The Rocker (film)
The Rocker is a 2008 American comedy film directed by Peter Cattaneo and written by Maya Forbes and Wallace Wolodarsky, from a story by Ryan Jaffe. The film stars Rainn Wilson as a failed musician who goes on tour with his nephew's band after one of their songs goes viral. Christina Applegate, Jeff Garlin, Josh Gad, Teddy Geiger and Emma Stone star, it was released on August 20, 2008, received mixed reviews and was a box office bomb, grossing just $8 million against its $15 million budget. In the late 1980s, Vesuvius, a rock band from Cleveland, performs at a local theater and is offered a recording contract; when their manager tells them they would get to tour as the opening act for Whitesnake, Vesuvius decides to replace drummer Robert "Fish" Fishman with the president of the record company's nephew. Twenty years Vesuvius remains an immensely successful band, while Fish is living a normal life. Matt Gadman, Fish's high school-aged nephew, plays keyboards in an alternative rock band called A.
D. D. along with his friends Curtis Powell and Amelia Stone. The band is scheduled to play their school's prom but the gig is in jeopardy when their drummer gets suspended from school. Matt convinces the others to allow Fish to fill in, but he ruins the gig when he launches into an impromptu drum solo. However, Fish is so excited by Curtis' songs and the chance to play again, he convinces them to let him join the band if he can deliver another gig. After repeated failed attempts, he succeeds in securing a gig at a club in Fort Wayne, Indiana; because the other members are all minors, they have to sneak out to the gig but are apprehended in the process. After Fish is forced to rent the basement of his favorite Chinese restaurant, the band invents a new way to practice via four-way iChat. To the dismay of his bandmates, Fish performs in the nude to stay cool; the video of the practice goes viral under the title of the "naked drummer band". The band is signed to a recording contract by the same label as Vesuvius, are sent on a midwest tour.
However, Fish commits stereotypical acts, despite the physical costs on his body, he vandalizes a hotel room, causing the band to be apprehended again. After securing A. D. D.'s release, Curtis's mother, promises the other parents she will stay for the remainder of the tour, so their children will not be influenced by Fish's antics. The label asks A. D. D. to open a show for Vesuvius honoring their induction into the Roll Hall of Fame. Fish refuses to play the gig and leaves the band, but Curtis convinces him to put aside his resentment and play the show. After meeting Vesuvius before the show to discover they have become vain and arrogant, Fish decides to wish Vesuvius good luck. Fish and the band perform to a standing ovation. After their gig and Curtis, as well as Fish and Kim both begin a relationship. During Vesuvius's set, the lead singer's microphone falls off the stand while the voice track of their song continues revealing that they have been lip-syncing much to Fish's dismay; the audience chants an encore for A.
D. D. Performing for the crowd once again; the Rocker was filmed in Toronto, Canada, with some exterior shots filmed in Cleveland, Ohio from July to September 2007. The songs attributed to the band A. D. D. were written and produced by musician/producer Chad Fischer, of the band Lazlo Bane. Fischer performed most of the music, with Teddy Geiger singing the lead vocals; the songs attributed to the band Vesuvius were written and performed by the members of Lazlo Bane, with lead vocals sung by Keith England. To promote the movie, the song "Promised Land", as performed by the fictional band Vesuvius, was released as free downloadable content for the video game Rock Band, shown being played in the movie. A viral marketing effort for the film was begun on August 11, 2008, when Rainn Wilson posted a message to the MySpace blog of Jenna Fischer, his co-star from The Office. According to his message, he had "kidnapped the lovely Jenna, put her, bound, in the trunk of my Firebird and logged onto her MySpace to send out this bulletin....
