he starred with Kevin James in the film I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. Sandler headlined You Dont Mess with the Zohan, the film was written by Sandler, Judd Apatow, and Robert Smigel, it was directed by Dennis Dugan. It marked as Sandlers first family film and first film under the Walt Disney banner, in 2009, Sandler starred in Judd Apatows third directorial feature Funny People. The film was released on July 31,2009, Sandler appeared in Grown Ups, alongside Kevin James, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider, and David Spade
16.
Spike Lee
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Shelton Jackson Spike Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company,40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983, Lee has acted in ten of his own films. Lees movies have examined race relations, colorism in the community, the role of media in contemporary life, urban crime and poverty. Lee was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the son of Jacqueline Carroll, a teacher of arts and black literature, and William James Edward Lee III, a jazz musician and composer. Lee also had three younger siblings Joie, David, and Cinqué, who all worked in different positions in Lees films. Director Malcolm D. Lee is his cousin, when he was a child, the family moved to Brooklyn, New York. His mother nicknamed him Spike during his childhood and he attended John Dewey High School in Brooklyns Gravesend neighborhood. Lee enrolled in Morehouse College, a black college, where he made his first student film. He took film courses at Clark Atlanta University and graduated with a B. A. in mass communication from Morehouse and he did graduate work at New York Universitys Tisch School of the Arts, where he earned a Master of Fine Arts in film & television. In 1991, Lee taught a course at Harvard about filmmaking and it was there that he received his Master of Fine Arts and was appointed Artistic Director in 2002. Lees independent film, Joes Bed-Stuy Barbershop, We Cut Heads, was the first student film to be showcased in Lincoln Centers New Directors/New Films Festival, in 1985, Lee began work on his first feature film, Shes Gotta Have It. With a budget of $175,000, he shot the film in two weeks, when the film was released in 1986, it grossed over $7,000,000 at the U. S. box office. Lees 1989 film Do the Right Thing was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1989, many people, including Hollywoods Kim Basinger, believed that Do the Right Thing also deserved a Best Picture nomination. Driving Miss Daisy won Best Picture that year, after the 1990 release of Mo Better Blues, Lee was accused of antisemitism by the Anti-Defamation League and several film critics. They criticized the characters of the club owners Josh and Moe Flatbush, Lee denied the charge, explaining that he wrote those characters in order to depict how black artists struggled against exploitation. Lee said that Lew Wasserman, Sidney Sheinberg or Tom Pollock and he said he could not make an antisemitic film because Jews run Hollywood, and thats a fact. His 1997 documentary 4 Little Girls, about the killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham. On May 2,2007, the 50th San Francisco International Film Festival honored Spike Lee with the San Francisco Film Societys Directing Award and he received the 2008 Wexner Prize
17.
Emmy Award
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An Emmy Award, or simply Emmy, recognizes excellence in the television industry, and corresponds to the Academy Award, the Tony Award, and the Grammy Award. Because Emmy Awards are given in various sectors of the American television industry, Regional Emmy Awards are also presented throughout the country at various times through the year, recognizing excellence in local and statewide television. In addition, International Emmys are awarded for excellence in TV programming produced, each is responsible for administering a particular set of Emmy ceremonies. The Los Angeles-based Academy of Television Arts & Sciences established the Emmy Award as part of an image-building and public relations opportunity. The first Emmy Awards ceremony took place on January 25,1949, at the Hollywood Athletic Club, shirley Dinsdale has the distinction of receiving the very first Emmy Award for Most Outstanding Television Personality, during that first awards ceremony. In the 1950s, the ATAS expanded the Emmys into a national event, in 1955, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences was formed in New York City as a sister organization to serve members on the East Coast, and help to also supervise the Emmys. The NATAS also established regional chapters throughout the United States, with each one developing their own local Emmy awards show for local programming, the ATAS still however maintained its separate regional ceremony honoring local programming in the Los Angeles Area. Originally there was only one Emmy Awards ceremony held per year to honor shows nationally broadcast in the United States, in 1974, the first Daytime Emmy Awards ceremony was held to specifically honor achievement in national daytime programming. Other area-specific Emmy Awards ceremonies soon followed, also, the International Emmy Awards, honoring television programs produced and initially aired outside the U. S. was established in the early 1970s. Meanwhile, all Emmys awarded prior to the emergence of these separate, in 1977, due to various conflicts, the ATAS and the NATAS agreed to split ties. However, they agreed to share ownership of the Emmy statue and trademark. With the rise of television in the 1980s, cable programs first became eligible for the Primetime Emmys in 1988. The ATAS also began accepting original online-only web television programs in 2013, the Emmy statuette, depicting a winged woman holding an atom, was designed by television engineer Louis McManus, who used his wife as the model. The TV Academy rejected a total of forty-seven proposals before settling on McManus design in 1948. The statuette has become the symbol of the TV Academys goal of supporting and uplifting the art and science of television, The wings represent the muse of art. When deciding a name for the award, Academy founder Syd Cassyd originally suggested Ike, however, Ike was also the popular nickname of World War II hero and future U. S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and the Academy members wanted something unique. Finally, television engineer and the third president, Harry Lubcke, suggested the name Immy. After Immy was chosen, it was feminized to Emmy to match their female statuette
18.
Screen Actors Guild Award
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The statuette given, a nude male figure holding both a mask of comedy and a mask of tragedy, is called The Actor. It is 16 inches tall, weighs over 12 pounds, is cast in solid bronze, SAG Awards have been one of the major awards events in Hollywood since 1995. It is considered an indicator of success at the Academy Awards, the awards have been telecast since 1998 on TNT, and since 2007 have been simulcast on TBS. The inaugural SAG Awards aired live on February 25,1995 from Universal Studios Stage 12, the second SAG awards aired live from the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, while subsequent awards have been held at the Shrine Exposition Center
19.
Golden Globe Award
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Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign. The annual ceremony at which the awards are presented is a part of the film industrys awards season. The 74th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film, the 1st Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best achievements in 1943 filmmaking, was held in January 1944, at the 20th Century-Fox studios. Subsequent ceremonies were held at venues throughout the next decade, including the Beverly Hills Hotel. In 1950, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association made the decision to establish an honorary award to recognize outstanding contributions to the entertainment industry. Recognizing its subject as a figure within the entertainment industry. The official name of the award became the Cecil B. In 1963, the Miss Golden Globe concept was introduced, in its inaugural year, two Miss Golden Globes were named, one for film and one for television. The two Miss Golden Globes named that year were Eva Six and Donna Douglas, respectively, in 2009, the Golden Globe statuette was redesigned. It was unveiled at a conference at the Beverly Hilton prior to the show. The broadcast of the Golden Globe Awards, telecast to 167 countries worldwide, generally ranks as the third most-watched awards show each year, behind only the Oscars, gervais returned to host the 68th and 69th Golden Globe Awards the next two years. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler hosted the 70th, 71st and 72nd Golden Globe Awards in 2015, the Golden Globe Awards theme song, which debuted in 2012, was written by Japanese musician and songwriter Yoshiki Hayashi. On January 7,2008, it was announced due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. The ceremony was faced with a threat by striking writers to picket the event, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association was forced to adopt another approach for the broadcast. In acting categories, Meryl Streep holds the record for the most competitive Golden Globe wins with eight, however, including honorary awards, such as the Henrietta Award, World Film Favorite Actor/Actress Award, or Cecil B. DeMille Award, Barbra Streisand leads with nine, additionally, Streisand won for composing the song Evergreen, producing the Best Picture, and directing Yentl in 1984. Jack Nicholson, Angela Lansbury, Alan Alda and Shirley MacLaine have six awards each, behind them are Rosalind Russell and Jessica Lange with five wins. Meryl Streep also holds the record for most nominations with thirty, at the 46th Golden Globe Awards an anomaly occurred, a three way-tie for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
20.