To free America's sweetheart...you must attend my new movie,'The Rocker', which opens August 20th.... As soon as the film grosses 18.7 Mil, she will be released and given a peach smoothie." In the end the film was not close to grossing that much money. A subsequent blog entry pointed readers to freejennanow.com, where videos were posted and features such as a "Free Jenna Game" and countdown tickers could be found.'The Rocker: Live The Dream' was a competition to promote the film via MySpace and Kerrang! magazine in the UK. Over 1200 bands entered original songs at therockeruk for a chance to win a photo shoot and interview with Kerrang! magazine, a trip to the MySpace Black Curtain Screening in London, Gibson musical equipment and an assortment of 20th Century Fox merchandise. Ten bands went through to the final judging and Scottish band Alburn were chosen by Kerrang! Editor Paul Brannigan, as the winner. Alburn dressed and posed as characters from the film in the Kerrang! Photo shoot. Rainn Wilson recorded a video message for the winning band, played at the MySpace Black Curtain Screening.
A Flash game titled The Rocker: TV Toss was released. In the game, the player controls Fish; the objective is to do damage to the hotel room by tossing TVs at various objects. The high score is calculated by means of the cost of objects damaged; the film received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rating of 41%, based on 123 reviews, with an average rating of 5.2/10. The site's consensus reads: "With a predictable and lightweight story, the earnest efforts of the cast are squandered by The Rocker's bland script." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 5
Michelle Obama
Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama is an American lawyer, university administrator and writer, First Lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. She is married to the 44th U. S. President, Barack Obama, was the first African-American First Lady. Raised on the South Side of Chicago, Obama is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School. In her early legal career, she worked at the law firm Sidley Austin, she subsequently worked in non-profits and as the Associate Dean of Student Services at the University of Chicago and the Vice President for Community and External Affairs of the University of Chicago Medical Center. Michelle married Barack in 1992 and they have two daughters. Obama campaigned for her husband's presidential bid throughout 2007 and 2008, delivering a keynote address at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, she returned to speak for him at the 2012 Democratic National Convention. During the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, she delivered a speech in support of the Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, a former First Lady.
As First Lady, Obama served as a role model for women, worked as an advocate for poverty awareness, nutrition, physical activity and healthy eating. She was considered a fashion icon. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson was born on January 17, 1964, in Chicago, Illinois, to Fraser Robinson III, a city water plant employee and Democratic precinct captain, Marian Shields Robinson, a secretary at Spiegel's catalog store, her mother was a full-time homemaker. The Robinson and Shields families trace their roots to pre-Civil War African Americans in the American South. On her father's side, she is descended from the Gullah people of South Carolina's Low Country region, her paternal great-great grandfather, Jim Robinson, was born into slavery in 1850 on Friendfield Plantation, near Georgetown, South Carolina. He became a freedman at age 15 after the war; some of Obama's paternal family still reside in the Georgetown area. Her grandfather Fraser Robinson, Jr. built his own house in South Carolina. He and his wife LaVaughn returned to the Low Country from Chicago after retirement.
Among her maternal ancestors was her great-great-great-grandmother, Melvinia Shields, born into slavery in South Carolina but sold to Henry Walls Shields, who had a 200-acre farm in Clayton County, Georgia near Atlanta. Melvinia's first son, Dolphus T. Shields, was biracial and born into slavery about 1860. Based on DNA and other evidence, in 2012 researchers said his father was 20-year-old Charles Marion Shields, son of Melvinia's master, they may have had a continuing relationship, as she had two more mixed-race children and lived near Shields after emancipation, taking his surname. As was the case, Melvinia did not talk to relatives about Dolphus' father. Dolphus Shields with his wife Alice moved to Alabama after the Civil War, they were great-great-grandparents of Michelle Robinson. Other of their children's lines migrated to Ohio in the 20th century. All four of Robinson's grandparents had multiracial ancestors, reflecting the complex history of the U. S, her extended family has said that people did not talk about the era of slavery when they were growing up.
Her distant ancestry includes Irish and Native American roots. Among her contemporary extended family is rabbi Capers Funnye. Funnye converted to Judaism after college, he is a paternal first cousin once-removed. Robinson's childhood home was on the upper floor of 7436 South Euclid Avenue in Chicago's South Shore community area, which her parents rented from her great-aunt, who had the first floor, she was raised in what she describes as a "conventional" home, with "the mother at home, the father works, you have dinner around the table". Her elementary school was down the street, she and her family enjoyed playing games such as Monopoly and saw extended family on both sides. She played piano, learning from her great-aunt, a piano teacher; the Robinsons attended services at nearby South Shore United Methodist Church. They used to vacation in a rustic cabin in Michigan, she and her 21-month older brother, skipped the second grade. Her father suffered from multiple sclerosis, which had a profound emotional effect on her as she was growing up.
She was determined to stay out of trouble and be a good student, what her father wanted for her. By sixth grade, Michelle joined a gifted class at Bryn Mawr Elementary School, she attended Whitney Young High School, Chicago's first magnet high school, established as a selective enrollment school, where she was a classmate of Jesse Jackson's daughter Santita. The round-trip commute from the Robinsons' South Side home to the Near West Side, where the school was located, took three hours. Michelle recalled being fearful of how others would perceive her, but disregarded any negativity around her and used it "to fuel me, to keep me going", she recalled facing gender discrimination growing up, for example, that rather than asking her for her opinion on a given subject, people tended to ask what her older brother thought. She was on the honor roll for four years, took advanced placement classes, was a member of the National Honor Society, served as student council treasurer, she graduated in 1981 as the salutatorian of her class.
She was inspired to follow her brother to Prince
A Dog's Purpose (film)
A Dog's Purpose is a 2017 American comedy-drama adventure film directed by Lasse Hallström and written by W. Bruce Cameron, Cathryn Michon, Audrey Wells, Maya Forbes and Wally Wolodarsky, based on the 2010 novel of the same name by W. Bruce Cameron; the film stars Britt Robertson, KJ Apa, Juliet Rylance, John Ortiz, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Peggy Lipton, Dennis Quaid and Josh Gad. The film is a co-production between Amblin Entertainment, Reliance Entertainment, Walden Media and Pariah Entertainment Group, it was released by Universal Pictures on January 27, 2017, grossed over $205 million worldwide. A sequel, titled A Dog's Journey, will be released on May 17, 2019. In the 1950s, Toby, a feral puppy, is born. Two weeks Toby is whisked away to the dog pound and euthanized, wondering if "fun" is life's purpose. Toby's spirit is reincarnated as a newborn Red Retriever puppy in 1961. Toby is found by two garbage men who plan to sell him, they leave to drink, Toby is spotted locked inside their pick-up truck by a young boy named Ethan and his mother, who rescue him from heatstroke.
After they convince Ethan's father, the puppy is renamed Bailey. Bailey and Ethan bond especially over the summer when the family visits Ethan's maternal grandparents' farm, Bailey now believes Ethan alone is his purpose. Years pass, after several attempts at advancing in his job fail, Ethan's father has become a deadbeat alcoholic. Over the summer, Ethan goes to a fair with Bailey and meets Hannah, whom he begins dating. Ethan and Hannah spend their summer happy together though their senior years are upcoming, but they plan to go to the same school; when he goes home one night, Ethan's father is drunk and shouting at Ethan's mother. He turns on Ethan and when his mother tries to keep them separated, he shoves her to the ground. Ethan orders his father to leave and never come back. At a football game watched by scouts, Ethan is offered a full scholarship to Michigan State, but that night a vindictive classmate named Todd throws a lit firecracker into Ethan's house, which results in a house fire.