Brooklyn
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Brooklyn is the most populous borough of New York City, with a Census-estimated 2,636,735 residents in 2015. It borders the borough of Queens at the end of Long Island. Today, if New York City dissolved, Brooklyn would rank as the third-most populous city in the U. S. behind Los Angeles, the borough continues, however, to maintain a distinct culture. Many Brooklyn neighborhoods are ethnic enclaves, Brooklyns official motto, displayed on the Borough seal and flag, is Eendraght Maeckt Maght which translates from early modern Dutch as Unity makes strength. Since 2010, Brooklyn has evolved into a hub of entrepreneurship and high technology startup firms. The history of European settlement in Brooklyn spans more than 350 years, the neighborhood of Marine Park was home to North Americas first tidal mill. It was built by the Dutch, and the foundation can be seen today, however, the area was not formally settled as a town. Many incidents and documents relating to this period are in Gabriel Furmans early compilation, what is today Brooklyn left Dutch hands after the final English conquest of New Netherland in 1664, a prelude to the Second Anglo–Dutch War. The English reorganized the six old Dutch towns on southwestern Long Island as Kings County on November 1,1683 and this tract of land was recognized as a political entity for the first time, and the municipal groundwork was laid for a later expansive idea of Brooklyn identity. On August 27,1776 was fought the Battle of Long Island, the first major engagement fought in the American Revolutionary War after independence was declared, and the largest of the entire conflict. British troops forced Continental Army troops under George Washington off the heights near the sites of Green-Wood Cemetery, Prospect Park. The fortified American positions at Brooklyn Heights consequently became untenable and were evacuated a few days later, One result of the Treaty of Paris in 1783 was the evacuation of the British from New York City, celebrated by residents into the 20th century. The New York Navy Yard operated in Wallabout Bay for the entire 19th century, the first center of urbanization sprang up in the Town of Brooklyn, directly across from Lower Manhattan, which saw the incorporation of the Village of Brooklyn in 1817. Reliable steam ferry service across the East River to Fulton Landing converted Brooklyn Heights into a town for Wall Street. Ferry Road to Jamaica Pass became Fulton Street to East New York, Town and Village were combined to form the first, kernel incarnation of the City of Brooklyn in 1834. Industrial deconcentration in mid-century was bringing shipbuilding and other manufacturing to the part of the county. Each of the two cities and six towns in Kings County remained independent municipalities, and purposely created non-aligning street grids with different naming systems and it later became the most popular and highest circulation afternoon paper in America. The publisher changed to L. Van Anden on April 19,1842, on May 14,1849 the name was shortened to The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, on September 5,1938 it was further shortened to Brooklyn Eagle
21.
New York (state)
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New York is a state in the northeastern United States, and is the 27th-most extensive, fourth-most populous, and seventh-most densely populated U. S. state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south and Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont to the east. With an estimated population of 8.55 million in 2015, New York City is the most populous city in the United States, the New York Metropolitan Area is one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. New York City makes up over 40% of the population of New York State, two-thirds of the states population lives in the New York City Metropolitan Area, and nearly 40% lives on Long Island. Both the state and New York City were named for the 17th-century Duke of York, the next four most populous cities in the state are Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, and Syracuse, while the state capital is Albany. New York has a diverse geography and these more mountainous regions are bisected by two major river valleys—the north-south Hudson River Valley and the east-west Mohawk River Valley, which forms the core of the Erie Canal. Western New York is considered part of the Great Lakes Region and straddles Lake Ontario, between the two lakes lies Niagara Falls. The central part of the state is dominated by the Finger Lakes, New York had been inhabited by tribes of Algonquian and Iroquoian-speaking Native Americans for several hundred years by the time the earliest Europeans came to New York. The first Europeans to arrive were French colonists and Jesuit missionaries who arrived southward from settlements at Montreal for trade, the British annexed the colony from the Dutch in 1664. The borders of the British colony, the Province of New York, were similar to those of the present-day state, New York is home to the Statue of Liberty, a symbol of the United States and its ideals of freedom, democracy, and opportunity. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. On April 17,1524 Verrazanno entered New York Bay, by way of the now called the Narrows into the northern bay which he named Santa Margherita. Verrazzano described it as a vast coastline with a delta in which every kind of ship could pass and he adds. This vast sheet of water swarmed with native boats and he landed on the tip of Manhattan and possibly on the furthest point of Long Island. Verrazannos stay was interrupted by a storm which pushed him north towards Marthas Vineyard, in 1540 French traders from New France built a chateau on Castle Island, within present-day Albany, due to flooding, it was abandoned the next year. In 1614, the Dutch under the command of Hendrick Corstiaensen, rebuilt the French chateau, Fort Nassau was the first Dutch settlement in North America, and was located along the Hudson River, also within present-day Albany. The small fort served as a trading post and warehouse, located on the Hudson River flood plain, the rudimentary fort was washed away by flooding in 1617, and abandoned for good after Fort Orange was built nearby in 1623. Henry Hudsons 1609 voyage marked the beginning of European involvement with the area, sailing for the Dutch East India Company and looking for a passage to Asia, he entered the Upper New York Bay on September 11 of that year
22.
Sicily
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Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is an autonomous Region of Italy, along with surrounding minor islands, Sicily is located in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula, from which it is separated by the narrow Strait of Messina. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe, the island has a typical Mediterranean climate. The earliest archaeological evidence of activity on the island dates from as early as 12,000 BC. It became part of Italy in 1860 following the Expedition of the Thousand, a revolt led by Giuseppe Garibaldi during the Italian unification, Sicily was given special status as an autonomous region after the Italian constitutional referendum of 1946. Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially regard to the arts, music, literature, cuisine. It is also home to important archaeological and ancient sites, such as the Necropolis of Pantalica, the Valley of the Temples, Sicily has a roughly triangular shape, earning it the name Trinacria. To the east, it is separated from the Italian mainland by the Strait of Messina, about 3 km wide in the north, and about 16 km wide in the southern part. The northern and southern coasts are each about 280 km long measured as a line, while the eastern coast measures around 180 km. The total area of the island is 25,711 km2, the terrain of inland Sicily is mostly hilly and is intensively cultivated wherever possible. Along the northern coast, the ranges of Madonie,2,000 m, Nebrodi,1,800 m. The cone of Mount Etna dominates the eastern coast, in the southeast lie the lower Hyblaean Mountains,1,000 m. The mines of the Enna and Caltanissetta districts were part of a leading sulphur-producing area throughout the 19th century, Sicily and its surrounding small islands have some highly active volcanoes. Mount Etna is the largest active volcano in Europe and still casts black ash over the island with its ever-present eruptions and it currently stands 3,329 metres high, though this varies with summit eruptions, the mountain is 21 m lower now than it was in 1981. It is the highest mountain in Italy south of the Alps, Etna covers an area of 1,190 km2 with a basal circumference of 140 km. This makes it by far the largest of the three volcanoes in Italy, being about two and a half times the height of the next largest, Mount Vesuvius. In Greek Mythology, the deadly monster Typhon was trapped under the mountain by Zeus, Mount Etna is widely regarded as a cultural symbol and icon of Sicily. The Aeolian Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea, to the northeast of mainland Sicily form a volcanic complex, the three volcanoes of Vulcano, Vulcanello and Lipari are also currently active, although the latter is usually dormant
23.