Bailey alerts Ethan. Unable to get out of the door, they head out through his mother's bedroom window upstairs. Ethan first lowers her with her sheets to the neighbors below saves Bailey. However, he drops his rope and must jump, badly fracturing his leg and ending his athletic scholarship. Bailey attacks Todd, arrested by the police when firecrackers fall out of his pocket. Now, Ethan must go to an agricultural school where he will learn to take over his grandparents' farm. Falling into depression, Ethan breaks off his romance with Hannah before leaving for college, while Bailey stays with Ethan's grandparents. Shortly afterwards, Bailey becomes old and his health begins deteriorating. Ethan's grandparents take Bailey to the veterinarian's office, but Dr. Joyce is unable to save him, Ethan comes into the office and watches as his beloved dog is put to sleep. Bailey reincarnates into another dog life, a female German Shepherd puppy, who grows into a police dog named Ellie, sometime in the late 1970s/early 1980s, while possessing full memories of his past lives.
Ellie is partnered with a widowed officer named Carlos Ruiz from the Chicago Police Department and works hard at "seeking" and "finding", now seeing the job as life's purpose. The two form a close relationship which ends after Ellie saves a kidnapped girl from drowning and is fatally shot by the kidnapper. Carlos breaks down in tears. Reincarnated again in the mid-1980s as a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, he forms a bond with an Atlanta college student named Maya who names him Tino. Maya is lonely, Tino makes it his purpose to find her some happiness, she starts a relationship with a classmate named Al whom she begins seeing after Tino falls for Al's dog, a black and white Landseer named Roxy. Maya and Al have 3 children. In love with Roxy, Tino is heartbroken; as he lies sleeping, Tino thanks Maya for giving him one of his best lives. Tino is again reborn and reincarnated, this time as a St. Bernard-Australian Shepherd mix sometime in the 2000s, is taken in by an urban lady, who names him Waffles; the lady has a neglectful husband, who refuses to let her keep Waffles, dumps him in an abandoned lot after several years of refusing to let her care for him.
Afterwards, Waffles sets off in search of a new life. He makes his way to the country area where he spent summers as Bailey and joyfully reunites with his old master Ethan, now in his 50s, living a lonely life at his grandparents' old farm, which he now owns and runs. Ethan hands him over to the local animal shelter but has a change of heart and reclaims him, naming him Buddy. Buddy, sensing that he has found the true purpose of life, reunites Ethan with a widowed Hannah, they get married. Buddy convinces Ethan that he is his beloved childhood pet by performing some tricks and responding to key phrases that were known only to the two of them many years back, such as "boss dog." Ethan digs up Bailey's old collar, now old and rusty and places it back on Bailey's neck, they resume playing the way they did so long ago. Bailey narrates that life is about having fun, saving others, not getting caught in the past or regrets, finding someone to be with and living for today. In 2015, DreamWorks acquired the film rights for Cameron's novel.
On May 8, 2015, it was announced. On August 5, 2015, Britt Robertson and Dennis Quaid joined the cast. On Septem
Catch Me If You Can (musical)
Catch Me If You Can is a musical with a libretto by Terrence McNally and a theatrical score by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman. It follows the story of a con artist named Frank Abagnale Jr. A majority of the plot is borrowed from the 2002 film of the same name, which in turn was based on the 1980 autobiography of the same name by Abagnale and Stan Redding. After a tryout musical performance in Seattle in 2009, Catch Me If You Can opened at Broadway's Neil Simon Theatre in April 2011; the production received four Tony Awards nominations, including one for Best Musical, winning Best Actor in a Musical for Norbert Leo Butz. The musical had a reading in 2005, directed by Jack O'Brien, with Nathan Lane, Tom Wopat, Brandon Wardell and Matthew Morrison. In private workshops held in July 2007, O'Brien was director, with Nathan Lane, Christian Borle, Angie Schworer, Tom Wopat and Brandon Wardell. Other actors involved in the readings included Aaron Tveit and Norbert Leo Butz, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Sara Gettelfinger, Katharine McPhee, Felicia Finley, Autumn Hurlbert, Lauren Ashley Zakrin and Annaleigh Ashford.
The musical was scheduled to premiere on July 25, 2009 at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, with Jack O'Brien as director and choreography by Jerry Mitchell. The 5th Avenue Theatre held the world premiere of the creative team's hit musical Hairspray; the first few days of previews of the show were cancelled due to a tragedy in Norbert Leo Butz's family. The musical premiered on July 28, 2009, ended August 16, 2009. In addition to Butz, the cast included Aaron Tveit as Frank, Tom Wopat as Frank Sr. Kerry Butler as Brenda, Linda Hart as Carol, Nick Wyman as Roger; the production received positive reviews from critics. On March 11, 2011, the musical began preview performances on Broadway at the Neil Simon Theatre, with an official opening date on April 10, 2011; the show featured most of the Seattle cast, with Butz, Tveit and Butler appearing in leading roles. Other Seattle cast members included: Linda Hart, Nick Wyman, Rachel deBenedet, Brandon Wardell, Timothy McCuen Piggee, Angie Schworer; the production had scenic design by David Rockwell, costume design by William Ivey Long, lighting design by Kenneth Posner, musical direction by John McDaniel.
The production closed September 2011, after 32 previews and 170 regular performances. A United States national tour, presented by Troika Entertainment, began performances October 7, 2012, in Providence, Rhode Island; the tour was contracted through July 28, 2013. The production features Stephen Anthony as Frank Abagnale Jr. and Merritt David Janes as Agent Carl Hanratty. In the 1960s, Frank Abagnale Jr. a young con man, is cornered at the Miami International Airport by FBI Agent Carl Hanratty and his team. Hanratty asserts. Before his arrest, Frank pleads with Hanratty to allow him to inform the people in the airport why they're beating at him, though Hanratty only wants to know how he passed the bar exam in New Orleans to pose as a lawyer. Frank promises. A reluctant Hanratty agrees. In a home in New Rochelle, New York, Frank lives with his parents Frank Abagnale Sr. and Paula Abagnale. His parents met in Montrichard, during World War II. Paula was performing at a diner, noticed Frank Sr. among the soldiers in the audience, marrying him soon after.
Due to money shortages, Frank is unable to attend private school, nonetheless wearing his school jacket to public school. He is taunted there as looking like a substitute teacher. One day, Frank walks home from school to find his mother dancing with one of Frank Sr.'s friends. She pleads with him not to tell Frank Sr. but a distraught Frank is soon in court, with Paula and Frank Sr. fighting over custody of him. Frank decides to run away, he soon learns how to create fake checks, cashing them at banks across the country and conning millions of dollars. While entering a New York City hotel, Frank notices several attractive women, all of them stewardesses. After creating a fake ID card, he finds a co-pilot job at Pan American World Airways; the workers express the joys of a life in the skies. Hanratty finds several fake checks on his desk in Washington, D. C.. He and Agents Branton and Cod are assigned to track down the writer of these fake checks. Hanratty gives a word of wisdom to whoever wrote the checks: "Don't Break the Rules".
Frank is enjoying his pilot job, remembering how his dad always said that "women love a man in uniform", as "The Pinstripes Are All That They See". Feeling homesick, he goes to visit Frank Sr. upset to find out that he had to close his store to save money. Frank offers him several checks to improve his financial situation, but Frank Sr. declines, believing that Frank should be happy with his success and not worry about him. Meanwhile, Hanratty sorts through leftover items from the hotel Frank had just stayed at, looking for "The Man Inside the Clues". Hanratty tracks Frank to a hotel room in Los Angeles, but Frank escapes after tricking Hanratty into believing that Frank is a Secret Service agent named Barry Allen. Frank attends a holiday party for the airport staff, but feels lonely, calling Hanratty on a pay phone for comfort. Hanratty, realizing the culprit
The Daily Show
The Daily Show is an American late-night talk and news satire television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. Describing itself as a fake news program, The Daily Show draws its comedy and satire from recent news stories, political figures, media organizations, uses self-referential humor as well; the half-hour-long show premiered on July 21, 1996, was first hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 17, 1998. Jon Stewart took over as the host from January 11, 1999, until August 6, 2015, making the show more focused on political satire and news satire, in contrast with the pop culture focus during Kilborn's tenure. Stewart was succeeded by Trevor Noah, whose tenure premiered on September 28, 2015. Under different hosts, the show has been formally known as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart from 1999 until 2015, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah since 2015; the Daily Show is the longest-running program on Comedy Central, has won 24 Primetime Emmy Awards. The program is popular among young audiences.