Jazz
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Jazz is a music genre that originated amongst African Americans in New Orleans, United States, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and developed from roots in Blues and Ragtime. Since the 1920s jazz age, jazz has become recognized as a form of musical expression. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, call and response vocals, polyrhythms, Jazz has roots in West African cultural and musical expression, and in African-American music traditions including blues and ragtime, as well as European military band music. Although the foundation of jazz is deeply rooted within the Black experience of the United States, different cultures have contributed their own experience, intellectuals around the world have hailed jazz as one of Americas original art forms. As jazz spread around the world, it drew on different national, regional, and local musical cultures, New Orleans jazz began in the early 1910s, combining earlier brass-band marches, French quadrilles, biguine, ragtime and blues with collective polyphonic improvisation. In the 1930s, heavily arranged dance-oriented swing big bands, Kansas City jazz, bebop emerged in the 1940s, shifting jazz from danceable popular music toward a more challenging musicians music which was played at faster tempos and used more chord-based improvisation. Cool jazz developed in the end of the 1940s, introducing calmer, smoother sounds and long, modal jazz developed in the late 1950s, using the mode, or musical scale, as the basis of musical structure and improvisation. Jazz-rock fusion appeared in the late 1960s and early 1970s, combining jazz improvisation with rock rhythms, electric instruments. In the early 1980s, a form of jazz fusion called smooth jazz became successful. Other styles and genres abound in the 2000s, such as Latin, the question of the origin of the word jazz has resulted in considerable research, and its history is well documented. It is believed to be related to jasm, a term dating back to 1860 meaning pep. The use of the word in a context was documented as early as 1915 in the Chicago Daily Tribune. Its first documented use in a context in New Orleans was in a November 14,1916 Times-Picayune article about jas bands. In an interview with NPR, musician Eubie Blake offered his recollections of the slang connotations of the term, saying, When Broadway picked it up. That was dirty, and if you knew what it was, the American Dialect Society named it the Word of the Twentieth Century. Jazz has proved to be difficult to define, since it encompasses such a wide range of music spanning a period of over 100 years. Attempts have been made to define jazz from the perspective of other musical traditions, in the opinion of Robert Christgau, most of us would say that inventing meaning while letting loose is the essence and promise of jazz. As Duke Ellington, one of jazzs most famous figures, said, although jazz is considered highly difficult to define, at least in part because it contains so many varied subgenres, improvisation is consistently regarded as being one of its key elements
24.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
25.
U.S. Navy
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The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U. S. Navy is the largest, most capable navy in the world, the U. S. Navy has the worlds largest aircraft carrier fleet, with ten in service, two in the reserve fleet, and three new carriers under construction. The service has 323,792 personnel on duty and 108,515 in the Navy Reserve. It has 274 deployable combat vessels and more than 3,700 operational aircraft as of October 2016, the U. S. Navy traces its origins to the Continental Navy, which was established during the American Revolutionary War and was effectively disbanded as a separate entity shortly thereafter. It played a role in the American Civil War by blockading the Confederacy. It played the role in the World War II defeat of Imperial Japan. The 21st century U. S. Navy maintains a global presence, deploying in strength in such areas as the Western Pacific, the Mediterranean. The Navy is administratively managed by the Department of the Navy, the Department of the Navy is itself a division of the Department of Defense, which is headed by the Secretary of Defense. The Chief of Naval Operations is an admiral and the senior naval officer of the Department of the Navy. The CNO may not be the highest ranking officer in the armed forces if the Chairman or the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The mission of the Navy is to maintain, train and equip combat-ready Naval forces capable of winning wars, deterring aggression, the United States Navy is a seaborne branch of the military of the United States. The Navys three primary areas of responsibility, The preparation of naval forces necessary for the prosecution of war. The development of aircraft, weapons, tactics, technique, organization, U. S. Navy training manuals state that the mission of the U. S. Armed Forces is to prepare and conduct prompt and sustained combat operations in support of the national interest, as part of that establishment, the U. S. Navys functions comprise sea control, power projection and nuclear deterrence, in addition to sealift duties. It follows then as certain as that night succeeds the day, that without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive, the Navy was rooted in the colonial seafaring tradition, which produced a large community of sailors, captains, and shipbuilders. In the early stages of the American Revolutionary War, Massachusetts had its own Massachusetts Naval Militia, the establishment of a national navy was an issue of debate among the members of the Second Continental Congress. Supporters argued that a navy would protect shipping, defend the coast, detractors countered that challenging the British Royal Navy, then the worlds preeminent naval power, was a foolish undertaking. Commander in Chief George Washington resolved the debate when he commissioned the ocean-going schooner USS Hannah to interdict British merchant ships, and reported the captures to the Congress
26.
D-Day
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The Normandy landings were the landing operations on Tuesday,6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. The largest seaborne invasion in history, the operation began the liberation of German-occupied northwestern Europe from Nazi control, planning for the operation began in 1943. Adolf Hitler placed German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in command of German forces, the amphibious landings were preceded by extensive aerial and naval bombardment and an airborne assault—the landing of 24,000 American, British, and Canadian airborne troops shortly after midnight. Allied infantry and armoured divisions began landing on the coast of France at 06,30, the target 50-mile stretch of the Normandy coast was divided into five sectors, Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. Strong winds blew the landing craft east of their positions, particularly at Utah. Casualties were heaviest at Omaha, with its high cliffs, at Gold, Juno, and Sword, several fortified towns were cleared in house-to-house fighting, and two major gun emplacements at Gold were disabled, using specialised tanks. The Allies failed to any of their goals on the first day. Carentan, St. Lô, and Bayeux remained in German hands, and Caen, German casualties on D-Day have been estimated at 4,000 to 9,000 men. Allied casualties were at least 10,000, with 4,414 confirmed dead, museums, memorials, and war cemeteries in the area now host many visitors each year. Between 27 May and 4 June 1940, over 338,000 troops of the British Expeditionary Force, after the German Army invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin began pressing his allies for the creation of a second front in western Europe. In late May 1942 the Soviet Union and the United States made a joint announcement that a. full understanding was reached with regard to the urgent tasks of creating a front in Europe in 1942. Instead of a return to France, the Western Allies staged offensives in the Mediterranean Theatre of Operations. By mid-1943 the campaign in North Africa had been won, the Allies then launched the invasion of Sicily in July 1943, and subsequently invaded Italy in September the same year. By then, Soviet forces were on the offensive and had won a victory at the Battle of Stalingrad. The decision to undertake a cross-channel invasion within the year was taken at the Trident Conference in Washington in May 1943. Initial planning was constrained by the number of landing craft, most of which were already committed in the Mediterranean. At the Tehran Conference in November 1943, Roosevelt and Churchill promised Stalin that they would open the second front in May 1944. Four sites were considered for the landings, Brittany, the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy, as Brittany and Cotentin are peninsulas, it would have been possible for the Germans to cut off the Allied advance at a relatively narrow isthmus, so these sites were rejected
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Normandy, France
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Normandy is one of the regions of France, roughly corresponding to the historical Duchy of Normandy. Administratively, Normandy is divided into five departments, Calvados, Eure, Manche, Orne and it covers 30,627 km², forming roughly 5% of the territory of France. Its population of 3.37 million accounts for around 5% of the population of France, Normans is the name given to the inhabitants of Normandy, and the region is the homeland of the Norman language. The historical region of Normandy comprised the region of Normandy, as well as small areas now part of the départements, or departments of Mayenne. For a century and a following the Norman conquest of England in 1066, Normandy and England were linked by Norman. Archaeological finds, such as paintings, prove that humans were present in the region in prehistoric times. Celts invaded Normandy in successive waves from the 4th to the 3rd century BC, when Julius Caesar invaded Gaul, there were nine different Celtic tribes living in Normandy. The Romanisation of Normandy was achieved by the methods, Roman roads. Classicists have knowledge of many Gallo-Roman villas in Normandy, in the late 3rd century, barbarian raids devastated Normandy. Coastal settlements were raided by Saxon pirates, Christianity also began to enter the area during this period. In 406, Germanic tribes began invading from the east, while the Saxons subjugated the Norman coast, the Roman Emperor withdrew from most of Normandy. As early as 487, the area between the River Somme and the River Loire came under the control of the Frankish lord Clovis, the Vikings started to raid the Seine Valley during the middle of the 9th century. As early as 841, a Viking fleet appeared at the mouth of the Seine, after attacking and destroying monasteries, including one at Jumièges, they took advantage of the power vacuum created by the disintegration of Charlemagnes empire to take northern France. The fiefdom of Normandy was created for the Norwegian Viking leader Hrólfr Ragnvaldsson, Rollo had besieged Paris but in 911 entered vassalage to the king of the West Franks, Charles the Simple, through the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte. In exchange for his homage and fealty, Rollo legally gained the territory which he, the name Normandy reflects Rollos Viking origins. The descendants of Rollo and his followers adopted the local Gallo-Romance language and they became the Normans – a Norman-speaking mixture of Saxons and indigenous Franks and Celts. Besides the Norman conquest of England and the subsequent conquests of Wales and Ireland, Norman families, such as that of Tancred of Hauteville, Rainulf Drengot and Guimond de Moulins played important parts in the Norman conquest of southern Italy and Crusades. They also carved out a place for themselves and their descendants in the Crusader states of Asia Minor, the 14th century Norman explorer Jean de Béthencourt established a kingdom in the Canary Islands
28.