The Pew Research Center suggested in 2010 that 74% of regular viewers were between 18 and 49, that 10% of the audience watched the show for its news headlines, 2% for in-depth reporting, 43% for entertainment, compared with 64% who watched CNN for the news headlines. Critics chastised Stewart for not conducting sufficiently hard-hitting interviews with his political guests, some of whom he may have lampooned in previous segments. Stewart and other Daily Show writers responded to such criticism by saying that they do not have any journalistic responsibility and that as comedians their only duty is to provide entertainment. Stewart's appearance on the CNN show Crossfire picked up this debate, where he chastised the CNN production and hosts for not conducting informative and current interviews on a news network; each episode begins with announcer Drew Birns announcing the date and the introduction, "From Comedy Central's World News Headquarters in New York, this is The Daily Show with Trevor Noah".
The introduction was "This is The Daily Show, the most important television program, ever." The host opens the show with a monologue drawing from current news stories and issues. The show had divided its news commentary into sections known as "Headlines", "Other News", "This Just In"; some episodes will begin with a 1–3 minute intro on a small story before transitioning into the main story of the night. The monologue segment is followed by a segment featuring an exchange with a correspondent—typically introduced as the show's "senior" specialist in the subject at hand—either at the anchor desk with the host or reporting from a false location in front of a greenscreen showing stock footage, their stated areas of expertise vary depending on the news story, being discussed, can range from general to absurdly specific. The cast of correspondents is quite diverse, many sarcastically portray extreme stereotypes of themselves to poke fun at a news story, such as "Senior Latino Correspondent", "Senior Youth Correspondent" or "Senior Black Correspondent".
They present absurd or humorously exaggerated takes on current events against the host's straight man. While correspondents stated to be reporting abroad are performing in-studio in front of a greenscreen background, on rare occasions, cast members have recorded pieces on location. For instance, during the week of August 20, 2007, the show aired a series of segments called "Operation Silent Thunder: The Daily Show in Iraq" in which correspondent Rob Riggle reported from Iraq. In August 2008, Riggle traveled to China for a series of segments titled "Rob Riggle: Chasing the Dragon", which focused on the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Jason Jones traveled to Iran in early June 2009 to report on the Iranian elections, John Oliver traveled to South Africa for the series of segments "Into Africa" to report on the 2010 FIFA World Cup. In March 2012, Oliver traveled to Gabon, on the west African coast, to report on the Gabonese government's decision to donate $2 million to UNESCO after the United States cut its funding for UNESCO earlier that year.
On July 19, 2016, Roy Wood Jr. reported live from the Republican National Convention and talked about Donald Trump's African-American support. Correspondent segments feature a rotating supporting cast, involve the show's members travelling to different locations to file comedic reports on current news stories and conduct interviews with people related to the featured issue. Topics have varied widely. Since Stewart began hosting in 1999, the focus of the show has become more political and the field pieces have come to more reflect current issues and debates. Under Kilborn and the early years of Stewart, most interviewees were either unaware or not aware of the comedic nature of The Daily Show. However, as the show began to gain popularity—particularly following its coverage of the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections—most of the subjects now interviewed are aware of the comedic element; some segments have recurred periodically throughout different tenures, such as "Back in Black" & "Your Moment of Zen".
Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, a common segment of the show has been dubbed "Mess O' Potamia", focusing on the United States' policies in the Middle East Iraq. Elections in the United States were a prominent focus in the show's "Indecision" cover
National Institute of Dramatic Art
The National Institute of Dramatic Art is an Australian national education and training institute for students in the performing arts. Since 1958, NIDA has educated students in performance and production for theatre and television, it offers programs ranging from degrees to public short courses, including holiday programs and corporate training. In 2018, NIDA was ranked as the 10th best drama school in the world by The Hollywood Reporter. NIDA's main campus is based in the Sydney suburb of Kensington, located adjacent to the University of New South Wales, is made up of a range of rehearsal and performance venues. NIDA is affiliated with the University of New South Wales. NIDA receives funding from the Australian Government through the Minister for the Arts, Attorney-General's Department and is a member of the "Australian Roundtable for Arts Training Excellence:" an initiative between the national performing arts training organisations and the Australian Government providing training for emerging artists.
Founded in 1958, NIDA commenced acting classes in 1959. More than 50 years NIDA has grown to 232 full-time students annually 70 full-time staff members. Entry to NIDA's higher education courses is competitive, with 5,000 applicants from around the country competing for an annual offering of 75 places across undergraduate and graduate disciplines; the student body for these courses totalled 199 in 2014. NIDA is located on Anzac Parade in the Sydney suburb of Kensington, across the road from the University of New South Wales; the campus was first opened in 1987, followed by additional buildings opened in 2001, which were awarded the 2002 Sir John Sulman Medal for public architecture. NIDA has five theatres; the largest of these is the Parade Theatre offering seating for audiences of up to 707 people in its three-tiered, horseshoe-shaped auditorium. The Playhouse, Studio Theatre, the Space and the Atrium offer a variety of flexible performance spaces; the Rodney Seaborn Library is a specialist library for NIDA students and staff and is open to the general public by appointment.
Created in 1980. The NIDA Archives collects and preserves archival records created by or relating to NIDA; the NIDA campus includes rehearsal rooms, multi-media and computer-aided design studios, a sound stage, a lighting studio, production workshops, audio-visual facilities, the Reg Grundy Studio film and television training and production facility. Graduates from the National Institute of Dramatic Art include: Adrian Britnell Dale Ferguson Catherine Martin Ralph Myers, Former Artistic Director Belvoir St Theatre Michael Wilkinson, 2014 Academy Award Nominee for American Hustle Paul Curran Gale Edwards Jennifer Kent Dane Laffrey Tommy Murphy Kip Williams, artistic director of Sydney Theatre Company Jim Sharman, Director of The Rocky Horror Picture Show In 2012, former NIDA board member and Liberal senator Chris Puplick, who had served on the board from 1994 to 2000 and 2007 to 2010, wrote an essay titled "Changing Times at NIDA", published in the October issue of the publication Platform Papers.
In the essay, Puplick criticised the teaching standards of the school and its director and chief executive, Lynne Williams, stating that she has had no significant experience in theatre to head the school and that her style was "Thatcherite". Soon after Puplick's statements were reported, chairman of NIDA's board, Malcolm Long, Lynne Williams replied back to the comments, with Long stating that Williams had the complete support of the board and described Puplick as "an disaffected former board member." Williams had defended herself stating her management style was not "Thatcherite". Long mentioned that amongst Williams' supporters were Cate Blanchett and Ralph Myers. Supporting Puplick were actor, director and a graduate of the school Jeremy Sims, who had launched the essay, Kevin Jackson, who had taught acting at the school for 27 years. Official website
Numbers (TV series)
Numbers is an American crime drama television series that ran on CBS from January 23, 2005, to March 12, 2010. The series was created by Nicolas Falacci and Cheryl Heuton, follows FBI Special Agent Don Eppes and his brother Charlie Eppes, a college mathematics professor and prodigy, who helps Don solve crimes for the FBI. Brothers Ridley and Tony Scott produced Numbers; the show focuses on the relationships among Don Eppes, his brother Charlie Eppes, their father, Alan Eppes, on the brothers' efforts to fight crime in Los Angeles. A typical episode begins with a crime, subsequently investigated by a team of FBI agents led by Don and mathematically modeled by Charlie, with the help of Larry Fleinhardt and Amita Ramanujan; the insights provided by Charlie's mathematics were always in some way crucial to solving the crime. On May 18, 2010, CBS announced; the show revolved around three intersecting groups of characters: the FBI, scientists at the fictitious California Institute of Science, the Eppes family.