Rosedale, Queens
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Rosedale is a neighborhood in New York City in the southeastern portion of the borough of Queens. The neighborhood is on the border of Queens and Nassau County, the neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 13. Rosedale was originally conceived in the consolidation of the borough of Queens as a part of what is now Springfield Gardens, at the time, the Laurelton Land Company was in charge of the new Borough of Queens. It was dotted with farmland that was isolated from each other, the Southern Railroad of Long Island was built and the whole area was served by Laurelton Station. The area was connected to the Brooklyn waterworks. In the 20th century, the system was less needed. Today the ruins of the system can still be seen. After the Long Island Rail Roads construction, many new roads such as Francis Lewis, the area that is now Rosedale remained farmland until the mid-1930s. After the former period of slow growth, development rapidly turned Rosedale into a suburban community. Rosedale was originally known as Fosters Meadow, in 1976, Bill Moyers presented a documentary titled Rosedale, The Way It Is. The area is home to many Caribbean immigrants compared to the Irish, Italian and Jewish Americans of the neighboring Nassau County communities of Valley Stream and Woodmere. It is at the edge of New York City, at its border with Valley Stream forming part of the boundary between Queens and Nassau County. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 13, Warnerville and Meadowmere are small, oft-forgotten neighborhoods within Rosedale. The area is served by the 11422 ZIP Code, which also covers Rosedale, Warnerville is surrounded on three sides by Jamaica Bay just to the southeast of John F. A footbridge across Hook Creek joins Meadowmere with Meadowmere Park, a neighborhood in the village of Lawrence in Nassau County, beginning in 2007, the city began installing a sanitary sewer system in Warnerville and neighboring Meadowmere because some septic tanks had flooded into Jamaica Bay. Based on data from the 2010 United States Census, the population of Rosedale was 25,063, covering an area of 1,354.44 acres, the neighborhood had a population density of 18.5 inhabitants per acre. The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 5. 3% White,79. 9% African American,0. 3% Native American,2. 2% Asian,0. 0% Pacific Islander,1. 0% from other races, and 1. 9% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 9. 3% of the population, rosedales public schools are operated by the New York City Department of Education
29.
Queens, New York
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Queens is the easternmost and largest in area of the five boroughs of New York City. Coterminous with Queens County since 1899, the borough of Queens is the second-largest in population, with a census-estimated 2,339,150 residents in 2015, approximately 48% of them foreign-born. Queens County also is the second-most populous county in the U. S. state of New York, behind the borough of Brooklyn. Queens is the fourth-most densely populated county among New York Citys boroughs, if each of New York Citys boroughs were an independent city, Queens also would be the nations fourth most populous city, after Los Angeles, Chicago, and Brooklyn. Queens is the most ethnically diverse area in the world. Queens was established in 1683 as one of the original 12 counties of New York and it was named after the Portuguese Princess Catherine of Braganza, Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland. It became a borough of New York City in 1898, and from 1683 until 1899, Queens has the most diversified economy of the five boroughs of New York City It is home to JFK International Airport and LaGuardia Airport. These airports are among the busiest in the world, causing the airspace above Queens to be the most congested in the country, attractions in Queens include Flushing Meadows Park, Citi Field, the US Open tennis tournament, Kaufman Astoria Studios, Silvercup Studios, and Aqueduct Racetrack. European colonization brought Dutch and English settlers, as a part of the New Netherland colony, First settlements occurred in 1635 followed by early colonizations at Maspeth in 1642, and Vlissingen in 1643. Other early settlements included Newtown and Jamaica, however, these towns were mostly inhabited by English settlers from New England via eastern Long Island subject to Dutch law. After the capture of the colony by the English and its renaming as New York in 1664, the Flushing Remonstrance signed by colonists in 1657 is considered a precursor to the United States Constitutions provision on freedom of religion in the Bill of Rights. The signers protested the Dutch colonial authorities persecution of Quakers in what is today the borough of Queens, originally, Queens County included the adjacent area now comprising Nassau County. It was a county of New York State, one of twelve created on November 1,1683. The county was named after Catherine of Braganza, since she was queen of England at the time, the county was founded alongside Kings County, and Richmond County. On October 7,1691, all counties in the Colony of New York were redefined, Queens gained North Brother Island, South Brother Island, and Huletts Island. On December 3,1768, Queens gained other islands in Long Island Sound that were not already assigned to a county, Queens played a minor role in the American Revolution, as compared to Brooklyn, where the Battle of Long Island was largely fought. Queens, like the rest of Long Island, remained under British occupation after the Battle of Long Island in 1776 and was occupied throughout most of the rest of the Revolutionary War. Under the Quartering Act, British soldiers used, as barracks, even though many local people were against unannounced quartering, sentiment throughout the county remained in favor of the British crown
30.
State University of New York at New Paltz
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The State University of New York at New Paltz, known as SUNY New Paltz or New Paltz for short, is a public college in New Paltz, in the U. S. state of New York. It traces its origins to the New Paltz Classical School, an institution founded in 1828. The college is one of four SUNY institutions in the New York metropolitan area, following a decimating fire in 1884, the New Paltz Classical School offered their land to the state government of New York contingent upon the establishment of a normal school. In 1885, the New Paltz Normal and Training School was established to prepare teachers to practice their professions in the schools of New York. It was granted the ability to award degrees in 1938, when it was renamed the State Teachers College at New Paltz. In 1947, a program in education was established. When the State University of New York was established by legislative act in 1948, an art education program was added in 1951. In 1960, the college was authorized to confer liberal arts degrees, there were several student-led demonstrations in the late 1960s and early 1970s, primarily against the Vietnam War. In the spring of 1967, a protesting military recruitment on campus blocked the entrance to the Student Union for two days. While there were scores of demonstrators the first day, all but 13 dispersed before New York State Troopers arrived, College President John J. Neumaier posted bail. Pastor was released and charges were dropped, following the Cambodian Campaign and concomitant Kent State shootings in May 1970, there was a protest leading to a five-day student occupation of the Administration Building. Amid this tumult, the general education program was eliminated in 1971. A program in African American studies was established in 1968, instructors in the program were hired by students and compensated through student activity fees. Under Chandlers leadership, the college began to offer degree programs in nursing, engineering, journalism. The Legislative Gazette, a journalism and political science internship in which live and work in Albany. On December 29,1991, the campus was the scene of a widely reported PCB incident that contaminated four dormitories, as well as the Coykendall Science Building, under the direction of the county and state health departments, the university began a massive, thorough clean-up effort. As an additional precaution,29 other buildings were thoroughly tested and, if necessary, the clean-up process lasted until May 1995. Since 1994, PCBs have not been used on the SUNY New Paltz campus, concerns about this incident have been covered in New York Times articles by Michael Winerip, as well as investigative reporting in the Woodstock Times and Sierra magazine by Eric Francis
31.