Don Eppes, Charlie's older brother, is the lead FBI agent at the Los Angeles Violent Crimes Squad. Professor Charlie Eppes is a mathematical genius, who in addition to teaching at CalSci, consults for the FBI and NSA. Alan Eppes is a former L. A. city planner, a widower, the father of both Charlie and Don Eppes. Alan lives in an historic two-story house furnished with Crafts furniture. David Sinclair is an FBI field agent and was made Don's second-in-command and promoted to supervisor. Terry Lake is a forensic psychologist and FBI agent. Prof. Larry Fleinhardt is a theoretical cosmologist at CalSci. Charlie's former mentor and now best friend, he frequently consults for the FBI. Prof. Amita Ramanujan is a mathematician at an FBI consultant. In season two, she begins dating Charlie, to whom she is married in season six. Charlie was her thesis advisor, her name is a reference to influential autodidactic Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan. Megan Reeves is an FBI behavioral specialist, she was involved romantically with Larry Fleinhardt and left the FBI to counsel troubled young women.
Colby Granger is an FBI field agent. Once thought to have betrayed his colleagues, he is now back in their good confidence. Liz Warner is an FBI agent involved with Agent Eppes. Nikki Betancourt is an FBI agent with four years' experience in a law degree. Temporary characters on the show were named after famous mathematicians. For example, in the episode "In Plain Sight", one of the criminals is named Rolle and Charlie's father mentions a meeting with a man named Robert Peterson. Opening: We all use math every day. To predict weather…to tell time…to handle money. Math is more than equations. It’s logic. It's using your mind to solve the biggest mysteries; the first-season run of the show aired between January 23, 2005, May 13, 2005, at 10:00 pm on Fridays. It has the start of the working relationship between Los Angeles' FBI field office and Charlie Eppes; the main FBI agents are Charlie's brother, Don Eppes, Terry Lake, as well as David Sinclair. Don and Charlie's father, Alan Eppes, provides emotional support for the pair, while Professor Larry Fleinhardt and doctoral student Amita Ramanujan provide mathematical support and insights to Charlie.
Season one was a half-season. Sabrina Lloyd played an agent, in this season; the second-season run of the show aired between September 23, 2005, May 19, 2006, again at 10:00 pm on Fridays. Season two has several changes to Don's FBI team: Terry Lake is reassigned to Washington and two new members join Don and David Sinclair: Megan Reeves and Colby Granger. Charlie is challenged on one of his long-standing pieces of mathematical work and starts work on a new theory, cognitive emergence theory. Larry sells his home and assumes a nomadic lifestyle, while he becomes romantically involved with Megan. Amita receives an offer for an assistant professor position at Harvard University, but is plagued by doubt as her relationship with Charlie is challenged and her career is in upheaval. Alan begins work and dating again, although he struggles with the loss of his wife, both Charlie and he dream of her. Numb3rs was renewed for a third season, which began airing at 10:00 pm on Friday, September 22, 2006, ended on May 18, 2007.
Charlie and Amita intensify their relationship, as do Larry and Megan after Megan's kidnapping. Amita has troubles adjusting in her new role as a CalSci professor, Larry announces his leave of absence. Charlie and his colleagues are troubled by Dr. Mildred Finch, the newly appointed chair of the CalSci Physics and Astronomy Division, whom they learn has begun dating Alan. Meanwhile, Don dates Agent Liz Warner and questions his ethics and self worth, receives counseling. Charlie sees Don's therapist and the two understand one another more. Despite Don's concerns, Alan engages in some FBI consulting with his knowledge of engineering, a
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