Martin Scorsese
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Martin Charles Scorsese is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and film historian, whose career spans more than 50 years. Scorseses body of work addresses such themes as Sicilian-American identity, Roman Catholic concepts of guilt and redemption, faith, machismo, modern crime, many of his films are also known for their depiction of violence and liberal use of profanity. Part of the New Hollywood wave of filmmaking, he is regarded as one of the most significant. In 1990, he founded The Film Foundation, an organization dedicated to film preservation. Their third film together, The Departed, won Scorsese the Academy Award for Best Director in addition to the winning the award for Best Picture. Their collaborations have resulted in numerous Academy Award nominations for both as well as winning several other prestigious awards. His work in television includes the episode of the HBO series Boardwalk Empire and Vinyl. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for the crime drama The Departed, with eight Best Director nominations, he is the most nominated living director and is tied with Billy Wilder for the second most nominations overall. Scorsese was born in Queens, New York and his family moved to Little Italy, Manhattan before he started school. His father, Charles Scorsese, and mother, Catherine Scorsese and his father was a clothes presser and an actor, and his mother was a seamstress and an actress. His fathers parents emigrated from Polizzi Generosa, in the province of Palermo, Sicily, Scorsese was raised in a devoutly Catholic environment. As a teenager in the Bronx, Scorsese frequently rented Powell, Scorsese was one of only two people who regularly rented that reel. The other was future Night Of The Living Dead director George A. Romero, Scorsese has cited Sabu and Victor Mature as his favorite actors during his youth. He has also spoken of the influence of the 1947 Powell and Pressburger film Black Narcissus, whose innovative techniques later impacted his filmmaking. Enamored of historical epics in his adolescence, at least two films of the genre, Land of the Pharaohs and El Cid, appear to have had a deep, Scorsese also developed an admiration for neorealist cinema at this time. He acknowledges owing a debt to the French New Wave and has stated that the French New Wave has influenced all filmmakers who have worked since. He has also cited filmmakers including Satyajit Ray, Ingmar Bergman, Michelangelo Antonioni and he went on to earn his M. F. A. from NYUs School of the Arts in 1966, a year after the school was founded. Scorsese attended New York Universitys Tisch School of the Arts making the short films Whats a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This. and Its Not Just You, Murray
32.
Raging Bull
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Also featured in the film are Joe Pesci as Joey, LaMottas well-intentioned brother and manager who tries to help Jake battle his inner demons, and Cathy Moriarty as his wife. The film features supporting roles from Nicholas Colasanto, Theresa Saldana, Scorsese was initially reluctant to develop the project, though he eventually came to relate to LaMottas story. Schrader re-wrote Martins first screenplay, and Scorsese and De Niro together made uncredited contributions thereafter, Pesci was an unknown actor prior to the film, as was Moriarty, who was suggested for her role by Pesci. During principal photography, each of the scenes was choreographed for a specific visual style. Scorsese was exacting in the process of editing and mixing the film, despite receiving mixed initial reviews, it went on to garner a high critical reputation, and is now often regarded as among Scorseses best works and the greatest films ever made. In 1990, it became the first film to be selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in its first year of eligibility, in a brief scene in 1964, an aging, overweight Italian American, Jake LaMotta, practices a comedy routine. In 1941, LaMotta is in a boxing match against Jimmy Reeves. Jakes brother Joey LaMotta discusses a potential shot for the title with one of his Mafia connections. Some time thereafter, Jake spots a 15-year-old girl named Vikki at a swimming pool in his Bronx neighborhood. He eventually pursues a relationship with her, even though he is already married, in 1943, Jake defeats Sugar Ray Robinson, and has a rematch three weeks later. Jake constantly worries about Vikki having feelings for men, particularly when she makes an off-hand comment about Tony Janiro. His jealousy is evident when he brutally defeats Janiro in front of the local Mob boss, Tommy Como, as Joey discusses the victory with journalists at the Copacabana, he is distracted by seeing Vikki approach a table with Salvy and his crew. Joey speaks with Vikki, who says she is giving up on his brother, blaming Salvy, Joey viciously attacks him in a fight that spills outside of the club. Como later orders them to apologize, and has Joey tell Jake that if he wants a chance at the championship title, in a match against Billy Fox, after briefly pummeling his opponent, Jake does not even bother to put up a fight. He is suspended shortly thereafter from the board on suspicion of throwing the fight and he is eventually reinstated, and in 1949, wins the middleweight championship title against Marcel Cerdan. A year later, Jake asks Joey if he fought with Salvy at the Copacabana because of Vikki, Jake then asks if Joey had an affair with her, Joey refuses to answer, insults Jake, and leaves. Jake directly asks Vikki about the affair, and when she hides him in the bathroom, he breaks down the door. Jake angrily walks to Joeys house, with Vikki following him, estranged from Joey, Jakes career begins to decline slowly and he eventually loses his title to Sugar Ray Robinson in their final encounter in 1951
33.
John Patrick Shanley
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John Patrick Shanley is an American playwright, screenwriter, and theatre and film director. His play Doubt, A Parable won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama as well as the 2005 Tony Award for Best Play and he won the 1988 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for his film Moonstruck. Shanley was born into an Irish-American family in The Bronx, New York City and his mother worked as a telephone operator, and his father was a meat-packer. The neighborhood Shanley grew up in was considered very rough and his academic career did not begin well, but ultimately he graduated from New York University with honors. He was heavily influenced by one of his first teachers, Sister Margaret McEntee, while at Cardinal Spellman High School he saw two school productions that influenced him. The Miracle Worker and Cyrano de Bergerac, after his Freshman year at New York University, he was put on academic probation. He then enlisted in the United States Marines, serving in a stateside post during the Vietnam War, following his military service, he wrote a novel, then burned it, and returned to the university with the help of the G. I. Bill, and by supporting himself with a series of jobs, elevator operator, house painter, furniture mover, locksmith and he graduated from New York University as valedictorian in 1977. Shanley is the author of more than 23 plays, which have translated and performed around the world. He has often directed his own productions and he has also written for film, his second film, Moonstruck, stars Nicolas Cage and Cher, and won three Academy Awards, including one for his screenplay. In 1990, Shanley directed his script of Joe Versus the Volcano, Shanley also wrote two songs for the movie, Marooned Without You and The Cowboy Song. He wrote the screenplay for the film Congo, which was based on the Michael Crichton book. His play Doubt, A Parable ran on Broadway from March 31,2005 to July 2,2006 and won four 2005 Tony Awards, the Drama Desk Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Shanley directed the 2008 film version, which starred Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and Viola Davis. In 2012, Shanley wrote the libretto for a version of Doubt, A Parable. Until then, his experience with opera was not extensive, he had attended a few performances and had listened to recordings, as he worked on the libretto, using many lines that come directly from the play, he describes that his enthusiasm for the form grew. Also in 2012, his play Storefront Church ran Off-Broadway in a production by the Atlantic Theater Company, the play concerns Bronx residents whose lives become tangled in unexpected ways when a mortgage goes sour. Storefront Church was also put up by San Francisco Playhouse in San Francisco in December 2013 where it was well received
34.
Eugene O'Neill
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Eugene Gladstone ONeill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. ONeills plays were among the first to include speeches in American vernacular and they struggle to maintain their hopes and aspirations, but ultimately slide into disillusionment and despair. Of his very few comedies, only one is well-known, nearly all of his other plays involve some degree of tragedy and personal pessimism. ONeill was born in a hotel, the Barrett House, at Broadway and 43rd Street, a commemorative plaque was first dedicated there in 1957. The site is now occupied by 1500 Broadway, which offices, retail. He was the son of Irish immigrant actor James ONeill and Mary Ellen Quinlan and his father suffered from alcoholism, his mother from an addiction to morphine, prescribed to relieve the pains of the difficult birth of her third son, Eugene. ONeill spent his summers at the Monte Cristo Cottage in New London and he attended Princeton University for one year. Accounts vary as to why he left, ONeill spent several years at sea, during which he suffered from depression and alcoholism. Despite this, he had a love for the sea and it became a prominent theme in many of his plays. ONeill joined the Marine Transport Workers Union of the Industrial Workers of the World, ONeills parents and elder brother Jamie died within three years of one another, not long after he had begun to make his mark in the theater. After his experience in 1912–13 at a sanatorium where he was recovering from tuberculosis, ONeill had previously been employed by the New London Telegraph, writing poetry as well as reporting. In the fall of 1914, he entered Harvard University to attend a course in dramatic technique given by Professor George Baker and he left after one year and did not complete the course. During the 1910s ONeill was a regular on the Greenwich Village literary scene, ONeill also had a brief romantic relationship with Reeds wife, writer Louise Bryant. ONeill was portrayed by Jack Nicholson in the 1981 film Reds and his involvement with the Provincetown Players began in mid-1916. ONeill is said to have arrived for the summer in Provincetown with a full of plays. He was not left alone in the dining-room when the reading had finished, the Provincetown Players performed many of ONeills early works in their theaters both in Provincetown and on MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village. Some of these early plays began downtown and then moved to Broadway, ONeills first published play, Beyond the Horizon, opened on Broadway in 1920 to great acclaim, and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. His first major hit was The Emperor Jones, which ran on Broadway in 1920 and his best-known plays include Anna Christie, Desire Under the Elms, Strange Interlude, Mourning Becomes Electra, and his only well-known comedy, Ah, Wilderness
35.
Five Corners (film)
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Five Corners is a 1987 American low budget crime drama film starring Tim Robbins, Jodie Foster, John Turturro, and Rodney Harvey. It was directed by Tony Bill and it depicts 48 hours in the lives of a group of young New Yorkers in the 1960s. The film is set in The Bronx in 1964 and we are introduced to Heinz, the neighborhood bully who has just been released from prison, who wastes no time in letting everyone know he hasnt changed by stirring up trouble again. Harry had protected Linda in the near-rape, but since then he has adopted a policy of non-violent response to violence, Harry has now become a Buddhist and a pacifist, and seeks to join Dr. Kings movement, making protecting Linda again a difficult task. We also see Mr. Glasgow, an overly strict high-school teacher murdered by being shot in the back with an arrow while he walks down the street. That night we see Sal driving his fiancé Melanie and her girlfriend Brita around the neighborhood while they take pills and sniff glue in the back seat. Fed up with how theyve gotten so loaded, Sal offers to them to Castro and Willie. Sal even offering them cash to take the women off his hands and they accept and walk off with the girls, who are so high they dont even know who theyre supposed to be with. The next morning, Brita and Melanie wake up in a strange apartment and they get dressed and find Castro and Willie in the hall. Picking up where left off, the boys tell Melanie and Brita, Someone murdered our teacher. But the ride they have in mind is climbing up on top of the elevators with the girls. Heinz calls Linda, and tells her to him in a park at midnight. She reluctantly agrees, knowing that he may become dangerous if she doesnt comply, when arriving at the pool, she finds a board to use for protection and hides it. Heinz shows her a present he got for her, two penguins he stole from the Bronx zoo and she tells him that he has to return them because penguins need special food. Heinz becomes outraged, thinking that she was rejecting his gift, Heinz comes on strong with Linda, pushing her further and further until in desperation she fights Heinz off, and runs off with one of the penguins. She takes it to Jamie, who wishes Linda was his girl and he reluctantly helps her get the penguin set up in a tub at the bar he works in, then escorts her to the subway. Heinz shows up and kidnaps Linda and knocks her out and he carries her to a taxi, kicks out the window to gain entry, and lays her down in the backseat. The dog leads them to the taxi and while attempting to arrest Heinz, one of the detectives is disarmed by Heinz, at the limit of his sanity, and sensing that hes going to die tonight, Heinz carries Linda up to his mothers apartment
36.
Film director
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A film director is a person who directs the making of a film. Generally, a film director controls a films artistic and dramatic aspects, the director has a key role in choosing the cast members, production design, and the creative aspects of filmmaking. Under European Union law, the director is viewed as the author of the film, the film director gives direction to the cast and crew and creates an overall vision through which a film eventually becomes realized, or noticed. Directors need to be able to mediate differences in creative visions, there are many pathways to becoming a film director. Some film directors started as screenwriters, cinematographers, film editors or actors, other film directors have attended a film school. Some outline a general plotline and let the actors dialogue, while others control every aspect. Some directors also write their own screenplays or collaborate on screenplays with long-standing writing partners, some directors edit or appear in their films, or compose the music score for their films. Film directors create a vision through which a film eventually becomes realized/noticed. Realizing this vision includes overseeing the artistic and technical elements of production, as well as directing the shooting timetable. This entails organizing the crew in such a way as to achieve their vision of the film. This requires skills of leadership, as well as the ability to maintain a singular focus even in the stressful. Moreover, it is necessary to have an eye to frame shots and to give precise feedback to cast and crew, thus. Thus the director ensures that all involved in the film production are working towards an identical vision for the completed film. The set of varying challenges he or she has to tackle has been described as a jigsaw puzzle with egos. It adds to the pressure that the success of a film can influence when, omnipresent are the boundaries of the films budget. Additionally, the director may also have to ensure an intended age rating, thus, the position of film director is widely considered to be a highly stressful and demanding one. It has been said that 20-hour days are not unusual, under European Union law, the film director is considered the author or one of the authors of a film, largely as a result of the influence of auteur theory. Auteur theory is a film criticism concept that holds that a directors film reflects the directors personal creative vision
37.
Mo' Better Blues
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Mo Better Blues is a 1990 musical drama film starring Denzel Washington, Wesley Snipes, and Spike Lee, who also directed. It follows a period in the life of jazz trumpeter Bleek Gilliam as a series of bad decisions result in his jeopardizing both his relationships and his playing career. The film focuses on themes of friendship, loyalty, honesty, cause-and-effect and it features the music of the Branford Marsalis quartet and Terence Blanchard on trumpet. The film was released five months after the death of Robin Harris and is dedicated to his memory, the film begins with a scene set in Brooklyn, New York in 1969. A group of four boys walk up to Bleek Gilliams brownstone and ask him to come out, Bleeks mother insists that he continue his trumpet lesson, to his chagrin. His father becomes concerned that Bleek will grow up to be a sissy, in the end, Bleek continues playing his trumpet, and his friends go away. The next scene brings us to the present, with an adult Bleek performing on the trumpet at a nightclub with his jazz band. Giant, is waiting in the wings, and advises him to stop allowing his saxophone player Shadow Henderson to grandstand with long solos, the next morning Bleek wakes up with his girlfriend, Indigo Downes. Later in the day while he is practicing his trumpet, another woman named Clarke Bentancourt visits him and she suggests he fire Giant as his manager, he suggests that they make love. She bites his lip and he becomes upset about it, saying, I make my living with my lips, Giant is with his bookie, betting on baseball. Then he goes to the nightclub and argues with the doormen about what time to let the patrons into the club. He meets Bleek inside with the rest of the band, except for the pianist, Left Hand Lacey, who arrives late with his French girlfriend and is scolded by Giant. Later Giant goes to the club office, points out how busy the club has been since Bleek and his band began playing there. Giant meets his bookie the next morning, who is concerned that Giant is going too deep into debt, Giant shrugs it off, and places several new bets. He then stops off at Shadows home to drop off a record, Shadow confides in him that he is cheating on his girlfriend. This leads to the scene where Bleek is in bed with Clarke. Bleek and Giant are fending off requests from the members of the band, especially Shadow. Bleek goes to the owners to see about more money
38.
Jungle Fever
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As Lees fifth feature-length film, the film explores an interracial relationship—its conception and downfall—against the urban backdrop of the streets of New York City in the 1990s. Flipper Purify, a successful and happily married architect from Harlem, is married to Drew —together the two have one daughter, Ming, at work, he discovers that an Italian-American woman named Angie Tucci has been hired as a temporary. Angie lives in Bensonhurst, with her father, Mike, Angie and her boyfriend Paulie have been dating since high school, and he runs a corner store. Flipper and Angie begin to spend nights in the office working late but one night. The sexual encounter begins the twos tumultuous relationship, afterwards Flipper somehow demands to be up for a promotion at work but when refused by the company for the position Flipper accuses them of colorism and abruptly quits his job. Afterwards, he admits his infidelity to his longtime friend Cyrus. Cyrus later criticizes Flipper for having an affair with a white woman, later Drew finds out about his affair and throws him out. Flipper in retaliation insults Cyruss wife and in doing so strains his friendship with Cyrus, Flipper moves in momentarily with his father The Good Reverend Doctor Purify and Mrs. Purify. Later, Angie comes home to a severe and brutal beating with a belt from her father after word gets out that she is dating a black man, Flipper and Angie decide to find a place and move in together. As a couple, the two encounter discrimination such as when being refused and ignored entirely by a waitress for dating a lady, police harassment. Things begin to turn worse for Flipper when his crack addicted brother Gator steals and sells his mothers TV for crack, Flipper searches all over Harlem for Gator, eventually finding him in a crack house. He finally gives up on his brother and tells him he is not giving him any more money and he collapses as Mrs. Purify weeps over Gators body. Another subject the films focuses on is Paulie who was the former fiancé of Angie and he asked a black woman, who is one of his customers, on a date and when hes goes out, hes assaulted brutally by his friends in his attempt at an interracial relationship. Angie later is accepted back into her fathers home and Flipper tries to mend his relationship with his wife but is unsuccessful, as he leaves his house, a young, crack-addicted prostitute propositions him, in response, he throws his arms around her and cries out in torment. Wesley Snipes as Flipper Purify Annabella Sciorra as Angie Tucci Spike Lee as Cyrus Ossie Davis as The Good Reverend Doctor Purify Ruby Dee as Mrs. Purify Samuel L and he uses both types of examples to make the audience aware of everyday instances of racism. According to the New York Daily News, the attack had more to do with race than romance, hence Lees reason for including the dedication, in the film, Flippers brother, Gator, is a crack addict. He is constantly pestering his family members for money and his father has disowned him but his mother and Flipper still occasionally give him money, when he asks. In an interview with Esquire, Jackson explains that he was able to play the crack addict Gator because he had just gotten out of rehab for his own crack addiction
39.
Clockers (film)
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Clockers is a 1995 American crime drama film directed by Spike Lee. It is an adaptation of the 1992 novel of the name by Richard Price. The film stars Harvey Keitel, John Turturro, Delroy Lindo, set in New York City, Clockers tells the story of Strike, a street-level drug dealer who becomes entangled in a murder investigation. In a Brooklyn housing project, a group of clockers — street-level drug dealers — sell drugs for Rodney Little, a local drug lord. Rodney tells Ronald Strike Dunham, one of his lead clockers, Strike then meets with his brother, Victor Dunham and tries to persuade Victor to kill Darryl Adams. Rocco Klein and Larry Mazilli, homicide detectives, ride to the scene of Darryl Adams murder, Larry and Rocco receive a phone call from another detective who says a man has confessed at a local church that he killed Darryl. The police meet Strikes older brother Victor at the church and take him in for questioning, in the interrogation room, Victor tells Rocco that he shot Darryl Adams in self-defense. Rodney accosts Strike for not committing the murder himself, with Errol, Rodneys enforcer, chastising Strike for getting his brother to do the hit. Later, Rodney tells Strike a story of a younger Rodney and an younger Errol, Rocco pressures Strike but Victor sticks to his story, so Rocco convinces Rodney that Strike has confessed and informed on Rodneys drug ring. Rocco arrests Rodney and then implicates Strike in front of his crew, Strike tries to play it off and deny that he was involved in Rodneys arrest, and his crew begins to turn on Strike, leading to the crew labeling Strike a snitch. Rodney calls Errol, advises that he is in jail and Rodney puts a hit out on Strike, Strike gets together some money and decides to leave town. As Strike walks to his car, he sees Errol sitting on his car, Strike hides behind a fence, but a younger boy who admired Strike, Tyrone, rides up to Errol on a bike and shoots him dead with Strikes gun. Later, Tyrone is taken into custody, with Rocco, Tyrones mother and Andre listening, Tyrone confesses that he got the gun from Strike. Andre storms out of the room, and proceeds to look for Strike. Andre angrily beats Strike in front of the project. Andre threatens to kill Strike if he ever talk to or even looks at the boy again. As Andre says this to Strike, Rodney pulls up, which leads to Strike jumping in his car and driving to the precinct, Strike runs into Rocco, and runs into the precinct as Rodney pulls up. Rocco tries to intimidate Strike into confessing to the murder, when Rocco grabs Strike and throws him against the wall, Strikes mother walks in with Mazzilli and Victors wife
40.
Girl 6 (film)
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Girl 6 is a 1996 American comedy-drama film by director Spike Lee about a phone sex operator. Theresa Randle played the character, and playwright Suzan-Lori Parks wrote the screenplay. The soundtrack is composed entirely of songs written by Prince, the film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival. Directors Quentin Tarantino and Ron Silver make cameo appearances as film directors at a pair of interesting auditions and it is the first film directed by Lee in which he did not write the screenplay. Judy is at an audition with Quentin Tarantino, Tarantino reveals that the film Judy is auditioning for is the greatest romantic, African-American film ever made. Directed by me, of course and is requested to remove her blouse so Q. T. and she reluctantly complies, but walks out on the audition. Having worked hard to get Judy her audition with such a prestigious director and her melodramatic acting coach is also extremely displeased. When Judy tells her why she did not go through with the audition and this, topped with the fact that Judy has not paid her rent in a very long while, forces her to drop Judy from her roster of clients as well. Now unable to secure acting work, Judy must find a way to make ends meet and she tries a number of jobs, passing out fliers, waiting tables at a club, and working as an extra on a movie set. She checks the circulars for wanted ads, and seeing friendly phone line, as well as, mo money, mo money, mo money. At what turns out to be a phone sex office, Judy meets her new boss, Lil, the two click and the audition goes over just fine. Judy attends another interview, at a strip club/phone sex line with a boss, that would have fewer restrictions on her. She decides to stick to her application with Lil. Throughout the film, the phone sex line, having been secured at Lils company, begins to take its toll on Judy. She trusts her clients too much at times, and even agrees to one of her callers at one point. It is visible to everybody, especially Lil and her neighbor and confidant Jimmy and she experiences a dark sequence in which she enters a snuff fantasy with a caller, who frighteningly seems to know where she lives. She decides that it is time to leave the phone sex career behind, Judy attends another audition which parallels her experience with Tarantino. However, this time, still as Girl 6, Judy has reclaimed her dignity, the film was not a box office success
41.
He Got Game
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He Got Game is a 1998 American sports drama film written, produced and directed by Spike Lee and starring Denzel Washington. This is the third of four collaborations between Washington and Lee. Washington portrays Jake Shuttlesworth, father of the top-ranked basketball prospect in the country, Jesus Shuttlesworth, played by NBA star Ray Allen. Jake, in prison for killing his wife, is released on parole for a week by the governor to persuade his son to play for the governors alma mater. Jesus Shuttlesworth, the top player in the United States, is being pursued by the top college basketball programs in the nation. His father, Jake, is a convicted felon serving time at Attica Correctional Facility for accidentally killing his wife, Martha, Jake was pushing her and knocking her down hard on the ground, while arguing with a then-12-year-old Jesus. The father is released by the governor, an influential alum of Big State, one of the colleges Jesus is considering. If successful, hell get a release from prison. While seemingly a sound plan, it turns due to the strained relationship between Jesus and his father. Upon his first moments outside of prison, Jake contacts his daughter, Mary Shuttlesworth, Mary invites her father to the apartment where she and Jesus now live, having moved out of their Uncle Bubbas place. When Jesus returns home from school, he is unhappy to see his father, refusing to look him in the eye, he tells his sister to get rid of the stranger in their living room. Jesus later agrees to meet with his father at a location away from Mary. Throughout the movie, Jake tries to persuade Jesus to attend Big State with seemingly no success, eventually, he divulges the deal set up by the governor. However, Jesus appears unsympathetic to his fathers situation, intertwined with the story of the Shuttlesworth family is the sub-plot of Dakota Barns, a prostitute who stays in the room next to Jake in the run-down hotel, which the warden has booked for him. Dakota is being abused by her procurer and companion, Sweetness, Jake overhears the violence through the thin walls. Throughout the film, Jake is seen helping clean Dakotas wounds and he also develops a romantic relationship with her. Dakota is seen in one of the scenes of the movie taking a Greyhound bus away from New York City. Jesus is tempted with offers of cash and women on recruiting visits to big time basketball programs and he also considers declaring the NBA in order to play professionally sooner and immediately lift himself and his sister out of poverty
42.
Summer of Sam
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Summer of Sam is a 1999 American crime thriller film about the 1977 Son of Sam serial murders and their effect on a group of fictional residents of an Italian-American neighborhood in The Bronx. The film was directed and co-produced by Spike Lee, who also co-wrote the film with Michael Imperioli and it is the summer of 1977, and New York City lives in fear of the.44 Caliber Killer, who shoots young women and their male companions. The killer, David Berkowitz, later identifies himself as Son of Sam in a left at a murder scene. Berkowitz lives in an apartment, where he is driven crazy by the barking of a neighbors large black dog and has a vision of the dog directing him to kill. In an Italian-American neighborhood in the Bronx, hairdresser Vinny and his pretty wife Dionna go disco dancing at a local nightclub, Vinny offers to drive Chiara home while Dionna remains at the club. Vinny and Chiara then park on a street and have sex in the car. Son of Sam watches them, but he is scared off when the couple set off the car horn during sex and, embarrassed. After they leave, Son of Sam kills another couple who had parked behind Vinny. When Vinny picks up Dionna back at the club, she notices the smell of vaginal lubrication on his face and realizes he had sex with Chiara, but does not let on that she knows. On the drive home, Vinny notices police near the location where he had parked with Chiara, and sees the dead bodies of the slain couple. The religious and guilty Vinny, realizing he could have been a victim, decides that God spared him in order to him a chance to reform his ways. He is also having an affair with Gloria, the owner of the salon where he works. Vinny, Joey T, and the dislike the change in Ritchie. However, Ruby, a local girl, is attracted to Ritchie. Unlike other men, Ritchie takes an interest in Ruby as a person and she learns that he makes money by erotic dancing and prostituting himself at a gay theater, but remains loyal to him and over time begins to dress in punk fashion herself. As the Son of Sam killings continue, tension rises in the neighborhood, Ritchie and Ruby invite Vinny and Dionna to come see their punk band perform at CBGB, but once there, Dionna feels intimidated by the punk crowd and refuses to go in. Vinny and Dionna instead go to Studio 54, where they are denied entry, Vinny becomes upset when he sees Dionna appearing to enjoy the experience of having sex with another man, even though he himself is having sex with other women. He berates Dionna in the car on the way home, causing her to get mad and she storms off to stay at her fathers house
43.
She Hate Me
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The film garnered controversy, and, as with many of Lees films, touches on comedy, drama, and politics. Unlike many prior works, Spike Lee does not have a credit in this film. The film was mostly on location in New York City. It was nominated for awards, but did not win. She Hate Me was released in July 2004 and grossed almost half a million dollars at the box office in limited release, the shooting budget was estimated at $8 million. Armstrongs assets are frozen, and he finds himself unable to maintain his quality of life. In order to make ends meet, he becomes a sperm donor, initially by acquiescing to the desires of Fatima Goodrich, his ex-fiancée who came out as a lesbian and now wants a child. This leads to Goodrich goading Armstrong into establishing a business in which groups of lesbians come over to his house, one of the women who Armstrong impregnates is the daughter of a mafia boss, Don Angelo Bonasera. Armstrongs employers learn of his business, and they use it in their campaign to sully his image in order to deflect attention from their own criminal business activities. Conflict is also depicted in the turbulent relationship between Armstrongs mother and his dependent diabetic father and he eventually wins the case and is seen with nineteen of the children he helped his lesbian acquaintances make at the end. By the end of the film, Armstrong and Goodrich have come to terms with their feelings for one another. They then begin a three-way polyamorous relationship, and Armstrong apparently maintains a friendship with all of the eighteen women who became pregnant by him and she Hate Me received a sharply negative reaction from film critics, with a score of just 19% on the site Rotten Tomatoes. Its not only unfathomable and borderline offensive, its never-ending, leaving its bewildered and battered audience in the dark for well over two hours, wrote Detroit Free Press critic Terry Lawson. Roger Ebert, who gave the three stars out of four, said the film will get some terrible reviews. Its logic, style, presumption and sexual politics will be ridiculed, the Tomatometer will be down around 20—a spot-on prediction, as it turned out. Many of the things you read in those reviews may be true from a point of view. Most of the critics will be on safe ground, seeming to be wrong about this movie is one of the most interesting things Ive done recently. The film grossed a total of $1,522,377 in the box office, Spike Lee based the title of the film on XFL football player Rod Smart, who gained some notoriety by nicknaming himself He Hate Me
44.
Coen Brothers
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Joel David Coen and Ethan Jesse Coen, collectively referred to as the Coen brothers, are American filmmakers. Their films span many genres and styles, which they frequently subvert or parody and their best-reviewed works include Fargo, The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men, A Serious Man, True Grit, and Inside Llewyn Davis. The brothers write, direct, and produce their films jointly, although until The Ladykillers, Joel received sole credit for directing and they often alternate top billing for their screenplays while sharing film credits for editor under the alias Roderick Jaynes. The duo also won the Palme dOr for Barton Fink, and were nominated for Fargo, the Coen brothers have written a number of films that neither of the two directed. Ethan is also a writer of stories, theater. Their films No Country for Old Men, A Serious Man, Joel and Ethan Coen were born and raised in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. Their mother, Rena, was an art historian at St. Cloud State University, when they were children, Joel saved money from mowing lawns to buy a Vivitar Super 8 camera. Together, the brothers remade movies they saw on television, with a kid, Mark Zimering. Their first attempt was a romp entitled Henry Kissinger, Man on the Go, cornel Wildes The Naked Prey became their Zeimers in Zambia, which also featured Ethan as a native with a spear. Joel Coen has said, in regards to whether our background influences our film making, theres no doubt that our Jewish heritage affects how we see things. Joel and Ethan graduated from St. Louis Park High School in 1973 and 1976 and they both also graduated from Bard College at Simons Rock in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Joel then spent four years in the film program at New York University. Ethan went on to Princeton University and earned a degree in philosophy in 1979. His senior thesis was a 41-page essay, Two Views of Wittgensteins Later Philosophy, Joel has been married to actress Frances McDormand since 1984. They adopted a son from Paraguay, named Pedro McDormand Coen and she also did a voice-over in Barton Fink. Ethan married film editor Tricia Cooke in 1990 and they have two children, daughter Dusty and son Buster Jacob, who goes to Vassar College. Both couples live in New York, after graduating from New York University, Joel worked as a production assistant on a variety of industrial films and music videos. He developed a talent for film editing and met Sam Raimi while assisting Enda Ruth Paul in editing Raimis first feature film, in 1984, the brothers wrote and directed Blood Simple, their first commercial film together
